I'm a Giant . making some progress

It probably seems like I haven't been working on my studio apartMac but that's not true. It's just that I've been doing all these little things that don't look like much. I spent a very long time on the stone floor. The vinyl sheets were from eBay and I had to cut them to the size of the base which meant stacking one on top of the other. To make it look more realistic, I cut away the top layer in a stone pattern then sealed up the seam. You can't tell in the right lighting that it is not one piece.

I also worked on the kitchen unit. I made a farm sink out of pieces from the Irwin Interior Decorator Set. I think it looks pretty good although I do need to touch it up a bit and attach the bar table.

On the left side of the unit, I'm building a wall behind that fireplace. I have an art piece in mind that I'm very excited about. If I use the Petite Princess chair, I will paint it so that it looks like grey leather. This tiny space can seat more than 10 guests! And there is so much more in store. I'm hoping to finish up this weekend.

While I enjoy holiday crafting and all the sewing I've been doing for the doll I bought my assistant for Christmas, it always feels right to work on the minis.

I'm a Giant Update

Things are really coming along well with the iMac dollhouse. Here is the shell of the home. I think this will be more of a roombox with just a main living space OR perhaps something like a studio apartment. We'll see what happens when I start placing furniture in there.

Here is the template for the floor. We (well, Mr. Lemon) cut some dowel rods so that the final floor (foam core) will just rest on top of these supports. That way I can take it apart to store it in our super small house and also change out the flooring. We've had to hack quite a bit of the inside of the iMac away to make it work but I'm so happy that this will be a reusable space.

I've been adding away to the Pinterest mood board so check it out. I also spent the day making Billy Ball flowers out of air-dry clay and wire. I ended up making some that are really too big so someone lucky who loves the 1:6 may win out. I have to wait until they fully dry to paint and flock.

I'm a Giant!

I have been wanting to jump into the I'm a Giant mini challenge since it was first announced but I felt like I couldn't just make a scene in a roombox like I always do because it's a challenge and I wanted to do something really cool.

Then I remembered it. The iMacquarium! A while back I had come across these things when trying to figure out what the heck to do with that massive old iMac we had collecting dust in the basement. I tried to get Mr. Lemon to help me make a dollhouse with it then and he said no.

But here he is now with the 143 blog getting inspiration from their geodesic dome house. We have one of these (in real size) in our neighborhood and stalk it regularly.

I don't know why he changed his mind but we set to work right away. On my laptop screen is the pdf we found on the iMacquarium site telling you how to take apart the computer. Unfortunately it stops where it gets hard but we figured it out.

Here's where we are in the process now. The shell needs surprisingly little to stay together and weighs next to nothing. I've started a Pinterest board with all my inspiration. This weekend I'm going to troll through my minis and start pulling some pieces. I know that I want to use bits of the computer as accessories. I'm hoping to use the roundy parts the speakers are incased in to make a hanging fireplace. I'm excited to get started. We have already been to Michaels for supplies and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater for proper inspiration.

Oh, and if you do decide to take your iMac apart, it might help to know that the colorful part of the case isn't tab in slot like the rest of it, it's more like these pull down tabs in slots so don't try to pry it out, you have to tug it down before pulling it out or you will break one of the tabs off like we did.

Bicentennial decor

I was only a toddler in 1976 but for some reason the design of that year really fascinates me. When we were house hunting a few years ago we looked at this place with an entire bathroom wallpapered in liberty eagles. So when a living room set popped up on eBay, I watched it with great interest. I didn't bid and it was relisted. I felt it was my duty to buy it at the lower price and a couple of weeks later, it arrived from the original owner. I think it's cool that dollhouse furniture follows the trends in the 1:1 world; read this interesting post by diepuppenstubensammlerin.

I have people in mind when I work out my inspiration for a scene. This place is rented by some hipsters who think that bicentennial decor is hilarious (like myself). I played around with some doily action but ended up taking the space in a more modern direction. They like contemporary art and nice glassware but also throw in stuff they've picked up at yard sales and the Salvation Army downtown.

I do realize how crazy this all sounds but my job can be super high stress and staging these little scenarios relaxes me in a way that sewing never will.

I'll put more details in the flickr captions as I feel I've gone on long enough.

A mini challenge

Just before we left for Berlin, Call of the Small posted about what, for her, was involved in making a scene.  This was one of my favorite posts and I was inspired to tackle the challenge. I do my scenes in much the same way and I'll stick with her post format for this one.

Unfortunately, I don't have a dollhouse. I designed and created a roombox but there are a couple of flaws in the construction so I can't use it yet. So I'm still left with only this Petite Princess roombox. Usually I'll wallpaper it with scrapbook paper and do something with the floor. But when I started placing the red and orange in the space, the turquoise blue seemed just right so I didn't change my background.

Motivation: I picked up a few really cool pieces in Berlin and I have been dying to use them (but crazy busy!). I started with the orange and white chair and was planning on doing something totally different but after I put the credenza in there and then the red lounge chair, it all started to work.

The accessories: My favorite part of making a scene is adding all the stuff. The TV was first, of course. It is a fairy tale viewfinder of Hansel and Gretel from Berlin. There is a crazy image of the kids shoving the witch's fat ass into the oven. It's hilarious. I didn't think the aqua would work but I think it really does. Of course I had to use the "ball tower" (the fernsehturm) souvenir and that thermos (a recent eBay find). My mom bought me a box of mostly trashed dollhouse furniture at a flea market and that bird cage was right on top. I didn't think it would work either but it did. (I think it must be a Christmas ornament). Next I went with a vintage Sylvanian families cabinet and the TOMY planter. The pillows I made came next and then the mostly Playmobil dishes (check out that sausage! I am not into fake food much but that is too funny). Oh, the red shoes are from my childhood Skipper doll. Ah, the teeth marks...

The dinosaur was a last-minute find (I share a space with the toddler and husband so their toys often come in handy).

I definitely like to play around with color and I care little for realism. I like to have fun with spaces that appear realistic on first glance and then smack you with something ridiculous (like the bright green sword from some appetizer or mixed drink).

Time: It took 15 minutes to set everything up.  Everything was out and on hand so I didn't have to dig through any bins. I usually spend much longer because I often have a toddler around. I took 22 photos for 5 minutes. I spent 10 minutes with them in Photoshop (basically resizing a cropping a bit). Then it too me about 3 days to actually have a few minutes to write this post.

Finally, I would LOVE to know more about the new pieces I acquired, especially the lounge chair. It has real upholstery, it's not molded plastic. I have an identical one with brown "leather." I don't know anything about the orange and cream chair or the credenza (the only piece with a marking -- W Germany). They are all flea market or secondhand finds. Anyone?

Thanks so much to Call of the Small for such an inspiring and informative post. 

Making some minis

Z and I set to work on another scene this weekend. I bought a bunch of new chairs and wanted to play around with them and so did she. We were having some issues with the layout of everything so I decided to make some pillows to go on the floor. As always, I had some help with accessorizing the space. The more I look at the photos, the more I think there is just too much stuff in there. I kinda have this rule in my head though that I only photograph once and then I dismantle everything. I don't look at the photos until after my design assistant has gone to bed and the light is long gone.

The pillows were so easy to make, I'm ashamed I haven't made more mini stuff for our scenes. I used some muslin I had in a bin and a DJ Lance I had printed onto iron-on paper a few months ago. I finished them while Z was eating lunch and surprised her with them. They add to the 1970s sort of rumpus room vibe of the space -- lots of wood paneling and random furniture, some kids stuff and whatever snacks you have in the fridge.

I like the lighting.  A few more pics and a list of what's possibly what over on flickr.

Minis

After I finished up Play Eats, I had an important far away work meeting to prepare for.  I have been back a few days and I'm still so full of jet lag, I've gotten very little done.  It's hard to believe that it is already April (probably because it was snowing/hailing or something on my way home from work last night.

Z and I have been very busy making scenes lately. I know I have only mentioned this briefly but the world of miniatures has consumed me. Luckily, Z is always up for some decorating and the girl does have a good eye for layout. As you can see in the top photo, she likes to help me out and is actually quite careful with the loot. So far what's broken has been able to be fixed (except, of course, for the chair that I dropped). Above is an ideal scene for her. She basically just shoves as much as possible into the roombox and calls it a day. I like to edit a bit more.

This is the right side of our most recent scene. I asked her before I shot this what was missing and she said, it needs more stuff, mama! I let her add the cheesecake and her silver rock, the thermos, the spoon and a few things out of view. I look back at what I photographed before her accessories and it looks so bare.

We have done lots of scenes. They are all here in this flickr set.  I usually put the origin of all the stuff in the description of one of the photos so if you want to know who has made something, look for the photo of the whole scene or just leave a comment.

Plans

I Can Fly, illustrated by Mary Blair, is a nighttime favorite for us. I love the her style, I love the colors, I love the whimsy. I love that red chair. I can't stop thinking about it.

I'm going to try to make one in miniature. My plan is to find an existing 1:12 chair -- probably something with a different back. Then I will bend wood or something to try to make the oversized roundy back.

Do you think that's even possible? I was thinking of starting with this.

In Miniature

I think I mentioned before that all the research I did on play dollhouses before Christmas re-ignited my childhood love of miniatures. For years and years as a kid I asked for a dollhouse and one year I got it. But it was a kit and, of course, it never actually got finished. One year my mom sold the whole lot of stuff for next to nothing. I hadn't remembered much about it at all until I started building this little sofa from a kit I got on eBay. Cutting out the little pieces, sanding the wood, and gluing it together triggered all of these memories. As a kid, I'd say not even 12 yet, I started building furniture for my dollhouse from kits. As I've started browsing eBay, I recognize many of the ones I had -- an entire kitchen, a Chippendale desk, an end table. I want my loot back. I'm not sure if it will happen but I'm on the case and will let you know if we find it. I don't think the people who have it now realize how important it is for me to see the craftsmanship of my 10-year-old self -- how much that will mean to me. As an artist who is making very, very little art these days, I'm hanging on to my creativity with a single strand.

Making this sofa, which has some gorgeous lines and with the right choice of stain will be very modern, made me super happy. I really enjoy it. Now if only I could get over this disease -- probably swine flu or something like it, I could finish it and post some pictures.

I also have kits to make the matching 4 dining room chairs but instead of the blue fabric, I'll be using Liberty of London that is in perfect scale. I've found a dollhouse and it will be mine in a couple of weeks. I've been collecting miniature furniture and accessories with the rabid passion of a 19th century naturalist. And Z and I have been making lots of scenes in a roombox. She has a fantastic eye for space and detail. I added a little gadget thing over there in the sidebar that will take you to the flickr set of our work. Or, just click here. I've been encouraged to start writing posts about my minis so this, I guess, is the first.