The Tree House Nursery...

 

How Small Can I Go....?

There have been Some things, Dear Readers, about this Tree House Project that I have known for sure since the very beginning that they would be accomplished "someday". And to those of you who have been following this blog for a very long time and have patiently wondered When I would ever get back to working on this Enchanting project, I can assure you that some things are a mystery even to me until all of a sudden the idea is there... clear as a bell when it didn't exist a moment ago! How does this happen? It is a Mystery! But I can say that as I was recently looking admiringly into the Nursery one morning as the Sun decided to come along for a visit and shone so beautifully into the unfinished but now progressing room where I had just made progress with the lovely Ceramic stove and I was pondering the other things that still needed to be made for this room, the ones I had always known would be there, I thought of the "shelves" beside the door where the little ratlings would store their toys and decided I would need to build them next so they could be fitted before I attached the walls permanently. And I thought about what sort of toys they would have and how big the shelves should be...

 

They would need to fit into the space between the door and the bunkbeds.... 

and it occurred to me that perhaps there should be 

a dollhouse in the Nursery for the little ratlings to play with.....

 and then I thought that a dollhouse in a Tree House

 surely must resemble a Tree House....?! 

Uh Oh..... 

and you can imagine what happened next... 

I spent all night dreaming about the Tiny Tree House

 and just how it could be made to have real opening doors....

 Like the bookcases in the library... but for each room.... 

Could it be done????? 

Well, I thought... 

I would never know if I didn't al least Try....!

 

So the very next morning I hunted out the stripwood 

that I had used for the library shelves. 

I knew it was sturdy enough to take the drilling

 and would stay strong through use...

 

Here I am beginning to test the method of construction... 

each floor would be threaded onto the structural hinge wire

 at the corner where the doors would attach. 

I decided the house would only be three rooms tall

 so the ratlings could reach the top floor!

 

Here I am gluing the base to the back panel (cardboard) 

and one side wall to begin the spacing of the rooms...

 

And here I have temporarily stacked all three floors

 on the supporting walls on the wire to see if it will work... 

so far so good! 

 

And then I forgot to take pictures for a while... 

I was so absorbed in finding out if I could construct

 the furnishings for such a small room..... 

each room is about 1/4 inch tall and 1/4 inch deep and 5/16 inch wide!!!

 

I have made a tiny hearth with a glittery "fire" in it... 

and some cabinets on the back wall 

and even a kitchen sink....! 

But it is really really difficult to photograph!

 

Maybe you can see it better with the Flash?

 

 

But what I really needed to figure out 

was if my ideas for the door panels would succeed... 

so I cut the three layers...

 the middle layer supports the acetate window pane 

that shows through the openings in the outer and inner walls...

 

Here the layers have been painted and are being glued together.

 The top shows the inside and middle panels glued together

 and the strip of cloth (cut on the bias) 

that will wrap around the wire to form the hinge itself.

 

Here you can see the acetate window pane 

is inserted in the middle opening...

 

And here you can see the cloth has been trimmed

 and wrapped around the wire and glued to the middle panel.

 

And with the outer panel glued on 

and the wire inserted into the bottom floor 

and the next floor placed temporarily in position... 

But does it work...???

Oh, Yes! It really does!!!

(I had also added some tiny beads to the shelves for "dishes"...!)

 

But that is not All... Dear Readers,

 for I am sure you can imagine that by now

 I had truly fallen down the Rabbit Hole.... 

was there any end in sight.... ???

Surely the kitchen needed a Table....

 

 

The only thing in doubt was would my imagined methods work...?

I cut some very very fine paper covered florist wire 

into impossibly tiny lengths....

 yes, they "pinged" off in every direction until

 I learned to hold my hand in the way..! 

Even then.... they get lost on the cutting mat... 

and my super sharp tweezers are almost too big to hold them....

but you can see four little stubs glued to a piece of card stock..

 

And here it is cut out and painted....!

 

 

And Lady Evelyn de Paradise in all her 1/2 inch tall majesty, 

came by just to show the scale...

 

 

But even so.... 

inside the tiny kitchen the table was Miles too tall.... 

there was nothing to do but try to trim the legs... 

which made quite a bit of mess

 and needed re-gluing in the process.... 

but the table at least got shorter...

 

 and then even shorter...... 

this was very challenging.... 

and finally repainted too...

 

Is that acceptable...? 

Sorry that the flash wipes out so much detail.....!

 

 Can you see it now...??? 

Is that impossibly cute or what???

 

Well... you Know what has to happen next....

 the Salon is the next floor up... 

with it's blue walls and fireplace....  

and before going to bed and

 dreaming all night of possibilities....

 

We just gotta see how it will look 

in that corner of The Tree House Nursery.... 

well, when it is finished it just might look

 a little bit like a Tiny Tree House in there!.... 

but for now.... 

I am just getting started...! 

 

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

I have been chasing Tiny Tree House Dreams

 down Rabbit Holes and maybe even

 Learning just how small I can go!