The Doll Maker's Studio....

 

Just A Quick Little Project....

I Hope you will understand, Dear Readers, if I return to The Doll Maker's Studio after all my dithering. It sits right in the way of everything else on the corner of my work table, and truly, there is nowhere else to place it while it is being constructed! My house is small and already has mini houses in almost every room on almost every table and chair and it is a juggling act to have visitors and to access materials. And the Doll Maker's Studio was originally just a cute very small "vignette" kit from Sandra Morris of Tower House Dolls in England. As soon as I opened the kit it "needed" to expand into a small building of three stories and infinitely more details! It quickly became anything but a "quick little project"! But in spite of all my other distractions, I am making progress!

Most of my attention for the past year or so

 has been on the second floor studio room. 

Originally this was made from the "Sugarplum" kit made by Greenleaf, 

and like all their kits it is made of very thin plywood

 with tab and slot construction.

There has been a great deal of "adjusting" 

required at every single step of the project!

Very little of the kit is as it was originally intended.... 

with the exception of the ceiling construction in this room.

This is because the tab and slot method is actually

 structurally necessary in keeping the house pieces together properly!

So even though it is elaborately painted with clouds and cherubs

 and is being "supported" by billowing gilded floral swags....

Those "tabs" still need to go into the slots 

when the ceiling is finally glued in place.

And at the moment, none of it is glued in place!

(I apologize for the glaring flash pictures... 

this room is too dark to see details without it.)

And as always it is a challenge to figure out

 which steps are necessary to complete

 before the ceiling is glued in! 

 

 The gilded trim needs more coats of paint,

 in particular on the opening wall side

 which you can't even see except when looking in windows.

 

 

And before the ceiling is attached,

 I want to get the curtains for the window seat done,

 so I can be sure they fit around the cornice trim.

And the window seat alcove can't be attached

 until the ceiling is in place because that wall 

needs to remain "flexible" so the ceiling tab can be slotted in place.

Yes, it's complicated!

And I thought I had the curtains all figured out, Dear Readers,

 until I was searching through my boxes of material

 and came across a different scrap of velvet....

 

Which would be a Much better match for the wallpaper in this room!

I won't even show you the maroon velveteen I thought I was going to use... 

it looks terrible in comparison!

Here I am testing the gold fringe trim which

 I have used on so many of my velvet curtains.... 

and I just don't think it is right here.

 

Especially when I found this

 much more opulent trim in my supplies!

No Contest!

These drapes need the bold gold to balance the cornice trim!

Then it was just a matter of making the curtains.... 

and I like my curtains to be able to

 "open and close" as real ones would.

This means sewing hems and attaching

 curtain rings to go on the curtain rod.

I stitch florist wire into the hems

 so I can "shape" the curtains somewhat into pleats.

I didn't hem the lower end until the rings were attached

 and I could measure the actual length of the curtain.

Here I have pinned the gold braid on

 and am testing it in place on the curtain rod.

I use coat hanger wire for the rod

 and run it through two small eye hooks, 

one of which has been bent part way open

 so the rod can lift out to slide the rings on and off.

(In this case the partly open hook is the right hand one.)

Here the first curtain is done 

and I am beginning the second one.

Here the finished curtain is being tested in place.

I think it will do!

And when the other one is done, 

they will probably be positioned so they are mostly open... 

because one will want to see into the window seat alcove!

This will compress the trim into tighter folds.... 

We will see how it works!

Yes, Dear Readers, 

The Doll Maker's Studio

Was meant to be 

just a Quick Little Project!