Bakery room box

 Recently, I have been making a lot of miniature breads and cakes.

 

I have never been good with clay, but some time ago I attended a workshop where I learned some basic techniques that made me more confident to experiment. Now I have a variety of stuff that demands nice display, and what can be better for displaying cakes than a bakery. I have been planning to make a bakery for a long time, but as usual I need to find an interesting point of departure. It is tempting to buy a shop kit, but that's not much of a challenge. I needed, firstly, an open cabinet, and secondly, glass counters. I also considered having some cafe-style tables and chairs, but decided they would obscure the cakes.

Now, my most important insight about starting a new project, even when you have a good idea of what you are doing, is to go through your stashes. When you, like me, have been collecting rubbish for years and years, as well as buying stuff you don't need at the moment but might need some time in the future, you totally forget what you have. In this case, I was looking for something else when I found these two cabinets.

 

The one on the left I bought many years ago and never used in anything because it is too large for a 1:12 project. I tried to use it as a book shelf, but it didn't work. The one on the right I bought at a car boot sale during one of my very last weeks in Cambridge, mostly as a farewell souvenir, because it is also too large, but I thought I might use it in a project one day, and as you see I was right. Just what an old-fashioned bakery would have. Scale won't be a problem in this particular project.


Rummaging further through my supplies, I found small transparent plastic boxes, probably from fancy chocolates, that I use for sorting small things. Suddenly I saw typical bakery counters!

I am getting cardboard boxes with my grocery deliveries that are just the right size for a room box. The first step was, as usual, just to put in what I have for a rough sketch.

The table  is something I made a while ago to practice making furniture from craft sticks.

 

It didn't match the cabinets so I painted it dark. The till is a metal pencil-sharpener.

Then I needed to decide on floors and wallpaper. If you wonder why I put so much energy in floors and wallpaper in my room boxes when my focus is on displaying something - it is absolutely essential. Sloppy background will ruin your project. So sometimes planning and building backgrounds takes longer than the rest of the project. When small things are to be displayed, too conspicuous backgrounds may kill them. Floors and wallpaper must go well together. They must obviously also go well with the rest of the objects. Sometimes it takes several attempts before you strike it right. Fortunately, I now have a good-quality printer so I can print several papers and test. I don't think I ever get it right at first attempt.

Eventually I decided on pretty Art Nouveau paper from Jennifer's page, my favourite site for printies. With such a colourful wallpaper, floors should be more discreet, and after long deliberations I choose a conventional, but unbeatable pattern.

Now on to details. Large cakes can be displayed on cake stands and platters, but for smaller cakes and biscuits I needed trays. Again, going through stashes is helpful.

These came with sets of miniature cutlery, and they fit precisely into my counters, but of course they needed to be painted. This looks more realistic, doesn't it.

First preliminary fitting:

Now I need to make more bread and cakes to fill the shelves and counters.

Come back soon.

House restoration: bathroom, upper corridor, rear corridor.

I have now come to what I still try to view as minor repairs, although frankly it is closer to major repairs. Bathroom, upper corridor and rear corridor on the upper floor.

The bathroom is in better condition, mostly wallpaper unstuck.

The Adam ceiling was slightly damaged from start, but is worse now. I don't have enough of this paper to replace it so I will probably have to paint over the damaged patches. Or add some rust and pretend it's a leak.

The corridor is badly ruined.

Not just unstuck and torn wallpaper - more behind the stairs - but the door opening and surround are broken.

 On closer inspection, the partition has been pushed back.

I can push it forward, but it will need gluing, and this is a very awkward place to glue. This is the first time since I started restoration that I am really upset and don't know where to start. But I have to start somewhere or abandon the whole project, which is obviously not an option. So take a deep breath and get going.

The bathroom felt as a good start, so I glued back the wallpaper and floor. When I inspected the left-hand side of the rear corridor, using my head light (who would imagine that camping equipment may come handy in dollhouse construction?) I could state that it looked fine, which was a relief because I had feared the back of the house was broken.

 

In this part of the corridor, I used to have an old dressing table with a mirror: mirrors are great for various effects. Also with all kinds of trinkets on. The table is larger than 1:12, but it doesn't really matter in the rear corridor because there are no reference points. It's wrong style too, so some time I may replace it with something more appropriate, but it will have to do for now. The trinkets will have to wait until I have unpacked all small breakables.

So this part wasn't as bad as I first thought, and the bathroom is now done. I will add some details that I had planned to do before the disaster anyway, such as a genuine Victorian water cistern.

Now, moving to the corridor, I was brought back to my state of despair. I gently peeled off the wallpaper with the cornice, and the ceiling came off with it.

Reluctantly, I have to admit that I will need to make a new ceiling. Fortunately, I do have another sheet of this magnificent Adam paper. However, I feel that I need to be fresh and full of energy for this endeavour so I won't do it today. I will repair as much as possible of the other damage.

Edges are fine, but as I have said before, it is extremely difficult to work inside a narrow room, and in this room stairs are in my way. When I did the wallpaper there were no stairs yet. Behind the stairs, I just work by touch. Luckily, nobody will  even see it. And when I put in the large breakfront, nobody will ever see that the left corner is all warped.

On close inspection, the rear corridor is fine on this side as well.

I will not put in the chest of drawers in the rear corridor before I am finished with the ceiling and mouldings. I feel I have achieved a lot today and know what to do next.

As I was working on these rooms I realised that neither had ceiling lamps. I wonder what I was thinking. I am sure I had some ideas that apparently were never implemented. Now it so happened that I recently made some lamps in my miniature club, and one will definitely go well in the corridor.


To be continued.

House restoration: music room, dining room, smoking room

The next point of my attention was the music room. (I believe I am intuitively avoiding the great hall because it will involve mending the stairs). It was remarkably well preserved.

The ceiling decoration got off a bit, but was easy to glue back. The fireplace wasn't even attached so it was just putting it back, but the mirror had come down. The floor was wobbly, but it probably was wobbly to begin with. This floor is the first hardwood floor I made, many-many years ago, and today I would make it differently and better, but I keep it for sentimental reasons. However, this is a good moment to sand it better - again, my demands on myself are much higher today. I sanded a bit at the front, but won't do it properly now. I will finish all the restoration first before starting on further improvements. But I clearly saw that sanding, and polishing afterwards, would be an improvement.

Apart from that, it was just a matter of putting back the furniture.

This room is full of objects and dolls, so I will have to unpack and identify them.

Meanwhile, I move up to the dining room.

It is also in a reasonably good shape. A few floorboards missing, easy to replace, since they are coffee stirrers. I have the same problem with this floor: with my today's eyes, I see that it needs sanding and polishing. But not right now.

I need to hang the mirror and pictures and of course set the table. I also intend to replace the cupboard in the rear corridor with a more appropriate period piece, but this will also have to wait.

So finally, for this round, the study, or smoking room. Again, less damage than expected.

A few unstuck floorboards and mouldings, torn wallpaper.

When I put back objects, I started with the rear corridor, where, in addition to the bookcase, there are some pieces barely visible, except from the side window. I like such hidden nooks. You will see it better when the light is on.

In this picture you can also see the tear in the wallpaper. There is no way I can replace the wallpaper at this point, so I just mended it as neatly as possible. It is difficult to work on this level, because it's too high when you stand on the floor and too low if you use a stepladder. But somehow I managed.

I feel that I have reached the stage when I don't feel compelled to put every single item I own into this house so I will only add a few more. Last time, the room looked overflowing. Of course Victorian houses were overflowing, but it is also the matter of displaying things so that they can be admired and do not obscure each other. I am considering fewer dolls in each room, although this will feel like betrayal.

Anyway, now the whole right side is finished, at least as far as pure repairs are concerned.

I still need to do some work on the front. As I have been saying repeatedly, some people leave the inside of the fronts undecorated or at best decorate with paint or wallpaper to match the rooms. My concept is to create a sense of additional space, as if there were three extra rooms, each decorated differently and with as many flat or semiflat details as possible. As you see, I have mirrors, and I will also put back pictures, wall sconces and a book shelf with books.

Finally I did something long overdue. I had planned to use a magnet lock to keep the fronts firmly closed, but I never got round to it. Meanwhile, on another dollhouse I have, there is a hook for the purpose. I need something urgently because I have two inquisitive cats who have already explored the house, as cats do.

 

 I admit that this looks like a horror movie.

It doesn't work any longer to keep the fronts closed with tape, so I got a hook. I may find a better solution lately, but it works fine for now.

To be continued.

Triang house: let's step inside!

There was some furniture that came with the Triang, and in my first picture, I simply put it upright so it didn't look like an aftermath of an earthquake.

I recognise some of the furniture, most of which is Barton - not my favourite; I find it rather crude, but then it reflects the time when it was manufactured, and if it is true, as the antique dealer claimed, that the house has only had one owner, that's what this little girl in the '50s - I'd like to imagine her name was Lily - would be getting for Christmas and her birthdays. There are a couple of other brands, and I will return to furniture in due time. Some is in need of repair.

But first, let's inspect the walls and floors.

When I first opened it and before looking carefully, I was disappointed: how unimaginative, same floors and wallpaper in every room. Then of course I noticed that it wasn't the same wallpaper, even though similar, but floors were indeed the same.

Shall we start in the bottom left room - this is where the front door leads (how very English: no entrance hall). The floor, which is a nice herringbone parquet, has been damaged by a young barbarian who scribbled on it with a purple crayon.

 

This will be very hard to clean. I have tried very, VERY carefully with nail polish remover, and it does get slightly better and will probably take me weeks. (On the other hand, as I always say, I am not in a hurry).

I have several other options. I can cover it with a rug. I can try to mend it by scanning the pattern, printing it out and very, very carefully patching the damaged parts. Or even copy and paste and make one whole new sheet (I have found several amazing people on the web who do this). I can also replace it. Logically, and from what I have seen on the web, this room should be a kitchen. Would a 1950s kitchen have wooden parquet floor? I doubt it. It would have lino. Or tiles. Either will be easy to reproduce.

The wallpaper is totally damaged. I can put some furniture against the wall to conceal the damage. I can probably get a sheet of replicated wallpaper from a site I have discovered. But again, would a kitchen have wallpaper rather than paint? I need to do more research and also consult people who remember the 1950s. The right-hand wall, with a door, has no wallpaper. I can see why - it's a h-ll of a job to cut and hang wallpaper on a wall with a door and a staircase. But it doesn't look neat. And there is wallpaper on the other side of the wall, although admittedly there is no staircase there.

Let us climb the stairs - very typical British stairs, steep and narrow. Painted in the same pale yellow as the exterior walls. How plausible is it? If the railing is solid at least it would have a wooden top rail. And maybe a carpet? Or actually proper wooden steps... oh no, that's sacrilege. Ruining a cultural artifact.

The top left room's floor is damaged, but here I can definitely conceal it by a piece of furniture and/or a rug.

The wallpaper is torn, water-damaged and faded in some places, but again, I can put some furniture in front of it. Logically, this will be a living room. The right-hand wall has no wallpaper. Just as in web pictures. Why? Were manufacturers lazy? Such a minor detail makes a huge difference. So in this case I will probably try to scan the wallpaper and make a sheet. This will be a challenge. It took me five attempts just to take a decent picture. I wonder how people scan inside a dollhouse. Maybe they take it apart first, but I am not doing it.

The two rooms on the right had a 1:1 scale carpet.

Now, if anything is barbarian in miniature-making, this is the worst, and I have seen it before. It doesn't look natural, and the doors don't open! So these hideous things went straight to the garbage bin. They didn't even conceal the damaged floors.

In the bottom right room, the wallpaper is damaged to the left of the door, and the floor is torn and water-damaged.

Logically, and in the houses I have seen on the web, this should be a bathroom. Why on earth would a bathroom have parquet floors? Not to mention wallpaper. And it's far too large for a bathroom. A '50s family would not have a huge bathroom like this. I am considering not having a bathroom at all, instead using this room as a dining room - naturally, off the kitchen. But it will depend on how I arrange the other rooms. If I decide to keep the parquet I may try to mend it by scanning the pattern. I may try to patch the wallpaper in the same way. It feels unnecessary to buy an A3 sheet of wallpaper for three square centimeters of wall.

Top right room is an interesting one because it has an alcove which is largely invisible. If I put a light in there, it will create a fantastic effect through the window.

The floor - the same parquet I am by now really fed up with -  is torn in several strategic places and also water-damaged. The wallpaper is whole and very pretty. This will be a bedroom, with the bed in the alcove.

The door between the two upstairs rooms had no knobs. The knobs in the door downstairs are lovely, rusty nails, and I am sure I will be able to find something suitable.

The insides of the fronts are bare, painted with the same paint as the exterior. I could so far not find any images showing the front insides, but I know that most people just leave them bare, which is a shame. There are also these lovely bay windows where interesting things can be done. Flowerpots, ornaments, a bird cage, a few cats.

So here we are. Some serious decisions to make, and after that, a lot of exciting work.

But before that, I will also have an inspection of the current furniture, so come back soon.

By the way, I did find the site that had the spare hook. You can see that the hook is sold. That's because I bought it.

Library room box, part 2

In the previous post, I stopped at adding mouldings. For almost all mouldings in the past years, I have been using full-size embossed wallpaper. At first, I did what all miniature-makers do: took wallpaper samples from stores. But I noticed that this particular wallpaper was extremely useful so I decided that for the royal sum of £8 I could afford a whole roll that would probably last my whole life.

 

Since it is a small room box I only needed one long strip that covered all the three walls.

 

The floor surface is also small, so I decided to invest in an elaborate parquet. I have used this pattern before, but again, I don't think it matters, because the people who are getting the library will not have seen my other projects. Anyway, it's fun to make and only took a couple of hours. I used various stains on coffee stirrers. Mitre shears are a must. I sanded the floor thoroughly and used a drop of cooking oil for the final finish.

 

The floor is assembled on a piece of card and inserted into the box. Normally I don't glue on floors in case I need to take them out later. But I don't think I will need it here. (I hope I am not wrong).

So what next? I need to attach the box to the book cover.

 

As I mentioned before, the box is slightly smaller than the cover, which means there will be edges visible around it. But the endpaper was torn, so I had to do the same as I did with the front endpaper: use a spare one.

In the process I discovered that the front endpaper needed trimming, which I of course should have done before I glued it on. But it was easy to amend.

You may wonder why I am showing you all these boring steps that don't take the project much further, to the exciting bits. The thing is, unless all these boring steps are accounting for, it is easy to forget how much work there is behind even the most elementary tasks. This step had to be done, and even if it wasn't complicated and didn't take long, I could not move on without it. People who only see results have no idea how much effort goes into every piece. (You, dear reader, being a miniature-maker yourself, don't need to be persuaded).

But now comes the really tricky phase. I need to attach the box to the back cover, and I don't think simply gluing it on with do the trick. I should have thought about it before and used staples or something before I added wallpaper. Well, too late now, I am not ripping off the wallpaper now (and I don't have another large piece of this paper).

So how am I going to do it? How am I going to do it? I will keep you in suspense until tomorrow.

Roman turret, part 6, in which woodwork is put in place

Read the previous posts about this project: part 1, part 2,  part 3, part 4 and part 5.

Now I can finally return to inserting the horizontal partition and the ladder. But first I need to build the stone steps. For these, I used wooden craft cubes, taking a long time to turn perfect blocks into uneven stones. Then I built the steps, stone by stone, leaving gaps that I then filled with mock mortar.

 After many trials and errors, I glued the ladder into the partition.

This turned out to be another, really big error, which just shows how even a tiny miscalculation is fatal in this scale. The bottom of the ladder came too close to the side wall, which did not look natural. So I had to detach it (and after drying overnight, it was a challenge). To move it, I had to detach one of the beams. It took three more attempts before I got it right, and not quite right anyway, but no one except myself will know.

While things were drying over and over again, I made a second door.

 

I haven't got exactly the same knob, but it doesn't matter. I don't think the Romans were too particular about the aesthetic bit.

With doors glued on and some utensils added: 

I am not happy with the fire: it doesn't look right, so I will have to think about it. There are other details I will be adding, particularly on the upper floor which at the moment looks rather bare. And of course it will be weeks before I have enough egg cartons to finish the walls. But the main part of the project is completed. I am really proud of it.