Thank you to Universe in miniature!

Thank you to Neen of Universe in Miniature. . .!  I won one of the book giveaways, and it arrived the other day along with extra goodies: a plate making kit and a $10 Amazon gift certificate (which were completely unnecessary - but I used it to buy better paper scissors as you can see below and some ribbon for a mini project).  So thank you Neen!

I am very excited about the Girl Mechanic because it actually has instructions for how to build an elevator in a dollhouse (although not the most explicit instructions - more of a diagram).  

So now I am thinking I may try again to build one in my children's dollhouse -- although I may also just use a sailing cleet for them to pull the elevator up to each floor and hold it there.  Anyway, it's back on the To Do List :)

First Bath in the Bathroom - Malibu Dollhouse

I decided to add some more accessories to the Malibu Dollhouse bathroom.

Some necessary supplies: 

The requisite toys in the bathtub:  

And a mommy giving the baby a bath:

Johnson's No Tears Shampoo (essential) is from Sue's Little Things on Ebay.

The little baby boy is by the eBay seller: Baloohallow.

My daughter said that this now looks like our house and she wants to see the neat version!

Legoland!

We are back from our brief holiday in Denmark visiting my husband's family.

We went to Legoland which we all loved!  Lots of minis, although unfortunately the dollhouse collection is not on view and has been moved to a museum which is not yet open.  (I guess we will have to visit Legoland again - we have to visit when my son is 7 so he can do the driving course (where kids drive little cars and have to do all the proper signals)!).

Nyhavn, Denmark made out of Lego:

Amsterdam out of Lego:

And a Lego dollhouse:

And I visited my favorite dollhouse shop in Denmark (located in Hillerod)!  (It is also the only one I know of.)  The owner is very nice and it is always a highlight of my trip!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Malibu Dollhouse bathroom - Finally finished!

And here it is:

The shower base, rain shower top and electric towel bar (and the toilet) are all from Dolls House Emporium.   I made the shower enclosure (see my post on 3/23/15).  The towels are made from baby wash cloths. The tissue box is from the Tiny Dollhouse in New York City (a great dollhouse shop - very dangerous!).   The soap and shower wash bottle is from the Etsy shop of SophiaMiniatures.  (I did look for how to make a mini shower wash bottle on the internet, but it seemed very complicated.)

The beautiful bathtub is from MIAIM Miniatures (also on Etsy).  Theoretically, that window should be looking out at the ocean.  

The dual sink vanity unit is from PRD Miniatures.  It was one of my first purchases from PRD Miniatures and it has been waiting a long time for a home.  

All the white resin bathroom accessories are from HBS/Miniatures.com.  The little yellow duck is from Stewart Dollhouse Creations from the NAME "Adopt a Duck" Contest.

Hope you enjoy it!  Thanks for visiting!

Spraypainting Oops!

The title refers to one of my favorite children's books:  Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton.  The turkey keeps putting all his clothes on the wrong way (socks on his hands. . . etc).  My kids love it and it so fun to read with them!  (I also highly recommend her Hippos Go Berserk.) 

 But back to my dollhouse oops .. .

Since I had to do some painting in the bathroom, I started spray painting the bedroom doors as well.  I taped up the "glass" and started spray painting, but when I removed the tape, it had seeped in - oops! (Actually, my first mistake was that I glued the wall in place because I think you could take the glass out via the bottom, but I had already glued it into place of course.)

But it looks a lot better now that I have cleaned it with Goo Gone.  Phew!!

And then because I have to stay away from eBay after my Chicago shopping trip, I started making some of my kits.  I bought this Tom Walden Miniature Floating Shelf kit when it was advertised in one of the NAME Gazette issues after a NAME function, but he had some for sale at the Tom Bishop show  (which is what put it back on the top of my "To Do" list.)

I made it in 2 nights so I am quite happy with it!

And of course, I  had to play with my bathroom and set it up to see what  it looked like with the tile shower wall safely installed.  This may be why I am not making fast progress :)

The double sink unit is from PRD Miniatures.

Have a great weekend!

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.