Santa Says....

 

Another Distraction....

Well, Dear Readers, Some years I guess I just need a few small distractions to keep me going! And Santa pointed out to me a few of the Tiny Kits I had received and not yet assembled... and since I had been craving gingerbread and thinking about the many little Gingerbread Houses I had made in RL over my accumulating years... This tiny kit by Robin Betterley Miniatures was calling to me! On Christmas Day I pulled the pieces from the package and got started! The pieces are tiny and go together very cleanly (these kits are Amazingly well designed!) so I had made great progress Lickety-split!

        Of course, this is one of their "Secret Books" series in the "Teeny Weeny" size range.

The cover and spine and interior all got bright red paint.

And the cover art carefully glued on!

Here is a close up view!

And the interiors.....

It is supposed to be a tiny kitchen!

See how teeny weeny it is?

 

And there is a teeny weeny "stove" to assemble and paint...

And Teensy Tiny Gingerbread Houses!

It got me thinking.......

(More about that later.... )

 

And because I was "on a roll" as they say...

 

I had to start a couple more of these right away.....

It was Christmas Day after all....

And there was a kit for an even tinier one....!

Just waiting to be tested......

Above you can see an "Itsy Bitsy" "Secret Book"

 this in a series of Guide Books for well known places...

 London in this case. 

These end up really Tiny!

I am not sure there is anything I could make to put in there!

(But I might have to try!)

I did complete the tiny stove for the Gingerbread House.... 

but not the Teensy weensy Houses yet.... 

(see them there in that plastic baggie?)

so it is not yet all glued in place.... 

and I am afraid there is already some creative mischief afoot..... 

but I'm not telling yet! 

Because there was still another secret book under way...

(These kits are a bit addictive... !!)

 

This one.... "A Winter Wonderland" by Frosty Snow...!

Is really pretty inside and begs for some improved adornments...

Which will have to wait its turn!

For now... the attention has gone to the Gingerbread House Kitchen....

 

Here you can see the interior with the

 decorated "Stove" inside... (at the top)

But if you look very very carefully

 in the middle of this picture there is

 the beginnings of a Tiny "Glue trick figure"...

Because it seemed to me that there would

 need to be some "help" with the

 decorating of the Gingerbread Houses!

 

 

Here is a closer shot of the fellow....!

 

And some furniture to sit on......

which needed a lot of fidgeting....

 

 To get the spreaders on the legs.....

 

And perhaps only one helper was not enough....?

And the very rustic stool is assembled...

And here you can see... if you look very closely..

The arrangement of the stool and helper....

But that is as far as I got.

We will all have to be patient to see the final results... 

at some distant future...

because I have a task to accomplish first.

I am back to work now, Dear Readers, 

... and I am making progress!

And while Santa Says "go for it" 

A Little Distraction doesn't get

 the Christmas Card done!

Wishing Everybody a Happy New Year!

with plenty of Exciting New Projects

 

And The Nativity....

 

You Know How It Goes...

Well, Dear Readers, I don't know where the Time has flown off to, but here we are suddenly almost at Christmas... and I am never quite ready! When last we peeked into The Folly Living Room to see Gabrielle's new Lighted Tree, it was too gloomy and dark to be able to see the Nativity she had set up in the window sill. It is much brighter today, but still a little dark for photos... but never mind... we have seen it before, this simple gathering of Mary Joseph and the Child with an Angel hovering overhead. It is just perfect in it's simplicity.... for who else was there when the babe was born that Dark midwinter night? And even though we have not Quite arrived to that moment this year... we still can treasure the Story we know so well. And if you were passing by from outside in that Wintry Wonderland, you could just spot it if you glanced the right way...

along with the glowing fire in the hearth and Gabrielle's little tree!

 

And Meanwhile, over at The Lovely Old Dollhouse,

 Pollyanna has remembered to set up the family Nativity

 in it's spot on the sideboard in the living room.

 

As we know, it is always

 a little bit of a Last Minute Thing...

After all, Mary could not predict

 when exactly the babe would arrive.

And Pollyanna would not have her sitting

 waiting week after week...!

And suddenly it is here... 

Time draws short....

all the players have been assembled...

"It looks lovely as always, Dear" says Helen happily.

"I think it looks so peaceful...." added Charles.

 

"Hmmm...." said Pollyanna, not quite sure she agreed.

"I am not sure the camel should be over here..." she added,

pointing to the right side of the arrangement.

"But it never seems to fit on the other side with the Kings...!"

 

"Well..." said Helen..."maybe the Kings and the Camel

 should just arrive later.... they didn't actually arrive

 until Twelve days later, after all!" she added.

 

Just then Arthur looked into the room...

"Ah, I see you have assembled the Nativity!" he said.

 

"But.... " said Pollyanna... 

"I am just not sure the camel should sit over here... 

when the Kings are all over there..." she said

 pointing to the other end of the sideboard.

"Ah.... I see what you mean...." said Arthur diplomatically.

 

 

"Perhaps he is just happier over here 

with the other ruminants?" he added tactfully.

"Well.... I suppose there is that...." 

said Pollyanna thoughtfully.

 "I still think it looks so peaceful as it is..." declared Charles!

"Well..." said Pollyanna... 

"I suppose it will have to do!"

"We can't, after all... actually ask the camel...!" she muttered.

 

 

"But I do think he looks happy over here..." 

she added, smiling at Arthur.

 

Well, Dear Readers, You know how it goes...

The Nativity is always a last minute thing...  

and the camel is notoriously difficult to order about...

But the Eve will come and the Babe will be born

 and the World keeps spinning on!

 

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and 

Happy Holidays to those who celebrate other traditions.

 

(And I could almost swear I saw the camel wink at Arthur!)

Oh Look....!

 

Oh..... Heavens....!

Well, Dear Readers, I left you last week while the Tiny "Reindeer" were getting some Body Building exercises to help them build up the necessary muscles to do the job of pulling the sleigh! And knowing that these things take Time.... I am fairly certain the project will not be completed in time for This year's trek! But... progress is being made! And meanwhile, as some of you know, my Main project at this time of year is to work on "The Christmas Card".... which somehow is never quite finished in time for Christmas....! But since I have been drawing an Annual Card every year now for more than Forty years... I don't seem to have the courage to NOT draw another one this year. It is on the drawing table and good progress is being made.... but once again, it is unlikely it will actually be completed by Christmas.... but I can say it is a bit ahead of schedule compared to recent years! And sometimes a Big project requires small distractions.... just to keep the energy lively and the excitement building... and often those distractions are found in the blogs of you Dear Readers! And so it was that I was viewing the recent post of Michelle Goggins on her blog MG Doodle Studio, who was showing the Christmas decorations for her "dollhouse" aka Gnome Mansion.... and that included a lovely lighted ceramic Christmas Tree! It reminded me that many years ago I had bought a kit for making one of these in 1/12 scale..... where, oh where had I put it??? Could I find it and finally quickly assemble it...???? 

As I am sure you realized, I found it and started right away!

 Green for the tree... check... white for the snow... check, and red for the bows...got it!

It needed glossy varnish... which I had to go get.... but that was quick!

And gluing tiny beads into the holes for the lights....

Here you can see it a little closer... all it needs now is the plug!

 

Which took a certain amount of fidgeting, Dear Readers...

I had to get The Folly lights turned on!

(Which had not happened in quite a while!)

And I had to test the tiny bulb and hook it up to a "plug" unit...

And, Oh Heavens it lights!!!

 

Gabrielle says she saw it in a gift shop and just "Had to have it!"

 

 Can you see how cute it is?

 

I know.... it doesn't make much light...

but it gives an enormous amount of "Seasonal Cheer"!

 

(Perhaps I need to order a couple more of these...?)

Well, Dear Readers... as you can see... 

small distractions happen to even the busiest of us,

But Heavens, they sometimes bring great Joy!

(Thank you, Michelle, for the inspiration!)

 

Oh.... Deer...!

 

Oh, Dear.....

Some of you, Dear Readers, might recall the Tiny Reindeer I rashly began to create a couple of years ago while I was working on an entirely other project. I had been building the "Ravenwood" kit by Robin Betterley, adding my own touches to their design, but the Holiday Season was getting under way and suddenly I found myself "testing" the possibility of making a tiny Sleigh with Reindeer for the "Secret Christmas House", another Robin Betterley kit I had completed a couple of years earlier. I had always wondered what it would take to make a Sleigh with Reindeer in 144th scale! In the above picture you can see the beginning of my first Reindeer... it is simply using the "glue trick" to model an animal body on paper covered florist wire. I had used this method to make my Tiny Ladies and their hounds and the teeny-tiny cat for the Secret Christmas House. There seemed no reason it would not work fine for little Reindeer! So off I went!

And very shortly had seven more reindeer skeletons under way!

(The long tail is just for holding purposes and 

will be trimmed off when no longer needed!)

 

The wires for the antlers needed to be attached 

before the glue was added for the heads...

 

Here you can see glue was being added to the bodies and heads.

It dries but doesn't shrink all the way away... 

it leaves "bulk" which is "the glue trick"!

I make sure not to glue the legs before shaping them.

 

Here is the first reindeer showing off.... 

even though his antlers have not been shaped yet!

And here you can see the rest of them 

have also been given wire for antlers

 and some glue to begin the body shaping.

And I regret to say.... 

that is as far as I got with the project that year.

Because ... as with so many of my "little" projects....

 this was going to take a while!

 

And Truly, I must confess, 

that one of the reasons I made no further progress 

was that I realized that my Reindeer are not "Reindeer"!

They never have been!

All the years I have been drawing

 and contemplating making little "Reindeer"

 what I have been drawing are really our local "white tailed deer"

 with brown fur, skinny necks and pointy horns! 

(Like Disney's "Rudolph" Reindeer!)

Oh DEAR!

What was I to do...? 

Change my "visions" now.... ?

In the middle of an already begun project?

Or just accept the fact that I am old enough 

that my "visions" were shaped from what I knew as a child...

 however inaccurate they were!

So these tiny reindeer, like Clement C. Moore's

 "Miniature Reindeer" are bona fide 

 "Northern American Reindeer"

(Just in case you wondered why they

 didn't really look like "Reindeer"!)

Because to make any progress at all,

 I had to decide what the horns would look like....

 

 I had only put four strands of wire together.... 

more would be too bulky... 

so the number of prongs is four on each side...

I think it is enough!

And they are positioned more like North American deer...

Here I am carefully adding a layer of glue to the wires of the antlers.

This was another step I was not sure how to do!

I don't want them to get too chunky or blobby....

But as it is drying it becomes translucent.... 

I won't really be able to tell the shape until I paint them.

And I needed to do this for all eight reindeer!

 

And I wanted to be sure the deer had ears...

 

Which I cut from a little punched "asterisk" shape...

Here you can see the paper ears gluing on the reindeer!

And you might not be surprised, Dear Readers, 

that my first attempt to make a sleigh... turned out too large!

At first I wasn't sure.... I thought I could get away with it....

Lady Evelyn de Paradise came over to help me decide....

With her in the picture it is clearly much too large!!

Here it is in front of "The Secret Christmas House"....

In case you had any doubts!

A smaller sleigh was ordered immediately!

It is about 1/3 smaller overall.

The runners are cut from card stock... by hand!

Then pieces of florist wire are glued to the runner shape.... for sturdiness.

And the braces too....

 

And then the top layer of the card stock runner is glued...

 making a "sandwich".

 

And then wire "struts" are glued between the runners.

And glued to the bottom of the sleigh!

And an extra layer of glue is added along the bottom of each runner.

Here it is compared with the first version....

And here it is with two of the "Reindeer".....

And Lady Evelyn agrees that it is much better...

It might not qualify as "Miniature" from her perspective...

(But she is only 1/2 inch tall... which is quite tall for that scale)

And meanwhile, the "Reindeer" are being given

 a bit more "bulk" to some of their parts...

In particular their necks.... 

which is why they are hanging upside down

 while the glue dries... 

(always waiting for glue to dry...!)

so it doesn't all sag down to the shoulders!

And I hope you will understand, Dear Readers, 

that while progress is finally being made

 on the Miniature Reindeer...

they might not end up looking like 

"Reindeer"

Oh, Dear!