Sydney Dollhouse and Miniatures Fair. Part 1

Hello Everyone. Well it has been a very exciting week for me as it was time for the annual Sydney Dollhouse and Miniatures Fair at Homebush.

It has been two years since I was last at the fair and was so dissapointed that I couldn't attend last year. So rain, hail or shine I was going this year.

After convincing my Mum that she needed to come (after all I needed someone to stop me if I got mini-itis. The need to buy every mini you see!) We headed to Homebush.

I loved this cutout so that you could view all the contents!

Our first stop was to look at the wonderful displays. The houses were in multiple scales, some 1/144, 1/12 1/24 etc. Below are a few of my favourite houses/ideas from the show.

Flower Shop

Steam Punk Extravaganza!

Tudor Kit

Kitchen Room box

This shop was one of my favourite room boxes at the fair. It held a wonderful secret! Can you see the Baker in the back room? Well this miniaturist came up with a great idea so that you could see the items in the back room. It's a mirror! Fabulous idea. You could use this idea for those rooms that are just too hard to access, but you still want to be able to use and see!

Mirror placement in back room.

Lots of handmade treats.

Grocery Store

Jewellery Shop

Haberdashery Shop. I just want that cotton display cabinet!

Readers of Basketcase Miniatures will recognise this beauty.  Willunga . If you would like to see more of Lidi's work, check out her great blog.

                                              http://basketcase-miniatures.blogspot.com.au

In my next post I will share pictures of my favourite purchases. 

Take care

IndyPoppy

Happy Easter!

Anastasia's Dreams Easter Basket.

 I hope everybody is getting ready for a fabulous Easter break. I have been incredibly busy over the past couple of months so my dollhouse has come to a standstill.

One thing I was able to do was attend the ACT Miniature Enthusiasts show. I didn't go crazy at the fair…even though there was lots of tempting products. I thought I'd save my money for the Sydney Miniature Fair in May.

 I did buy a couple of small items. The first photo is a small basket with easter eggs. So cute! It's from miniature food maker Anastasia Grogan. (anastasiasdreams.blogspot.com.au) She had several lovely food items to choose from. Yum Yum.















My second item is a fern. I was unsure of the maker's name but I think it's Dianne Cotterill. (Any reader who did attend the fair, can you let me know if this is correct?) This is the third plant that I have purchased from the same seller. (Anyone remember the daffodils and iris?) I love the detail of the tiny "babies" that the fern has….a nice detail.

These were a gift with purchase….all ready for Christmas.

I also purchased an item for an experiment. After much research I had decided to do a trial of Magic Brik for the basement. I really, really, really wanted to use real stone from Richard Stacey http://www.richardstacey.com/welcome.html.

Unfortunately due to the enormous amount of square inches I need to cover I was looking at nearly $1800 just for the stone. That wasn't including the postage. They are such a beautiful product, and I am so disappointed, but, when making dollhouses you still have a budget!

So I'm going to try Magic brick with a cement type paint product. I will try a small sample before fully committing to it. If anyone has any suggestions for a brick/stone finish or links to ideas please let me know.



 My last photo today is of the newest member of my family. Many of my readers might remember that my beautiful great dane Indy died last December. After much discussion with my boyfriend we decided to have a break from great danes. Don't get me wrong. I love them…they are probably my favourite breed. But the fact is you get such a short time with them. Most make it to 8, if you are very lucky they make it to 10.

So with all this is mind, we went with a very different breed altogether. Introducing Ksenia (Kenzi) the Border Terrier. Kenzi is our first Border terrier so we are learning heaps about the breed. She is full of beans…..all of the time! She is a chewer of all things…so you need to keep your miniature collection in a very high place!

Here is a list of her favourite chewables:
Baby wipes
Hair ties
Paper towel
Pens and pencils
Plant tags (especially the really important ones that show my Mum where her rare bulbs are located!)
Hoses
Leads
Blue pegs (really does only eat blue ones!)
Bread bag tags
tea towels
Apple TV remote (it's perfectly bite size!)
Skirting board corners (this is her latest treat!)
Snails
Duck poo!
Thong (You would call this a flip flop in the USA)

So as you can imagine….she has turned the house upside down. Fun Times!
Kenzi came to us from a Breeder in Tasmania. So we think she probably has a bit of the Tasmanian Devil in her!

Well have a great Easter everyone. Talk Soon IndyPoppy

Christmas Presents Galore!

Heidi Ott Pram. 

After my Mum's trip to England earlier in the year, I have developed an (unhealthy?) obsession with Heidi Ott items. As my birthday and Christmas are very close together Mum said "Here have some $$ for some dollhouse items." Anyway, after putting off making any decision to pretty much the last minute, I chose some items from the Heidi Ott catalogue, and began my internet search. I really wanted to buy them here (Australia) but found it incredibly difficult to find anything in stock. So my search went international. I ended up purchasing my items from www.heidiott.co.uk. I was really pleased with how quickly they got here. I ordered on the 20th of Dec, about 13 days. That's fast considering how many public holidays we have had. Everything made it in one piece too! The elephants that normally beat up my packages must be on holidays! :)

 Now this has to be my favourite item, I have been drooling over this little train for at least 2 years. The reason being I have a pretty close match to it in O gauge.

 This photo is of my "toy" O gauge vintage Hornby (Thanks to my boyfriend.....a Christmas pressie from a few years ago) It's clockwork...and magnificent. It is a bit of a pain to set up....and for the photo I only replicated the amount of track that came with the mini version. In the centre you can just see the miniature version.

 The clockwork key with mini version. Sneeze and I might lose the key! The Aussie $2 coin is pretty small itself. ( A strange oddity about Australian coins are that the smaller the coin is the greater the value (this applies to the "gold" ones)

It even has a miniature "Fat Controller" (Thomas the Tank Engine!) He is lying down on the job! (very difficult to stand up)

 The trains together gives you a little idea of just how tiny the train set is.

 "Toot Toot"

 Another purchase was to add to my bedroom set. It's the dressing table and chair.

Lastly an item for the music room. A rather large harp.

Well it's back to the catalogues for me. Is it too Early to think about presents for next year? Nah!!!

Thanks Mum and T for my presents. Yes I will be annoying you latter to show you them!

So followers, what great mini gifts did you get this year? Or what treats did you buy for yourself?

IndyPoppy

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Hello Everyone,
I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.
Yesterday I decided that I would take my mini skills and used them in a different project. I have always admired other peoples gingerbread houses and thought if I can make a dollhouse surely I can make a gingerbread one. Well the photo on the left is my 2nd ever attempt. Not too shabby, however, don't look too close!

Here are my tips: HE HE!

1. There are too many recipes on the internet...chose one quickly...you will be overwhelmed by choice and ingredient lists with lots of things possibly never found in any supermarket ANYWHERE!

2. Make a template that isn't out of paper...it sticks....and it sticks. Greaseproof paper works. Flour is your friend, use it when rolling out the gingerbread.

3. If you plan to light your house (which I did) make sure your house is big enough for the fixture. I cut a hole in the bottom of mine with a cookie cutter.

4. Icing is your friend! It's a bit like builders bog...you can used it to fill the gaps.(Believe me I had lots!)

5. If you are lazy like me....and are not a dab hand at using a piping bag, buy your icing from the shops. It even comes with fancy tips to make all sorts of patterns. ( Is icing meant to come out the other end of the bag?)

6. There is an icing conspiracy :) when buying icing make sure you buy double. I needed white...and I am sure that the container of white had half the amount of any other container in the packet. The bright blue icing that I didn't want to use would have gone on an on and on etc.

Anyway, you get my point! It's fun to make.

These are the little lights I purchased this year. They are LED tea lights. They are fantastic...and only a couple of dollars for 4. I used these in the gingerbread houses and to light my Christmas village.

The lights are on the village!

My last picture today is of my eldest and now sadly only dog Willow. She wasn't too keen on the hat, but wouldn't mind a mince pie or a piece of cake.

Well everybody I hope you have a safe Christmas/holiday season.

Talk soon,
IndyPoppy

Thankyou

Hello Everybody,

I firstly want to thank everyone for their lovely thoughtful comments about the death of my great dane Indy. It has been a rough couple of weeks, but your comments are much appreciated.


Over the past few weeks the postman has been very busy delivering a few giveaway items and a recent purchase.

This lovely garden tub came from a giveaway from Mi Pequena Evasion http://pekevasion.blogspot.com. I love the way that it has been aged and really like the realistic look of the water.









 Hannah from www.hannahsminiatyrer.blogspot.se also announced the winner of her VW bus guessing competition. I was so surprised to find that it was me! It is an absolutely wonderful mini VW. It is teeny tiny! Hannah I don't know how you made it so tiny with so much detail. Hannah also included a lovely wool dog. Here is an action shot of the puppy.

 Another surprise is from http://eatcakeminiatures.blogspot.com. It is a red rose flower kit. I haven't been game enough to give it a go yet, but now that I am on holidays it is on my "to do" list. Which is getting longer and longer with many miniature projects.







 My last photo is of a new purchase. I own an O gauge train set that would look fantastic with a little township so I finally found one. These little villages are very hard to find in Australia but I was lucky to find one from an online shop called Halcyon Hours. It was one of the last ones of this type in stock.. Thanks Halycyon Hours for sending it so quickly.

If you know of any other Australian stockists I would love to hear from you.  I am now after the other two sets!

I will start to work on it over the weekend. I realise I won't get anywhere near completing it by this Christmas. Maybe next year! I'm debating if I should create it in the putz style or if I should keep it traditional. What do you suggest? Any ideas?

I hope to post again before Christmas...but there is lots to do...talk soon
IndyPoppy

A Sad Farewell.

Hello Everybody,
I know it has been a while since I blogged about my house but again real life has taken over from my mini life.

You may remember from my previous post I discussed my great dane being ill. A few weeks ago Indy was diagnosed with bone cancer. Sadly over the past few weeks Indy had been getting sicker and sicker.  So on Saturday I said goodbye to  my "fur kid".

She was a great dog, very affectionate and will be missed terribly.

IndyPoppy

Cladding Tips.

 Hello Followers,
Today I thought I would write down one or two tips I discovered whilst attaching the cedar cladding to my Victorian Dollhouse. Remember you are using cutting equipment so be incredibly careful. Safety First!!!!









Things You will need:
- Cladding (and lots of it...more than you think you need!)
- PVA (wood glue)
-Small brush (not your best...but not your worst either)
- Metal ruler
-Easy Cutter (honestly the best tool I have ever purchased...definitely got my money's worth)
- Stanley knife
-Small cutting board
-Pencil
-Masking tape

Step 1:
Start at the bottom of your house and line up your piece so that it is level with the base of the house. I would stay away from too much overlap as I can see future accidents occurring with it, it could easily be ripped off.

TIP: If you can place your house face up it is easier to clad!

Step 2:
I started from the left side of my house and move across to the right of my house with the cladding. If your piece is not long enough. Don't stress. Start your new piece and cut when necessary. I place the new piece on (dry fit) and place a small pencil line on where it needs to be cut.

TIP: I used a small brush to place the glue on each piece, I do not place glue on the rebate! Too much glue will stop the rebate keeping your cladding straight.


You will have joins. But as long as both pieces are straight you will get a tight join.


TIP: Make sure your joins are staggered and that you don't have a join above a join!

 This picture shows the indent in the cladding, it faces towards the house and down. It will help to accurately place your next piece above.

TIP: Use the easy cutter with the claddings rebate away from you. (This tip may work for you as I found with 90% of my cuts, it stopped the cladding from cracking.)

TIP: Masking tape is your friend...you will use it heaps! It allows you to secure your cladding and keep it flush against your house. 

TIP: When cutting the cladding try to avoid cutting anything under an inch...in some cases this is unavoidable but most of my smaller cuts split the cladding. (Sometimes...turning the cladding over and cutting from the rebate side is worth a try on pieces prone to splitting)

Step 3:
Window openings require a little maths, but nothing too hard. I place the new piece across the window.

Step 4:
Mark where the piece crosses the window on the actual house first. Then place a small mark on cladding to show spot where window starts.


Step 5:
Remove the piece and measure on your house how far it is from the window mark to the bottom of the window sill. Transfer this measurement to the top of your cladding piece and cut. I use the easy cutter for the vertical cuts and a Stanley knife for the horizontal. Use your metal ruler as a guide...but be careful !!!! (Don't forget that these pictures show what to do with the bottom of a window but you use the same sort of method for the top)

TIP: The rebate is great, make sure you have no gaps between it and your next piece. It only takes one piece being crooked for the whole lot to be wonky. (trust me....I had this happen a couple of times)

Step 6:
Glue and tape.

 Step 7:
If your lucky you wont have many splits but if you do. Place a small amount of glue in the crack, wipe it gently and tape ensuring it is straight first.

Step 8:
Continue cladding until your reach the top!

TIP: Some kits come with corner covers (not quite sure what their actual name is.) I would still encourage cladding to the corners. It would be extremely frustrating to find at the end that your corners didn't quite cover.

TIP: I'm planning on painting the house before attaching the corner components as it will be tricky to get a nice finish.

Here is a shot of the tower...notice all the tape? It is extremely useful for those teeny pieces that just won't sit. I used painters tape and found it was very easily removed.

So friends...be prepared. What I have done so far has taken hours (really probably days) and I still haven't finished. Take your time and if you are tired, stop!!!!!! A tired crafter is an accident waiting to happen! I managed to cut my hand on a drill that was not working....just sitting on the bench!

I'd love to hear from you about your experiences with cladding....any tips or trick you would like to share would be great!

IndyPoppy