I collect majolica “cabbage ware”, and since my mini kitchen has a green color scheme, I just had to replicate some of my pieces for Patience House. I love the intricate detailing and the colors of majolica pottery. Each real-life piece that I own is unique, and I keep them above my cabinets in the kitchen.
Can you spot the miniature?
Working in half scale is difficult to begin with, and making tiny dishes is particularly challenging. But on the bright side, a little bit of detail goes a long way. Cabbage ware does not need to be perfectly sculpted in order to achieve a pleasing end result. Once I got the hang of things, sculpting the dishes was fairly easy. The tiny teacups presented the biggest challenge and took much longer to make than any of the other pieces. I permanently fastened them to the saucers.
Some finished pieces: a platter, a cake stand, a teapcup with saucer, and a dinner plate.
All of these items were made with air dry clay. I used DAS for everything except the teacups, which I made from cold porcelain. I used acrylic paints and then finished with gloss varnish. The photographs don’t do these pieces justice. In real life they do look like real pottery! I am very happy with how these turned out, and I may replicate other pieces in my collection soon…I would especially love to do the teapot.
I set out to make a half scale dollhouse before I even knew whether or not miniatures were available in half scale. I figured I could make most of my furniture if I needed to. I was happy to discover that half scale is becoming increasingly common, and there are many sellers online who offer a variety of half scale items.
Since I was on a tight budget, however, it wasn’t practical to buy rooms full of ready made furniture, and some of it wasn’t the particular style and/or time period I wanted anyway. It seems kitchens, in particular, are generally more modern in style.
Somewhere along the way I discovered that decades ago many toy manufacturers made half scale dollhouse furniture. Among them are Marx, Tootsie Toy, Durham Industries and Mattel. Tootsie Toy is the oldest of the bunch, with cast metal furniture made in the 1920′s to 30′s and replicating styles that were popular at that time. It also tends to be the most expensive if you are buying from a seller who knows what he has! Tootsie Toy items often tend to be mangled or at least missing some paint, although mint-in-box sets can occasionally be found. I am currently after a grand piano, which as luck would have it, is rare. Marx manufactured tin dollhouses with plastic furnishings, some of which were 1/2-inch scale. The styles vary, but some pieces are very traditional in appearance and the quality is good. Durham Industries manufactured a variety of die cast bronze miniatures under the “Holly Hobbie” brand during the late 70′s. A few of the items are very close to, if not exactly, half scale including the stove and icebox and the bathtub. And finally, Mattel manufactured the “Littles” line of furniture to go along with a plastic dollhouse in the early 80′s. Although I’m a child of the 80′s, The Littles were a bit before my time, and I had no idea of their existence until recently!
I have scoured eBay for a couple of months now trying to land deals on vintage half scale furniture, and I have had great success!
My first purchases were the stove and icebox by Durham Industries. Although Mattel also manufactured a stove for the Littles line, I preferred the style of the Durham Industries stove, and I liked the matching icebox. Both have nice detail, and all doors open.
I was very very lucky to land a huge lot of Littles furniture on eBay for about $9.00! Here’s a tip: if you are looking for inexpensive Littles furniture and don’t mind a few imperfections, search eBay for “Mattel furniture”. You will have to sift through some items that you aren’t looking for, but many sellers who don’t have the original packaging and don’t realize they are selling Littles furniture will list it as “Mattel furniture”–you’re likely to find the best bargains this way. If you are looking for mint in package furniture, “Littles furniture” might serve you better.
I was absolutely delighted with the furniture when it arrived!
The drop-leaf table really functions!
The bathroom set needs a little bit of work. The toilet tank and bathtub fixtures are missing.
Working drop tables for the living room.
Kitchen sink with attached icebox.
Although I know that collectors everywhere will be wringing their hands, I intend to paint many of these items to match the decor of my house. If they don’t fit in with my vision, then they are of no value to me! But don’t worry, if I do get my hands on any Tootsie Toy pieces they will remain as-is!
Work is progressing well in the kitchen, and I decided to start on a project that I have been waiting to do: the “stamped” metal ceiling! I don’t really know what time period I’m going for in this house, but I love stamped ceilings and decided early on that my kitchen would have one. I thought it would be fairly simple to create the look, and I was right!
I purchased a package of 4″ x 4″ pieces of sheet copper (they came in a package of eight) at Jo-Ann Fabrics. You can buy single larger sheets, but this way seemed to be the most cost effective–I intend to use the copper on the roof as well. My first step was to search online for stamped metal ceiling tiles to find a pattern that I liked and that would be easy enough to replicate. It is difficult to get into very much detail when working in 1/2″ scale, but the overall effect of the repeated tiles still looks fabulous and very ornate!
Once I found an image I liked, I resized it to 1″ x 1″ in my graphics software. In real life the tiles would be 24 inches square, which is typical. I copied the graphic 9 times, arranged to fit within the 4″ square copper piece while allowing space between each tile (to aid in cutting later).
Photo taken before I figured out that it would be easier to print nine tiles per template.
Using a ballpoint pen, I traced the outline of the pattern, then filled in the areas that would be recessed. I placed a piece of craft foam underneath to allow the pen to make an impression. There are special tools made for embossing metal, but the ballpoint pen worked just fine for my purposes. I would recommend doing at least one practice tile so you can get the hang of the amount of pressure you need to apply, and you may discover that your pattern should be traced in a certain order to avoid unwanted crimps and wrinkles in your design. Depending on the number of tiles you need to make, you may need to print your template several times, because the ballpoint pen will wear through the paper after 2 or 3 uses.
Once the tiles were traced, I cut each one with a pair of scissors. I had to make a total of 30 tiles to fill my kitchen ceiling (approximately 6 x 5 inches).
I cut out a piece of cardstock in the shape of the kitchen ceiling and hot glued the tiles in place. Be aware that the tiles will heat up very quickly from the glue–copper is an excellent conductor, after all!
I can’t wait to install the ceiling in the house, but first I have to paint the trim. I think I will apply a coat of varnish over the copper to prevent it from tarnishing.
The stairs in Patience House were the first items that needed serious reworking, since they were not 1/2 inch scale. Rather than build entirely new staircases, I wanted to try to rework the stairs that came with the house. It took me a while to come up with a plan of action that would result in evenly sized steps, but I eventually found a solution using standard sized pieces of wood. I purchased 3/8″ square dowels to add in some new steps. The existing treads were 3/4 inches deep, so the additional pieces divided them perfectly in half. The existing risers, though, were 1 inch tall, so I ended up with varying riser dimensions. I solved the problem by adding two layers of 1/16 inch thick wood to the new steps, then added two layers of 1/16 inch thick trim to the edges of the existing steps. It’s difficult to explain in words, but basically I brought the height of the new steps up an additional 1/8 inch, and using the trim on the existing steps, brought them down 1/8 inch. The original treads are very slightly deeper than the new treads, but it is barely discernible.
Here are a couple shots showing “before” and “after”:
I decided to stain the treads with Mahogany water-based stain, and paint the risers with an ivory color. I stained and varnished the treads before painting. I created my own newel posts and handrail from scratch. The newel posts consist of 1/8 inch square wood with 1/16 inch thick wood added for detail. I sanded the top edges at a 45 degree angle. The handrail was created from 1/8 inch dowel and the top portion of some dollhouse moulding that I already had. The moulding was glued on either side of the dowel, creating a channel to hide the tops of the spindles. The spindles are simply 1/16 dowels that I found at Michael’s. I stained the newel posts and handrails, and painted the spindles in ivory. I individually measured each spindle before gluing it in place. It was a bit time consuming, but not nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be. I decided to apply two spindles per step, because it really added to the detail and realism.
I learned the hard way that virtually nothing will stick to three coats of gloss varnish! The newel posts detached several times as I was working. I tried wood glue, hot glue and super glue. In the end I solved the problem by roughening the surface with an X-Acto knife. Lesson learned! On the next staircase I will refrain from varnishing surfaces that need to be glued. Fortunately the spindles have all stayed in place ok – the underside of the handrail is unvarnished, and there is not much stress on them.
With the addition of the railings, the stairs no longer fit in the pre-cut openings, so I had to hack away at the dollhouse to enlarge them. I had thought that I would need to take apart the house, then use a drill and a jigsaw, but I was able to get away with using my X-Acto saw and an X-Acto knife to cut through the thin plywood that makes up the floors. It wasn’t pretty, but I will add trim to finish off the openings.
I’m still getting the hang of macro photography and I don’t have a fancy camera, so please bear with me in the photography department!
And so concludes my “catch-up” posts. My Facebook friends can expect to see some new pictures soon!
I’ll be playing catch-up here for a little while. Those of you who have already been following my progress will have seen some of the upcoming photos before, but I hope to have some new items posted soon.
I have been focusing on the first floor, and I have all three rooms pretty well designed in my mind. I tried, and failed, to make floor tiles from cold porcelain and then plaster before I threw in the towel and settled for illustration board. It worked great, and I am very happy with the result. I drew the tile patterns and then scored all of the lines with an X-Acto knife to make the tiles look separate. The kitchen and the foyer will both have tile flooring:
The Foyer floor
I bought one large sheet of white illustration board, which will be enough for all of the tile in the house. Illustration board is rather expensive, and although I would have liked to cut individual squares from black and white illustration board, I decided to save money and simply paint the black instead. It looks very nice. I touched up some of the mortar lines with white paint. I also used dark grey and ivory paint to add some detail to the tiles. I sealed the floor with a couple coats of gloss varnish.
The Kitchen floor
I had a difficult time deciding exactly what I wanted to do in the kitchen. In the end I decided to go with “terra cotta” tile. The appliances are bronze and I plan to do a copper ceiling, so I think it fits well with the color scheme. I used the same method as on the foyer floor. It was much more annoying to score the lines, but much easier to paint. Once the terra cotta color was down, I went over it with a wash of watered down brown paint, which I then dabbed back off with a paper towel. I sealed with matte varnish, then colored the accent tiles with ivory paint and gloss varnish. The area on the left where the small tiles are will be the location of the stove. There will also be terra cotta tiles on the wall behind the stove.
The Dining Room floor
Looking at other work online inspired me to do parquet floors for most, if not all, of the rooms that will have wood floors. It is a bit tedious to do, but very rewarding. I used “skinny sticks” because they are very easy to find (one of the few supplies I can get at Walmart), and inexpensive. For half inch scale they seem a bit wide, but I have seen many historical homes with wide plank flooring, if not wide plank parquet, so I am satisfied. I used water based stain in two colors (Mahogany and Maple) to create some contrast. All of the pieces were glued to a piece of cardstock so I can place the floor in the room after I’ve done the other finishes. The floor was sealed with two coats of gloss varnish. The living room will have an even more intricate pattern, which I am both dreading and looking forward to!
Before I go I just wanted to say “hi” to all of my new readers. Thank you for following my progress! I feel like I’m getting off to a slow start, but hopefully will have more interesting things to share soon. Next I plan to showcase one of the staircases that I have finished, and that will be the last of my “catch-up” posts.
I am pretty certain that this clip from Sesame Street was my first time ever seeing a dollhouse. I was absolutely fascinated by the house, the dolls (Madame Alexander!) and the tiny dishes. I was also very dismayed when the two kittens came in and wrecked everything!
I was on one of my frequent diaper runs to Babies R Us when I ventured into the adjoined Toys R Us store to look around with my son. A wooden dollhouse that was on clearance caught my eye. It had a rather traditional look, and the price was marked down to $59.98 from $89.98. The gears in my head kicked into action and started churning out ideas for making over the little house. I didn’t buy it right then and there, though. Money is tight for us, and $60 was a lot to spend on a whim.
I spent the whole weekend thinking about the house and finally decided I had to buy it. If it wasn’t there anymore, then it wasn’t meant to be. But it was there (as were two others). I opened up one of the boxes to examine the contents and found that construction seemed to be very solid. It took me a few minutes to finally convince myself to spend the money!
I couldn’t wait to put it together, and did so shortly after I returned home. All of the pieces fit together well and fastened with screws. I loved that the front is hinged and magnets hold it closed. The front of the roof removes to expose the attic. The dollhouse came with many pieces of play furniture and a doll family, roughly 3/4″ scale. Most of the furniture and the dolls are well made and would be wonderful playthings for kids, but I intended to replace them all with 1/2″ scale furniture and dolls.
The dollhouse really does lend itself to half scale. The ceilings are around 6 inches, and the rooms are about 6 1/2 inches deep. I am going to divide some of the larger rooms in two. I have already begun work to convert the staircases to the correct scale (they won’t be perfect, but will look accurate enough to the naked eye).
My plans include bricking the exterior (with sandpaper bricks), creating a “slate” roof, adding flooring, wallpaper and trim, and furnishing with 1/2″ scale furniture. Since I don’t have very much money to spend on this hobby, and because half scale miniatures are somewhat scarce, I am creating many of the components, and even furniture, from scratch. I have an architecture degree, and if nothing else I learned how to build tiny models!
How did I decide on the name Patience House? It seemed fitting considering that many of the tasks are repetitive and annoying (I have calculated that I will have cut out more than 18,000 bricks by the time I am done). I am also hoping that the house will teach me patience. I am very patient with certain things, but when it comes to creative endeavors I tend to like to get everything done as quickly as possible so that I can see the end result. I am a “big picture” kind of person…I just like to get there ASAP! With this house I am trying to take my time to do things properly, and carefully design one room at a time instead of doing things on a whim. So far so good, though when I first started in on the project I went a little berserk.
I am so glad I decided to “splurge” on this house. Shortly after spending money I didn’t really have, I landed a couple of well-paying freelance jobs and didn’t have to feel guilty anymore about buying the house or the things I needed in order to fix it up. I feel like I have a new lease on life! I had given up my career, along with its accolades and nice paycheck, in order to stay home once my son was born. I was working mundane freelance jobs in order to help us make ends meet, but I wasn’t able to utilize my creativity. In short, I was sacrificing a lot, but not doing anything for me. I feel like I have reconnected with the person I used to be back when I didn’t have so many things to worry about and take care of. Patience House is a wonderful creative outlet for me, and I feel so much happier since I’ve started working on this project.
I have loved miniatures for as long as I can remember, but as I grew up I had less and less time for my hobby. I have a box of dollhouse furniture tucked away somewhere, waiting for a house to go in. I finally rediscovered my passion for miniatures when I purchased a dollhouse from Toys R Us that I knew I could make into something special (more to come).
When I was a kid the internet didn’t exist, but miniatures were very popular and easy to find in stores. Now I have very few options to purchase miniatures in my area, and I do not know anybody in real life who shares my hobby. Thank goodness for the internet, where I have already made several wonderful “mini” friends, and have been able to peruse all kinds of inspiring projects!
I decided to start this blog to share my work and ideas, and hopefully meet others who love miniatures as much as I do. Enjoy!
