Indispensable tool

I don't know why I was so resistant to mitre shears. Six years ago when I was making my very first parquet floor and swearing over cutting lolly sticks with scissors, a clever Facebook friend told me to get mitre shears. I guess at the time I was pretty sure it was a one-off enterprise, but of course I have made many floors since then, all the time using scissors and swearing, and I have also made picture frames and other things where mitre is essential. I do have a mitre box - one of the first tools I bought when I started miniature-making. But you cannot use a mitre box and saw for tiny parquet pieces.

Now the time has come to make some fancy floors for the dining room and the grand reception room, and I have found fancy floor patterns, which all require 45 degree cuts. Therefore I have finally got mitre shears. They come in various shapes and a huge price range. I bought the simplest and cheapest, after reading customer reviews on amazon very, very carefully.

 

When I shared my joy on Facebook most people said, yes, of course, have had it for years. Some said, yes, must get too. And some asked: What is it and what do you use it for? For the benefits of the latter, I will explain. Now that I have this tool, I cannot imagine being without it. A true revolution in miniature-making, as important as inventing the wheel.

So: I am going to make a fancy floor. Like this:

 

Looks easy? Anyone can do it? Go ahead and try!

I am using coffee stirrers, plain and oak-stained. For each aquare, I need sixteen mitred strips and one tiny central square. The strips must be cut at 45 degress and they must all be the right length. Then I build the square. It takes about 30 minutes. I will need forty-two squares.

When I finished the first row I sanded it fiercely and then tested in the room.

Right now it looks dull, but I will varnish it.

Two days later:

I cannot work on this for more than a couple of hours at a time because my eyes get tired, and my bad shoulder starts complaining. And although in a way peaceful, it is, frankly, quite boring after a while, so I must alternate it with something else.

I love my mitre shears. I may want to replace all my old floors. But not until I finish this one. Come back soon.

Getting materials

The next day, December 29, my daugher and I went to a huge flea market in Stockholm. Now that I had read the clever books I knew what I was looking for, and with your miniature eyeglasses you start seeing the possibilities. Take wooden candlesticks: turn them upside down, cut off bits if needed, glue together bits from different candlesticks, and here are your round tables with elegant turned stands. 

The best thing I found that day was a wooded venetian blind which I have to this very day used for furniture-making, rather than buying expensive materials from hobby shops. Remember: venetian blinds are indispensable for a miniature maker. I also found a box of wooden building blocks - another great thing for furniture making. I got an electic candlestick the use of which I will show presently, but among other things it contained copper wire. I got a load of photo frames. A bagful of metal buttons, to make lids, frames and candlesticks. And a little table in just the right scale, which the same evening became the beginning of the kitchen. 

But first I started a dining room with one of my new round tables

The tablecloth is a napkin, the bowls are for sushi soy sauce, the fruit are from some old potpourri, and the candlestick and the vase are just those many small silly things you don't know what to do with until you start making dollhouses.