The Smallest.....

 

 Pagoda Bed...

Well, I don't know about you, Dear Readers, but I could not possibly fail to Try to make a tiny version of that Amazing (if I do say so myself) elaborate Pagoda Bed that I had made for the Tree House Bedroom all those years ago! Do you Remember it? With the striped mattress and the green velveteen blanket (made from a scrap of cloth from a bridesmaid dress I wore as a child!) and those hand embroidered silk bed curtains that took me a couple of years to complete, and the Pagoda Canopy? You will be glad to know that I had gained some confidence in methods for working in this small a scale... (btw I did the math and it is approximately 1/596th scale or a12th of 1/48th scale!) and so I set forth constructing the bedframe from cardboard (approx. 1/8th inch square) and four posts made from the finest florist wire in my stash (I think it is 36gauge cloth wrapped wire). You can see the beginnings above... gluing the posts one at a time to the cardboard, which I had notched at each corner to hold the wire better. Even the tiniest glue blobs are large at this scale and the more surface they connect with the stronger the join will be. I think the posts are a hair over 1/8th inch tall... 'cause it is hard to measure this small!

 

Here you can see all four posts are glued on... 

and the bed sits fairly level too! 

One of the most challenging parts of working at this scale 

is holding onto the parts as you are working on them!

 

Then I added the head rail.

 It might have been easier if I had tried with cardboard... 

but either way cutting the size just right to fit between the bedposts

 and then to glue it in place between the posts at the right level....!!! 

Harder than it looks!

 But I got it done after several tries where

 the wire "pinged" off into somewheresville... 

never to be seen again! 

But so far so good!

 

Then it got the necessary black paint...

 

Believe me I had to search around a bit to find

 a piece of that green velveteen

 that I had used for the original bed...

(such sentimental attachment...!...)

 and it was a bit challenging to cut a piece

 only 1/8th inch square... but I managed it...

 

And glued it to the bedstead.... 

instant mattress and blanket!

 And Oh so Satisfying to see!

 Real velveteen on this tiny bed!

 (I apologize for the less than perfect photos... 

I was intent on making parts 

and barely remembered to take pictures, 

and it is so hard to make the camera focus on the right items!)

 

And here you can see it with the "pillows" too! 

(I cheated a bit... they are cardstock

 cut to about 1/16th inch long and glued in place.)

 

And then came the real challenge....

 Could I make a"Pagoda" top for this scale?? 

I cut some tiny triangles from paper with the 

base the same as the length of each side

 and the "triangle" taller than the width of the bed

 (and neglected to take any pictures)

 And then I glued each triangle along

 the side of the cardstock base (the same size as the bed)

 which was rather tricky! 

But they "smushed" together just perfectly,

 the glue on the base basically filled the middle 

of the Pagoda and held it all together!

 

Then I glued it to the bedframe! 

Oh my! That was harrowing! 

But it worked!

 

Maybe this is a better angle to see it from?

 

And then it needed to be painted black.... 

 

Isn't this the most adorable little bed??? 

We have to test it in the Nano house....

 

Where we run into the same problem I did with the Original bed... 

I will have to adjust the ceiling

 to accommodate the bed's height!

 A Dome anyone???

 

But this is not finished, Dear Readers!

 Remember those embroidered curtains I mentioned?

 

Well, you know I had to give them a try!

 This is the same silk I used on the original curtains, 

and no I am not going to sew them! 

But I will try to paint a design that resembles the originals....

 

 I wanted to take advantage of the "fringed" edge 

the same way I did with the originals... 

so I painted as small as I could.... 

as close to the fringe as I could... 

 

Which gives me enough to cut in two, 

one curtain for each side of course!

 

Like This! 

Oh Heavens! 

I think it is almost there!

 

Just a little bit of gold glitter detail is needed...! 

There at the base of the Pagoda Canopy... 

 will this do the job?

 

Like This? 

Is it really ready? 

Shall we give it the ultimate test....?

 

A comparison with the Original...? 

Can you see it in there... on the Pagoda Bed itself?

 

How about now? 

Can you see it now? 

Is it good enough?

Oh, my Word, 

I love this tiny bed so much!

 

And of course, we have to see it in The Nano House... 

so challenging to get the lighting and the angle right! 

But, yes, I might have to "dome" the ceiling just a tiny bit

 just as I had to for the Tree House Bedroom!

 

 But Oh Heavens, Dear Readers, 

Is that the Smallest 

Pagoda Bed 

Ever?!

 

Tree House For The Tree House...

 

If You Don't Try... 

I Have to Constantly remind myself, Dear Readers, with this tiny project, that if I don't try... how will I know if I can succeed at my ideas or not? As some of you may have noticed, I am trying to duplicate a few of the actual rooms of The Tree House for the Nursery Dollhouse. The kitchen was relatively easy, and I eagerly rushed forward with starting the Salon... painting the walls a smoky blue and constructing a fireplace for the corner with a grand mirror over it! In the above picture you can see I have underpainted a fire in the corner of the room, and the fireplace is glued onto that strip of card stock to the right. Could I make a mirror at this scale? With the "mirror paper" that I have scraps of from the Secret Christmas House Project...? Well, I would not know the answer if I did not at least give it a try!

 

Well, I hope you can see in this picture... 

that I could! And I Did! 

It has a gold painted frame too!

 

And can you see in this picture that the mirror reflects?!

 

And testing it with the ceiling in place... 

But that was not all I wanted to add to this room! 

Not by a long shot! 

There needed to be the kind of arched wall paneling

 that the Tree House Salon has... 

but could I manage to cut them from the card stock...???

 I had to remind myself that I needed to give it a try...!

 

And Oh, my!

 Yes, I could manage to cut it that small!

 It is not identical to the Tree House Salon... 

but it mimics the style and makes the statement!

 

Here I am testing the fit in the room...

 

 

And painting them the smoky gray I used in the original room...

 

And painting the ceiling to have a blue sky with clouds

 like the original does...

(no I will not be making the domed ceiling structure!) 

And I confess, I did not try to paint Zeus and Hera and the cherubs...

 you will have to use your imagination to see them!

 

Here they have been glued to the walls! 

But I wanted more.... 

in the original Salon... there is a door

 standing ajar at the back of the room... 

could I possibly paint the cut-out piece and glue it in...?

 

Well.. it seems that I could! 

And did! 

But can you see it back there...?

 

It stands just the tiniest bit open...!

 And I admit, I put a couple of dots of paint

 into those roundels over the arches.... 

just to imply a scenic picture

 if you should happen to notice. 

But there is so much more to try! 

The room needed a carpet like the original... 

made from a scrap of woven ribbon... 

did I have anything with a pattern small enough...?

 Well... maybe...

 

Bought many years ago at one of the Fairs...  

with a delicate floral pattern in colors the right hue...

 I cut off a tiny piece and slathered the back side in glue

 to prevent the threads from raveling...

 

And when it was dried.... 

 

 

(Sorry this is a terrible picture...)

 the right side of the ribbon showing the pattern

 before trimming it down to fit the room... 5/32 of an inch square...!

 

Can you see it there??? 

I know... it is very small... 

but I think it does the job!

 But the real challenge was 

whether or not I could make a tiny settee... 

like the lovely pink and gold one in the Salon of The Tree House....

 

Here are some legs gluing to card stock....

 

And painted gold.... like the originals!

 (After being trimmed down a bit!)

 

Here the tiny seat has been cut out 

and is being given a coat of the "glue trick"

 to pad the seat just a little bit...

 

Here the seat has been painted a rosy pink like the original.... 

and the back is being given a coat of gold...

 

And here the seat is being glued to the back section....

 (the original settee has a striped fabric so I tried to mimic it)

 

And does it fit in the Tiny Salon...?

 Well, yes, I think it does!

 

But that is not all, Dear Readers!

 If you know me at all, you will know that

 I cannot leave the ceilings alone! 

And in the original Salon, 

there is a magnificent chandelier overhead....

 could I possibly make something that 

resembles a chandelier for the "Nano House"?

 (Thank you Drora for the name idea!)

 I thought I would give it a try.... 

and forgot to take pictures for a while...

 but the above picture shows the ceiling 

with a tiny bit of tinsel being glued into the ceiling....! 

The blob of glue is bigger than the scrap of tinsel....

 

Here it is a little closer....

 and just for good measure,

 I sprinkled on a bit of iridescent glitter

 to mimic the glowing candles in the original. 

And when the glue has dried.....

 

We have to test the ceiling in place.... 

can you see the glittery blob of a "chandelier" in there????

 It even reflects in the mirror from the right angle... 

and is just about impossible to photograph.... 

 

And of course,

 the opening door wall needs a coat of primer...

 and the paint too...

 

And the arched trims around the window as well. 

And you can see I am rushing on to the the next room...

 but that will have to wait... 

there are a few Larger projects demanding my attention first!

 

But I hope you will agree, Dear Readers,

 that I just had to Try

 to see what could possibly be done

 to furnish this Tree House for The Tree House! 

 

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!