| Kelirosh Studio |
| Week 1 Miniature Dollhouse project Hello, my name is Lianda, I am a 41 year old professional crafter, mother of 3 (2 legged) sons and 9 of the 4 legged variety. There are 3 cocker spaniels, one black boy called Bonny Prince Charles – Charley for short, one black and white English springer spaniel called Lady Elizabeth Lizzy for short and a lovely very charismatic golden spaniel called Chippy. 3 Yorkshire terriers called Sally, Barbie doll and Tuppence and a dauchund called Tess, a beautiful Siamese called Honey and a good old fashioned (he believes he is a royal bloodline Persian) alley cat named Jerry Mouse. I have dabbled in most arts and crafts over the last 30 years, so when this idea of a 54 week project doll house started, I was overwhelmed with ideas trying to plan as many handmade items as possible. We will be updating the site weekly with photos so you will be able to see how the house develops. Please feel free to email any ideas you may have they will always be welcome. I wanted to create something different each week that would allow me to utilize all the different talents and skills I have acquired over the years and hopefully end up with a truly unique doll house. Each week a project will be added with project notes. A large number of the projects have been designed using items we so easily throw away daily. The dollhouse and many of the furniture pieces have been kindly donated by MINI MANSIONS Port Elizabeth for this project. Tracy the owner is in her own words “the fun and entertainment director, her husband the more serious financial director” As one of the only truly dedicated miniature shops in South Africa, Tracy Bothma is a wonderful breath of fresh air to a hobby that dates back to the 18th Centaury. Her artistic talents and creative flair will be seen over the next few months as we complete this extraordinary house. So please join us on our adventure as we slip back into my delayed Childhood…………….. |
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Not
really having the time to start a whole new hobby for this one project
I needed an alternative method. I remembered a wooden box that someone
had given me some years ago as a gift. The top of the box had the
mosaic effect created with paper - so after many hours of surfing
the net and 3 failed attempts - I finally came up with our entrance
hall.-
Starting next week we will be furnishing Marie's ground floor apartment.
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Hi All Just wait till you see what all I have lined up for you this week. But first as promised last week, the inside of the beautifully furnished Tudor Farm house from the private collection of my Mom, Bev Immerman. Although still far from finished I am sure you will agree this house is just amazing. In a few weeks time I will bring you the final pictures.
Marie’s ground floor apartment has started taking shape. I finally settled on an ivory colour for the walls. I am hoping to create a nice comfortable old fashioned ‘grannies’ flat. Deciding on a carpet for Marie was easy, Tracy at MINI MANSIONS has just received the perfect easy to install carpets and for once I settled on the easy way. The Carpets are available in a variety of plain colours, cream just seemed the logical choice for a granny. Cutting the carpet to size took less than a minute. Make sure the floor surface is clean. Place the carpet with the removable backing to the top. Carefully with a ruler make sure the carpet fits nice and snug into the corner, creasing the paper side where you will need to cut. Cut carpet carefully and with a ruler and rotary cutter. Remove the backing of the carpet and fit carefully - once you are happy with your carpet size, pat the carpet in place. Now the fun can really start, we get to furnish our apartment. There Mini Mansions has a large range of bedroom suits. Something for every ones taste. I found a lovely old wooden bed hidden in my Mom’s wonderful staff of miniatures, and it proved to be perfect. I have used a single bed because of the limited space like you find in almost all bachelor apartments.
Remembering that Marie shares her apartment with an array of strays dogs , and from personal experience with 7 of my own 4 legged children, beds never look like they do in magazines, crisp and neat. In our house, at least one is always upside down. And if Marie lives with all the strays there is little chance of her bed being perfect. That however does not mean she cant have all the lovely cotton linen and the equally beautiful crochet petal square blanket The fitted sheets were cut from a old ladies hankie, found in our local Animal Welfare Charity shop. Edged with a fine soft cotton lace. The petal square blanket is made up of 20 little squares made in two shades of green for this bed. Any combination you choose will work just as well. 1 ball 10 g perle cotton thread for inner
colour METHOD
ROW 1: 8 Double crochet into ring. Slip stitch into the first double crochet*. ROW 2: 2 chain and then 5 Treble into first double crochet, pull loop through the first treble from the back to the front and pull tight to form a petal. 4 chain . Repeat until 8 petals are formed. Fasten off Green yarn. With 2nd colour joint in any of the chain
loops. ROW 3: 1 chain 1 double crochet into loop 3 double crochet 1 triple crochet and 3 double crochet into next loop 1 double crochet next loop and then repeat 3 double crochet 1 triple crochet and 3 double crochet into loop repeat this 2 more time, giving you 4 corners. Make 20 squares Carefully matching all the corners, sew 4 squares together. Make 5 rows. Stitch rows together to form the blanket. For the pillows -in colour 2 chain 20, turn start row 1 with double crochet into 3rd chain repeat till end. 2 chain turn - continue until piece measures twice the width. End off. I crochet a loose flower using colour 1 with the following method- Follow instructions from * to * of petal square. 1 single crochet 3 double crochet and 1 single crochet into each loop. End off with a slip stitch. Position flower off centre towards a
corner. Stitch in place. Fold pillow in half carefully slip stitch 2
sides closes. Fill with Fiberfil pillow gently into shape and slip
stitch 3rd side closed. SIDE TABLE Scratching in my favourite box of rubbish
I found the following pieces - A chess piece, a tazzer NEXT WEEK - lamp, bottles and some ....We start with Marie's kitchen. Till next time have a safe week. Those going away on holiday, buckle up and drive carefully. Join us again next week Lianda
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Hello everyone. With the winter nicely set in, I have spent many hours rapped in nice warm cloths playing with our Apartment block. Before we start I would like to thank all the people who have encouraged us and helped keep me together over the last few weeks. Watching a person close to you die is a very heart wrenching experience and it was amazing support I received from my students, friends and family that kept my family together and able to cope with the terrible loss of my father. I realized that blood really is thicker than water. My Sons suddenly became men and were a tower of strength. I also have been blessed with the most amazing support from the people around me, and best of all when you least expect it, a door throws itself wide open and wow it hits you like a thunder bolt - miniatures really are better than Prozac!!!!- we have had such inspiring emails from other miniaturists all over the world - my mind is in total over drive and there is definitely not enough hours in my day to create all the wonderful things - blessings are bestowed apron us in many strange ways -the biggest blessing of the last 2 months was the birth of my God child Amy-Leigh, so now our wonderful dollhouse projects have a future home. She is beautiful and graced us with her presence on Mothers Day the 13th May at 6:06pm. Bouncing into the world at 2.96 kg’s. And what a bonus for Mother’s Day. This little bundle like all woman had the perfect timing. After another very hurried day trip to my Mom, I am so excited to share some of her new projects with you as well. The above Tudor House has been three years in the making and is the most incredible craftsmanship I have ever seen. The house although authentic for Tudor times, is being furnished around the great war time 1916 - this allows for some poetic licence with the furnishings. Over the next few weeks I will be bringing you, updates one room at a time - so what this space for the progress on this very exciting project from East London So onto miniatures
our miniature project - This week as the cold weather settles in ,
our little people also need some Needled and wool are available from Keli Rosh Studio, email me for details.
REQUIRED: 1 ply wool and 1mm knitting needles SCARF Cast on 14 stitches, knit in ribbing stitch (1 purl 1 plain) work until scarf measures 15 cm’s cast off.
MITTENS - knit 2 Cast on 10 stitches Rib (1 plain, 1 purl) 2 rows. Row 3 - knit Row 4 - plain Continue with stocking stitch for 10 rows Knit 2 together 5 times leaving 5 remaining stitches on your needle. Cut thread 20 cm long, thread a tapestry needle and feed through 5 remaining stitches, pull tight and secure with a double stitch. With the right sides together, continue stitching down the side seam on the mitten to the end. End off feeding needle and remaining thread back through your mitten along the seam. Turn right side out and feed a fine ribbon through your ribbing row.
CAP Cast on 30 stitches and rib 4 rows. Continue in stocking stitch completing 8 rows. Row 9-Knit 5 stitches knit 2 together continue till end. Row 10 - purl Row 11 - Knit 4 knit 2 together continue till end. Row 12 - purl Row 13 - knit 3 knit 2 together continue till end Row 14 - purl Row 15 - knit 2 knit 2 together continue till end Row 16 - purl Row 17 - Knit 2 together to end Row 18 - purl Cut remaining cotton 20 cm long and feed through the remaining 3 stitched, with rights sides together Stitch side seam closed and turn inside out.
MAKE A TASSEL
STEP 1 wind wool
around three fingers about times, lay flat on your work surface.
STEP 2 Cut one side open. STEP 3. With a double knot tie your hang
cord in the middle of the wool. STEP 4 fold wool pieces in half and
tie another piece of wool around the hanging pieces of wool STEP 5
cut to size for your snow cap and attach to the cap point using the
piece of wool tied in the middle.
Marie being the typical home maker loves to bake, so my next search was to find her some tarts and cakes. BUTTONS are a wonderful source of shapes and with a quick coat of paint they are perfect. Polymer clay is also wonderful to play with so create your own cakes.
Marie’s apartment is starting to take shape. The little dogs are all needle felted and great fun to make. The fire place is one of our future projects which I will cover shortly - I started collecting small baskets etc from the scrap booking shops. The dog water dish show above is from the Fisher price loving family series. The Loving Family
series is 1/12” scale and has some lovely smalls that we can use in
our miniature homes. The stove was made by Brian Edwards from Port Alfred.
Another really great idea that I found was the miniature scene bookends - The ones on the photo were made by my Mom and are a wonderful idea for a gift for someone special.
In one of our upcoming editions I will be making a bookend for a very special friend for her birthday. So check back often or pop in on our web site to watch the progress of this on fun project. http://www.husqvarnavikingpe.co.za/ We are also starting a miniature BRIDAL BOUTIQUE in August, this is going to be a load of fun to follow as I will be making replicas of some of the real wedding dresses we embroider exclusively for L Designs in Port Elizabeth.
Back at our apartment I created a false door leading into the bathroom.
Cut a piece of balsa wood the size of the door - my door measures 7cm x 17 cm score the lines on the door with a pencil to look like wooden planks and stain or paint the door the colour you want. For hinges I used 2 jewellery findings bought from our local bead shop. For the handle I used a miniature brass door knob, but you could use a nice bead for the same effect. I have always had serious reservations about purchasing a beautiful piece of wooden furniture for my Doll house and changing it - well this week I took the plunge and wow I had so much fun watching a simple common piece of furniture become exceptional.
I will bring the completed Day Bed in my next article, as I plan to use it in our Models apartment. Well that should be enough to keep you busy on these cold winter nights, so till next time, Happy Miniaturing. Love Lianda
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Week 5 Hello again, Having been graced with an amazing Art Deco fire place in my studio, we ventured to try it out and wow what more can we say. First we smoked ourselves out of the studio but once we mastered this fire thing, we were like toast in the studio. So many things are on the go at the moment that I am playing 24/7.
Over the next few weeks I will be adding pieces about our YORKIE HOUSE called YORKSVILLE. The bridal boutique is also taking shape, I finally settled on a name – CUPIDS AND BUTTERFLIES.
But for our back to our apartment block, Kevin sat painstakingly doing the lettering for the mansions name. CRACKER JACK MANSIONS.
I liked the idea of the name of the
block in an arc, this proved to be quiet a mission. After giving
this lots of thought, I came up with the
following method. I used a CD drew 2 lines on a hard piece of clear plastic. The perfect lettering came from one of the local scrap booking shops, except it was pink. Brass was the look I would prefer, so I planned my lettering on a piece of paper, measuring out the spacing etc and transferred the plastic letters to the piece of see through plastic. Using an acrylic paint I carefully painted all the letters. 3 thin coats are much better than one thick lumpy coat. When the paint dried, Kevin sat and transferred it all onto the front of the Apartment block. The only problem we experienced was the s at the end of Jack’s kept on falling off, must be the new South Africa, so after 24 hours and many layers of glue later, we have left the ‘s’ off for now until we can find a fool proof method that will not leave glue residue on the front panel.
Using the plastic template, letter by letter you can transfer the letters by judging the placement on the front wall.
The beautiful Lilac WELCOME plaque was lovingly handmade by a very talented young miniaturist in East London. Shelley has a wonderful natural artistic ability and I hope we will see many wonderful things from her I the future. For the Plaque Shelley chose to work in FIMO clay, which is wonderful soft mould able clay that cures in a normal kitchen oven at 130Degress C for 15 to 30 minutes. FIMO comes in an amazing array of colours and can be obtained from most local art suppliers and scrap booking shops. The clay is softened by working it in your warm hands, roll the clay into a sausage and fold it double, roll it out again. Continue doing this until the clay is soft and pliable.
Shelley used Lilac as the base for her
welcome sign. Making a ball about the size of a marble, and then
flattening it out with her fingers on a glass plate. She carefully
made the two doves and placed them onto the lilac piece of clay.
When she was happy with her creation she popped it into an oven for
30 minutes. Once cooled we used a piece of double sided tape to
keep it in place next to the door. As promised I am delighted to share my Mom’s latest Tudor house with you – this week I am proud to present the
The great Dining Hall.
Well back to our apartment block, one of our tenants will most defiantly need a nice carpet, so here is a lovely easy one to make. REQUIREMENTS
Some No.8 crochet yarn any colour – I used white.
I
managed to find a beading loom quiet cheaply at our local beading
shop and it works. Carefully wind the crochet yarn onto the beading loom, using your looms instructions.
Carefully with a flat plastic knife or
a spoon, feed the knife through the crochet cotton picking up every
second thread. Once you reach the left side you can thread you wool
onto an upholstery needle and feed it carefully through every second
thread. When you reach the left carefully pull wool through and use
the knife to gently ‘pat’ the wool into place against the bottom bar
on the loom.
Second row you start by picking up the alternative crochet thread to the first row – feed the upholstery needle through the crochet thread and ‘pat’ in place with the knife so that the two rows have no gaps. Continue with these two rows till you carpet measures the length you want.
Carefully
loosen the top and bottom crochet threads.
Cut a piece of Vilene the size your wool part of your carpet and iron in place – this will be the underside of your carpet.
Cut the crochet threads all the same length – about 1cm should be fine – this is the fringe of your carpet.
Needless to say, the completed bed took 2 days longer than planned to complete!!! But here is the final result. While scrounging around the flea market on Sunday I found some lovely plastic doll furniture. A little smaller that the normal 1/12” scale but I liked the 70’s style and decided to revamp it and use it for our gypsy’s apartment.
Starting with the bed, strip all the linen etc off and give the plastic furniture a good scub with some handy Andy. Mine cleaned up so nicely and was cream under all the dirt.
First cut a frill measuring the of the bed from the base to the ground. The above bed was 3 cm. Next measure the left side the bottom and right side of the bed – and times that by 3. Our bed was 18cm long and 15 wide so 18 + 15 + 18 = 51 cm x 5 = 153 cm Using your sewing machine or with a running stitch, gather the strip up until it measures your original measurement – ours is 51cm
Carefully using a hot glue gun, start by running a bead of hot glue along the top edge of the bed doing 3 cm at a time. Carefully place the gathered strip on the side of the bed.
For the mattress cut a piece of foam the size of the top. Make a fitted sheet from the same colour fabric as the frill and stitch in place. To make duvets for the bed, measure the bed top and add on for the sides to hand down. This bed measured 18 x 15 so we cut the duvets 20 x 17. Cut 2 pieces. Stitch up the three sides and half the top side. Turn inside out and press corners out gently. Cut a piece of thin batting the same size and gently insert through the opening. When in place, neat stitch closed. Make a few pillows the same way, just fill them more.
Our completed bedroom for the gypsy. Make bottles out of different beads. There were so many lovely ones; I decided to make our gypsy a large collection of bottles..
Well that’s all for this week, have fun playing.
Regards Lianda
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Week 6 - 2008 Hello again After a very long break we are back with
loads of exciting things that are happening in our miniature world - The most exciting is
the opening of our very own miniature company - a joint venture between two friends - Robyn
Puffett and myself officially opened Roli's Miniature World South Africa at the beginning of 2008. So
watch this space, there will be many exciting wonderful things coming from this small place. Our apartment block has grown with loads
of occupants that have moved in - so just to
recap here are some of the more resent photo's of
each floor - Cathy has come to visit our resident
caretaker, Marie. Cathy is beautifully dressed in antique
lace petticoat and a magnificent crocheted apron. A
lovely red macaw called Scarlet has invited herself
to tea and is happily eating away at a piece of tart. Our resident gypsy, Zaskia has invited
friends Arabella and Tammy over to her apartment - Tammy lies across Zaskia's bed reading the latest cosmopolitan magazine - Arabella breezes through the door like a br
This week we are going to meet our tenants of the 3rd apartment - Suzie is
an actress, she is the mother of triplets -3 adorable little
girls, Sandy, Candy and Lindy.
A Doll artist would have sculptured an original doll, from this doll a mould is made out of plaster of Paris. This allows us to produce many replica's of the original doll.
The mold can be in 2 or 3 parts. Carefully take the mould apart and dust with a very soft brush to remove any loose bits of dust and old dried porcelain. Place the mould back together. Bind tightly with rubber bands.
How to pour a porcelain doll Stir and strain your slip. Stir carefully, try not to stir up air bubbles, These air bubbles will cause pinholes in your greenware. (the casting in the raw stage is called Greenware) Let stirred slip sit overnight--close the slip container so it doesn't dry out! Pour the slip into a pourable container. Pour slip slowly but steadily until mould is full. Pour smoothly, or you will get hesitation lines in the greenware.
Time to drain a mould varies GREATLY from under 1 minute for tiny dolls in dry locales, up to 20 minutes for large dolls in humid locales. To see if your mould is ready to drain, check the thickness of the slip at the pour hole wall. When the slip is as thick as a a R5 coin (3-5mm)for an average size doll, turn the mould over and drain the slip out into a separate container. Drain the mould slowly and steadily. Try not let the slip "glug" out, because it will form a vacuum causing the item to collapse. You can sometimes assist drainage, by gently blowing air into a straw inserted into the mould. When the slip has drained out, set the mould pour hole down on a rack so that leftover slip doesn't pool in the head. Most moulds set up from 15 minutes (small moulds) to 1 hour (large moulds). To test to see if your mould has set up, unband the mould, and lift the FACE side of the mould. Don't force it! If it doesn't come off easily, the head isn't ready. If you force the head you will cause it to break in half = wasting the casting. Let the head continue to set up inside the bottom 1/2 of the mould. You can cut off the pour hole "spare" now using a feather knife.
With miniature dolls, in this leather hard stage we cut out the armholes, join the head onto the body etc. Once you have trimmed off the pieces, the greenware is left to dry. This can take up to 3 days, depending on thickness, size of doll and temperature. http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/greenware1.htm For a more detailed tutorial have a look at the link above -Cynthia Howe is a very talented miniature doll artist. Okay, so far we have poured our doll, cleaned it in the wet leather hard stage and left it to dry. Once dry we clean all our seam lines and any marks or blemishes off. Then our doll goes into a kiln - Most porcelain kilns are round - this allows for perfect temperature control on all levels and no cold spots. The cleaned greenware is packed on shelves. None of the pieces may touch, and as a rule, I leave at least 2cm between my miniature pieces. The shelves are coated with kiln wash, this stops the porcelain pieces sticking
to the shelf. It is then fired to cone 6 (approx 2250 F/1220 C) Accurate firing is necessary for the proper finish for your doll. Under firing can cause mildew, black "freckles" in the bisque, and the piece will be dull. Over firing can cause blistering and a shiny finish. The kiln is then left to cool naturally, before it is opened. Opening the kiln too soon can result in cracking of the porcelain pieces. The next step is the china painting stages. There will be several stages and firings during the painting process, and each time, the china paint is fired to cone 018. Once the painting and firing is complete, it's time to assemble the doll. All these different stages have taken approx. 1 to 2 weeks. http://www.ginabellousdolls.com/china_paint_tut_1.htm Another very talented doll maker is Gina Bellous - for a detailed tutorial on China painting have a look at her website. Finally we get to start dressing our doll - and there is only one place to look for ideas and that is the MINI DOLL LIST - there are plenty of free downloads and wonderful tutorials - http://www.minidolllist.com/
Well on that exciting note - I bid you farewell till next time - Loads of mini hugs, have a wonderful time playing. Lianda hopefully this site will be up and running in a few days.
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A syringe and needle works quiet well, but the best result was achieved
with an old hair dye bottle with a spout. Leave your mosaic work of
art to dry. 
With
darker shade of cotton, * start with 5 chain, join with a slip stitch to
make a ring. 
(stolen from kids chips collection) and a bead cap. My preferred method
of glue for these types of jobs in a gun - it sets almost instantly and
will stick almost anteing together - I used a mini level to make sure
the table top was straight - Left it over night to set and then painted
it white. If you prefer a wood look, paint the table brown.
warm mittens, a scarf and a cap. In our apartment block remember we
have the nutty professor and his collection of weird friends, well
this week the Octopus has escaped and is trying out Marie’s
beautifully knitted mittens, scarf and hat. Miniature knitting is
wonderful therapeutic and great fun.
So
far we have made the bed with Fifi the white poodle and grey the
cross spaniel having a tussle with the beautiful crochet pillow -
The rocking chair and dinning room table and chairs I purchased from
MINI MANSIONS Port Elizabeth. I discovered that a wonderful supply
of mini things can be found in scrap booking shops,
This
turned into this
A leftover ball of wool – the lovely
new yarns work fantastically.
Lay your carpet down on a
flat surface.
Next as promised the finished day bed
– but first let me introduce you to my faithful helper in the studio
– Jerry Mouse – a rescued kitten who has grown into an amazing Tom.
eath of fresh air - Zaskia's apartment is decked out in the red and blue. The 70's style furniture bought from a second hand dealer worked fantastically.
As the slip settles, continue to "top
off" the slip to the top of the pour hole.
Remove your completed doll head! While
the green ware is in the 'leather-hard" stage, cut out the
crown of the head with your craft knife and make earring holes (if
desired).