My Favourite Miniature

I have always been hopeless with wood, whenever I try to cut or measure it there is a disaster. This usually ends with swearing or bleeding so, not surprisingly, I tend to avoid it. If Gill and I are having a dolls house club day I am very occasionally persuaded to have a go, but Gill usually does all the measuring, and some of the cutting. She knows not to hold wood when I am cutting, the president of my UK dolls house club once did this in an effort to prove I was not hopeless, and finally admitted he was wrong after first aid had been given to his cut fingers!
However I do quite enjoy putting kits together, as long as they are not too complicated, and I can get a decent result. This chair was fine except it fell apart a time or two, all my fault as I used the wrong glue and it did have to travel 1000 miles in the move to Spain.

The best part for me is the covering. I have always enjoyed sewing and embroidery, and miniature half cross stitch is a challenge I like. This was one of the first things I did and I still like it. The pattern came from a Felicity Price article in an old Dolls House Magazine. It usually lives in the jewellry department, I think if you are spending a lot of money you need a comfortable seat!
Lots of big mini hugs to everyone
Olwyn

Small ideas take a lot of time

Every now and again I get an idea and I just have to run with it. A few weeks ago I saw a picture in a Delia Smith Christmas recipe book and it made me think of those fabulous French cake and chocolate shops, the ones that sell macaroons and expensive cakes, everything glitters and looks scrumptious. This made me think I could do that in my store. Does anyone else see things in their mind, try to do it and then realise they may need to think about it first?

I have made a start as you can see from the pictures, but it is just beginning to dawn on me that there is a long way to go, lots of goodies to make and it may all be a bit more expensive than I anticipated unless I can make most things myself. These are my first attempts, and as there will be lots of shelves to fill I can always hide them at the back. Having said that I am quite pleased with them, only hundreds more to make!
I hope you all have a great mining weekend
Mini hugs
Olwyn

Displays

Now I have started the blog I just cannot seem to stop looking at it, thank you everyone for your kind comments, it is so exciting to have some followers. It is odd, I know that Gill makes lovely things, she thinks they are OK, and I am just the same, we both like each others minis but criticise our own, so it is really nice to have outside opinions. Sometimes we both get a surprise when we have another look at something we have made and cannot believe we did it.
As I have not had time to make any minis I will show you some of my department store, in all I have 3 big display cases and a smaller one which is a Bridal Salon. They are a long way from finished because there is a lot of room, and I am a typical Gemini as I flit from one project to another.
When Gill and I are together one idea sparks another, our husbands think we are mad. This may because the last time my husband arrived home on a mini day we were ironing plastic straws! I will explain that idea another time.

This is the ground floor of the bridal salon, I love making feminine minis, it is looking quite full, but there are another two floors to go.

Here is a close up of the back of a wedding dress I made and embroidered, you can see it on the left above.

I think of all the minis I have I love my Bridal Salon the most, even though there is still a long way to go.
In the other cases I have an antiques department, well I have to have somewhere to put those things that do not fit anywhere else.

Among the other departments there are a childrens shop, cafe, perfume, hats and lots of others, some to be decided.

Still very short of chairs in the cafe!

This is small corner of the childrens department, it is probably the fullest, I have no idea why, perhaps because I cannot resist a cute mini.

This is a counter in the mens department, and finally a picture of the jewellry department.

I hope you have enjoyed your brief tour, when I have mastered the camera more I will show some of my makes in more detail.
Have a great day
 Mini hugs
Olwyn

Practise makes perfect.

The title says it all really, I doubt it in my case, but I have taken loads of photos this afternoon. I have even braved Adobe  Photo Shop which is not for the faint hearted. Obviously when I saved anything it seemed to go all over the place so I will probably never see any of the edited images I saved again, but to quote a well known politician " things can only get better". I hope I am more accurate than he was.

I thought I would show you a mannequin I dressed for my Bridal salon. She is based on an article in Dolls House and Miniature Scene by Sue Johnson called Wisteria Bride, I had to do the best I could with what I had, but I am quite pleased with her. Sue has a lovely web site at http://www.suesenchantedcottage.co.uk , and her book "Dolls House Wedding Book" is fantastic.The doll was a very cheap one which I rewigged.Hope you enjoy looking at her.
Thank you to everyone who has looked at the blog, I really appreciate it.
Have a good mini day.
Olwyn

My minis for this evening

Just as a footnote I have had my first comment from Gill, I am so excited. I thought it would be nice to put a photo of my other minis on the blog. They are so sweet. The bigger cat is Barnaby and he is seven months old, the smaller is Ambrose ( up until yesterday at the vets he was Amber), he walked in last week and I did not have the heart to make him go away. He was a stray, and as you can see they are the best of friends already.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. Those of you who know Gillian at www.makeitsmall.blogspot.com will know that we have a dolls house club of two, I am the other half!
After much persuasion, and more than a little help from Gill, I am finally getting my feet wet in the world of blogs.
Please excuse the photos, I was using my husbands camera, and as I have not got a clue how to use it the pictures are not very good. This is what I have been making today, as I need stock for my department store. At least in my imagination it is a department store, in reality they are large display cupboards which we inherited.
 I am afraid my underwear is not a patch on Marlies, so apologies to her. The mannequin is a jewellry holder that I redressed, they will do for display purposes for now.

My next plan is to make more shirts for my mens department, it is looking a little empty. When I have had a lesson in camera control (!) I will take some pictures. The great thing about my big cupboards is that I can make anything I fancy and it will fit in somewhere.
Have a nice mini day
Oly