Bricks and coffee sticks.

Hello Readers,
So I finally made a decision on bricks…well for the most part :) After my experiments with different products I'm trying my own thing.

I found these coffee stirrers at a local catering company and thought that they are almost the right thickness and size to make individual bricks.
I have started gluing them down and so far I am pretty happy with the results. I am wanting a rendered/painted finish so you shouldn't see the wood at all.
So I have started with the bottom part of my chimney. The gluing is probably the trickiest part, making sure its straight and equally spaced. Anyway theres plenty of cutting and gluing to do. Guess that's what long weekends are for.

IndyPoppy

Brick Problems.

Coffee stirrers cut to size, glued then a render applied. Using a  drawn line for placement.

Hello Readers,
Again I have been struggling with my decisions on which brick idea to use. So far I have tried a couple of ideas found on the internet.

The first one I tried was sandpaper bricks. I found this one to be just too complicated to cut! One suggestion was to use a shredder….it did shred….the sandpaper to bits.

Magic Bric….Looks fairly realistic, however I'm not entirely convinced about the size of the grout lines.

Coffee stirrers, gaps created using old credit card as spacer.

My first and worse attempt at using paper clay. I let it dry before I carved it, it fell to bits. Don't mind it as a render though.


So readers as you can see my experiments are not having much success. Any ideas? Help Please!
I like the stirrer idea, but it would require literally thousands to be cut up as my basement and chimney are huge.

IndyPoppy

Busy on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Worldofdollhousesandminiatures/

Hello Followers,
Well it's been a week and my Facebook group is up and running. So far we have 55 members and would love more. If you would like to join all you have to do is have a Facebook account, click the link and ask to join. If you know someone else with a passion for dollhouses and miniatures tell them about it as well. If you have a blog please share the link so we can get the word out. The more the merrier!
Have a great week,
IndyPoppy

Want to join me on Facebook?

If you are like me, you probably have a Facebook account and use it fairly regularly. But do you use it to communicate with other's in the dollhouse community?

Whilst attending the Sydney Dollhouse and Miniature fair and speaking to other bloggers and miniaturists.  I thought wouldn't it be great to have a place to go to see other peoples work, share ideas and just have fun.





So I decided "Why not start it myself?"

So what do you think?

Who wants to join me?


If your a dollhouse or miniature enthusiasts from anywhere in the world. I'd love to hear from you.

I'd love to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Worldofdollhousesandminiatures/

IndyPoppy

Sydney Dollhouse and Miniatures Fair: Part Two.

My Mum purchased this for me for my Hallway. Thanks Mum.

 Hello Everybody,
As promised I thought I would share with you my purchases from the fair. As I am working towards furnishing my Victorian Dollhouse I purchased with that in mind. If it wasn't from this era (or as close as I could get to this era) I wasn't buying it.

However for anyone with a vintage or modern dollhouse the Sydney fair has plenty for you too. I have to admit, it has made me think…is one dollhouse enough? I'd really like to get a vintage Triang 1930's/40's and a modern dollhouse to add to my collection. Ahh the possibilities!

Anyway to the purchases:

It's a pencil sharpener. But with a bit of paint and some records it will be perfect

A Phoenix Miniature (old stock?) Mangle for the laundry.

Parts of the white-metal kit….lots of gluing and painting ahead.

Croquet Set for the children's room.

A fresh fruit delivery. I will probably change the labels to vintage Australian ones.

Silk prints.

One of my favourite finds.  A Lidi Stroud (Basketcase Miniatures) fishing creel.
This has to be seen in person. The weaving is teeny tiny and FABULOUS!

A closer shot of the Fishing Creel.

Cruet Set

Duelling Pistols. These will need a little case. So another DIY project is on my never ending list of DIY.

I met the lovely Michelle from Michelle's Miniatures at the fair. Her books are magnificent! 

Another Phoenix Kit. Sewing Machine.

Toys for the nursery.

Handpainted by Margaret Crosswell.

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