Day 17 - For Now, It is the Last One Before January

The experiment I wanted to try involved attempting to make MDF look like polished black quartz, and I am quite pleased with the experiment.



The mantel piece and hearth were painted flat black, and allowed to dry. I used a mix of ultra fine pearl glitter and gold glitter, mixed together. The surfaces of the painted wooden pieces were brushed with gloss varnish, and then I used the end of a drinking straw to pick up a small amount of the mixed glitter, which I then tapped quite sparingly over the wet varnish. Once that was dry, I put on another coat of varnish to keep the glitter bits trapped. It is fairly subtle, you get the sparkle depending on how the light hits the surfaces. You can see a bit of it in the photo above.



The piece is now glued together, ready to dry overnight. The edges that are not showing are bristling with toothpicks, which hold everything steady, and which I will trim off and push in flush once the glue is dry. The shiny black does not overwhelm the vignette, and will be even more part of the scenery once the other things go into the setting.

We are about to travel, and have visitors as well as be visitors. That means I will not have access to the computer, so I will wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas or Hanukkah season, and a very Happy New Year. I should be back with the blog in 2018, when I will be continuing with the small decorative aspects of the vignette. There will be a shelf in the space above the table, for instance, as well as a wreath, garlands, a Christmas tree, cards, presents, and other seasonal decorative effects.

I wish for you to enjoy time with family and friends, and to come out of the holiday season refreshed and ready to tackle another, hopefully creative, year.

Day 16 - There Is Now a Chair...

...and a mantel for the fireplace. I dug out a fireguard kit from Camp MiniHaHa a long time ago, and will try that for the fireplace. The chair is Day 4, the fire guard is part of Day 13 while the mantel was actually part of Day 1....



Those bits bristling with pins are the various components of the chair. I used a design from Carol and Nigel Lodder's book, Making Dolls House Interiors,  a style I hadn't tried before. I didn't use foam, as I find it really deteriorates with age, and turns into powder. I would like to add some piping to the chair, so perhaps tomorrow I will try Kris Compass' technique for rolled piping - that should get glue everywhere!



The chimney breast is now glued in, but I still haven't glued up the walls, because I want to try a special finish on the mantel and hearth first, while I can work without corners and edges. If my thinking on the finish works, I'll describe it in another post; if it doesn't, both those pieces will have to be repainted and rethought....

The colour scheme is still harmonious, as I had hoped. I must admit I was a bit concerned about using stark black in a miniature. And I still haven't had to buy anything except the view out of the window. Which goes to show that I have way too much stuff in my stash!

Day 15 - I Am Working on the Chair

...and it is taking time. Today, like yesterday, was too busy to get much done in the way of minis, but I fully intend to have the chair ready to go into the vignette tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Right now all you'd see is pieces of balsa wood with placemat batting and cotton quilt batting, not very interesting at all.

Day 13 - A Rug and an Ottoman

The rug is the one specified in the Advent Calendar instructions; a base, in my case hunter green Aida cloth, with some rows of threads removed. Woven into the holes is miniature hat straw, and then a row of running stitches done with cordonnee embroidery thread. The whole is then provided with a backing of iron-on interfacing. I like it! However, it is a bit touchy with the embroidery cloth; burlap or a loose weave wool would have been much easier to weave through. Once the vignette is finished, I'll use some repositionable glue on the corners of the rug to keep it down.

The ottoman is one I designed myself, as I didn't like the one in the article. I gave it a little bit of co-ordinated piping, done by sandwiching floral wire in a strip of cotton. It isn't perfect, but I kind of got the idea across. Now I have to make a chair to match. The piping is a bit of a pain to do....

Tomorrow I work, so I don't know how much I'm going to be able to get done.

The rug is the Day 3 project, while the ottoman is Day 5. I am still catching up with the program!

Day 12 And the Fireplace is Bricked

I spent the morning finishing the embroidery on a Real Life Christmas stocking, and the afternoon and very early evening bricking the fireplace and the fire back. I can't wait to put this corner vignette together permanently! It is being held up by my clamp bucket and the brush jug, and it is a pain....

The bricks are painted sandpaper; I had read on-line that someone had painted sandpaper and then noticed a nice texture where her fingers had accidentally landed, so I dabbed my wet paint with a wad of paper towel, and it does give a very nice additional texture. It still needs a bit of chalk aging and then a spray of artist's preservative.



This picture is actually in focus, unlike yesterday's, and shows the fireplace nicely. As I forgot to add the mantel before doing the bricks, I left a strip bare to attach that to. That's for another day.

Day 1, 2, 7, and 8 are now more or less done; that just leaves 20 more days to do in less than two weeks. Well, it will not be finished before Christmas Eve, but I will get it as close as I can and then complete it in the New Year. I'm just extending Christmas, I guess!

At least I'm keeping busy and back with minis....

Day 11 - The Curtains Are Up

Today saw the table get a tablecloth, and the curtains go up on the window. I really like the colour scheme so far; the fireplace will get white bricks, and of course there are lots of other seasonal touches to go into the project.(Unfortunately, my photo is not quite in focus.) The curtain fabric is a wool-like random stripe in red on green, and handled like a dream; I think it is fabric left over from the country decorating craze. A few years ago I bought a shopping bag of bits and pieces from a quilters' rummage sale. The homespun cushions were made from fabric from the same batch.

Now if I could only find a small, limp doily for the table! I think I'd better hit a couple of second-hand and antique shops in town.

Next up, I need to make a chair, ottoman and rug. That will finish the major furnishings, but there are lots of smaller items to come. I'm thinking of wrapping the outside of the vignette in unbleached muslin fabric; my daughter used bolts of this stuff to make fitting mock-ups for her customers, and some of it comes in nice big chunks. I kind of hope that using the fabric, which is quite sturdy, will reinforce the vignette. And the cream colour should match the  colour scheme.

The vignette is still being held together with masking tape and my brush jar; it's so much easier to work on flat pieces, that I won't glue and pin the walls to the floor and each other until I'm done with the bricks on the fireplace.

I got to spend all day on minis today!

Day 10 - Advent Project

It is late, and I am tired. Today, I finished the floor, cut and did the base coat for the hearth, stuccoed the fireplace wall, and put beeswax on the woodwork. The fireplace is cut into the chimney, which means bricking is next....

The cat is sitting at the left edge of the photo, she wasn't exactly helping me tonight!

Progress Report Day 8

Today I accomplished several things, but still not as many as I had hoped! There are a dozen poinsettia plants ready, one for my Advent project, and two that were ordered; the rest are going to shows and sales.



Four different colours of poinsettias; one of the cream ones is for the project, two of the red ones were ordered. The rest are available for however long it takes to sell them! My stock is rather low right now, so I do need to build it up a bit. I also made three single poinsettias that I hope to incorporate into Christmas wreaths to match the plants. The little Christmas tree is the inexpensive ornament I picked up recently, for less than a dollar!



The "window" and the outside scene are now in place on the window wall, and I managed to sew some of the soft furnishings; these are actually Day 7, but I am definitely not doing this project in the order the designer did. Three of the cushions are complete, the printed one needs its bunka braid edging, and the little quilt needs its stuffing and quilting. That's for tomorrow, hopefully .

Tomorrow is supposed to be our miniature club's Christmas Pot Luck party, but we are being threatened by the first snow storm of the season, with 20 cm (8") in the forecast, so it may have to be postponed.



A better look at the soft furnishings; the three check and stripe pillows have a dark red bunka edging, while the print pillow and probably the quilt will get a slightly brighter edging. I don't have a bright green in my bunka stash, just olives and light greens. Although the little houses are not lined up in a check pattern, I think it will still work well as a quilt in this scene.

Now I am going to relax for a while, by watching television and then reading a few chapters in my library book.

Got Some More Stuff Done - Day 6

Although my fellow Advent Calendar creators were unable to come, I worked away by myself and am quite pleased with what I have managed to do today. Mind you, I didn't do anything else....



The floor is done, except for the area where the fireplace hearth will be placed. And the wainscoting on the fireplace wall is in place, with a void where the fireplace and chimney will go. The woodwork still needs painting, but as I am using universal glue, which it is recommended you give 24 hrs. to dry, I will have to do that tomorrow. Then I have to apply the tissue paper stucco to the upper half of the fireplace wall.

The cardboard cylinder is the form for the table, while the strip-looking thing is the pelmet for the window. They are ready to be covered with fabric, although I need to get a tiny doily for the over cloth for the table. I work tomorrow until 3 p.m., and intend to head into town to see if I can find a nice small doily in a second-hand store when I am done.



This is the fabric I hope to use: the green aida cloth will become the rug, trimmed with the cream cordonnee embroidery thread and hat straw in the plastic dish. The beige-looking thing is a tiny houndstooth print in ecru and beige, for upholstery, nice and neutral. The green and red stripe is for the curtains. The print with the little houses will become a quilt and an accent pillow, while the stripe, checks and plaid will become other pillows. And the wine colour will be the under cloth for the round table.

I also found a largish red and green basket; with the handle cut off, and filled with cut twigs, it will become a firewood basket. Two large jewelry caps and a bead will become a decorative box. I picked up a tiny green tinsel tree, which will likely become a table tree in the vignette;  it is a cheap but very effective ornament.

What I am missing is a good photo for "outside" the window; the one I tried to print, from the blog, came out far too dark. Perhaps my husband could help with that....

If I have the energy, I may do the pelmet and under cloth for the table this evening, as they could then dry nicely until I can get back to the project again.

Real Life Snuck In Once Again

Today I decided I would dedicate the morning to working on a Real Life cross-stitch Christmas stocking for my new son-in-law, and then use the afternoon for miniature making. Well, I forgot an appointment in the middle of the afternoon, with the result that the only mini thing I got done was to paint the stucco wall in my vignette.

Tomorrow, the other two ladies who are working on the Advent Calendar vignette are coming over to do minis with me, which means I have high hopes I will get more done tomorrow!

Advent Calendar Day 4 ...

...although I'm still kind of on Day 1. Today I made another 3 poinsettia plants; 3 more tomorrow, and the day after that. By now I should have the room completed, the curtains up, and the fireplace in, so I'd better keep on going.



But the stucco is on, the window is framed, and the wainscoting has been sort of pickle painted; you brush on and then wipe off the paint. I see I am still very straight-line challenged, judging by the window top!

The floor is partially planked, and I need to decide which fireplace design to use, in order to go forward. The planks will also be pickle painted, as will parts of the fireplace wall. The original design has a very European, i.e. quite tiny, fireplace without a hearth; I'd like to have a hearth, as it would give me a good surface to place decorations on.

I need to find a scene to place behind the window. I'd love to use a photo of my own back garden in winter, as this will likely go to my younger daughter, but I don't think it is on my camera any more, and I don't know if I can capture a photo from the blog to print. I must ask her.

The vignette is quite white and cream in colour, in order to set off the various furnishings and decorative items that will be made for it. Right now the wall is sort of white, but tomorrow it will be painted in light buttermilk.

I Think I'm Back....

Yesterday, our Fame group exhibited at the model railroad show again, our fourth year. This year, our name was even on the poster! As there was an extra table for us, I offered to do a flower-making demo, as one of our members had commissioned a couple of potted poinsettia plants. Two of them got done at the show, the third I just finished, and I'm starting 3 coral and 3 hot pink potted plants. Doing it at home is much faster than at the show! My plan is to have a dozen of these plants, in four different colours. There are various stages of completion on the cutting mat and stuck in the foam block.



The other thing I'm working on is a miniature project that follows the principle of an Advent Calendar; in this case, you do a mini a day and by Christmas Eve you have a completed setting to decorate your home. Hmmmm, well Dec. 1 we had company, so no minis got done. Yesterday, Dec. 2, I spent at the show. So all I have done so far is what is above, along with the window lining and frame. I think my Advent Calendar will have to be worked on well into the New Year....

To motivate myself, I'll post what I managed to get done every evening - the first part of the project is the setting itself, so rather labour-intensive. As one goes along, the projects get smaller and easier to finish in one session. To further motivate myself, two mini friends are participating in this challenge, and are also making their version of the Advent Calendar.

This particular project comes from the German miniature publication, 1 zu 12, and was designed by their editor, Rita Beninde. The magazine was a gift to me from one of my Camp MiniHaHa friends. She occasionally gets an extra when mail is inexplicably delayed, and as I can read German, and love their projects, I am very happy to get this magazine! This project was published in their Nov./Dec. 2011 issue.

We agreed that we don't have to do every project, some of which didn't appeal so much to our North American eyes. So we will also be delving into our respective stashes, and seeing what we have squirreled away that will work with this project. Hopefully, I can get photos of all 3 finished projects early next year.

Now I have to relearn how to center my photos! Back to gluing petals on poinsettia plants....