Christmas is Coming . . .

The Christmas vignette is finished and I think I am on track to finish Tilli's House and the Bedroom before Christmas.

The one thing I bought for the Christmas vignette were lights.  I already had some fireplace bulbs left over from Preston House, so all I needed were some Christmas lights for the tree and a lamp for the opposite end of the room.  The lamp is a tiffany style made by the Dolls House Emporium.  I was a little disapointed in the faux leadlight shade the lamp came with, so I repainted it using my trusty old Gallery Glass faux leadlighting paints.  The colours on the shade are now much less washed out looking.

Gallery Glass really does have 1001 uses.  For example, the hot chocolate in the cup on the table under the lamp is coccoa brown Gallery Glass.  The biscuts on the plate beside the cup are polymer clay mushrooms left over from the Witch Shop.  I knocked the stalks off them then iced them with Gallery Glass and sprinkled with glitter.  A less noticable use of the Gallery Glass was on the wiring for the lights.  Everytime I joined two wires together I dabbed a bit of Gallery Glass around the wires.  Not only will it dry around the wires and prevent the from ever slipping apart, it essentially turns into plastic when dry so insulates exposed wires as well as the plastic they come covered in.  All the lights are wired into one 9v battery hidden under the armchair.

The fireplace was decorated with assorted Christmas cards that came as cut-outs in various dolls house magazines over the years.  The stockings are made of felt.  The pictures on the walls are all cut out of old cross stitch magazines.

The tree was decorated in the same order as a real tree would be.  The lights were put on first.  I made staples by bending section of wire into "U" shapes and pressed these into the tree over the wires to help hold the lights where I wanted them.  The ribbon went up next.  To make the ribbon curl, I used 3mm wide ribbon and wrapped it around a length of dowel then sprayed it with starch.  When it was dry I took it off the dowel and cut it to length.  I threaded all pieces of ribbon I wanted to use onto a pin, then pressed the pin into the top of the tree.  A few discreet pins at along each piece of ribbon hold it in place.  The baubles are various types of bead.  I found that tear shaped beads worked best.  I dipped the narrow end into some glue and then positioned the bead in the tree, pointy end in.  The star on top is acutally a button.  it's actually a little small for the size of tree, but it's the best I had.

The presents under the tree are off cuts of balsa wood wrapped in pieces of colourful paper.  Figuring out how to do bows was tricky.  The best I came up with was to use a Lil, or short pin.  I impaled a piece of ribbon on the pin, left enough ribbon to form a loop then re-impaled the ribbon further along.  I repeated this until I had enough loops on the pin to form a bow and then pressed the pin bow and all into the top of the present.  The disadvantage to this method is you can see the pin head in the top of the bow.

Excess curled ribbon was hung accross the back wall and a wreath I stole out of my mothers box of cake decorations (most of which are older than I am) hangs in the gap between the two sections of fretwork at the front.

In the roombox bedroom, everything has been re-arranged again.  I'm still not entirely happy with it.  It's the furniture, it refused to look right in the bedroom of Preston House and it's being difficult here too.  The only really constructive change in here is that the cardboard chaise I made last week has been upholstered in more of the pink silk and brocade.  I have decided that the bed definately needs a canopy and have started pleating fabric for it.

There was more progress in Tilli's house with all the remaining furniture for the house made and installed.

In the kitchen, the hood over the oven/hot plates has been installed.  I've also added a few accessories in the kitchen which have started to make the house look a little more lived in.

In the Library I've added a pelmet over the window and a little round table draped in more of the same fabric.  The table is just a piece of 3/4" balsa wood dowel.  The screen in the back corner is an image cut out of an old cross stich catalogue glued onto a piece of cardboard.  The cardboard was then scored and folded to make a screen.

More balsa dowel fabric draped tables flank Tilli's bed.  I've replaced the curtains in here and solved the problem of hanging them neatly by adding a pelmet accross the whole wall.  The downside of this solution is that I've effectively reduced the height of the windows back to what they were before I altered them to be dormer windows.  I also took one look at the bed under the pelmet and moved it accross to the side wall.  Tilli now also has a little dressing table and a tub chair flanking the fireplace.  The dressing table is just balsa wood and "Tiny Turnings" while the chair is again balsa dowel for the base with thin cardboard for the back.

The bathroom could be finished, but I think it needs something more.  A place to keep the hairdyer that isn't in the sink would be a good start.

Out the front of the house, a vine has grown up the verandah post.  The vine is lengths of cotton twine that was dipped in watered down brown paint and then twisted up the post after it was dry.  It's currently in winter mode, but Tilli has a green thumb and promises it will be in full bloom by next week.