Half Scale House Progress

This month I have been working hard on the half scale house, trying to finish the bulk of the work before my Architecture studies resume in March. I am trying to finish the complex interiors, so that during the busy semester, all I need do is paint the exterior and furnish the house at my leisure. 

Frankie Mayonnaise, the Scottish Fold puss has taken a particular shine to the house, and tries to scale it whenever she is presented with the chance. 

These are the two finished bedroom fireplaces. I used Phoenix cast inserts, and made the surrounds. I tried to give them both a Gothic flavour with assorted tiny laser cut bits.

The finished flowery bedroom. 

For the blue bedroom I had a blue paper ceiling, with a plain ceiling rose which I made from left over bits from the fireplaces. The tiny wire is fine, and easily passes under the ceiling paper unseen to be connected to a battery in the attic. 

As another little exercise I made some picture frames from strips of moulding. I painted them gold. It can be tricky with half scale being able to find appropriately scaled frames.

For an embellishment I edged the frame with some gold fabric edging I found lying around. Turns out later I had used the last scrap of garment edging my mum had saved from the fashion boutique my grandmother operated in the 1930s. I think it is kind of nice that it is now immortalised in my dollhouse forever. 

Choosing a picture for the frame was pretty easy! Here I did an image search on the ipad and picked the one that looked best. 

These are the assorted bits now waiting to go into the parlour. I have also been making some silk curtains, but more on that in another post. What I will say though is that silk is a fantastic fabric to work with in miniature. It sets like a board when sprayed with starch, and gives such a realistic shimmer that your eye is distracted from the fact that the material has a bigger grain than it should. 

Meanwhile I have also been volunteering at the National Trust headquarters at the beautiful Tasma Terrace in Melbourne. If you are in Melbourne, do visit! Such wonderful inspiration for future miniatures. 

A Little Bed Spread

A lot of progress has been made on the 1:24 scale house since the last post. I have been very lazy, and so here is the first post in three months! I have wallpapered the four main rooms. Today I went to work on doing the covers of the little Phoenix Miniatures bed that I bought some time ago. 

I made the mattress of two layers of corrugated cardboard. I covered them with white cotton from a shirt I murdered for the purpose.

I discovered that some wide threaded cross stitch cotton I had looked perfectly like a woollen knitted blanket in 1:24, so I used it for the bed spread. I tasseled the end by pulling out a thread. 

It looks good in the blue room. 

 Still plenty of work to be done!

Gothic Victorian Parlour and Chandelier

This week I have spent a lot of effort trying to finish off the front parlour of the half scale house. I settled on a deep red flocked wallpaper and mustard trim. These colours seemed suitably gaudy for a Victorian interior. 

I chose a maroon patterned ceiling paper. 

To finish off the room I needed a chandelier. I am fed up with trying to shop for half scale lights, they are either too expensive (around $170 US) or cheap, nasty and really out of scale. I decided to try and make my own. It actually wasn't too hard. I bought an LED kit fromTrue 2 Scale and some gold wire.

I used 1:12 scale plastic wine glasses for the gas globes. I cut the stems off and pierced a hole in the middle for the LED to fit through. 

Now all the architraves are painted and fitted, and wallpaper applied. It looks gaudy, but pretty appropriate for a victorian parlour. I have ordered some tiny palms and ferns for the parlour, as I think they are a must have accessory. 

Next, the dining room!

Little Mantel Mirrors

Its been a while since I posted, but now that exams are done with, I have got back into it. This week I have been working on the fiddly details of my half scale house, being cornice details, brackets, scroll work and fireplaces. My goal is to create a half scale house which is not discernible in terms of quality and detail, from a 1:12 house.

I began by finishing off the chimney.

After the chimney, I spent a considerable amount of time designing details for the interior. I am focusing on the parlour first. 

I designed several details on the computer using Adobe Illustrator, and then had them laser cut. This included gable end brackets, shingles and all interior decoration. This way I am able to design all my own trims and am not limited to spending a lot of money and waiting for the post to arrive!

I have begun the shingling as you can see, but as you all know this is a tedious task, and has not been finished yet!

I then began on a mantel piece. The front parlour will have a strong Victorian Gothic character. The mantel piece is one of the most important features of the room and must reflect the theme. I made it with basswood and laser cut pieces of card. 

Next I designed an over mantel mirror for the parlour, in the Gothic style as well. I spend many hours looking over pictures of all parlours so that I could create an authentic design. Because laser cutting is 2D, layers must be carefully created to give a 3D effect.

Below are the three layers of the mirror I designed.

I used mirror backed 1mm card for the mirror.

I have also chosen a deep red wallpaper for the parlour, which I felt was in keeping with a dark Victorian Gothic parlour. 

The finished product has come together quite well.

If you would like a Gothic Victorian half scale mirror or fireplace for your half scale house, you can purchase one from my Etsy shop, because I made a few extras just for my blog readers!

Check them out here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/211337192/overmantel-mirror-half-scale-124-scale

Victorian Iron Lace and a Little Porch

I haven't made a post in a very long time! This is mainly due to how busy I have been. Finally though, I have had some time to continue work on the half scale house. This week I finished off the porch and added some iron lace to cap the tower and the bay windows.

I added supports to create a gently sloping porch roof.

I then finished off the porch supports and glued them in place.

I glued the porch posts to the porch roof separately from the house in one unit, so that when I pain the house it will be easier. 

To finish off the exterior of the house, I wanted some decorative iron work. This is a picture of the roof line of a victorian house, with decorative iron lace. 

I designed a lace pattern myself using Adobe Illustrator, and had the pattern laser cut in 1mm card. 

I then capped the tower and two bay windows with the lace. 

The house is coming along nicely. Next I will be doing the shingling and making a chimney. Then I will be moving on to the interior! Slow and steady wins the race..