Hang The Curtains!

And Paint the Birds.....

Oh Those Pesky Details!
You will Laugh, Dear Readers, when I tell you that I wanted the curtains to hang on a curtain rod with rings... so you could slide them open and closed if you wanted to! So I set about making some tiny "rings" from brass jewelry wire... and stitching them to the top of the very fragile net lace curtains! It was not easy!

Can you even see them here???

(Poke the pictures to enlarge them)

(Or even better right click on them and open in a new tab for huge close-ups!)

And then I strung them on a small wire rod....

Which I bent so it would arch over the window....

And then I carefully located the holes 

where the nails would go to attach the rod....

And a wire "hook" in the middle to hold the top in place.

I used my awl to create the holes...

And pushed the tiny nails in with the blunt end of my pliers!

(Nothing else was small enough to reach in there!)

It was really Really Not easy to do!

But, believe it or not they work!!!

Can you see that Magnificent Curtain Rod???

And with the windows in place......

And if you opened the windows.... 

could you feel the breeze blowing through???

Oh, I am so happy with the way they are hung!

And lest you think I had forgotten about the birds, Dear Readers,

here you can see I have started to paint them....

Beginning with the pigeons 

because they are larger and therefore easier.

And as I am sure you are aware, 

pigeons are not all colored alike....

So I tried to vary them a little without going to extremes.

Here, would you like to meet Perry Pigeon?

And Pauline Pigeon....

(She is a little shy)

Yes, I think painting them was a good idea!

But what about the sparrows, I hear you ask?

Alas, they are not so easy.... 

they are so much smaller and their Details are more delicate....

But I made a start!

Here, would you like to meet little Sandy Sparrow???

I almost think he is the cutest thing imaginable!

But then I added the tiniest doll to the Bed Alcove.....

Just to see how it would look with a doll.....

 (She is made of wire with a bead for her head...

I bought her at the Sturbridge Fair....

But, I am sorry I don't recall which vendor made her!)

She is only 1/4 inch tall!!

And while she might not end up living in the Tree House....

She looks so sweet sitting there in the Bed Alcove!

There are still So Many tiny details 

to add to this Bed Alcove, Dear Readers,

but I do hope you will agree with me 

that it was a very good idea to 

Hang the curtains and Paint the Birds!

Teeny Tiny Progress...

Why Things Take Longer.....

I am sure I am not Alone, Dear Readers, in thinking my creations will be simple and quick to make... and I don't know why I have not learned that this is never the case! For instance, I decided that I needed to make a "few" tiny birds for the Park... because who ever saw a Park that had No Birds? And I wanted my birds to be Pigeons and Sparrows... because they are always the most noticeable little Park residents.... so I started with the Sculpey.... but I wanted my birds to have little wire feet... with four toes (just for accuracy's sake!) ....

So I twisted together four strands of very thin gauge jewelry wire

 and bent them into a little armature for the birds...

I started with the Pigeons, as they are larger and therefore easier to make!

I think they are a little large for true scale... 

being just over an inch long...

And then I tried the sparrows... 

each is about a half an inch long!

Isn't he cute???

But does he need Paint????

(I think he needs paint.....)

 

And Can you see their little wire feet???

I have not trimmed them to a correct length yet....

because I decided I needed to make More of each....

How many birds equals a "flock"???

And then, of course, Dear Readers, 

while the Sculpey was baking, 

I was also adding the details to the 

Bed Alcove for the Tree House Nursery!

I finished the matchstick "paneling"....

And I found some scraps of worn out paper Twist 

that was used for chair seats... 

and fits perfectly as the edging for the opening to the Alcove!

And I added a second layer because 

the Door frame is two layers of plywood thick....

so both the layers are edged in the paper twist.

Then I stained it with a light maple stain...

And While the stain was drying.... 

I was also making the "leaded glass" windows!

And because it had been So LONG since I last 

made any of these windows for the Tree House, Dear Readers, 

I was not at all sure of what I was doing!!!

They consist of several layers of cardboard 

cut to the shape of the opening, 

one layer just slightly larger than the other,

and painted on all sides, 

and glued together with the clear plastic "window pane" inserted in the opening.

Then I add the "mesh" which is cut very carefully to fit the pane 

and glued in place with a thick layer of Aileen's clear gel glue.

Once they are completely dry I attach them to the wooden window frame....

And this whole panel is the outer layer 

which will attach to the outside of the opening on the Bed Alcove....

 And here you can see it just held in place temporarily....

(I don't glue until I am sure the parts are assembled as far as possible 

because it is easier to make the pieces when they are flat and not inside a tiny hole...!)

And with the light shining in the windows....

Perhaps we can imagine sleeping in this little Alcove...?

And while we are Imagining Things......

Perhaps we can test how a little lace curtain will look....

But Of course, we will need a soft mattress too......

Does that look inviting....?

If we Imagine we are very small.....

 

Well.... it is a Start!

And while we have been lost in Imagining this Tiny Alcove....

Somebody has been feeding the birds in the Park.....

Yes, I do think they need to be painted...

But it is a Start!

So I think you can see Why it is, Dear Readers, 

That even though there has been Teeny Tiny progress....

Everything Always takes Longer!

Sticks And Stones....

Distractions...... and A Teeny Tiny Fairy Tale....

Once again, Dear Readers, I am going to claim that I have accomplished Almost nothing in my Mini Worlds this week. I kept getting distracted and could not decide which of my Many projects should be worked on first... and ended up only making Very Little progress on any of them! But it is Summer, and even though it is wet and stormy here a lot this summer, it is impossible to ignore the beauty of Nature in all its splendor. Sometimes, just the way the sun shines on the dewy grass first thing in the morning is enough to make your heart sing! And so I have decided to share with you one or two pictures of a project I have been working on in the "background" for a while. But this is just a "teaser" so I will not explain....

Except to say that even though I intended to work 

on the Windows of the Conservatory....

I did not!

But I was a little surprised to see inside....

Someone has brought in a half dozen potted fruit trees!

Perhaps they are growing them for the Park?

Who knows?

And then there were the sticks I needed to cut....

For tree trunks......

And  even tinier sticks for "paneling" in the bed alcove 

on the door to the Tree House Nursery....

Cut from matchsticks.

Each one had to be carefully fitted....

A slow process... and still not done!

Because I got Distracted....

By the Stones that needed to be glued around 

all the Tree trunk bases.

Not a quick process...

and still not done...

Because I got Distracted....

With wondering Where the Tiniest Fairy went to!

Because, with the Conservatory windows taken out 

for working on, Dear Readers,

 I thought it would be a good idea to relocate the delicate fairies 

and the Tiny Bonsai Garden to the Cloud Palace for safekeeping.

But then I noticed that the Tiniest Fairy 

was no longer where I had left him in the hyacinth pot!

Where on Earth could he be???

I checked in the kitchen....

but did not see him in there....

So I went and asked Brother Beorn if he had seen a Tiny Fairy around....

Beorn had been reading Gulliver's Travels....

And was Clearly Dreaming of his own Travels....

but he said he had not seen any Tiny Fairies recently!

So I went back to Blue and Sir Orion....

They were not paying much attention to anything but each other!

They said they did not see any fairies.

That was no help at all!

But then something caught My attention....

 

What was that on the cupcake????

 

 The little Imp is trying to steal the Heart from the Cupcake!!!

Perhaps I will have to call him the "Thief of Hearts"!

 

Well, Dear Readers, I warned you 

that almost Nothing got accomplished this week....

Except for a few sticks and stones....

and a Teeny Tiny Fairy Tale!