Did Someone Say Books?

How Small Can You Go?

Lately, Dear Readers, it has seemed as though I have had NO Time for making Minis. Between the Loss of my brother-in-law, Travel, Household Projects that had waited too long already, and the inevitable after-vacation workload... the Real Life World has been VERY Demanding of my attention and energies. Add to that a general sense of NOT being sure how this room is going to look..... and I guess it is no wonder that I feel as though I have accomplished very little. So I confess I am a little surprised to see how much I HAVE managed to make over the past few weeks! Perhaps it is because the items are so Tiny that they seem insignificant? And paradoxically... because they are so TINY they are somehow easier to make? At any rate.... I started to make tiny "books" for the tiny shelves......

I know... they don't really look like books... 

They are made by cutting a "woodsie" lengthwise to make a thin strip and gluing a strip of printed magazine paper around it, leaving one of the long sides open and then chopping it into tiny sections each less than a quarter of an inch long....

Once they are arranged on the shelves you only see the spine of the book....

so they are relatively convincing! Even though the pruning shears I use for the cutting leave the paper edges a little frayed... I tell myself that it adds to the "old and well used" atmosphere of the room.

So one woodsie at a time I have managed to fill some shelves.....

And if you are at all like Me, you will want to see what it looks like with the door closed..... 

Yes, the colors and shapes ARE visible..... 

it Does look like books!!!

And that is not all I have done..... 

I have even started on more of the shelves..... 

a WHOLE LOT MORE  shelves!

As with the Salon, there has been an awful lot of VERY Fidgety fitting of pieces and parts and lots of masking tape used for temporary placement..... but it is starting to look like the Library it is supposed to be! The shelves will all need their doors and I will be making woodsies into books for a while.....

But Meanwhile I have also made the Fireplace.... 

Here below you can see me testing it for fit prior to painting it.... 

so you can see the lace and the jewelry fittings I have used 

that will supposedly look more like carved stone once they are painted....

And here you can see the painted hearth....

It will probably get a lot of touching up before it is done....

And here you can see it in place in the room....

There is still a ton of details to be added to this... but it is a good start... 

It definitely has that Gothic feel to it....!

And there is even more to show you!

I wanted to add a carpet in this room... and I had in mind a lovely woven ribbon trim.... 

But by itself the ribbon is not wide enough for the look I wanted.  So I decided to see whether I could cut the ribbon up and glue it together to make a larger pattern.....

Here you can see the whole ribbon as well as the test for the larger design....

And here it is partly glued in place.... 

I am attaching it to a thin muslin backing.....

And here you can see the entire carpet glued together....

And testing it for fit...... Hmmm..... 

I didn't measure first! It is just a tiny bit too big to close the door.... !

Maybe there will have to be some dog-eared corner chewed off???

At least there will need to be some wear and tear.... we shall see.....

And there is even MORE, Dear Readers! 

Last night, in spite of being weary from a long day of Travel to Boston and back... 

I found myself wondering just how small could I make copies of some of my smallest miniature illuminations... and whether they would be small enough to make open books.....?

So I gave it a try....

At 25% of 25% of a tiny two inch illumination....

with layers of pages and a card-stock cover..... 

glued together at the spine....

I think it works!!!

See how Tiny it is??

The pages are less than a quarter of an inch tall!!!

Testing it for fit late last night (why it is so dark...)

And I Loved it so Much, I HAD to make another one tonight!!!

This is Really Just the Beginning!

I cannot help myself!!!! I am in LOVE!!

Did Someone say Books?

Time Out For Delight

Mini Vacation

I did manage to spend part of my Vacation Week on Cape Cod, Dear Readers, visiting my Father and his partner. And while I had hoped I would find time to work on some of my MANY Mini projects, it just was not meant to be. But that does NOT mean my Vacation was Devoid of minis.... on the contrary.... I ran into miniatures and Inspirations at every turn! We decided to go to the Monument Museum in Provincetown, MA, to see an exhibit of old photographs depicting the Town's Fascinating History. The very first photo we saw was the one above (a photo of the photo taken by me).... showing "Delight Cottage" one of the old houses no longer standing. If you look closely you can see the word "Delight" carved in the decorative panels along the porch trim just under the roof.... and you can also see the words "J. Rogers " over the stairs! Well, my Daddy's name is John Rogers! Wouldn't this make a Fantastic House in Miniature????

I can see it now..... I even have the kit all picked out.....

Alas, it will have to get in line behind the ones I am already building!

But that was just the Beginning, Dear Readers! 

I have been to that Museum with my Boys many years ago... several times, even... 

but I had Forgotten that they have an Old Dollhouse on exhibit!!

It was built by an antique collector in the early part of the Twentieth Century and given to the Museum in 1930. All the windows are glass so you can look in from every angle. It is furnished as an Old New England  home would have been in the early part of the Twentieth Century.

Here, come have a closer look.... We'll just step in through the back door...

(please excuse the reflections from the glass... it was difficult to get clear shots...)

Do you see the lovely glass Hurricane lamp on the table? This was made by a man named Courtney Allen, an artist and glass-blower. He made all the lamps for this house. You can see another one in the Kitchen on your left.... 

along with a cast iron cook stove and lovely old farmhouse table and chairs... 

The room to the right is the Dining Room.....

With a fancier lamp and Beautiful chairs......

This is the view from the side window, 

looking back towards the door into the hall....

and a glimpse of the beautiful Windsor chairs.....

 This room is probably the Library.....

Just Look at all those BOOKS!

I wish I could see inside their covers.....

And look at that marble topped table!

All the furnishings are antiques collected from many sources....

 And in the corner is this sweet doll.... 

In the Front Hall just inside the door we can see a young boy doll.... 

and the stairs going up.

Look at the doorways.... they are all arched! 

(sorry about the reflections...)

On the right is the Parlor.... with the ornate settee and the piano!

Upstairs we have the Bedrooms and another Sitting or Dressing Room.....

This view is looking in from the side and you can see the bedroom across the hall!

And another closer look at the ornate Victorian desk in the Sitting Room.... 

with a Beautiful lamp made by Courtney Allen.

(Sorry that the reflections are so distracting in this shot...)

I think this is the Master Bedroom... 

it is in the Front of the house and the bed linens are the most ornate...

There is a crochet lace coverlet on the bed!

The back bedrooms have simpler beds.... this one is a Rope bed... 

And they have Beautiful patchwork quilts...

And another lovely quilt on this bed.... just slightly different!

 And a simple dresser and mirror in the corner.... 

with another beautiful glass lamp....

Even the upstairs hallway looks just as it really would... 

with the stairs up to the attic and a table for the lamps.....!

How could I have Forgotten this House?

I am sure you will not be surprised that the Museum had even more delights of a miniature nature! It is a good Old Fashioned Museum with a great variety of Dioramas in different scales and many fascinating objects on display. For such a small Museum it has a Fantastic assortment. The most fascinating one for me was a Diorama of a Glass-making Factory..... 

all made by Courtney Allen...

In nearly perfect 1:12 scale!!!

Here below you can see the whole scene.....

But you Have to come closer......

To really see the incredible details.....

The workers... the tools... the Furnace.....

And the Amazing Glassware!!!

 Can you Believe it????

And the Master Glassblower himself......

One has to wonder if he made his own self portrait.....

So, Dear Readers, I am sure you will not be surprised that I found minis to Delight me in other spots as well! I love to search the beaches for the tiniest shells I can find... and this year I was fortunate enough to find my way to Liliput where I found a Treasure Trove of the Tiniest shells....

 And here you can see the tiniest ones.....

That was Truly

Time out for Delight!

In Memoriam

 Norman Plourde 5/18/2012

A Death In My Family

When Life hits you too hard, what do you do?
Do you drop everything? Gather close to your loved ones? Cry, eat, sleep, cry some more?
All this, and still it is not enough. No answers. No ease for the sorrow. No turning back Time.
The Father of my beautiful Nieces, my Sister's ex-husband, died suddenly last Thursday.
Heart failure. Nobody knew. He was only 62.
What can you say? What can you do?

We gathered in Maine where Norm lived and worked. Where he was born and where he died. Where the roads are long and mostly dirt and the houses are few and far between.

A close friend of his opened her home to his Family and Friends to Gather and Remember this Wonderful Man. Father, Grandfather, Nephew, Cousin, Brother, Uncle, Brother-in-law, Ex-husband, Friend.... however you were connected to him, it was always the same... Norm was just always there. Steady, Kind, Gentle, Loving, Beloved. Only now he is gone. How do you say Good-bye?

 We stood at the edge of the little pond behind his cabin.

Home to fish and frogs. Where the deer and Herons come. 

In the woods that Norm loved.

Still thinking to find Norm somewhere nearby.

What can you do? What can you say?

How can you understand Death?

Or do you look into the eyes of his Grandchildren....

Salem.....

and Zahira.....

And smile because the children need you to smile.....

And because Life goes on...

Norm, You are Missed!

In Memoriam