Breakfast in Bed

It looks like he had a bit of a rough night, so breakfast in bed it is!

I finally made the pajamas from the pattern provided by Janet Harmsworth in the Dolls House Magazine Issue 188 (January 2014).  I made it from an old shirt.  The pattern is very good.  The buttons are from www.alphastamps.com.

The Heidi Ott doll with the wild hair is from the seller Manieril on eBay. 

Have a great week!

A Visit to TYA Kitchen in Tokyo!!

I was able to stay for Saturday during a work trip to Japan and visit TYA Kitchen in Tokyo!  (Thank you to my husband and kids for understanding!)

Here is their website: http://minityuan.ocnk.net or TYA Kitchen.

Getting There

I got up early Saturday (so excited!) and took the subway and then the tram - that part was fairly straightforward. Then when I got out of the tram, I went to the police station as directed and the policeman showed me the way on the map, but I think he was not holding the map in alignment with the right direction.  From what he showed me, I thought I should leave the police station and continue walking straight.  And so I did walking along this nice path with the cherry blossoms and paper lanterns.

Eventually I asked a family if this was the right way, and they said I was to go in the other direction.

 So I went back to the police station, and the policeman then escorted me, although I think he got lost as well.  But eventually he found it.  So happy!  And such an amazing country where a policeman will escort you to a miniatures shop - I found that many people were very gracious about escorting you to the right place or at least getting you to a spot where they could then point you to the right place.

There was an Asako local news TV station interviewing Yukio Kawai and they asked to interview me as well (I think their question was: what is this American doing here?!)  So we said that we had met at the Chicago International fair, and I said that miniaturists just loved his work.  And I think that he is the only person doing this type of miniature work in stainless steel.   I said he was quite famous in the modern miniature world.

And I showed them this post from another blog:  The Best Miniature Shop in the World (which I also recommend looking at for additional pictures of his work).

His daughter, Asami Kawai, makes amazing miniature food, and their shop sells kits and other supplies for making food.

The Miniature Art!

Here are some ranges he is preparing for Chicago (you can also see them in a line on the floor in the bottom of the photo):

I love this range.  I love the colors.  I am very tempted by it.   But I think it might be too big for my Dutch Canal House hotel kitchen (which is still being planned in my head - so there may be enough room).  I am sure he will sell out in Chicago. 

Yukio-san showed me how he stamps out the handles - those little cutouts in the metal below are the remains from the stamped-out handles:

And he let me take pictures of his kitchens - how amazing are these!  I am so glad I have the pictures so I can really take in all the details.

I told him I loved the dishes in the sink and I asked him if he used to work in a kitchen.  He said yes and gestured towards the dishes in the sink, so I think he did dish washing at that time.

Kitchens by Yukio Kawai:

I love the food frying and food preparation details.  And there are even paper orders up on the refrigerator.

This is the last view of this restaurant kitchen, and then you can see the restaurant interior through the archway, but I didn't take a picture of that section.

Here is another kitchen by Yukio-san:

Here is a view of the shop - all those room boxes have fabulous little miniature scenes in them! (I think some are by different artists though).  And there are some more ranges lined up for Chicago.

And here is one last unbelievably amazing kitchen by Kawai Yukio-san!

The whole family was so kind (his wife was also there working in the shop), and I sincerely hope I wasn't interrupting their TV show filming.   And his daughter Asami  (who makes amazing miniature food - those are some of her tools above) walked me back to the station, and it was much quicker and easier than my trip there!

Here is a picture of my purchases -  I love this refrigerator with the glass doors and mirrored back, but I need to take a better photograph.  And of course, I love the pots and bowls and the bread.  I also love the new colorful spatulas - I wanted those as soon as I saw them on the shop website:

And if you plan to go to Tokyo, definitely plan a visit!  

Ask for a map from your hotel or ask the policeman for an escort.  (Maybe ask your hotel to mark the police station hut on the map.) If you have the map, this will help start you off:  I took the KEIHIN - TOHOKU line.

and got off at OUJI station 王子駅.  Then take the street car - you can see it from the subway platform, so it is very easy to find.  

When you get off the Toei Streetcar (Toden) Arakawa Line 

at Arakawa Yuenchimae, cross over to the other side (opposite from the police hut) and then  follow your map.    

Have a great weekend!

Throwback Thursday - the Fat Cat Pub

Here is still one of my favorite first builds - because I was trying to capture the feel of Red Hook in New York City.  We once stopped there when sailing in New York Harbor and it felt for a moment like we had stepped back into time to Old Amsterdam.

  

Here is my DJ.

Happy Thursday!

Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys "the 'little' show"

So while in Colorado skiing with my family, I was able to attend the Denver "little show."  

First, I went to the NAME table because they usually have some great bargains.  I bought a year of used dollhouse magazines for $5.00 and 3 roundtable kits for $1.00.  They had all these great room boxes, but somehow I didn't think they would fit in my luggage.

Here are some of my other purchases.

Top of my list was this owl by Teresa Dudley purchased from: 

www.OmniartsofColorado.com

.

And then I went back for a friend:

 Here they are in their new home with the sorcerer, although the owl looks a bit concerned about the very intrigued cat.

I bought this little wooden side table with the green glass top from "Metal Meets Wood" Miniatures.

Here's a cool birdhouse  from Merle Ralston - although I need to find a better place for it:

And I love these 2 plants from Genuine Imitations - the little turtle blends into the wood deck a bit:

I bought some contemporary books as well from Playhouse by Beverly:

And then I bought these cute bears and Santa Claus from Jenny Fortin: 

I was very tempted by some Native American and Southwestern Miniatures by a shop called A Little Something for Everyone - but I didn't have a project in mind for it, so I thought I shouldn't buy anything.  

So that was fun! 

I also went to the Denver Miniature Museum there and really enjoyed seeing all the dollhouses (and did some shopping in the gift shop there too!)

Funny Children's Books

It is that time of year when the NY International Children's Film Festival is happening in NYC.  

Fun for 2 reasons:  (1) some good films to see with my kids and (2) I make the little film catalog pictures into oversize children's books for my dollhouse!

 Here is this year's selection (with a few from last year):

An Elevator for 48

For Christmas, I created an elevator for my children's doll house. 

(I am way behind in posts.)  

Given the lack of space in our real house, it had to take up very little space. 

I looked at the Girl Mechanic illustration on how to make a dollhouse elevator, and I even bought weights as recommended, but then it seemed as if the final stopping mechanism was a clothespin.  So I decided to go with my original idea - which was to use a sailing cleet.

(Note Christmas decorations)

The elevator box is made out of matboard and wood.   I put windows in each matboard wall: I made the white one out of coffee stirrer sticks and plastic packaging as the window. I used a tool called the Ultimate Easy Cutter (bought from Miniatures.com) to make the angled cuts.  I love that tool.  

 I used a gate from Dolls House Emporium as the opening door and then made a little latch.  

  Here are some family members riding in the elevator.

It slides along a wire string that runs along the wood (with holes drilled at either end through which it is tied) (probably hard to see in this picture), and the elevator is attached to that wire by a string loop -  the dollhouse guy is leaning against that  loop in the picture above.  It is pulled up and down by the string in the ceiling which then wraps around the sailing cleet. 

Here it is next to the dollhouse (which still needs a lot of work):

That space there was originally meant for the staircase, but then my children each wanted 2 bedrooms for their respective dollhouse children (it's getting to be a very large family), so they took over the bathroom and the parents' bedroom (poor parents - no bedroom and they seem to have at least 8 children!). So now that space will become the bathroom and the parents' bedroom. 

Unfortunately, my elevator is a bit like a leaning tower of Pisa.  My children like pulling the elevator up and down, even though it is not perfect.  However, my daughter is still concerned about having to take an elevator to get to the bathroom from the third floor, so I may have to build stairs anyway.  (I guess they can be on the other side and cantilever out into the space under the desk that the dollhouse sits next to.)

I am trying to build lots of fun little features into this dollhouse.  I really wanted a laundry chute, but then I would have to drill a large hole right by the stairway landing so we will see.

Have a great weekend!

March Makeover

Here is a little bed my daughter bought in the children's section of the NJ IGMA show (I highly recommend this show for children - my daughter had so much fun shopping in the children-only section).

New Sheep Sheets:

 A new duvet cover:

And one little toddler girl cozily resting under the covers:

Have a great weekend!