Plastic sofa makeover

Among the many things I bought at the other, cheap flea market was this plastic sofa. I hate pink, and a combination of pink and plastic makes me sick. But I have already made something pretty from a pink plastic house so I bought the sofa to make something nice.

My first idea was to cover it with fabric. But it has all these complicated curves, and although I tried with an old piece of cloth I soon realised that I would never make it as neat as I want it. So I decided to paint it. I could always make another attempt with the fabric. You cannot see it well in the picture, but the paint brought out a subtle pattern on the surface, and see! - instead of the ugly pink plastic I have expensive-looking cream leather. And I painted the base a darker shade.

I have now put it in my retro house, instead of another sofa that I wasn't happy with and was going to replace anyway. I hadn't at all planned to use this sofa, but I think it looks great. I made two cushions to go with it. I have really enjoyed doing this, so I am looking forward to more plastic makeovers.

Replacements

It is with nostalgic reluctance that I replace some of the furniture I made during the very first weeks of my miniature making almost six years ago with new objects. I realise that those first attempts were clumsy, that I didn't have proper tools and materials, hadn't done enough research. But I was eager and enthusiastic, and in a way it feels a betrayal to remove something that I once made with so much love and effort.

Nevertheless I have just made another replacement in the Victorian bathroom. The old wash stand was among the very first pieces I made, and it has served well.

 However, I bought a very elegant wash stand during my recent flea market binge, and it will now go into this space. At least I can proudly say that I made the wash set (and the two small pots underneath) in my pottery class.

Another firescreen

While I was at it, I made another firescreen, from the 1:24 kit. It was supposed to be a modesty screen but it made an excellent fire screen in 1:12 scale.

I painted and varnished it, and the "silk" is Japanese handmade paper. Here it is in its environment, the Georgian house. I am not quite sure it fits so it may move to the Victorian house that can be eclectic.

Firescreen

This was a very small improvement, but I thought it was worth while. The firescreen from my flea market binge was nice as it was

 and yet I felt that it would be better in a darker frame, so I painted and varnished it. I think it looks more natural this way.

Here it is in its environment. I had to remove some objects in the front to have a better view.

Plastic discoveries

Tell me that the world of miniatures isn's full of the most amazing discoveries! If I had another life I would become a dollhouse scholar and win a Chair in Cultural Studies at a prestigious university. As it is, I am enjoying the ocean of knowledge revealed through my hobby. Not only have I learned that the cosmetics firm Avon manufactured miniatures, I have now learned something else, perhaps even more exciting, as the side effect of my flea market binge.

I bought this clock for 20p.

A clock is always good to have and can be put in almost any environment, and one of my current projects is a clockmaker's shop, so it came handy. I thought I'd paint and varnish it. Now I am glad I took a closer look before I did. This is what I found on the back:

 

You cannot see it very well in the picture, but it says © LOUIS MARX & CO, INC MCMLXIV.

It didn't tell me anything, which just shows my ignorance, but at least I am curious so I did a search. And I found  both a Wikipedia page and a webpage from Marx Toy Museum. And there are tons of Marx toys on ebay. 

I wonder whether the flea market seller knew what she was selling. But I will from now one look more carefully at plastic toys. And next time I am in West Virginia I'll visit the museum.

Finding the right place

As promised, I am going to show how the riches from the flea market either find their place in the existing environments or, perhaps, inspire new projects.

To place the pewter things was easy: they merge nicely into the Tudor great hall. They are slightly too big, but I don't think it matters. The rich master of the house wants to impress his guests.

In the solar, which is the upper floor of a Tudor house, I have put the lady, the baby in the cradle and the chest.

This is the first doll I have in the Tudor house. I was planning to have one, but it didn't happen until now, and I see how the presence of a doll makes a huge difference. I guess it means that there will be more.

Avon collectibles

Yet another thing I bought during my flea market spree was this set

I recognised it immediately because I have two similar sets that I bought some time ago in a charity shop.

I have built two room boxes around these, a study and a spa. I have tried to find out something about these miniatures, but there were few clues. This time, however, there was the original box, so here we are

From this, I went to ebay, and there were these miniatures, produced by the cosmetics company Avon, yet god knows when and why - I will make further investigations. I was not far from truth in my previous projects: the blue and wooden set is a library, and there is a bookshelf missing that I think I have made much better; and the white set is a conservatory. On ebay you can get a bedroom set, a kitchen set and some other stuff.

Now of course I am thinking whether it's worth the trouble to make a whole house with these sets. I must say that I didn't like them at first, but they are rather cute, and with proper environment they look nice. So this may become a new large project in the future.