Brass Bed

This has been a long time in the making and gathering of materials. I had to measure and cut all the tubing by hand with a file, and then mark and drill all the holes by hand. I could not have done this without my vice. I haven't yet worked out exactly how much I spent, probably about £30- £40. It isn't exactly 1:12 scale. It measures 14.5 (l) x 11 (w) x 11 (h) cm. So if in the real world, its just over 5 1/2 feet long. I decided to make it shorter and slightly smaller than a double, but bigger than a single, so it wouldn't cramp the room too much. The materials for the bed frame are brass and copper tubing, angled brass, crimp beads, various metal beads, gold ear bullets, 1:12 scale brass door knobs, 1:12 scale castors and two small turned pieces of brass I bought from a model ship website. It's all held together with tiny copper tubing dowels in hand drilled holes (I used a small drill bit held in an Excel blade handle), using superglue and araldite.  The mattress is also handmade, it had to be, since the bed isn't "standard". I bought the material on Ebay (Piglets Pincushion). It is hand sewn together, stuffed and buttoned ( no buttons though, I used crochet thread). I kept the edges rigid by using lengths of acetate sewn inside, before it was turned inside out for stuffing and "buttoning". 

Bed with wooden posts in the bedroom,(testing the height, before cutting the tubing) which I then later replaced with brass tubing. Waste not, want not, those wooden posts are now being used in the construction of "plaster" brackets for my window ledges.

I've just noticed a bead I forgot to glue in place. 50p for scale.

The bed looks quite short from this angle, but I'm hoping with the right bedding, I should be able to hide that.  

And two chairs for the kitchen...

Two Mini Mundus kit chairs, rejigged, using model ship balusters and stencil stickers, needs a few more coats of paint. The chair back on the right,  unintentionally, looks like a cat. Both the chair pads are made from sample material I bought for 5p each in a market and stuffed with no hole beads.

A few things being worked on.

I have a lot of things being worked on.  These are a few of those things.

The unfinished back door.  Bought online, one of the mass produced doors available, slightly customized. I try to customize anything I  buy, it usually just needs refined.  The door handle I bought from Modelling Timbers website. I used black sticker lines to make the stained glass, and filled in the perspex with clear varnish and acrylic ink, for a glassy effect. The Chinese lantern poking in at the side, I made with etched brass I bought from PPD Ltd, an old light fitting scrap wood and copper rods. Even it isn't  finished, even though its up in its place.

A Dollshouse birdhouse. A dovecote I made from scratch using lollypop sticks, card and  cocktail sticks and a few other odds and ends. I made the ridge tile using card, quite a few jewellery fittings and flocked it with ground up Richard Stacey bricks, the bits left over from the chimney stack. The roof needs a dusting, badly. No birds have moved in yet, though I have two in mind. But they have no feet yet!

Some cushions I made, some with scraps of material I bought at a market. The grey bench cushion hasn't been filled yet. And the bolster on the end is a Janet Granger kit, without its tassels, which I bought to try out needlepoint. I have a Bobbie Schoonmaker Arak Saruk rug kit arriving soon, so I thought I should practice on something small first. Just as well it worked out, as I think the  Bobbie Schoonmaker kit may be stuck in customs, so I can look forward to an additional bill. Then after that, I design and make my own rugs from scratch, because I can't afford them, really. Bench is a kit by McQueenie Miniatures. Excuse the out of scale cat hairs by the armrest. They get everywhere, I think I stitched a few into the bolster also.

The unfinished kitchen, hundreds of hours later

The rooms in the house are roughly 10" wide and 11" deep. The kitchen is nowhere near finished,  yet it is already looking a bit crowded. I have had to make bought furniture a bit smaller here and there. The fridge and the cooker are Phoenix kits. I had to knock part of the side wall down, so the fridge wouldn't look too crowded. That was a fiddly job, since the house is already built, my arm was through the window space to drill and saw at it. I ended up making the sink and stand myself. I couldn't find anything online that could be customized to suit that space in the room. The sink itself is made from Das clay, with a handmade wooden surround topped with a Phoenix water pump, the Rayher mosaic tiles, I got from a craft shop, they were in a sale at 99p a pot, which made those a bargain. The dresser was a popular cheap one I found online. I repainted it, took its feet off, and replaced the drawers and cupboard doors with new detailed ones, made from scratch. I also changed the profile of the upper shelving sides, by filling in the cutaway that was previously there for decoration at either end of the shelves, and adding a deep curve at the base, thanks to my dremel tool. The table is a Mini Mundus kit. I was seriously unhappy with the wood supplied for the top, it was quite a soft wood, not as soft as balsa, maybe bass, so I replaced it with a denser wood cut into planks, with edging.

 A lot of hours spent sanding, painting, adjusting, fitting and glueing together so far!

Richard Stacey gault tiles. I made the little crate under the table with coffee stirrer sticks, I always lift a bundle of those  when I buy an overpriced expensive cup of coffee in town.

View through side window.  A little rodent picture, homage to my first pet rat Amber, who used to hide in that space under the stairs, back in the days when the dolls house wasn't quite as serious. It was made with an old british postage stamp (celebrating the poet Robert Burns - To a mouse) and stuck to a button.

The first thing I made for the kitchen. An industrial style light shade. Made with a 1:12 tin tray, a metal button and some pieces salvaged from the old lighting. The little basket on top of the dresser was a first attempt at basket weaving, using wire and waxed crochet thread. Definitely must find a basket weaving book and make more intricate ones.

My custom made table top, with some of the things bought at the Miniatura show in Birmingham.  Teapot and Charplate are Stokesay Ware, trowel, honey dipper, basting brush, pastry cutter are by Danny Shotton. The spice box is by Susan and Sandy Eismont.

1:12 Wire haired fox terrier

I have a wire haired fox terrier, in real life, called Becky. Initially I was going to have a quick fix in the form of a "flocked" Schleich dog or something similar, but there were none that I particularly liked the shape of. In real life, I cut my dogs hair, so I am very familiar with her shape, and decided to have a go at sculpting her in fimo. I got alot of help from reading this  http://miniatures.about.com/od/topartisangalleries/ig/Kerry-Pajutee-s-Animals/Kerri-Pajutee-Sculpting.htm

Unfortunately, I lost the patience to finish the flocking properly, so its been set aside for the time being. Im too ashamed to show its current state, close up, particularly round the face. Its terrifying! You need self discipline and patience to do this kind of work, and I currently have lost it on this project. But it will come back, eventually.

A very rudimentary dog head.

And its body.

Many hours later and ready for the oven.  A bit sadistic this bit...

Surprise! Quite a jump from the rudimentary head and body. No photos to show the progress, i was too busy filing, sanding and needle poking etc.  The nose is slightly too big, exaggerated by the cameras macro setting, also adding to the "too big".

A slightly different angle. From front paws to the tops of the ears, she stands 4.4 cm.  

A bad paint job, but will be covered in flocking anyway.  

The real dog, sadly not the finished 1:12 dog.

An empty cupboard, just like real life. Not really, she is well looked after.  I haven't actually finished the flocking yet, alot more work to be done, so she looks best viewed from afar and behind, for the moment. Whilst she has been standing around without her fur on properly, I had been busy doing up the kitchen. Which is also in various stages of progress. Too many distractions.