Late Victorian English Manor Dollhouse: 1/12 Miniature from Scratch

Boy's Bedroom and past projects

2012-02-20T18:29:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and having a great week. This past weekend I finished the Boy's room.

The room measures 17" x 14" and 11 5/8" high. I'm afraid I don't have anything new to say about this room. I've used all the techniques and talked about them before.

The fireplace is an inexpensive resin one I faux painted using a technique by Whitledge-Burgess. I wanted the walls to be panneled, but chose a simpler design then the public rooms of the house. Because I wanted this room to have a masculine feel, I applied 3 coats of shellac to the floors wheras the Girl's Room and Bedroom hall only got 2. The Shellac flakes I use are Garnett Color. Each time you add a coat the floor gets a darker, orange color.

The furniture was purchased years ago and intended to be a master bedroom suite. Of all the bedroom sets I've seen I think this was one of the most masculin. I folded a piece of cotton fabric I had left over on the matress. I love the yellow in this room and would like a red fabric bedcover. Late victorians stopped using heavy drapery on the beds because they worried it wasen't hygienic. However, this is my house, so if I decide to hang drapes, so be it!
And here's a look at the empty room. I always think the empty rooms look smaller then they are

And that was progress for this week. Next, the Master Bedroom. I have a VERY busy couple of weeks coming up, so it might be a little while before my next post.

I have to take a moment and thank you all for your wonderful comments. You flatter me with all your kindess and I think it high praise indeed coming from such talented artists as yourselves. I say it every week but it's the truth, it meas a lot to me and keeps me going. Several times friends have commented that being afraid of failure keeps them from trying. The only reason I have acheived what I haven is because I never shy away from a challenge. If I mess up, big deal! I swear a little, laugh a lot, and move on.

Since my post was rather short, I figured I'd put up some pictures of the last projects I built before starting on Dewell Manor. When I think of the Foxhall Manor I built, all I think about are my errors: bad crown molding (attached with nails no less), bad paint, oversized tiles and grout lines, crooked construction, rediculous hinging on cabinet doors, bad brick work in the kitchen...

I was happy witht he popsicle stick flooring on the second floor

I loved my design for the kitchen and was happy to scratch build everything...but boy do I wish I had payed more attention to the small details

I must admit, I was really happy with the appliances I made, however, the hinges on the cabinets ruined the effect

World's largest grout lines

Do not use high gloss paints on miniature doors and trim

I made this room for my # 1 aunt Lorraine. I used it to test several Whitledge-Burgess Techniques I read about in a magazine article. I was happy enough with the box to take on Dewell Manor

I knew my work was good, not great, but I hoped I could do better. I did research on miniatures, Victoriana, full size construction, various art mediums, carpentry...I know there are things that just come naturally to me, but that's no reason not to try and improve what I am strugglign with. NEVER shy away from a challenge!

On that note, I wish you all a wonderful week. I will be commenting on your blogs I promise, work has just been taking A LOT out of me the past few weeks and the computer is the last thing I want to look at when I get home.

I wish you all the best my friends
Huge Giac hugs to all,
No Fear!

Giac

Scullery

2012-02-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I hope you all had a good week. Things at work are back to normal for the moment. It was really crazy, but I spent my free time working on he scullery to try and forget about the office.

Since Dewell Manor's kitchen is 24 inches by 20 inches, I decided to take one area and build a proper scullery.

The first Item I put together was the Dish rack.

I started by drilling evenly spaced holes on some leftover pieces of lumber I had lying around. I then cut dowels to the height I wanted the dish rack, in this case enough for 3 levels.

When the dowels were through the supports, I spaced them using a 1 1/4 inch piece of wood and glued them into place

Next, I put together the top and side of the dish rack box and glued in the dowel pieces when it was dry

I glued on the second side piece. For the back piece, I glued pieces of 1/8 inch x 1/16 inch lumber at the same level as the horizontal supports. Next, I took more dowels and glued them to line up with the front piece. In the next picture, you see me adding another 1/8 , 1/16 inch piece of lumber to help support the dishes.

While the rack dried, I made the cup rack

This is just another piece of lumber 1/4 wide with holes drilled through. instead of using dowels for the cup pegs, I cut off the tips of cocktail toothpicks that had a nice detail. I made 2 of these, glued them onto 2 supports and added shelves, corbels, and 2 small dowels do look like supports for the top shelf.

Next came the sinks
I have 2 porcelain sinks in the kitchen, so I decided the scullery would have 2 other sinks. The first one is a wood sink victorians used to wash china (porcelain sinks would chip the dishes) and the second is a copper sink used for messy preperation (cleaning fish and washing pots and pans).

Both sinks are simple wood boxes on wood supports.

I used embossing metal sheets for the copper sink. This is a fairly soft sheet of copper. It is easy enough to cut with a utility knife and very easy to fold. I first made a smaller wood box to fit into the sink. I glued down the bottom piece of metal, and then folded a strip around the sides which went over the top of the smaller box. (see above picture) I cut thin strips of the metal and glued those over the top of the copper sink to cover any wood you could see.

In the above picture, I dropped the copper sink into the woood piece and covered the gap with 1/4 x1/8 molding strips.

Finaly, I drilled a whole in the bottom of the sink and filled it with a brass grommet (used for dollhouse electrifying) for the drain and I glued a piece of copper dowel underneath. I tried making faucets with , but they looked awful so I'm going to purchase them.

I made a small counter with a drawer that goes under the plate rack. It has a small lip to help guide the water that drips from the dishes into the wood sink. The counter between the 2 sinks is a piece of wainscott sample I had. The grooves are just the right size to send the water back into the sink when pots are drying. I painted everything to look like dark wood.

And once everything was dry, I glued it all into place

I also put together a clothes rack that will hang from the ceiling in front of the kitchen stove

I'm not going to hang it yet. I want to eventually purchase a wrought iron pot rack and will decide what the best placement for both item is.

If anyone is interested in Victorian kitchens I found a wonderful British series called "Victorian Kitchen":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoJnEJlwCpU&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL66C52B53F7E34468

It's a 9 episode series in which they repair a real victorian kitchen, hire a cook who started off as a scullery maid in the late 1920s and she prepares food in the same way the victorians did. The first episode has a lot of information about how the kitchen was set up.

I also reccomend a book called "The Victorian House" by Judith Flanders. It talks about everything in the victorian middle class home. It gives a good idea of the work that servants went through on a daily basis.

Next I will tackle the 3 unfinished rooms of the second floor. I've been putting it off bcause I didn't feel like cutting all the floor planks, but now I have to in order to go forward.

I also want to thank Maria from http://prettythingsireland.blogspot.com/ for giving me a Blog Fantabuloso award! My first award! Thank you so much Maria, I REALLY appreciate it and it means a lot coming from you.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I wish you all the best,
Hugs,
Giac

Grand Staircase Bay Window, Ladders and scullery

2012-02-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I hope you've all been well. I've been putting in way too much overtime at work and not getting enough sleep, but I did manage to get a few small projects done.

Gallery and staircase Bay window

The first project I got done is the staircase window. The window opening is 12 inches high by 6 inches wide. I started by making a simple frame out of basewood. In the next picture, I cut the ends of the angled pieces at 45 degree angles. I glued them with carpenter's glue and gel super glue.

When the angled pieces were set I glued the vertical frame pieces, then the smaller horizontal pieces. In the next picture you see the window structure put together.

When this was all dry, I glued on 1/4" x 1/8" pieces to create the sashes to hold the window panes. To finish off this window, I cut crown molding into thin strips to create the gothic arches at the top of the window.

I'm going to glue this window in using just a few dots of hot glue. Since this section of the house is 12 inches wide and 34 inches deep, I want the window to be removable in case I need access to the staircase for cleaning or repairs.

The next project I worked on were the ladders for the Library Bookcases.

I simply took 1/8" by 1/4" lumber and drilled holes the same diameter as my dowels 5/8 inches apart.

I glued them together with The Ultimate Glue . I then painted them to match the library wood. I was lucky enought to find necklace clips that were just the right size for the hooks to hold the ladder onto the bar at the top of the bookcases.

I'm currently working on cutting wood strips for flooring, and I'm working on the scullery. Here's a look at the plate rack and the wood sink. The sink looks exactly like the one I saw in old pictures, but it doesn't translate well in miniature...it just looks too bulky so I'm going to start it over.

And that is all I've done. I'm hoping the insanity at work has passed for a while so I can spend a little more time on Dewell Manor.

I haven't had much free time to comment on your blogs and I apologize, but rest assured I am going through them and as always your work never ceases to amaze me.
I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I will try to have the scullery finished by sunday.
I wish you all the best,
Giac

Miniaturas, Final room count, attic plans, and Loggia furniture!

2012-01-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
I hope everyone has been well. First off, I just want to thank everyone who follows my blog. I never dreamt this many people would take an interest in my work. I hope my blog will keep on inspiring and giving people ideas. Thank you all so much!

Before I start, I just wanted to share some very happy news. "Miniaturas" Magazine is running a series of articles following my work on Dewell Manor. I saw the first article just hours before we left for our trip. I have to congratulate Pedrete and Madelva for putting together such a beautiful article. Thank you very much my friends! I am honoured!

Jo and I had a wonderful vacation. I was worried about a Caribbean cruise because I'm not a beach person! The inner child in me is still very strong, so I get bored, restless and annoying in very calm situations. However, I did have a lot of fun.

I built a little sand castle , read "The Shining" and a Hercule Poirot mystery, and of course, I thought of Dewell Manor.

As I sat at the back of the boat, looking at the sea, I made a quick sketch, yet again, of what Dewell Manor would look like from the sunken garden

the vision

the reality

Before I get to exterior work I want all interiors to be complete. The opening panels will be rather large and I'm afraid I might damage them while I work. I always had a 95% clear vision of the entire manor, except for the attic. Happily, After many weeks of thinking, I commited to a floor plan for the top floor. So here is the finalized list of rooms for Dewell Manor and their measurements in inches:

First Floor
1.Kitchen 20 x 24
2.Loggia 13 x 13
3. Dining Room 16 x 20
4. Game Room 14 x 33
5. Drawing Room 17 x 30
6. Entrance Hall 12 x 34
7. Music room 20 x 36

Second Floor
8. Dressing Room 20 x 24
9. Master bedroom 16 x 20
10. Bedroom Hall 15 x 31
11. Girl's Room 14 x 17
12. Boy's Room 14 x 17
13. Gallery and Landing 12 x 24
14. Library 20 x 36

Attic Floor
15. Morning Room 14 x 24
16. Sewing Room 12 x 16
17.Nursery 15 x 21
18. Attic Hall 10 x 21
19. Bathroom 13 x 13
20. Gentlemans Room 14 x 24
21. Office 12 x 16

There will also be a tower, originally a clock tower, but I'm thinking of making it a room instead. Because I want the plans to be realistic, a tower means another staircase in the attic. Yet again, it will barely be visible, but it will be there!

I originally wanted to have servants quarters on the attic floor, but I've decided they all live in small cottages on the grounds of the estate near the main house. I had furniture for the Morning Room, Nursery, and the Bathroom, so I got online and ordered a set for the Gentleman's room. This room will be visible only through the office double doors, so I wanted a set that would stick out and be noticed.

The office will have built in bookcases and will be completley paneled in walnut, so I only need a desk, and the sewing room only needs an armoire and sewing machine. With the furniture purchased, I chose my wallpaper. Since I have not worked on the manor, here are pictures of the furniture and the wallpapers to give you an idea what the attic will look like.

Morning Room

Sewing Room

Nursery

Hall

Bathroom

Bathroom Tile

Gentleman's Room

One other room I originally had not planned on was the Loggia. 2 days before we left, I received the furniture I ordered from the Little Dollhouse Company.

The loggia will be red brick and stone, but I want marrocan tiles for the floor and a light fixture with colored crystals. I might also add curtains between the columns to block out the sun.

Before I tackle the attic, I have 3 rooms left to finish on the second floor. The Dressing Room, Master Bedroom and the boy's room. The next 2 weeks I will work on the flooring for these 3 rooms...very boring...and then I will finish them one by one.

Well, you are now all up to date and I can't wait to get some work done. I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful week. I only had time to pop into some of your blogs, but I promise I will catch up soon.
All the best my friends, and once again, thank you all!

Giac

Music Room

2012-01-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone.
I hope you all had a wonderful New year! I had a week off for Christmas and New Years, so I wanted to finish the Music Room before I went back to work. I'm glad to say mission accomplished!

The Music Room is right under the Library. I've mentionned that Dewell Manor is on the edge of a cliff in England. These are the 2 rooms that would have views of the ocean on 3 sides, So I made the windows as big as possible.

The fireplace, overmantel and ceiling cornice are from Sue Cook, and the colums from Unique Miniatures

I didn't make the arches in the top sections of the windows. The window treatments will cover them, so I saw no reason to spend time on a detail that would be lost.

Since the paper was busy, the ceiling moulding ornate, and the fabric for the window treatments is a bright blue silk, I decided to keep the rest of the wall detail fairly simple. The most time consuming projects were the Atlantides and the Marble Columns.

Atlantides are male sculptures that top or replace columns and look as though they are supporting the structure. In a past post I used the term carryatides, but from what I read carryatides are female sculptures. I've only ever sculpted clay once, and that was for the 2 dimensional figures over the Great Room fireplaces, so in true Giac form, I told myself, maybe I'm gifted and just don't know it. Well, 2 days later, I can say my work is good, but not great.

If anyone ever wants to try sculpting, it's actually a lot of fun. I first tried working with regular clay, but the figures and detail were so small they dried out, cracked and chipped every time I touched them. I then tried Super Sculpey and I loved it. It's an oven bake clay and I thought it was easy and fun to work with.

I first twisted metal wire so as to make the figures stronger. Next I covered the wire frame with Sculpey

The matal wire was in the shape of a T. Here it is all covered

I took out some body building magazines and used those as guides to shape the musculature

(Again, sorry I can't get this picture right side up) I only had 2 sculting tools and needles, so fine details like fingers were left out. With more tools I think I could of done better, but I was more interested in the overall shape of the figures and not the details, so the investment didn't seem worth it.

Here are the 3 I made, Buba, Brutus and Adam (he was the first finished for the room). When they were done I baked them for 15 minutes. the slimmer ends, like the "hands" burnt a little, but it didn't bother me because I covered them in 2 coats of Gesso and then faux-marbled them. I'm proud of them, but know they're good, not great...but man did I ever have a good laugh at my first attempt below

This was my very first 3d sculpture ever. Jo asked why I was laughing and I told him I created a steroid loving Drag Queen in a flamenco version of Cabaret! Laughing at yourself is the best therapy in my opinion. Smashing him to start over was also fun!

The faux marble technique was the same I've used in the past. 2 coates of medium gray brushed on, 1 coat of off-white sponged on, 1 coat of pure white sponged on, then medium gray veins applied with toothpicks. The Atlantides were easy enough to paint, the columns were time consuming because of the fluting.

The columns are from Unique Miniatures. I had to heat them with a hair dryer till soft to straighten them. I had to cut out a section of the column to make them shorter. It went well, except after a while the razar saw I used with a mitter box heated the resin column and the saw had a hard time going through. The columns in the corners of the room without Atlantides will hold busts of great composers.

This room was really long to put together, but I'm very happy with the result. I wanted this room to be very delicate and feminine, and I think it will be perfect once the curtains are up.

On another note, Jo and I are going on Holiday for a week as of this coming Sunday (the next 4 days of work will be murder) so it might be a while before my next post. I hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks and I will definetely catch up on your blogs when I get back..

I wish you all the best and a great couple of weeks.

Giac

Christmas 2011, I love Getzan Chandeliers

2011-12-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderfull Christmas. As always I received both side on the 24th. I cooked/ ate all day and we had a wonderful time. This year was even better because we finally had a baby in the house. My sister Marilena had Alina in April. She's the most vivacious medium girl you've ever seen...I say medium because I refuse to refer to a 23 pound 8 month old as little!

Once again, I was spoiled rotten this year. As always Jo and both sides of our family got together to get my presents. I am so happy to say, I have the first chandeliers for Dewell Manor!

The 3 chandeliers are called "Charleston" from http://www.jgetzan.com/, as well as the pans. The 2 antique Bronze finish fixtures and sconces are for the Great Room, and the gold one with the extra long chain will hang over the staircase. All the chandeliers I have chosen for Dewell Manor are from the Getzans. What I love about their chandeliers is the detail and workmanship. The fixtures have a beautiful architectural quality to them that is exactly what I envisionned for an english Manor house. I love cascades of crystals as much, if not more, then anyone out there, but they would of looked out of place in many of the rooms of my project.

To the left of the pans is a Ballerina figure from Randall Zadar. The detail in his pieces is amazing!

And Jo remembered these pieces I wanted and found them online. The cabinet is for the Gallery, and the chairs will go in the Dressing Room. He got BIG husband point this year...BIG!!!

Now that it's over I've been working on the Music Room, I hope to have it finished before I go back to work on Tuesday and will post the minute it's done.

Happy new year to everyone!

Giac!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

Merry christmas and happy holidays to all!

Thank you for your wonderful support and very great kindness. Creating this blog was a way to keep me focused and going forward. I never expected to meet such great people or make so many friends.

To all of you, whether you're celebrating Christmas or not, I wish you only the best and all your hearts desires.

I wish you happiness and peace in the home

I wish you prosperity and a dinner table surrounded by loved ones

And in the spirit of Garfiled's Christmas Special, I wish you lots and lots of presents

When I came down and saw an object in the house I paniced and thought "what broke", Then I saw it was santa...Jo just scored lots of husband points!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and now I look forward to a week off catching up on all your blogs.

I always say it, but it is sincere,

All the best my friends,

Great big Hugs

Giac

Girl's Bedroom and central attic partitions

2011-12-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
I hope you are all doing well and not going too crazy in preperation for the holidays!
I finished the Girl's Bedroom today.

The biggest challenge was the door. It took me a while to commit to a design. I decided on a classic pannel on the bottom half and linen fold detail for the top. The field aroung the linen fold looked a bit empty, so I took a basewood corbel, sliced it, and glued it into the inner corners of the frame. All the other bedroom doors will be the same, only finished in faux-walnut.

Instead of hanging picture frames in this room, I'm thinking of making a half round canopy with curtains to go over the headboard. Most likely it will be blue and white silk with gold trim.

I also put up some partitions in the central part of the attic for the Nursery and Bathroom.

The Nursery will be 21" x 15"

To the left of the fireplace there will be a built in bench with curtains. Over the fireplace I cut out an opening that is over an inch deep for a 1:144 roombox. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking of a scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. On the back wall, where the crib is, I'm going to make a puppet theater, and I want to make a child height table with dolls, puppets and several different teapots...yes, Alice's Adventures in wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are amongst my favorite stories.

The bathroom will measure 13 x 13. I have white and pale green victorian tile sheets for the walls, and Mahogany bathroom furniture (sink, Toilet, bathtub and cabinet) from bespaq. I'm not sure what will go where just yet.

Finally, I've mentionned before that I am not a fan of spray adhesive. and here is why:

The parquet section of the Great Room floor came right up. It was an easy fix, I just re-glued everything with The ultimate Glue and stacked books on top overnight, but I can officially say I've gone from not liking spray adhesive to hating, loathing, and abominating the stuff.

And now I'm off to make supper. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and good luck with last minute shopping and holiday preperation.

All the best,
Giac

Library

2011-12-03T21:56:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. After a long, hard week at work, I finally was able to finish the library.

Last post I had just finished the bookcases. When they were dry, I realized right away that the color would not work. I think I used too much liquin in my oil paint top coat. The finish was mat and boring and way too light. I mixed up new batches of black and Burnt Umber paint and re-did them. The flash on the camera makes the color look more brown then it is. The second time around I was happy!

Sorry, again I can't get it right side up.
I also painted the baseboards, doorframe and mantel pieces.

The next step was making the windows. I already posted about window making, so I won't go into the details again. Basically they are all made from basewood to look like double hung windows and faux painted.

The Mahogany faux paint technique I use is to apply a coat of delta ceramcoat Red Oxide paint. When dry, I go over with Black and Burnt Umber oil paints thinned with Medium. When dry, I added window handles and locks on the bottom sash.

Next, I had to glue down the carpet. I had glued my piece of red velvet onto an illustration board subfloor with spray adhesive. When I took it out to attach it to the structure, the velvet came loose. Why I used spray adhesive I just don't know. I HATE the stuff because it never works for me the way it should. After 5 minutes of swearing, cursing and pacing the room. I calmed down and tried to attach the velvet back with double sided carpet tape...I ran out just before I was finished. I took out my glue stick because it is not liquid and would not go through the velvet...Folks, it went through the velvet! In the end, it looked like a well worn carpet and the area the glue came through was going to be hidden by a Turkish Rug, so I glued it down to the structure.
About 25 minutes later, I was pouring myself a cup of coffee when I froze solid...I haden't put the electrical wires in the channels under the carpet before I glued it down.
I ran down and ripped the carpet out. ..half of the cardboard stayed stuck to the floor. Thankfully the glue hadn't set so I was able to rub it off.
I put the wires in, bought more illustration board and double sided tape...thank God I had another piece of velvet just big enough for the floor...steamed the wrinkles out, and started all over. The double sided tape worked well to attach the velvet to the subfloor. I then glued it to the structure with the Ultimate Glue. This experience is why there will be no more wall to wall carpet in Dewell Manor.

I had painted the fireplace, overmantel and columns for the nook months ago. The color was great, but the details didn't stick out. I found some gold colored oil based paint with a bit of a metallic sheen and just went over some of the details so they would stand out. The painting over the fireplace is a postcard I got in Europe

Finally, everything got done. In a past post I had mentionned I wasent sure about the red carpet. Some friends pointed out it might be too bright. However, I changed my mind when I put the painted bookcases in the room. I think the room needed an intense, bright floor color because the walls, ceiling and woodwork and furniture were so dark.
I will now work on the 3 ladders for the bookcases.

That's my update for this week. Welcome to all my new followers and once again, thank you all for your interest and for taking time to comment. I appreciate it very much.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week,
All the best,
Giac

Gallery update and Library bookcases

2011-11-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
I hope everyone is well. I had 3 vacation days this past week and planned on working on Dewell Manor the whole time. However, reality was spending time at my mom's and helped her around the house, visiting my niece, and we had a family supper for my grandmother's birthday. Not what I planned, but it was fun!
I did spend 2 whole days working on the Gallery and the Library bookcases

Gallery

Originally, this space was going to be the bathroom and you'd only see the staircase balustrade through a door. I'm glad I listened to Jo and didn't close off the landing. I decided to make this an art gallery because I have a few sculptures I purchased on our vacations, and I have a soft spot for Randall Zadar figurines.
Note to all, when I assembled the floor I put 1 square with the grain in the wrong direction. I couldn't tell untill the floors were shellacked. That's the single yellow square that jumps out at you. My solution, I'm covering it with a large pillow for one of the dogs.

My second project were the bookcases for the library

They are 10 1/2 inches high, so I incorporated a brass rail at the top for rolling ladders.

Above,in order:

I started by gluing bassewood strips to an illustration board back

I built up the bottom section for the doors

then, I added the front strips which match the door and window frames

I wanted the bookcases to look built in, however I made the false wall in the library 1/2" deep , but the bookshelves are 1" deep. So I attached a 1/2 in spacer to the back of the front strips.

on the right, I added moulding and corner blocks

I added crown moulding, quarter bead moulding and doors. I decided the doors didn't need to open.

To hold the brass rod for the ladder, I drilled holes into corbels and glued them on.

The final touch was linen fold panels to add a little interest to the doors.

Sorry, can't get the picture right side up!

This week, I'm going to try to finish the library...hopefully I'll be able to post next weekend.

I say it every time, thank you all so much for your interest and your feedback. I'm off to catch up on all your projects.
I send you all my best and I hope you have a wonderful week,
And a Very Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating.
Giac

Gallery floor, a little bit of house and family history.

2011-11-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

Hello all.
I hope everyone is well. I haven't had much time to work on the Manor in the past 2 weeks. Last weekend we spent both days outdoors getting the yard ready for winter, and yesterday I spent all day decorating the house for the holidays. Yes, some think it's a bit early, but Christmas makes me happy and that's all the reason I need!

Actually, I've been working on the floor for the Gallery, the room just above the entrance at the top of the stairs. I say this all the time, but it took forever! About 18 hours in total.

I wanted the wood floor to match the pattern of the black and white marble floor of the room underneath. As with all the wood floors I used the iron on wood strip rolls you get at hardware stores. They work great, except that the rolls are so thin it's hard to get it to lie perfectly straight when you cut it, so adjustements were necessary for almost every single piece of the floor. Attaching them is easy, I just put the wood side of the piece against the iron for 6 seconds, till the glue starts to go white and bubble a little, then I attach it to the illustration board sub-floor.

I booked my last 3 vacation days on the 14,15 and 16th of the month, so next weekend I should tackle the attic floor devisions, Gallery panneling, and then either assemble the Library bookcases or carve the Caryatides for the music room.
That is all in terms of progress, but I did promise everyone a little information about the house and the family who will live there...
First of all, the design and location of the house came from 3 of my favorite movies. For the location of the house, I wanted it to be on the edge of a cliff, like Windward House from the 1944 movie The Uninvited

The location of the Cliff is somewhere in Cornwall England, inspired by Manderlay, the estate from the 1940 film Rebecca. Basically, the cliff is at the end of a vast estate with a beech at the bottom of the cliff and is surrounded by woods, orchards, Gardens and seperate buildings to house the staff.

The house itself was VERY inspired by Thornewood Castle, the House used in the Stephen King mini-series Rose Red.

Thornewood Castle

Thornewood, for me, is the most beautiful house I've ever seen. I just fell in love with it and I thought it was perfect for a doll house. www.thornewoodcastle.com ...sooo many shingles to cut..
Because my Manor is in the country and set about 1895 to 1905, I decided the house has plumbing in the kitchen and a bathroom in the attic floor. For lighting they used candles because gas pipes for lighting only reached the rural areas later on. The house had Central heating (Furnace in the basement and heat grates in the rooms) which used coal, but because the the house is in the country and it was so readily available, all the fireplaces in the house are wood burning.

As for the family, They will be a family of 5 (1 son and 2 daughters) who are not nobility, but come from prosperous families who have made their fortunes in the textile and timber trades, and also investments in shipping. I'm still working on the individual members of the family and staff. Mostly they are inspired by my favorite movie characters. I've given a lot more thought to the staff then the actual family. My biggest source of information was the book "Victorian House" by Judith Flanders.

I called the house Dewell Manor. Originally, I thought it would be fun to use my own name for the house, but Giacomo Dell'accio just sounded wrong for an english manor house. So after looking up popular victorian names, I decided to use the maiden name of one of my favorite people in the world, the mother of one of our dearest friends from Manchester UK, Yvonne Dewell. I thought Dewell Manor (pronounced duel) had a beautiful ring to it and she was kind enough to let me use it. She also helped me with the story behind the family.
Once again it's past my bedtime. I will definetley share my progress by Wednesday the 16th.
Thank you all for your encouragement and you great comments. I hope this post wasent too boring. I wish everyone a great week and send you all the best.

Giac

Great Room back doors and Update pictures.

2011-10-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I hope you're all having a great weekend.

I spent all day yesterday packing and unpacking furniture. Some of the rooms are almost finished so I need to start looking into artwork. In other rooms, there are certain projects I have in mind but I wanted to see them with the furniture in place before I begin. Also, I made sure my inventory sheets are up to date. At this time I'm missing about 10 pieces of "vital" furniture.

Now, I love putting furniture in the house and seeing the rooms "complete". However, I have 177 pieces of furniture for the manor. It takes hours to unpack everything, dust them, fix any ungled parts put them in place...and it takes even longer to pack everything up again. But here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Entrance and Grand Staircase

Great Room (Drawing Room side)

Great Room (Game Room side) missing arches in the windows over the doors.

Kitchen missing plate drying rack over the back sink

Dining room missing door to Loggia

The other project I worked on was the Great Room doors to the back yard. As with the windows I decided to make all the doors of the manor from scratch. I wanted them a bit larger and taller then what is commercially available.

These will be non working. Since they are at the back of the Great Room it would be hard to get to them.
I took a 3 inch wide piece of lumber for the bottom half of the door, cut one piece to the width of both doors, and then I used 1/2 " lumber cut to 8" to make the vertical sides of each door and glued them on with carpenters glue and gel super glue

The bottom picture shows the back of the doors. I just added smaller pieces of lumber in the center and at each end to hold the window panes and the top piece of the door in place. Then I attached molding strips inside each frame and I made more linen fold pieces for the bottom frame of the door

When the door was dry I painted it antique gold, then faux finished it with oil paint and liquin. Then I placed one door handle, notched out a piece of the door where the keyhole goes and painted it black.

The doorhandles came with matching keys, so I used one to block the keyhole on the other door...I think, realistically, only one side should have a working keyhole. Finally I glued on the doorknobs with a bit of "The Ultimate" glue and gel super glue, applied with a toothpick. And Voila

You can see it in place in the pictures of the Great Room earlier in the post, Game Room side

And that dear friends was my weekend thus far. Today I'm startuing work on a parquet floor for the Gallery.

I have made a list of the remaining interior projects I have to get to:

11 Doors

29 Windows

Bedroom wood floors

Paneling in Gallery, Master Bedroom, Boy's Bedroom and Library

Library Bookcases

Kitchen Plate Drying Rack

Music Room columns and caryatides

Carved overmantels for Library and Master Bedroom

Room divisions for entire Attic (Nursery, Bathroom, Sewing Room, Studio, Housekeeper's Bedroom)

Chandeliers, Sconces and fireplaces

Clock Tower

and of course front opening panels, which must be bricked, and the thousand of slate shingles for the roof.

And I'm sure I forgot some...My goal is to finish the interior of the house for my birthday May 2nd, and the exterior for end of summer 2012.

And now I'm going to get back to work. I will try to post mid-week about the gallery floor and I will take the time to talk about the story about the house...year, location, family...Just so you will all have an idea of my vision.

I wish you all a great week and once again, thank you for your feedback and your very kind encouragement...if I don't feel overwhelemed by what is left to do it is becaus eyou all help keep me positive and wanting to do more and better. I can't wait to see the progress of all your projects.

Best wishes, my friends,

Giac

Roof and Attic floor: part 2; Kitchen Windows and Central Heating.

2011-10-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I hope you all had a great weekend. I worked on the Manor house all weekend and am glad to say the roof structure is done!

Last post I had just finished gluing the gable and cross beam structure out of 3/4" by 1 1/2"lumber.
I picked up the 1/4" MDF panels at the hardware store Saturday morning. The first step was figuring out where to cut holes for the dormers and the opening to allow access from one room to the next.

I penciled in where the pieces met, and I cut the opening about 1" smaller, just to make sure I didn't have any holes where I want to shingle. I cut all the pieces with a dremel. If you ever use the Dremel be warned, it is small but very powerful. The tip spins so fast it's very hard to go in a straight line without a guide. Whenever I use it this is the setup:

I use a large metal Square and metal rulers, and I clamp them to the wood or MDF I am going to cut. I use a multipurpose cutting guide ( the round black base) and #561 Multipurpose Bits. Because of the rotation of the bit, it's easier to cut up to down and right to left. In the opposite direction the dremel tends to jump and make crooked lines.
When came time to attach the panels, first I covered the gable and cross beams with carpenters glue. I put the MDF panel into place and taped it down with masking tape. Next, I pre-drilled a whole for the screw. First, I used a large drill bit and went down just enough so the head of the screw would not stick out. Then, I used the smallest drill bit and went as deep as I could. All panels had 2 or 3 screws attached to the gables, and 2 screws attached to the cross beam. In the end I used 104 1" screws and 36 2" screws.
In the center section of the roof I will have an opening panel that leads to the stair and the nursery

The opening panel is one piece of MDF with 2 gables attached to it. This was a little bit trickier to figure out.
I had cut the gables and glued them to a piece of subfloor.

I then took extra lumber and cut one end to match the angle of the roof. In the picture above I just glued and screwd 2 of them to the sublfoor. I then took this and glued that anlged cut to the opening panel of MDF. In the next picture you see the entire opening panel as well as the 2 dormers.

For some reason Ozzy went right next to it, sat down and would not move.

I'm going to put up the room devisions before I attach the panel with a piano hinge. I took a few more pictures of the roof:

Any gaps where the panels meet will be covered with copper flashing before shingling.

Every once in a while I had to get away from the roof, so I worked on other little details. I finished the panneling in the entrance

I built a working window for the kitchen.

I built them the same way as past windows, exceptd I build a small seperate frame and attached it with hinges to the window frame. I used an exacto to cut into the wood so there would be no unrealistic gap between the frame and sash.

This will be the Only working window in the house. I have realized the more pieces actually move, the more people touch and break them...and it's REALLY hard for me to pretend I'm not bothered and smile and say "that's okay, it's nothing"

And finaly, I purchased some jewelry pieces that looked like old heating grates. In the late victorian times homes started having coal furnaces in the basement which heated the house using ducts. I used a black marker to draw a square on the wallpaper and glued the jewlery bit on

And that, dear friends, was my weekend. If ever my instructions are unclear please feel free to ask any questions. I usually write my posts at the end of long miniature days.
I hope evryone has a wonderful week.
Best wishes to all,
Giac

Roof and Attic Floor: part 1

2011-10-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I hope you are all doing well!
Monday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada, and I managed to take Tuesday and Wednesday off. Naturally, I spent all my free time on Dewell Manor. I had hoped to finish the whole roof before going back to work, but the hardware store was rather busy so the mdf panels won't be ready before Friday. ..but I did get the structure done:

Including the Loggia, the house measures 37 inches deep, 103 inches wide, and 50 inches high.

I made the roof in 3 section seperate from the 1st and second floor structures so that I can take the house apart if I ever have to move it. The subfloor is 1/2 inch mdf, the roof panels will be 1/4 inch mdf, and the frame will be 1 1/2 x 3/4 inch lumber.

The first step for the roof was figuring out the angles I wanted for the gables. I wanted the rooms in the attic to be at least 8 inches high. Since I don't want the rooms to be too small, I figured for every 6 horizontal inches, I'd go up 8 inches....hummm...maybe this drawing will help

The drawing above is the gable over the Kitchen/ Dressing room section of the house which is about 21 inches wide. I used the "8 for 6" rule for each gable, this way they will all have the same angle.
Next, I cut out all the triangles in cardboard and had a test run to see if I liked the proportion of the roof with the rest of the house:

I was happy with the design so I took the lumber I purchased for the roof structure and drew it onto the cardboard triangle. This is how I created the pattern for each piece of the 13 triangle supports that needed to be cut.

I then proceeded to cut all the pieces I need to frame the roof. When they were ready, I just glued them onto the 1/2 inch mdf subfloor with carpenters glue and held everything in place with masking tape

When the glue was dry, I added cross beams,again with carpenters glue. This time I used parcel tape and clamps to hold the beams in place while they dry.

I then took out a measuring tape and figured out the dimensions of each of the mdf panels. I made a cutting plan and went to my hardware store to have everything cut. In total there are 16 panels to be cut in 2 48 x 96 inch sheets of mdf. Unfortunately I'll have to wait till Friday to pick them up.

The last step is to insert screws into each joint. The glue should be enough, but since some of the frame pieces weren't 100% flat on the mdf subfloor, I decided the screws would make sure nothing falls apart later on.

For the first time I can realy see my vision coming to life. I can't wait to get the panels on... however I'm scared tot hink how many shingles I'm going to have to cut and paint to cover the entire roof...help me!

I hope everyone has a happy Thursday and Friday, and I will definetely try to have the roof done by Sunday.

I wish you all the best and I thank you for taking the time to follow my progress... I really appreciate all your feedback and encouragement.

Giac

Bedroom Hall and Windows

2011-10-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.
I had company last weekend and didn't have much time to work on the manor. I've been working on the hall that leads to the bedrooms and the attic floor. In the picture below, the 2 doors on the right are bedrooms, and the door at the end of the hall leads to the gallery on the right and the grand staircase to the left.

The door below leads to the Dressing Room and Master Bedroom

I love the way it came out, but I am a little sad that you won't really see it. When the house is finished, you'll only be able to see it through the bedroom doors. Originally I wasen't going to make the staircase, but I figured even though you only get a glimpse of it, it really adds to the realism of the house.

My first step was to glue the floor on. The subfloor had chanels for the electric wires of the light fixtures int he room below, so I put the wires in the chanels and to make sure no glue got on them, I took strips of paper and, using a glue stick, just glued the sided to the subfloor.

The reason I did this is so I can pull the wires when the time comes to attach the chandeliers...I'm fed up of crawling through the great room!

After I finished the floor and the staircase, the big project was the windows. I decided to make the windows from scratch. In my mind, the manor house is on a cliff, somehere in England, and you can see the ocean on 3 sides of the house. For this reason most windows are 8 to 10 inches high . Since the house is late victorian I wanted double hung windows.

I started by building a simple frame out of basewood.

In the picture above, when the frame was dry, I added a smaller frame inside the openings. I then added quarter round molding to create each sash . One sash was build in front of the smaller frame and the second sash was build on the top of the smaller frame (sorry, hard to explain)...this way it looks like the bottom one can be pulled up to open the window.

On the top part of the window I added an arched piece. When all construction will be finished I want the 4 bottom sashes to have panes with tudor leaded glass in the diamond pattern, and a stained glass transom on the top arched sections.

Finally I painted them and added handles on the bottom sashes and a lock on the top.

I also built the window for the nook in the great room...more crawling!

3 windows down, 29 more to go!

I finished the bedroom hall because my next project is the structure for the attic floor. I'm on holiday till Thursday, so I hope to have it built by then.
I hope everyone has a great week and hopefully, you'll see Dewell Manor fully constructed by Thursday...but I'm not making promises. Oh yeah, I 've cristened the house Dewell Manor, but I'll tell you about that another time.
Best wishes to all, and I look forward to seeing more of your great projects.
Giac

Great Room arched columns

2011-09-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I hope you had a great weekend! I finally finished the arches in the great room! I hope the following directions are clear...in my defence it's past my bedtime!

I'm very happy with them, but I must admit making the valances was much more trouble then
I thought it would be.

I knew the fabric I bought would cause me trouble the minute I touched it. Most miniaturists have always warned to use light, all nautral fabrics for miniatures. This one was a heavy upholstery fabric, 75% polyester and 25% cotton. The only reason I bought it was because, no word of a lie, it was almost exactly what I had imagined for this room...from the color to the pattern it was perfect. I figured I'd rather simplify the valance design and drapes then not use this fabric.
I took out my columns and pieces for the arches and tried out a few designs and found one I liked. Next I cut out all the fabric pieces I would need with a cardboard pattern I made up.

There are 3 double sided arches so I cut 6 big valance frames in illustration board, one for each side, and 6 small half round pieces for the center of the valances.

I cut out 12 triangles in my green fabric and 12 in a burgendy accent fabric. I tried using one of those iron on adhesive tapes to glue the pieces together. When I finally finished, 2 hours later, the tape didn't work and they came apart! After using every Italian, French and English swear word I know ( my southern Italian heritage really came out) I had to take out my sewing machine and go over the 3 sides of each piece. Naturally, I was out of upholstery needles so the thread kept on breaking! I finally finished sewing, flipped them inside out, ironed them flat, then folded them the way I wanted, ironed the folds and pinned them to a pillow to let them keep their shape.

Because the fabric I used was so thick the glue did not go through it. So I completely covered one side of the valance frames and half rounds with The Ultimate glue, put the fabric over it and smoothed it out. I then flipped each piece, ran a line of the glue all around the edges, then folded over the fabric edge and glued it down tight.

Then came assembly:

I glued 2 fabric covered frames back to back

glued on a half round in the center on each side,

added a wood strip spacer in the center on each side,

added gold braid trim around the valence,

glued the folded triangles at each end,

and finally glued on the wood arches over that.

After I glued down the columns, I glued the arch pieces I just described to the top of the room with the Ultimate glue and gel super glue. I then covered the small gaps between the column and the arches with small wood panels with linen fold carvings I made. Then came a piece of ogee molding to top it off.

The final touch was inexpensive plastic cameos I purchased and painted to match the columns.

The linen fold carvings I made with my door frame molding. It's hard to explain..

On the right is the molding, in the center I cut out a notch...almost like a triangle with no point on the top, and in the left picture, I removed just the top part of the molding (follow arow and I penciled in the exposed area)...I hope you understand with the pictures

Well, that was it for this week...there is so much to do I'm not sure what to do next...

I hope you all have a great week,

Giac

Door Frames, Great room panelling and Library Carpet.

2011-09-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. I hope you all had a great weekend.

I finally put together the door frames for the 1st floor! I needed to get them installed so I could start work on baseboards and panelling.

Because the first floor is 14 inches high I wanted all the doors openings to be 8" high by 4"wide, and each one has an opening for a stained glass transom on top, about 1 3/4" high.

I started by gluing the basic frame together out of 1/8" bassewood and then I added the decorative molding, corner pieces and plinth blocks. To make sure everything was at exact 90 degree angles I used the best tool I could find...Lego building blocks.

They help get perfect angles and then you just have to wash them in hot water to remove any leftover glue .
I then added miniature quarter round molding in the transom section to hold the piece of stained glass..eventually!

When they were dry I painted them according to the room they are meant for.

The next BIG project was the panneling in the Great Room. I cannot tell you how painful this was for me. The deepest part of the Great Room is 34 inches . I had to litterally get into the room to attach the moulding strips...I felt like Alice in Wonderland when she drank the "Drink Me" bottle!

Don't laugh! I'm 6 foot 2 and I was like this for over 8 hours today! It was like a sick form of yoga!

I started by gluing the bottom and top strips to the wall, as always with The Ultimate glue and drops of gel super glue. I then glued on the vertical molding strips using lego blocks to keep them as straight as possible.

Then came the long, long task of cutting the horizontal pieces. Again I used Legos to help keep the pattern accurate

When all was in place, I added the baseboards, decorative molding to the top of the panelling, and a picture frame molding strip at the top of the room.

I can now work on the columns and the arches that will seperate the game room area and the drawing room area. I took a break in the afternoon and went to a fabric store to look for curtain material. I found a beautiful red velvet fabric I thought could work in the Library. I got home, glued it onto my illustration board subfloor with spray adhesive (this is about the only time I use spray adhesive. I have had much trouble with it in the past. I loathe the stuff)

I love the look of the carpet with the wallpaper and think it will look quite good with my mahogany and black leather furniture, but I'm just not convinced it's exactly what I want...I'll leave it in for a week or 2 and make my decision then.

I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes...I'm just too tired to go over the post tonight.
Have a great week everyone!
Giac

Attic staircase step by step, Great Room Floors and Loggia

2011-09-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,
I hope everyone is well. I have been juggling 3 projects at once and am finally making some progress.

Many miniaturists seem to be afraid of making staircases from scratch. I actually think they are quite easy, if not a little time consuming. I already put up a post about the grand staircase, but this time I thought I'd give more accurate directions and pictures for the attic staircase. It is simpler, but the directions and the style of the staircase are the same. Here is the picture of it after faux-finishing, but I still have to add the wood strips to create panels.

The first step was to cut each step in 5/8 " MDF. Mine are 3 1/8 inches wide by 1 1/2" deep. I also cut the platform where the staircase changes direction. Once these were cut and sanded, I started gluing them together using wood glue and a drop of gel superglue. The gel glue eliminates the need for clamps. I glue them so that each step wil be 3/4 of an inch deep. I made a jig to make the process go faster.

Since the staircase will eventually get panneled, I added a spacer on the side of the steps, which you can see in the picture above. Next, I used spare wood pieces to make a support for the staircase. I then cut out pieces of illustration board for the walls under the steps and glued all in place, again with gel super glue and wood glue.

Next, I apply nosing trim to the top and the sides of the steps.

Once the nosing strips are in place, glue on the corner posts and the handrails. Let them dry properly because this is the main structural support for the balustrade. When dry, cover the steps and both sides of illustration board with acrylic gesso (if you only cover one side of the illustration board it might curl a little). When that was dry, I painted everything with a base color, in this case, antique gold.

The next step is to add the balustres. I started by painting them with the base color. Before gluing them in place they have to be adjusted to fit. I cut the top of the balustre at about the same angle as the handrail, then I cut the base shorter to fit. The handrail I used has a groove to help hold the balustres. I attach them by putting a bit of wood glue and gel super glue on the bottom and top of each, slide them into place and hold them about 25 seconds for the gel glue to set.

When all is dry, I mix a little oil paint and liquin and brush on the walnut faux-finish.

The second project I worked on was the Great Room floor. I did it the same way as all the other wood floors, finishing it with dissolved shellac flakes, then covering the whole floor with wax.

I will attach the wood floors shortly, but not the columns. I made them to support arches and linen fold panels, but the room is very deep and if I glue them now I won't be able to comfortably apply the wood panels to the back walls.

And last but not least, the Loggia. A loggia is a covered porch , usually with one acces. I made mine off the dining room with a master bedroom balcony above.

I started by cutting an mdf bottom and top pieces and some 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" columns and foundation pieces

When that was glued together, I cut out the low side walls for both levels and the castellation pieces for the top. Finally I cut out steps and arches to complete the design

It will eventually be finished like the rest of the house, in red brick and beige stone detail.
Sorry, this was a long post. I hope you all have a great day and I look forward to following your projects.
Have a great week,
Giac

Entrance Black and White Marble Floor

2011-08-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
I just finished the marble Floor for the Entrance Hall.

The floor was easy to make, but rather time consuming.

As with the firplace mantels, I strated by painting the illustration board a base color, let it dry 30 minutes, then took a wet sea sponge, squeezed out most of the water, dipped it lightly in the second paint color, then sponged it on making sure I turned the sponge to keep the pattern random.

When that was dry, I sponged on another color, very similar to the one before

When that was dry, I used tooth pics to create the veins. I looked at pictures of black and white marble online for help

I let the paint dry overnight, then I sprayed on 3 coates of clear glaze and let that dry for 24 hours. I then rubbed the marble down with a 0000 steel whool.
The next day was cutting day. I cut the black marble into 1 " by 1/4" tiles, and the White marble into 1" x 1" and 1/4" x 1/4" tiles using a metal ruler and a sharp utility knife.

The next step was to cut a subfloor in illustration board to the dimensions of the room. because the tiles are not perfectly square, it was important to have guide lines on the subfloor to make sure the pattern was as exact as possible. I took out some graph paper with 1/4" x 1/4" squares and glued it onto the subfloor. Next, starting with the very center of the room, I glued the tiles in place with a regular glue stick.

The glue stick works well. I put the glue on the subfloor and on the back of the tile. The bond is strong, but it takes a while to set so you can move the tile a bit to aligne it properly. I covered the floor with a piece of mdf and books to wheigh it down overnight.

The next day it was time to grout the floor. I like to use regular drywall spackle, the stuff that is used to fill small holes in the wall. With my finger, I went over the spaces with the spackle and tried to get into all the cracks. Then, I took a damp sponge and went over in circular motions to take off any excess spackle, and go over with a dry cloth. You have to make sure you don't apply too much pressure because you will push the spackle out of the cracks. The final step was to go over it with a steel whool, whipe it down with a damp cloth, and check the fit.

All in all, from start to finish, this floor section took about 16 hours of work. Thank God it's finished.

Foundation

2011-08-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.

I just finished working on the foundation. As I mentionned in an earleir post, because the house is so big I built the structure in 5 sections. To make sure they line up properly I wanted to build a wood foundation on which the 5 sections wil sit and be held in place by dowels.

I decided to use 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" pieces of wood for 2 reasons:
1. The house is 8 feet long and will sit over several modular dressers. I wanted wood thick enough so it would not sag or warp.
2. I read online that 1 sheet of 5/8" MDF weighs 96 pounds...this means my house now weighs about 527.5 pounds, and I still have another floor and the roof to finish, so I needed the foundation to be strong.

My father-in-law Tom helped me to set up the modular furniture and get everything level. We then measured out the wood pieces we needed. I started by gluing the beams together and holding the pieces in place with clamps and masking tape. To make sure it was strong I wanted to add screws, so I drilled 1/8" deep holes the width of the screws heads so they would not stick out.

When the glue was dry, my husband Jo and I placed the house sections (definetely a 2 people job) on the foundation and drilled holes through the mdf and the wood foundation. The dowel will be glued to the foundation, so if I ever need to move the sections it will be easy to aligne them when I put the house back together.

The wings of the house stick out past the foundation I made, but I wont correct this until I've attached the front opening panels to the house. When they will be in place I will build the rest of the foundation to be flush with each wall.

I've also been working on the floor for the Entrance Hall and finishing the columns and arcade for the Great Room. I will try to finish the floor this week, and the columns soon after. Post will follow shortly

Have a great week,
Giac

Finished Music Room and Dining Room Floors

2011-08-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I just finished the floors for 2 rooms. I haven't stuck them to the House structure yet as I still need to let the shellac dry properly and then add a coat of clear wax.

Music Room

Dining Room

Finishing the floors went well. AS I mentionned in an earlier post I used shellac flakes dissolved in 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. When the wood boards were glued onto the illustration board subfloor, I sanded them with 80 and 120 gritt sandpapers. I applied a coat of shellac (I used Garnet color shellac flakes), let it dry 30 minutes, then gently went over it with a 0000 steel whool. I repeated these steps 3 times. The shellac goes on easily, but you have to work very fast and not go over your strokes. A few times I did just that and there are marks on the finish, but since I wanted the floors to look old it worked out very well.

I also finished the Dining Room floor. For this room I purchased miniature parquet sheets and glued them onto an illustration board subfloor and then finished the same as the music room floor with Shellac. The dining room floor took about 30 minutes to put together whereas the music room floor took 3 weeks (I usually work on my miniatures one day each weekend and maybe 1 or 2 evenings a week). Doing the detailed floor from scratch was much longer, however one must take the price into account: The music Room floor (20" x 36") cost about $45.00 versus the Dining Room Floor (16" x 20") which cost about $135.00.

Marble Medallion

2011-07-31T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,

I had a very hectic week, but took the time to paint the marble medallion for the music room. I just finished painting it and still need to add 3 coates of glaze. Once that has dried, I will outline the main pieces with a sharp knife.

The steps for the marble are 2 coates of gesso, one coat of the base color (paler) painted on with a smooth brush, then you add on the second color (darker) with a natural sea spong, which you wet, squeeze the water out, then dip the sponge in the paint and dab it on a piece of paper till there is very little left on the sponge. Remeber to continuously turn the sponge to create a natural pattern The final touch is to go over with a different color to make the veins.

For the medallion, I did the darker marble finish over the whole piece, then covered it with a cardboard cutout whith the triangulr shapes and painted over it to create the lighter marble. Then I painted the grape vines and flowers free hand with a very fine brush.

When the piece will be glaazed, it should look like marble...i hope.

Music Room Floor

2011-07-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I just finished planning and cutting out the music room floor.

The chevron pieces are not yet glued into place. The octogone in the center will be a marble medallion. This is the second floor I make for the music room...

I had originally cut pieces for this floor which included a round marble medallion and less intricate design.

When the time came to glue everything down I applied the contact cement to the surfaces of my subfloor (illustration board) and the individual pieces of wood flooring. I had never worked with that glue before and I usually work in my basement. I had no idea the fumes would be so strong. I tried to bring the pieces outside into my shed quickly, but it was windy and some pieces flew over and landed on my subfloor, glue side to glue side, and they were permanently bonded in the wrong place, so I had to start the floor over. In the end it was a good thing because I'm much happier witht he new floor.

I also tested the shellac on 2 seperate pieces of flooring. The wood strips on thin cardboard warped, but the wood strip on thin cardboard glued onto illustration board with contact cement didn't. The picture below shows both test pieces with 3 coats of shellac.

I will be gluing the music room floor down permanently this week, and hopfully applying the shellac...in the shed this time.

Flooring Update

2011-07-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
We've been moving furniture around our real house so I haven't finished my first wood floor yet. The floor is for the music room. It will be a chevron pattern floor, 20 inches by 36 inches deep.

In the middle of the room, in front of the fireplace, I'm trying to create a faux-marble medallion with a pattern of roses. I tested the shellac finish on a test piece of flooring, and the results are very promising. I will try to have a new post by Sunday evening.

I just want to thank those who left such nice and encouraging comments about my work and everyone who is following me. For some reason I can't leave comments to anybody, either on my blog or anyone else's...the computer...my eternal Nemesis!

Scratch Wood Floors Part 1

2011-07-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

There are many types of wood flooring for miniatures on the market. I looked at many and decided, while it is the hard way, to make all my floors from scratch for several reasons.

1- I have specific patterns in mind
2- Larger flooring sheets are 11 inches x 17 inches. The smallest rooms in my house are 14" x 17" and the largest is 36 inches by 20 inches. this would mean having to match up the patterns and there would be a lot of waste.
3- Each 11" x 17" sheet covers 187 square inches. My house has a total of about 8500 square inches of flooring on 3 levels, most of it wood...It's a big investment.

My technique, and I hope it works, is as follows:

I purchased iron-on real wood strip rolls. I chose Maple and Pine because they had a grain that works best in 1/12 scale and I like the way they look together

The first step was to cut the strips to about 1 and a half inches in length. Next, I took each of those and cut them lengthwise into 3 strips, 2 identical and one slightly larger. I did this with an mdf spacer I had that was the right size. I calculate I'll need about 1600 strips for the music room.

Next, I took a piece of thin black cardboard and attached the individual wood strips all at a 30 degree angle with the top left corner touching the edge of the cardboard ( it makes more sens in the next picture). The best way was to put the hot iron on the cardboard for 8 second, then quickly put 2 or 3 pieces in place. If you put the strips down first and then iron over they had a tendency to move and the glue went everywhere. When I completed the first row, I put a metal ruler over the center and cut off the sides

This gave me one flooring strip for the room. The next one will have the different wood and the 30 degree angle will be reversed, creating the chevron pattern. I only have one finished flooring strip at this time because it took me all of Sunday to cut the individual wood strips. I should finish the rest this coming weekend...I hope!

The last preparation I saw to was the finish. I want to finish all the floors with Shellac as is used for french polishing. This meant I had to dissolve shellac flakes in 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol (isopropanol). It's been 4 days and the flakes are almost finished dissolving. I'll talk about this more next post...if it works the way I want it to.

Thursday, 14 July 2011

I had a realization this morning while on the treadmill at the gym.

Next time, instead of cutting the wood strip roll into 1 and a half inch pieces, just long enough to make one flooring strip, I will cut them long enough to make 5 or 6 rows. that way, I will iron on the strips faster, then just place my ruler and cut nice straight flooring strips. I'll show a picture in a futur post for the flooring in another room...Naturally I could not have thought about this before I cut the 1500 individual strips...live and learn!

Dollhouse update and furniture dry run

2011-07-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

We just got back from holiday and I thought I'd give an update. Here is what the dollhouse looks like at this time.

The structures for the 1st and 2nd floors are assembled.
The grand staircase is complete.
The ceilings and crown moldings are complete.
The walls are papered ,tiled, or faux-finished for panneling.

I worked on the plans for this house for 2 years and have been purchasing the furniture for it over the past 6 years. I know it so well I can close my eyes and walk throught the entire house.

Before the crown molding and faux-finish were done, I had a furniture dry run: I took out all my furniture to make sure all the rooms worked. If a set does not work with a wallpaper, it is easier to change the paper before the crown molding and baseboards are in place. Also, I will have to choose flooring soon and I want to make sure the floors I pick don't overpower the rooms since I have bold wallpaper patterns and ornate furniture! Here are a few of the pictures:

Great Room

Master Bedroom

Dining Room

Music Room

Library

Fireplaces and kitchen hood

2011-07-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

I love fireplaces! When I designed this dollhouse I made sure I had a fireplace in every room. I try to make my miniatures look as realistic as possible and one important detail many people overlook are the dimensions of fireplaces. I made sure that every fireplace was at least 1 and 1/2 inchs deep to realistically accomodate logs. As I posted earlier, I made all the fireboxes, earths and surrounds in double thick poster board.

To make each firebox I cut 3 pieces out of the posterboard: 1 for the top, 1 for the bottom, and 1 long piece for the back and sides. To fold the back piece, I first drew the lines where the piece would be folded, then I scored it about 3/4 of the depth of the posterboard with a sharp utility knife. I glued the pieces together with carpenter's glue and a few dots of gel super glue and held the pieces in place with some masking tape.

When dry, I painted it the color of the mortar, then used the magic brick system to create the bricks. I then stippled on black paint using an old fat round brush to look like soot. When all was dry I varnished the firebox with matt varnish.

The earths and most of the surrounds are painted posterboard to look like marble. The one exception is the dining room fireplace. I had a book with pictures of palace furniture. One picture was of a "Pietra Dura" (cut stone) panel from a dresser. I cut up the sections of the picture, glued them onto the posterboard surround with spray adhesive, and then put on 3 coates of glaze. I think it looks great with the painted mantel.

In the kitchen, I wanted a copper hood for the stove. I could only find one size of copper sheet. It was very thick and I had a difficult time cutting and bending it. I had to use metal cutters and made a jig to get accurate folds. I had a piece of molding that had a good shape for the hood, so I glued the copper over it with The Ultimate Glue and finished folding in the sides.

When the piece was dry, I glued on brass strips with The Ultimate glue and gel super glue. I added the brass for 2 reasons: it looked good and it covered up any imperfect cuts or folds. I then cut wood brackets out of full size trim I had left over. It looks like they are supporting the hood and I used them to hold 2 copper cooking utensil bars. When the time came to glue the pieces into place. I first glued in the brackets because the hood was rather heavy and these would help hold it in place. As usual the Ultimate glue and gel super glue worked great. I liked the brackets very much, so I made more to hold a shelf that goes around most of the kitchen.

Crown molding, Ogees and Frieze

2011-07-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

All the rooms got crown molding or ogees. This enabled me to hide the gap between the ceiling paper and the wallpaper. I painted all the molding strips I needed with the same paint as the ceilings, except for the Library moldings which were finished to look like mahogany. 2 coats was sufficient.

I attached the molding with the Crafter's Pick Ultimate glue and drops of gel super glue every 4 or 5 inches. I applied glue to the top part of the molding (glued to ceiling) and the back of molding (glued to wall). I pressed each piece in place for about 30 seconds. Again, the super glue held them in place while the Ultimate glue dried.

In the Dining Room, because the paper was not quite high enough, I purchased Rococo Frieze molding made by The Lawbre Company. Before the crown molding went up I added a strip of wood 1/8 in thick and 1" high all around the top of the room to act as a spacer for the frieze.
I painted the frieze with 2 coats of my ceiling paint, regular latex paint from the hardware store, and then I painted all the detail with Ceramcoat Metallic Gold paint and the finest brush I could get at the art supply store. I used a different bruch on each piece as the bristles got used. This step took about 4 hours per 18 inch molding strip, but it was worth it!

When the pieces were dry I cut them with a razar saw blade and miter box and attached them with the Ultimate glue and super glue. I then added a smaller ogee molding under it. When the glue was dry I used acrylic gesso to fill in the gaps at the joints and touched up the paint.

The other room that got a special molding finish is the Music Room. I purchased plaster moldings from Sue Cook in England. I finished it the same way as the Dining Room frieze, 2 coats of ceiling paint and detailing in Gold paint. I turned the section of the house upside down and glued them on with gap filling adhesive applied with a caulking gun. After touch ups I was very happy!

Ceilings, Wallpaper and Kitchen Tiles.

2011-07-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

I don't like painting! When the time came to finish the walls and ceilings I decided everything would get wallpaper for the following reasons
-Wallpaper covers imperfections
-I hate painting, I can never get it as smooth as I want.

I looked at many websites and purchased all my ceiling papers on Ebay. All my wallpaper came from Les Chinoiseries in spain. Of all he dollhouse wallpaper I've seen, Les Chinoiseries is the best! The colors are strong and vibrant, the patterns bold and period appropriate, and the quality of the print is very high and they use good, thick paper. It was a pleasure to work with.

Every miniaturist has their favorite way of applying paper to walls. I went with regular good quality wallpaper paste from my hardware store. The paste is slippery which helps position the paper and adjust it. I applied the paste to the back of the paper with an inexpensive sponge brush, apply it to the wall and smooth it down using a sponge roller brush and my clean hands.
I started with the ceilings. I put the house upside down and the textured paper went onto the primed surface easily.

The next day I painted all the ceilings using a small sponge paint roller except for the library which had a gold colored paper. 2 coates was sufficient.I put the house back right side up and tackled the wallpaper. I applied it exactly the same way as the ceiling, being just a bit more careful not to get any paste on the good side of the paper (since the ceiling was getting paint I wasen't as fussy). I cut the paper to the right height, applied it, waited about 10 minutes, then cut out the window and door openings. Many of the rooms are getting wood paneling, so I left the bottom half uncovered.

The only room I had a problem with was the Girl's Bedroom. It is the only paper that ran when a bit too much paste got on the good side. In the end I can camouflage the imperfections or hide them with furniture and molding, I onle had to re-do one wall.

The kitchen is 14" high so I only tiled the bottom half. I purchased 3d laminated cardboard tile sheets. I applied them just like wallpaper. I was a bit more careful when pressin them down because the sheet is textured and if you push to hard you would damage the tile effect.

Grand Staircase

2011-06-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

I had a very specific idea about how I wanted the staircase to look. In order to assemble it and be able to paint in comfortably, I glued the bottom floor, back wall and side wall first, assembled the bottom half of the staircase, finished the the other walls and ceiling, then finished the second half of the staircase.

I started by cutting about 30 pieces of 1/2 inch Mdf 4" wide by 1" deep. I then had a dry run to make sure I liked the look of the staircase

When I was satisfied I glued everything down using carpenter's glue and a spacer I cut out of Mdf to make sure the depth of each step was identical. Once the lower half of the steps were solid, I added molding to create the nosing on each step.

Next, I glued the corner posts in place, added the banister, then glued 2 balusters on each step using a little carpenters glue and a drop of gel super glue. I used primed double thick posterboard to create the wall sections under the steps. When dry I painted the whole staircase with my antique gold base paint

The next step was faux walnut finishing the first half of the staircase. Again, I used oil paints mixed with liquin. A week later, just to make sure the oil paint was completely dry, I added basewood strips I had allready faux finished using Crafter's Pick "The Ultimate" glue. This is a rather thick glue which is easy to use and dries clear. I apply the glue to the back of each strip, but also add a drop of gel super glue at each end and in the center. The super glue keeps the pieces in place while the other glue sets.

Next, I finished assembling the dollhouse wall sections, glued on the last section of the staircase, corner posts, banisters and balusters, faux finished and added the remaining wood strips for the panneling. The effect is exactly what I had hoped for..and only took about 45 hours of work.

Carved Fireplace

2011-06-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

When the shell was complete, I decided to tackle the fireplaces for the great room. I wanted the Great room to be very Tudor in style. So I drew up plans for arched fireplaces with carved figures.

The base for the fireplace is a piece of Mdf 7" wide by 14"high (the main floor is 14 inches high and the 2nd floor is 11 1/2 inches high) . After I cut out the opening for the fire box, I did some research and played around with basewood molding. I wanted the fireplaces to look very massive and imposing.

I never sculpted before in my life, but I figured I'd give it a go. I've always liked the myth of the Three graces. I purchased some air-dry clay and sculpted figures using sewing needles and a few carving tools and jeweler's screw drivers. I let them dry for a week and attached them to the MDF base using gel Super Glue. I then cut out a fireplace surround in double thick poster board but didn't glue it into place.

I then covered both fireplaces (I made 2 which will face each other in the Great Room) with acrylic gesso. Gesso is a thick primer which gives a great base for painting and fills in many small cracks and imperfections.

When the gesso was dry, it was time to faux-finish the fireplaces to look like walnut. I used a technique by Ray Whitledge and Scott Burgess I read about in a miniature magazine. I applied a coat of Delta Ceramcoat ( I used Antique Gold color) and let it dry 1 hour. I then used oil paints mixed with liquine and an old paint brush to create the wood grain.

The last step was to make the fireplace surrounds look like marble. I used a thin basewood molding strip to add some detail to the posterboard. Next, Icovered the 2 sides of the piece with 2 coats of acrylic qesso. I then used Delta Ceramcoat water based paints (2 shades of gray, black and white) and a sea sponge to texture the surface, making sure each color dried before the next was applied. I used a toothpick to create vains and when all was dry I put on 3 coats of spray gloss. Finally, I rubbed the surface with 0000 steel whool to tone down the glossy shine and it was ready.

The picture is before the steel whool rubbing.

For the firebox, I used double thick posterboard and some glue to make the box. I then covered it in gesso, painted it in gray (color of the mortar) and applied the magic brick system to create bricks.

Basically you apply a tape with the bricks cut out, then moisten the red powder included to the consistency of frosting, then apply it over the firebox, remove the tape after 5 minutes and let it dry. I finished it with some black paint to make the fireplace look used. Here it is in the room.

Whitledge-Burgess, The Little Dollhouse Company, Mulvany and Rogers

2011-06-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a moment and talk about the people who helped me with this project, my teachers and friends. I live in an area where the dollhouse hobby is not very popular, so I go online and purchased a lot of books and magazines. Every person has different techniques and opinions for making miniatures. Here are the 3 which I chose to follow.

For the construction of the dollhouse and most of my purchases, I turn to THE LITTLE DOLLHOUSE COMPANY in Toronto.

Maria and John have always been good to me. They sell a booklet called Dollhouse Details Tips and Tricks with step by step instructions and hints on construction, wallpapering, trim....that I have consulted and followed carefully. I have called them often with questions. John is always helpfull with construction and Maria always goes out of her way to get anything I need. Their friendship has been wonderful.

For interior finishing techniques, I could not have done much of anything without the help of Ray Whitledge and Scott Burgess of WHITLEDGE-BURGESS

In 2006 they wrote a magnificent 4 part article in Miniature Collector magazine on how to build a Panneled Library. Their step by step instruction on faux-finishing, applying moldings, which materials to use and many other techniques proved to be the most important I have learned and I think every miniaturist could benefit from their knowledge. I have contacted them with questions several times and they were always so kind, helpful and willing to share what they know with me.

My favorite miniature book is Magnificent Miniatures from MULVANY AND ROGERS.

The book has great pictues of the most beautiful miniature reproductions ever built. It is packed with information, techniques and stories that can help anybody build beautiful room. I always carry the book with me and take it out weekly, just to stay inspired and motivated. It is wonderful to look at and gives a lot of good information.
Links:
http://www.thelittledollhousecompany.com/
http://whitledgeburgess.com/studio/
http://www.mulvanyandrogers.co.uk/

Plans and assembly

2011-06-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

The first thing I did was take out all the pieces of furniture I've collected over the years and create rooms that would fit everything. I did a lot of research and made a list of the rooms I wanted. After many variations, the rooms are as follow:

1st floor:
Kitchen                        20" x 24"
Dining Room                16" x 20"
Great Room                 31" x 30"
Entrance and Staircase 12"x 34"
Music Room                20" x 36"

2nd floor:
Dressing Room            20" x 24"
Master Bedroom         16" x 20"
Girl's Bedroom            14" x 17"
Boy's Bedroom           17" x 14"
Bedroom Hall              15" x 31"
Gallery                        12" x 20"
Library                        20" x 36"

The 3d floor dimensions are not finalised yet, but there will be a Nursery, Housekeeper's Room, Bathroom and Sewing room... at least.

The plans were, to put it mildly, overwhelming. I decided to build the structure in 5 sections. Since I wanted to use MDF I knew it would be extremely heavy and I also needed to be able to fit the pieces through doors and my staircase.
I'm lucky enough to have a great father-in-law, Tom, who is always ready to help, encourage and find solutions to my problems. Well, he was patient and listened to all my concerns, and in the end he became the best accomplice I could ask for.

We brought the plans to our hardware store and asked that they cut the pieces in 1/2"Mdf.. By the time I got the pieces, checked them, and had a dry run, I realized they had cut all 87 pieces in 5/8" MDF instead of 1/2". After a mild panic attack, I looked over the plans, did some measuring, and went back to the hardware store. I didn't want to bring back all the pieces, so I had them re-cut about 12 in 1/2 inch Mdf ...the rest I could work around.
I then drew all the door, window and fireplace openings onto the Mdf and cut them out using a Dremel with a multipurpose cutting guide and #561 Multipurpose Bits. I made sure I used metal rulers held in place with clamps to get perfect cuts. the dremel worked great!
The final preperation was making channels for wiring. I decided to use the hard wire system. In the past I've used tape wire and it was more trouble then it was worth. I'll discuss wiring later on. I used the dremel with the same multipurpose bit, this time adjusting the cutting guide so the channel would be 1/4" deep. All electric channels go to the back of the house and the power bars will be in a section of the attic

To assemble the shell, I first glued the pieces together using Yellow carpenter's glue. I waited a week and drilled 1/4"holes and added 1 1/4" wood dowels to make sure the structure was solid. The next step was priming the whole structure with Behr Premium Plus Primer and Sealer.

Building from scratch

2011-06-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

I've built 3 dollhouses from kits. It was a great way to start and learn. By the third one I felt my work was getting pretty good:

The 3 first kit houses have been given away. I made a list of what would be the perfect miniature project:

-Front opening
-Floor plan must be realistic
-Rooms must be large enough to hold my collection

After a long search for a new kit I realised it might be easier to build one from scratch. I've always loved the charm of old English manor houses. Since my only limit was my imagination I got to work on several house plans. One day I saw a Stephen King mini-series about a haunted house that was absolutely perfect. I started to work on plans and making cardboard models...2 years later, I was finally happy with the plans and ready start work on my dream miniature house:

And here is the final cardboard model built to scale.

It's amazing how a simple little dollhouse wound up measuring 39 inches deep by 100 inches wide and 56 inches high. I wasen't sure I could tackle such a big project, but I finally decided to go for it. I have a bit of an artistic side, so I made detailed plans, drawings and figured out exactly what I wanted the rooms to look like.

Then, I spent about a week drawing out how the pieces could fit on each sheet of Mdf. I listed each piece and their measurements and had the hardware store cut the 87 pieces out of 6 sheets of Mdf. When I got home and taped the pieces together, the result was even more daunting then the cardboard model:

It's big, but it's exactly what I had envisionned. And then the fun began...

In the beginning

2011-06-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
My name is Giac and welcome to my blog. I've been a miniaturist since 1997. In the past I've built 3 dollhouses from kits and have decided to try building one from scratch. The hobby is not very popular in the Montreal area and I thought this blog would be a good way to share my ideas, what I've learned and get help and feedback from others. I started construction on the dollhouse in August of 2010 and am now confident enough to create this blog. I hope you enjoy my work.

Giac