Polymer Clay Miniatures

So, after a really long time, I decided to try polymer clay again... I've been reading a bunch of tutorials and stuff, and here is what I came up with.

Not perfect (and my picutre taking sucks) but everythng is pretty identifiable. There's donuts, croissants, cookies, eclairs, bread, cinnamon rolls, some fruit pastries, and some candles. The candles are really cute and were super easy to make. I just rolled some yellow and translucent Premo clay together, formed into a log, cut to about 1/2 inch, squashed a little, and made some thinner rolls for the waxy melty bits. The wick is just black clay rolled really tiny and inserted into a hole in the top. After I baked, I coated in matte sealer. I'm going to make a bunch because I decided that the Emerson Row is going to be bohemian chic.

After a break...

So... I got busy at work... busy watching tv on dvd (who ever knew Charmed could be as addictive as nicotine)... busy drinking after work... busy worried about being busy moving next month... busy reading stupid stuff on the internet and playing video games...

ANYWAY... finally, this week I made a little progress with both projects. This is currently the Georgetown kind of decorated, inhabited by one Christmas treasure troll, 2 free reindeer from DollsHouse Emporium, and a free milkman doll (?) also from DHE.

This reindeer enjoys sitting on the futon in the future home office, watching the tv. His favorite pieces of furniture are the Noguchi table (thanks, Mom) and the entertainment unit from Ebay. The other reindeer enjoys the improvements brought to the bathroom by the Chyrsnbon bathroom accessories kit. I especially like the toilet paper and holder and the little soap dishes. Weirdly enough, platinum nail polish makes a really good brushed steel effect on these plastic kit pieces.

This is an old postcard I had hanging in my kitchen, I think from one of those Dover postcard packs. (The Dover catalogs are really good for this kind of stuff, they're really cute if you group them in painted Ikea frames. I have the Erte fashion designs in my rl living room). Anyway, I love Stuart Davis, and I always liked this painting, so it will be the focal piece of one of the rooms. I have a Kandinsky one I got at the Guggenheim in NYC a while ago that I'll frame, as well. The coffee shop is somewhat progressing. At a show, I got some little fixtures (the soda machine and the syrup/ sauce holders). I finished the Chrynsbon chair kits. They purposely don't match.

This is the milkman chilling in the living room. This room has an awful configuration for furniture... which is pretty true to life in this kind of old house, I guess. I love the mirrors grouped on the wall ($2 from Michaels). The trim in this room is kind of crooked, but it's an old house, right? I still like the juxtaposition of stripey wallpaper and duo-toned walls. This room still calls out for some sweet panel curtains and a shag area rug, but at least it's got trim now.
The hallway got some trim and doors. The stairs are only tentatively in, bc of a mistake I made when building the structure originally. They don't fit in the slot! I'm going to tape and hide the wire behind some sort of large floor plant.
The kitchen got a fridge and some more fiesta ware and a strawberry shortcake. I love this fiesta ware, it is so delicate and pretty. The cake is really pretty, too. The fridge is a new design from one of the major mass produced lines, but it's sleek and moden. They make stoves, dishwashers, and laundry to match.

The bedroom got a little chia pet! It's on the bookshelf. Still needs a lot of books, art, and, of course, a dresser. And shoes.
Also, I got a RGT 333 Franklin Street Kit which I won't start working on until this house is done (HBS half off sale!), but this whole process will make that house even better. I don't know if I will bother wiring that one at all considering how finicky my lights are and how the tape is so difficult to even slightly conceal. But I have all kinds of cool ideas for it ( a modern- baroquey type thing with patterned walls and mismatched, updated antique furniture and very boho.) I know I definitely want "tin" ceilings.

Anyway... until next time.

Another project!

So, we went on a little roadtrip this weekend and had a great time... incidently, we happened to be near an AC Moore store (none of this in Pittsburgh). I printed out one of their coupons and got a Houseworks shop kit (the 2 window store) and a bunch of paints.

My plan for this is an artistic, city coffee house with a bulletin board, tasty treats, mismatched bohemian style furniture, and maybe a microphone and a guitar.

I'd love to find an espresso or cappucino machine in 1/12 scale, which is so far not happening. I'd also like a commercial style refirgerator with a clear door for displaying sodas and the like.

So far, the front has a coat of paint which I want to grime up a bit... oooh, maybe with some graffiti or something. Anyway, here is what I have so far.

RGT's Georgetown Dollhouse... the beginning.... A Modern Dollhouse Voyage

Perhaps I'm a dork, or living out some sort of strange second childhood, but late last summer I decided I needed to build a dollhouse, complete with working lights, tiny food, and all sorts of fun, little things.

I bought a Real Good Toys Georgetown kit from my local dollhouse store, and had my boyfriend lug the 60 pund box up my steps where I left it in the box for at least a month, confused by the instuctions.

I had big ideas for this house, though.

There are 2 things I wanted to accomplish. The first was I wanted it to look like a house in my neighborhood, a sort of run down area of Pittsburgh that was once a fancy, city suburb. The houses are all brick, with long porches and columns.

The other thing I wanted to do was make the house modern, or at least contemporary on the inside. I love all kinds of 20th century design, and I wanted my dollhouse to reflect how I might furnish my dream house now. Unfortunately, modern and contemporary miniature items are few and far between.

The following pictures are just some of the steps I took when finally constructing the house. Each one of my bricks in painted individually (which I did while watching seasons one through 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Dying the shingles dyed my hands for about 3 days (even though I wore gloves) and eventually I decided to ditch the original porch posts and some of the railings because they came out so crooked.

Finally, after months of work (don't even get me started on wiring the @#$%ing thing!) the house currently looks like this on the outside:

Except now it has some porch lights. Anyway, next time I'll show what I've done to the inside.