Begin at the beginning part 2 - or - The On-going Tale of a Miniature Addiction

Having realised I was in fact a miniaturist and part of a wide community rather than believing the love of all things tiny was some sort of personality disorder that needed to be hidden, I proudly came out of the closet with miniature crochet hook in hand in 1976.  Proceeds from miniature crochet bought a scroll saw and a couple of books and I was on my way!  Nothing whatever could be bought at that time, certainly not furniture, not even basswood for the handywoman.   A cabinet maker was co-erced into putting some Heart Totara through his thicknesser and miniature furniture began to fill any moment spared from the demands of real life.

The following year brought with it the opportunity to go to night classes in joinery to build a 3 storey Georgian style dollhouse to  house the growing collection of furniture I'd been slowly making.  Unfortunately that dollhouse had to be left behind when life brought me home to Australia but all the "doings" came along and waited patiently for a new dollhouse home.  Patiently.................

Real life took some twists and turns so, unable to build another dollhouse myself, a friend entered into an agreement to build one for me - a tall narrow house along the lines of a Paddington Terrace house but with a balcony at the top.  Great excitement about 2 years ago when it arrived.

Patience?  it only took 30 years to replace that first dollhouse and worth the wait I might add.

   

The equestrian chap holding the shotgun is visiting while he waits for his new home in a stable.

Shabby but not too chic............

Grandson came over and we played with knives! 

We think the loose box needs to be 1" wider but apart from that we're happy with the mock up, we'll use mdf and ply for the stable proper.  The front fence will be uprights in the finished stable so the horse can't get his foot over a rail ;)

More doodling.

Not sure which size block to use.........probably need to make more of the larger one to get an idea of overall look.  The small block would be good for an afghan but may be too much for a whole spread.  Either way there are a good few hours of work ahead.

A conservative estimate of the time involved for this more formal spread would be in the region of 120 hours.

This photo is part of a roombox I filled for a miniature crochet display.  The bed usually lives in my dollhouse and Emma Rose has her own roombox.

Doodling.....

A bedspread is needed for the single bed in the dollhouse..........last nights doodling around with colour and design.

Crochet at last........

Just finished, an Afghan for a friend.  I think I want to do one of these in pastels with shabby white instead of black for myself.

Coat hanger jig

This jig is simple to make and sure isn't fancy as you'll see from the pics.

These are the supplies you'll need for the hangers, suitable wire of course, a block of scrap wood, different size dowels, a pin vise with drill bits or an electric drill, glue, knife to cut the dowels, snips for the wire and small smooth nosed pliers(sorry, forgot to put them in the photo.

Draw the shape you want your hanger to be on your block of wood allowing for the thickness of the wire.  Drill holes as you can see in the photo to insert the dowels, cut dowels to length and glue in the holes.  Leave to dry at least 24 hours for full strength or they might move when you put pressure on them.

Cut about 4" of wire and start bending from the hook end.

Continue bending till you are back where you started from.  Slip the wire off the jig and push the end of the wire behind the neck of the hook, slip back on and check your shape is ok, bend the end of the wire up a little and then slip the hanger back off to finish.

Fold the wire around the neck making sure you keep the shape.  Nip off the wire leaving a tiny stub, pinch that down tight with your pliers.

Snip off the hook and file it smooth.  You might need to tweak the shape a bit with your pliers.  These are baby size hangers, the hook looks a trifle large because the hanging rail in the white wardrobe is perhaps a bit thicker than it could have been but when clothes are hanging on the hangers they look ok.

Update of Emma Rose's Shabby wardrobe

I couldn't find my old coathanger jig so had to find time to make a new one before hanging Emma Rose's clothes in her wardrobe.  Gold wire was all I could find in my stash, not the best choice for a shabby baby, they can be replaced later.  The little matinee jackets were knitted by a dear friend but I made the rest.

Emma Rose's Christening

Testing, testing, one, two, three.  Just kidding, this will (hopefully) contain my first live link!!

Don't all faint, this post actually shows some crochet. 

The gown and petticoat are a Doris Thurlow design, resized to fit this doll and using finer thread and a finer crochet hook than called for in the pattern.  I love this design and enjoy making it very much.

Emma Rose looked so sweet dressed in her christening outfit I thought she had to have a christening photo even though I had to play the part of the minister!  Emma Rose was made by Lisa  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovinclaydolls/  I love this little treasure.

Susan.

Dog Fuzz

Nothing is nicer than a bed full of dog fuzz ;)

Begin at the beginning

Dear me, I find I have a follower! Welcome Linda.  Not much to follow so far I fear, I'm rendered speechless by this blank page. Utterly speechless! Oh 'eck, as my greatgranny used to say, where to begin......

Start at the beginning could work, well, here goes. The love of all things tiny began at birth but it wasn't till I was expecting my first baby that I discovered via a magazine article that I was not alone in this addiction.  Life led me to some miniaturists in New Zealand who opened my eyes to wonders previously unimagined.

My only real miniature skill is crochet but dabbling in other areas brings joy also. A love of teddy bears has of course been translated into miniature crocheted bears. Meet Butterscotch who is sharing the limelight with MicroDot and Petal, two of his older sisters.

As scary as bungee jumping!

Well, heaven knows how I made it to this point in blog land but hopefully I'll learn more as I go along.