Furnishing the Pawn Shop Part 1

For many years (oh, how many!), I've had dozens of House of Miniatures kits lying around, waiting for me to become proficient (hah!) at finishing miniature furniture. There really is a reason why I enjoy the Tudor period....

At any rate, the Pawn Shop needs some furniture, and in going through the many kits, I found some that I think will work in the small space of the shop. For practice, I did a bedside table with a drawer, which has my favourite Ipswich Pine stain that will in all probability be covered up with cream paint, and then be crackled, aged and grubbied up. I made a bit of a mess with the drawer, but light sanding soon took care of that problem; apparently a small blob of hardened glue in my gluing jig knocked the parts out of balance, requiring a bit of sanding to make everything fit again.

Not bad, if I do say so myself. I will have to be very careful painting around the handle and its escutcheon, though. Having done this, I tackled a Chippendale hanging shelf, which I plan to put on the back wall of the Pawn Shop to hold some nice little silver pieces, and the like.

This was shot at an angle, to show off the fretwork sides; unfortunately, they will be mostly invisible once installed in the shop. These drawers actually fit without the need for sanding, as I cleaned the old glue out of the corners of the jig. The pierced sides are mahogany, which meant using mahogany stain on the other components of the shelf. Below is a front view:

The shadows are quite harsh, unfortunately. I am quite pleased with how this piece came together; all the parts fit with minimum sanding, even after using the oil-based stain.

There is a small square-topped candle-stand  I want to use to hold a miniature Limoges vase, and a grandfather clock that would also look good in the shop. Somewhere in my stash, I have a broken-off china Buddha head which I can mount on a block like an old art piece, and a rather heavy silver-plated punch bowl which may also work nicely. And a lovely, hand-painted tray I purchased some years ago, when the artist was just starting out and prices were reasonable, will look lovely propped against the back wall on the top shelf.

That just leaves some things to put in the window of the shop. Once I am back from camp, I can try to make some clocks, a barometer, and other small items one might expect to find in a pawn shop. It will be fun to sort out and place bits and pieces to make the inside of the vignette come alive.

Why the push? Well, I am taking the Pawn Shop to Camp MiniHaHa on Sept. 24, to place it in the display room at camp. My version of last year's project was the prototype on which the actual project was based; I stuck with the smaller, more compact version. If any of the other ones show up for the display, I will take photos so you can see how inventive our Campers are.