A Randomly Selected Newspaper Headline:

The following is a randomly selected newspaper headline from many years ago:

Welcome to my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment. I assure you I always read and appreciate everything you have to say. Unfortunately, thanks to Blogger being, well . . . Blogger, I can not respond to comments nor leave any on your blogs. They simply disappear into the ether. Occasionally I will remember to respond in the next blog post I put up, but usually these good intentions slip my mind. So if you want to ask a question or get a response to any comments you may have please leave an email address or other contact method in your comment and I will get back to you.

I have also added a separate page to the blog for the Tower of Magic with a brief summary of all the rooms of the ToM in the one spot. The link is just below this and above the main body of the blog, or you can just click here.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Finished . . . ?



Well, I was going to show you some photos of both the Crystal Garden and the Library now I have (probably) finished them but Blogger isn't letting me add pictures at the moment.  I'll keep trying, but for now if you want to see the finished rooms, you'll need to visit my Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollshouses/sets/72157635553009912/

Or facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/alennka.celestial

(honestly, I've never really understood facebook, so I'm not sure that adding photos there will have worked, sorry if you can't find them)

I need to go back and try and get some better photos of the Crystal Garden anyway.  I need some good natural light to photograph it and in Tasmania we haven't seen the sun in about ten months.  It is nearly summer here (in theory at least) so maybe sometime soon we will get a nice warm, bright day.  I don't think anyone is holding their breath though.

Now that both of these rooms are finished, I'll be starting a small Christmas scene in the hope it will be ready in time for Christmas.  If Blogger pulls it's socks up I might even be able to show it to you by then too . . . . . .

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Aldus the Wizard


As you can see, not too much progress in the Library this week.  A scattering of papers, nick-naks and yet more books have been added ontop of the shelves.


These of course are strategically placed to cover the places where the trim around the top of the shelves was slightly mishapen and the cornice very badly joined.


Seated in the wooden chair I 'borrowed' from the Witch Shop is Aldus the wizard who's fallen asleep while reading.  He's not quite finished yet, most notably he needs hair and a book to have been reading.


  Beside Aldus you can see part of the finished fire box.  I seem to have overlooked taking a good photo of this so will reveal it properly next week.


At the same time as I made Aldus, I started work on another wizard for the Library, but like Chrysta in the Crystal Garden I came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be able to squash in so again he'll be set aside for a later room in the Tower of Magic.  Hopefully by next week I'll be able to reveal the finished Library and Crystal Garden (for which I'm currently making an extra vine to grow up the wall and accross the ceiling at the front).

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Christmas Came Early

Last week the wonderful Lorraine of Fairy Meadow Miniatures sent me a message to let me know she was sending me a surprise.  I was thinking it was so generous of her to send maybe one or two small items.  Then the delivery guy showed up with this:


Once I'd picked my eyeballs up off the floor I opened up this massive parcel to find two boxes absolutely stuffed with wonderful things!


There were kits for all kinds of furniture and embroidered cushions, rugs, all maner of furniture (including the kitchen sink!) and so many little accessories.  There was a set of brass scales (of which Piers the Apothecary has been in dire need).  There were plates of food and ceramic jugs.  Even a wired outdoor light.  Every time I thought there couldn't possibly be anything else squeezed into the boxes something else new and exciting emerged.  There was probably enough in those boxes to furnish and accessorise an entire three story house!


I can't thank Lorraine enough for this bounty of wonderful and infinately useful items.  This is absolutely the best and most appreciated present I have received, possibly ever, but certainly since the Christmas I received a Magic Moves Barbie (hey, it takes a lot to top a doll whose arms move by themselves!  And there's a thought, how come no one makes a 1 /12th scale doll you can wire into the houses electrics so that when you switch on the lights the doll will start drinking tea or flipping the pages in a book?).


Even the empty boxes were enjoyed by Charlie who sat in them and proceeded to shred the cardboard.


Included was this package of books.  I have to admit my first thought on seeing them was 'Oh no, not more books!' having made so many over the past few weeks, but it didn't take long for an idea to form. . . .


I glued the books into a crazy stack and added the victorian cookbook stand that came free with the current Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine to create this bookstand.  The book displayed on the stand was made from a free printie glued ontop of several layers of plain paper aged with some tea and cut to size which were in turn glued onto a piece of thin leather.


The bookstand only just fits into the Library now the rest of the furniture for the room has been made.


The canopied desk sits at the end of the centre row of shelves.  It has a sloped writing surface and plenty of shelves both above and below the writing slope to store such neccesities as bottles of ink and even more books.


Another open book made in the same way as the book on the stand sits on the writing slope.  Spare scrolls, books and a crystal ball have been piled on top of the canopy above the desk.


For the back corner of the room is this wing chair made from balsa wood with bought oak legs and upholstered with blue satin.  The celestial pattern on the fabric seemed perfect for a wizard's library, I just wish I could have srunk it down so you got more of the pattern on the chair.


To help reach those high shelves there is this set of library steps.  They are again balsa wood with a staircase spindle and some small brackets.


If this chair at the front of the room looks at all familiar, that's because I stole it from the Witch Shop; there were always too many chairs in the reading room anyway and I think the chair looks much more at home in the Library.


The firebox for the fireplace has been started, but still needs work.  The back is cardboard with a thin metal scrapbook decoration and polymer clay lion's head glued ontop.  The front is formed from wire mesh between two short turned posts.

Now you've come to the end of my blog for another week, please everyone (at least those of you in Australia) go and pay a visit to Fairy Meadow Miniatures.  You may not end up overwhelmed by freebies, but you certainly won't be disappointed by the service.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Comments

Blogger seems to be throwing another tantrum at the moment and not letting my reply to your comments.  I just wanted to let everyone who has commented know that I have read your comments and will reply as soon as Blogger lets me!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

One Thousand Books And (Not) Counting

If you read last week's blog post, you may remember I said a good rule to use when making books was to make twice as many as you thought you'd need, then make an extra dozen.  To further illustrate this point, about six hours of book making creates a pile of books this big . . . .


Which fills up this much shelf space . . . . 


Another few hours and about two thirds as many books again filled up the remaining Library shelves.   I think I can now make books in my sleep, in fact I think I did do a few that way already!  I didn't keep count, but there are easily over a thousand books in this room.


With the books in place I added some more detail to the shelves in the form of decorateive brackets and some braid along the top, both painted to (almost) match the wood of the shelves.


The fireplace is made from cardboard, some porch railing posts, more of the brackets used on the shelves and a pair of scrapbooking decorations, one at the top and the other acting as a fender at the bottom.  Four scrapbooking corner embelishments put together create the frame for the unicorn picture hung over the mantle.


 The Library is now starting to look like a proper room rather than a building site.  As usual for this point in a project I am currently reconsidering the furniture arrangement I had intended to use and am toying with a number of different idea on just how to use the space. 


And finally, another photo of the mirror-illusion shelves just because I'm so chuffed with them!