Brooklyn Brownstone by Lawrence Valenza

This 2008 American Miniaturist issue captivated me because of the picture of a Brooklyn loft apartment scene:

This artist Lawrence Valenza SO captured certain NYC apartments- the varnished floor and the white moldings are perfect.  The Persian rug and the record collection in the window.  And he even has the radiator in the corner in one picture.   

And I love the pocket doors.     

 Here's a picture from the AM article:

I recommend checking out his blog post about it (it has much better pictures) (although he may be a bit surprised to find a bunch of miniaturists checking out his blog):  http://lawrencefvalenza.wordpress.com/ 

(formerly

http://lawrencevalenza.com/2013/08/04/3-142-7th-avenue-brooklyn-march-1986-mixed-media-19-x-22-2007-09/)

"Feel Big, Live Small" Miniatures Art Exhibit in NYC

I visited the "Feel Big, Live Small" Miniatures Art Exhibit.   It was such fun to see all the art pieces.  You can see all of them here.

I recommend checking it out online and especially reading the brochure article by Rachel Nuwer discussing some of the history of miniature collecting  - available at this "Feel Big, Live Small" brochure  link: http://apexart.org/images/smithee/smithee.pdfrg/images/smithee/smithee.pdf.

She quotes Matthew Albanese as stating:  "[miniatures] give me the ultimate ability to control my environment while satisfying a need to simply work with my hands," says artist Matthew Albanese. "It always seemed to me that the miniature was the most effective solution to experiencing visions of the world and new perspectives that otherwise could not be achieved in life."  (Although to be honest, my miniature collection is getting out of control and so my real-life environment is out of control as I search for places to store my miniatures in my apartment.)  

And I also like the her quote from artist Joe Fig:  "Miniatures evoke a feeling of wonder or awe. . .  They suspend reality, taking you out of your surroundings and bringing you into a new world."  Or, also for me, creating a lasting emotional memory of your current world.

And I also found fascinating Rachel Nuwer's discussion of Frances Glessner Lee:  "Frances Glessner Lee, popularly known as "the mother of forensic investigation" . . . created 20 dollhouse crime scenes in the 1940's and 50s, which she called the nutshell studies of unexplained death.  At that time, crime scene investigation was a sloppy affair, with evidence oftentimes overlooked or tampered with before it could be collected.  Lee -- who came from a wealthy family but was denied a college education because of her gender - co-opted the traditionally female art of dollhouse-making into a darker but more purposeful pursuit, building perfect freeze-frame replicas of real-life crime scenes .  . . for training purposes.. . .  Lee's nutshells are still used for training crime scene investigators today."  So interesting.

I especially loved Joe Fig's "Self Portrait: Collinsville"  which was a wonderfully detailed art studio:

And I liked Alice Bartlett's "Nail Art" with the 1/144 people (or railroad set people) - very fun!

The office scene in a briefcase was quite realistic and cleverly done.

And I found this one thought-provoking - with soldiers on top and children playing on the other side (of the world?)  - especially in these times when there seems to be so many wars and suffering around the world.

The motel street scene ( a piece entitled "Bad Girl" by Tracey Snelling) also was well done and evocative  - with the neon lights flashing and the telephone or cable wires hanging between the buildings across the streets.  I didn't take a photo, but here is a link to an article about her artwork (which includes a picture) and of course there is a picture in the link up top.


Anyway, it was lots of fun to see a miniatures art exhibit!  I was having a bit of withdrawal after the Chicago show.

My SoHo Loft Dress Shop and Making a Clothing Rack

One of the first shops I made was my SoHo Loft dress shop in a wooden wine box:

The clothes are mostly by Paola from Paola y Sara.  (There are some Topper Dawn doll clothes mixed in.)  I especially love the pink nightgown and robe.  The rug is also hers.  I made the dressing room and the clothing rack.  The shelves (which need some more bags) are paint stirrer sticks cut to size.   And luckily there is lots of room to add some more minis!

I kept eyeing the Elf Miniatures aluminum clothing rack, but what with shipping etc., I thought I should at least try to make my own first.  So I made it with a skewer and a 1/4 inch thick square wood piece. And  my Fiskars drill (which I love), tacky glue and a saw (which I forgot to include in the picture).  I cut the skewer pole to 8 inches.  The height of the square wood piece is 6.5 inches and the base piece is 2 inches.  And everything is just glued together. 

The shoes are from the Tiny Doll House Shop in Manhattan.

And here is the store with a few more items

Have a great weekend!

Tom Bishop Chicago Show

So that was my first time and that is a FABULOUS and BIG dollhouse show.

So big that in 7.5 hours, I still didn't see all the booths that I wanted to and there were a few stalls I planned to get back to that I didn't.  (Probably just as well for my wallet).

And now I think I need a massage of my neck from leaning over to look at all the fabulous things on display.

The whole experience was a little bit mad (in the British sense).  First of course, just the wandering around and taking in all the work.  So much inspiration and ideas.

For example, I really liked Bindels Ornaments where they show you how to make little purses and fans and lights etc from their filligrees etc.  They said you could use regular tacky glue.  Of course now the issue will be finding some kind of fabric that will work.

But then of course there is some craziness because I felt like if I loved something, I should buy it immediately (if affordable) before someone else did.

And then I spent Saturday night thinking over what additionally I loved (and trying to remember WHERE I had even seen it) and what additionally I wanted to see (I had not really gone to the doll room on the first day, and I did want to see the dolls, even if beyond my budget).  That is, until about 9 p.m. when I went to bed.  Yup, my free night without the kids, and I went to bed at 9.

But on Sunday, I only had 2 hours before I had to leave to get my plane (which seems like a lot of time, but isn't, trust me).  So I felt a bit like I was in that old game show Supermarket Sweep  as I was buying the last items in a rush, but also trying to see certain stalls that I had not seen the first day and really wanted to see because I had read about their work in various doll house magazines.

And of course, one of the best parts was meeting some of the dealers face-to-face, who I've only corresponded with on blogs or by email.  So I really enjoyed talking to Paris and Lisa from PRD Miniatures and others.  And Ray Storey of Ray Storey Lighting is also just lovely.  He had a miniature laboratory that was brilliant (with a bubbling flask!). He said he might teach it as a class next year.  (It would probably be too advanced for me, but it's a beautiful room and SO cool with the bubbling flask.)

So, of course, one of my main purchases was from PRD Miniatures.  It was so hard to choose.  But I am so happy, as always, with what I did purchase.

An original art work by Lisa Renfroe above:  "Waterfall"  2012.

And then a little graffiti pillow below:  "Say Hello!  Stop By"

Another find was TYA Kitchen from Tokyo which sells original work kitchen goods.  The woman next to me bought 5 mixers at $50 each.  I love all the bright colors.

And then I bought this cute little wood toy farm puzzle from Hannah Roet Miniatures from the Netherlands - my children loved these wooden puzzles, so I am glad to have this little miniature one.
And I bought a little Danish Christmas angel because now we have those (as well as little Nissen and elves) all over our real house at Christmas time.   It was hard to choose there as well because she has lots of really wonderfully detailed toys.

I bought clothes at the Heidi Ott stall (which was cheaper than online), so I am pretty excited to dress finally some of my Heidi Ott dolls.

And then of course, some animals.  I bought some little brown dogs for my children from Cottage of Miniatures (which if you brought children, would be perfect stall for them as they had lots of $1 and $2 modern little items - but I saw very few children there). I bought the white dog from  Marie W. Evans and the little felted friend from Muffa Miniatures from Italy.

And I tried to resist the green heels - and I did resist the first day - but I failed the second day, and they were one of my final purchases (from Patrizia Santi).

Hope you have a great weekend!!

"At your own risk"

I finished cutting the white tile floor to fit (or mostly fit) the Malibu dollhouse bathroom and then looked at the instructions for installation:  "To apply this flooring, use double face carpet tape or sillcone [sic] cement.  Any contact cement is used at your own risk."  So first I tried to figure out if there was such a thing as sillcone cement, and then I tried to Google if silicone cement was contact cement (and I was being warned to only use silicone cement at my own risk.)  It seemed to be different, but I wasn't sure, so apparently I will  be applying with tape, which is just as well because then I can change it.  I noted that most of the bathrooms in the Shapeways competition had more of a grey floor.

But is at my own risk because the contact cement may eat the white flooring?  Or is it because it is dangerous to me?

This manufacturer usually recommends contact cement with their wood flooring.   I checked their wood flooring packaging to see if after recommending contact cement for installation, they said to proceed at your own risk, but nope, they did not have similar language.

But the instructions for the green tile sheet (which is by a different manufacturer, but seems to be similar to the white tile floor sheet) recommend contact cement for application.   So I used contact cement to put it up (and probably way too much because it still smells), and now I am anxiously waiting to see if my "tile work" will be eaten by the contact cement.  (Of course, I should have tested it on a small sample.)

I asked my tabby to check in, but he's gotten a bit bored with this task and has started cleaning himself.

My tabby is from Annie Willis of Fine Designs.  I first saw one of her cats on A Beautiful World and then I saw her ad in the Dolls House Magazine and I contacted her directly requesting an orange cat (because my first cat was an orange male cat - such a sweetheart).  

I love him.  I love his little tongue sticking out.   I always love when cats are in the middle of their fur cleaning and they all of a sudden look up and their tongue is still sticking out.  

Anyway, I hope my green tile is safe! 

Enjoying some spring weather and the Shapeways Contest entries

Enjoying the spring weather on the balcony of Waterside Way and viewing all the Shapeways Contest entries at Modern Mini Houses - all so inspiring!

Happy Easter!

I started putting up some Easter decorations on 1,2, & 3 Waterside Way.  Here is a beautiful Easter wreath created by Small Comforts.  I bought it at the Shelly Norris show a few weekends ago, and luckily it arrived in time.   And then I drilled a hole next to the door and added a little post to hang the wreath. 

The little girl is sitting waiting (with her Easter bonnet on) while her parents are preparing for an Easter picnic outside on the roof terrace.  (My daughter put this scene on the couch together.)  I made the little wooden basket last year with coffee stirrers, and the handle is from those paper paint color samples.   I made the little purple bowl with the white bunny attached this year from FIMO clay.

Here is an Easter picnic on the roof of Waterside Way.  The occupants are still waiting for a landscape architect to show up to design the rooftop garden - as am I :).

And here is a closeup of my Easter egg bunny bowl.  The idea for it was inspired by Hannah Roet's post on making little bunnies for an Easter tree: http://hannahroet.blogspot.com/

(not that they look anything like her Easter bunnies).

Happy Easter and Happy Passover!