Wordangell's Blog

It has been a while since I wrote but I haven’t been idle, far from it. I think that’s my trouble really. I have so many hobbies and interests that keep me busy, I don’t get them all in. Recently, I have been busy trying to organise my work room to fit yet another new project into an already crowded space. Since I was small I loved the idea of miniature; I think must have been down to the literature I read as a child and, although The Borrowers had a pretty risky existence, it gave me a wonderful escapeism. This leads me neatly into my new project – a doll’s house.

I have been making miniatures of things for as long as I can remember and now, finally in my autumn years, my dream of doing it for a reason came true when Harry bought me a doll’s house kit for my 60th birthday. It’s a magical project for me and one that suits my tendency to dip in and out of different hobbies as the mood takes me. So far I have completed the basement kitchen, and scullery though I still have to make everything for the laundry. As it is early Victorian there is a lot of stuff to make. I know about artistic license so am employing it on that room. I made a doorway and window at the side of the  house, no problem?  I struggle with a house that has no toilet facilities and will build an outside privy later on but on the main house the chimney breasts are on that wall so a great deal of imagination is required. I am sure the occupants aren’t going to complain though.

 

completed basement

 

Basement

The kitchen, hallway and scullery have a hand painted floor because the papers I looked weren’t terribly realistic. I have also completed the dining room a lot of fun to do. A mixed bag, this room moves into later Victorian times, it looks pretty bare at the moment with only the basic furniture but it is ‘functional’ should any small people wish to join us for a meal. The lighting works in the fireplace too, that was fun to do. I only blew one fuse and did rediscover my soldering skills in miniature though. The worst part was trying to insulate such minute wires but offseting the joins and using a dab of bathroom silicone to seal them seems to have done the trick.

The floor of the dining room has been a brilliant project. I decided against artificial floor covering and opted for the ‘real thing’, well almost. I don’t go to coffee shops very often but the wooden stirrers are perfect for making floorboards so I persuaded friends to bring back their stirrers everytime they had a coffee. Coffee stains add to the authenticity. I made a template and stuck carefully cut stirrers to look like wooden floor and sanded it well, so far so good but the next part was rather laborious. I used an awl to mark nails in the ends of every board before I stained it. I think it made a rather impressive looking floor, but I am slightly biased here.
My next project is to make a parquet floor for the hallway, now that’s a challenge for sure. I think I have just enough wooden stirrers to make a start. Thank you to everyone who has brought me their sticks, couldn’t do it without you.

Do you see how easily I get distracted, this blog entry was meant to be on writing and wandered off the path. Definitely a butterfly mind still. I enrolled on a writing course last year and have been struggling with writing articles but I managed to complete it and submit it yesterday, here’s hoping the rest of the assignments become easier. It’s a lot of money to waste if I don’t get my finger out, and my head out of my doll’s house, and get writing and that is why, as a motivational technique, I have decided to paddle once more into the world of the blogger. Here’s to bigger (and smaller) things!