Making Time

I recently joined three Miniature and dollhouse groups on FaceBook. One is hosted by a lovely woman Julie Warren in England. She also has a wonderful Youtube channel full of fabulous tutorials on how to build your own dollhouse furniture. She has published three books with great instructions on how to build so many pieces of furniture and accessories in 1:12 scale. Her pieces are easy to build with very clear and precise instructions. So after watching her videos and buying one of her books, I decided that I should tackle a project. I did make a small shelf from her one book and was emboldened to try another project, a clock. Now, this clock is not one her projects, but it was one that I found on Pinterest and had been dying to make, but didn't know how to go about doing it, so today I will show you how I have made this clock.

First, you need the pattern, so go to Nature's Soul Miniatures to find the instructions and the pattern. I emailed the person who keeps the blog and asked permission to discuss her instructions to assemble the clock. She emailed back and give me permission to use her blog, but asked that I not show the pattern.  While she used mat board and cardboard from cereal boxes, I used 1/16 inch wood that I purchased from Hobby Lobby. It comes in a 2 foot length. I cut the wood with a craft knife. Actually, her materials would be easier to use than cutting the wood. Still, I am glad that I put in the effort to cut the wood.

You can download the pattern from her website and print it. If it does not print to scale to scale, copy it to your word processor--I use Microsoft Word 2011--where you will be able to adjust the size of the document to print to scale. Here's how:

• copy the image into the word processor
• select the image by double clicking on it
• in the sizing box in the top tool bar enter 4.89 for the height and 7.38 for the width. I had to readjust the side a couple of times and print a couple times to get this correct scale. 
• Use a ruler to measure the test square to make sure that it is 1 inch.
• Cut out the pattern pieces

Next you will cut out the pieces and draw them on the wood. I suggest drawing and cutting out one piece at a time. The cap piece because it is so difficult to cut out from wood, cut it out of cardboard. Of course if working with wood makes you nervous, then use foam board or heavy cardboard.

Cutting curves on wood can be tricky, so when you cut out a piece with curved, cut a straight line outside of the decorative curved edge. Then use a scribe or the tip of you craft knife and trace over the curved edge, gently first then with each apply more pressure to cut through the wood. Visit Julie's youtube to see how she cuts these decorative edges. For example in this video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_-T6CV7-I4

or this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LoyZ9Dxpbw (the shorter one)

So here is the clock nearly finished clock body.

I found a clock face, copied it into Word and sized it to fit the clock face surface. I covered it with a layer of Modge Podge to give it a scene with a light sanding. I could have cut some clear plexiglass, but the Modge Podge gave a nice finish.

For the handles, I drilled a hole using my had drill and for the handles, I used tiny scrapbooking brads.

I painted it with acrylic craft paint, giving it a couple of coats of white paint first then embellished it with a light brushing of gold acrylic craft paint.

Now I have to figure out what I will display on the shelves.

So, I've been shopping. I need little doo-dads to fill in shelves and spaces in the Bellingham, so here is one figurine that I have had my eye on, so I finally gave in and bought her.

                       

She is a lovely lady that reminds me of one of my favorite figurines that I keep on my fireplace mantle.

 Years ago I worked for a direct sales company called Home Interiors and Gifts, a company that sold decorating accessories to make home beautiful and to give women jobs. The company had line of the most beautiful porcelain figurines. About the time I was deciding to make changes in my life--career wise--the company came out with this line of beautiful porcelain ladies. This one is called Lady Carolin. This line of figurines was manufactured in Mexico with such wonderful and delicate detail and under the trademark of Masterpiece and the company's trademark Homco. This one is dated 1993. The Masterpiece line featured hundreds of figurines designed and manufactured in also Japan by wonderful artisans. I don't know that woman so much now collect these figurines. I especially loved their line of animals, especially the birds and the big game species. Today you will find some of these figurines in thrift stores and on ebay undervalued for what we paid for them because of the craftsmanship.

Now, most figurines are now made of resin and while beautiful and perhaps more sturdy, these porcelain figurines are relics of grandmas' past. Companies such as Hummel and Lefton are gone and their beautiful pieces end disgarded in the rubbish heap or sent to the thrift store. I always buy the Lefton birds. So, of course my dollhouses have tiny statuary, too.

I also purchased the blue jay by Jeannette Kendall. Her collection of these tiny birds reflects the collection that Homco offered, Now they are both becoming harder to find. Costing under nearly $25 dollars, they have been hard for me to spend the money, but now they are in short supply in the online catalogs. 

I hope that take a look at Julie Warren's videos. She does amazing work but more importantly she makes us feel that we can the same. So go build something.

Thanks for visiting.