I Am Covered in Paint, Stain and Varnish....

...but like a pig in a mud puddle, I couldn't be happier than when I have worked hard and made a mess. ;)
Do you like the new look for the blog? Let me know your thoughts, I don't want to make anything hard to read or hard to find, etc.

Here are some things I have been working on this week, some are up in my etsy shop.

I couldn't really capture the grandiosity of this armoire. It is really striking in person.

I'm not entirely sure of the official name of this dresser? Anyone know?
**EDIT** It is called an 'Empire Chest'. I Googled "dresser with columns" ;)

I've been making corsets and stockings. Fun!

I am still working on the tutorials for you! Would you like a tutorial for the stockings?  I've seen lots of tutorials for the corsets but never for the stockings (not saying there aren't any but I couldn't find any).  Hope you've all had a wonderful week and here is to hoping you have an even better weekend!

XO
Daphne

Another Bombe

I can't get enough of these. One day I will find one for my 1:1 scale home but till then...

This is the first time I've attempted faux marble. It was fun to do. I would like to try a black base with white veining next.

This piece is for sale in my Etsy shop.

I'd also like to invite you to visit my web shop. www.courtofgypsies.com
There you will find many DIY miniature items. I am still stocking the shop, there is lots more to come, it's just very time consuming.  I will have furnishings from JBM, HanaMini and many others. Lots of accessories and building/decorating items as well.  I will announce sales and specials and new items here on the blog. :)  Please feel free to contact me with any requests. The shopping cart is not currently set up to accept international orders but you may certainly contact me and make arrangements for shipment outside the USA.

Have a wonderful day!

~Daphne

Typography on Furniture

Hello Friends,
I've been busy. Still having fun with furniture makeovers. Have you noticed the trend of typography being transferred to furnishings? I think it's been around a while but I really like it.
The sideboard above has had an antique french advertisement applied to the drawer fronts. The whole piece was repainted and distressed and then sealed with satin varnish.  I'd like one of these, please, in 1:1 scale.

The little pouf ottoman in the pic with the sofa was made using the cardboard tube from a roll of ribbon.  Easy peasey!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!
~Daphne

Nordic French Brocante Style Chest of Drawers in 1 Inch Scale

Good Sunday Friends,

I've been playing with some ideas. We've got 'weather' again (read that blech, more snow!) so the Nordic French style is quite apropos with its coolness and light. Doesn't necessarily make one feel 'warm and fuzzy' but it is lovely in its stark, time worn way.

Don't mind the crazy over-sized lavendar, lol, I need to get out my flower making supplies and make some more realistic looking plants.

I really like the motif on the chest of drawers - what do you think?  I definitely want to explore this technique.

The dress form and chair are  Chrysnbon  kits (available in my shop, contact me if you'd like to order) that I have painted and distressed. The little chaise lounge is a cheaper wood piece that I reupholstered with linen. In retrospect, I wish I had made it a little more plush with a thicker seat cushion with piping...maybe I will re-do it.

Hope you have a lovely evening!

~Daphne

Shabby French Rococo Lady's Work Table and Chair Finished

Hello friends,
Finally found time to finish up these two Bespaq pieces. Please excuse the silly little room box scene in the photos...it is in pretty poor shape but I liked the light play through the window. It's one of those DIY box kits from China. ;)

I had purchased some smaller artist brushes for the paintings on the furniture but I still think I need even smaller ones. :/ I'd like the little roses to be a bit more delicate and petite.

Kris, suggested I should try painting on fabric for the upholstery. Thank you so much , Kris! I was hesitant but it worked out well, I used textile medium mixed with acrylics for the muslin on the chair back.

This set is available; if anyone is interested, please drop me an email at daphne at courtofgypsies dot com.  I am planning on listing this in my Etsy shop but wanted to offer it here first.

I am thoroughly enjoying painting these little pieces and just got a huge shipment of miniatures to put in my shop. Just have to get the technical things worked out...bleh.

I hope I don't sound like a big advertisement here, that is not my intention but I had some questions and would really appreciate your input if you have the time.
I want to stock my web shop (not Etsy) with miniatures that are things you have been looking for or that are hard to find. Please let me know if there is something you would like to see in the shop.  My suppliers have thousands of items and I realized that there is no way I can stock or even have the time to list all of the available items - so, I was hoping you all could give me some feedback on your most desired items?  I want to be able to offer them at reasonable prices as well as offer specials and discount sales etc.
 My suppliers offer furnishings, glassware, dollhouse figures...everything, just about anything you can imagine as well as supplies for building and making minis.

Hug!
Daphne

On My Work Table...

...waiting to be finished. :)  Two Bespaq pieces.  The legs on these are so delicate.
Please be sure to visit my new website - www.courtofgypsies.com 
I have placed my first order with my supplier and will have some lovely things listed soon. I'm very excited as this has been a dream of mine for a long time. Someday, I would love to open a brick and mortar dollhouse shop but for now, it will have to be online.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Hand Painted Miniature - French Rococo Kidney Side Table

 

Hello Friends :) Thank you so much for your kind words, so much appreciated.

I've done up another little Rococo piece. Still rusty with the painting...have get smaller!  I feel like the roses are a bit too large on this piece. It is so tiny and delicate. Very well made little piece that I purchased unfinished.

Still working on the website so I will probably list my first few pieces in my Etsy shop.

Hope you are having a wonderful day...trying to stay warm around here!

Chalk Painted Rococo Bombe Chest in 1:12 scale

Hello Friends,

It's been one of those weeks..really, I should say, one of those months or years, as it's just been one thing after another around here. Trying to keep my chin up.  I try not to post personal junk but life is getting in the way a bit here and I am a bit down. It will all work out. :) I apologize, not trying to dump on you, just had to get it out.

On to the fun stuff, I promised to post about chalk paint. I should have taken pics of how I mixed up the paint but I didn't...so, I will just explain. It is very simple, anyway.  I also wanted to give credit where due. I first saw the chalk paint mentioned at about.com in an article from Lesley Sheperd.

You need:
Acrylic or Latex Paint
Plaster of Paris
Water


I used regular old acrylic craft paint, folk art brand that comes in the small bottles. The kind used for decorative and tole painting.  I had some small jars here to mix the paints in.  I poured some bottled water into the little jar - about half full - and then put in small amounts of plaster of Paris till it was the consistency of a little bit thicker than liquid hand soap. Don't make it super thick and not super runny either.

Next, add your paint. I used about equal parts paint and plaster of Paris/water mixture.

My little jars have tight fitting lids and so far, only one has set up a tiny bit in the bottom and by chance that was the one that had a little bit less acrylic paint in it.

I made this paint in small batches, about two oz. or so.

So, here is the result. I only used the chalk paint as the off white base coat for this piece. It covered really well, I used two coats. This little bombe chest had a shiny red varnish on it to start. I did run some fine sandpaper over it just to give it some tooth but honestly, I probably wouldn't have had to. I distressed this piece a little more than I meant to but I kind of like the result. :)  I'm a bit out of practice with my decorative painting, I want to do some of these little chests with some pastoral scenes.  I also learned that my gold leaf paint needs to be sealed before you put antiquing gel on top...

All in all, really really like the soft, flat look of the chalk paint for base coating and the nice coverage it gives.

Hugs and kisses for now,  I hope you will try this and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Shabby Morning Light

  

The latest room box.

A customer of mine requested a room box similar to the little room box used in the header image of this blog. I was surprised that she wanted something as 'dirty' and distressed as the original little box but she said, "Yes, please make it as close to the original as possible".  It's funny but I really struggle to make the same thing twice, things always turn out differently. In the end, she was quite pleased with the images, just waiting for the package to arrive. Makes me nervous, hope she loves it as much in person as she liked the photos.

This little box can be completely disassembled for storage and the walls are reversible. Many possibilities there :).  The room box is in 1:12 scale.

The little day bed is from a vintage kit - the table I really couldn't tell you, I think it came in a lot of furniture I found in a thrift store. The chair came from the same vintage lot. The little hutch is a Michaels craft hutch. I printed the wallpaper on my home printer and distressed it with chalk pastels and inks. Basket and teapot and linens by me.

I have another, larger scale roombox in the works and I do have a chalk painted bombe chest to share with you in my next post. The chalk paint worked beautifully.

On a non-mini, side note; is anyone else having trouble with their blogger dashboard reader?  I was using it last night with no problems but when I logged in this morning - poof - it says I'm not subscribed to any blogs??!?!? wha?? *cry*...Hope it's just a glitch as I had the max of 300 or 350 (whichever it is) favorite blogs in there!

I've been absent.

Hello friends!
If you are still there, I want to apologize for being away so long. I've missed creating and sharing minis so very much. It seems like there is just never enough time for all the things that interest me.
Edit: You can thank Norma of Make Mine Mini for re-igniting my fire :) She reminded me of the wonderful friends and things I had been missing. Thank you Norma, I hope we can meet some day so I can hug you up.

I've decided to make some changes and to focus on my miniature business.
I will be opening a new online shop selling my dressed miniatures as well as ready mades.

Hopefully, I will have more tutorials to share in the near future. :)  I'm playing catch up with all my favorite blogs, I've missed your wonderful inspirations!

For now, here is something I've been working on for some customers of mine. I am working on three room boxes, in both 1:6 and 1:12 scales.
This little box is 1:6. The little doll is a Secret Person doll. The larger doll is a Blythe doll, she is about the size of Barbie with a very over-sized head. ;)

I've enlisted the help of my wonderful neighbor, Art. He has the most wonderful wood working shop and does beautiful work. He has helped me to engineer these little room boxes so that the walls are reversible and they are easily assembled and disassembled for shipping and storage.

Something else I have run across in my wanderings....Chalk Paint. Have you heard of this?  Not ChalkBOARD paint, but chalk paint.  I'm probably late to the party but I had always wondered what people used to paint real life vintage furniture that gave such nice coverage. 

What's so special about chalk paint and why would a miniaturist be interested in that?  It works beautifully for mass produced doll furniture. No primer needed. You can cover up that gawd awful red or orange lacquer that is used on so many of the factory pieces. The paint must be sealed with waxing or poly but it is worth it.  I will post more on this later with some examples for you.  If you are interested, you can make your own chalk paint, just Google 'chalk paint recipes' and you will find a wealth of information out there. Chalk paint can also be purchased from some retailers that have their own special formulae but it is rather pricey and the colors are limited...I prefer to make my own :) .

Modern Roombox Scene

Ahhhhh.....I would love to shrink down and relax here.

So, You Probably, Maybe Didn't Know This About Me

but.... I absolutely ADORE Mid Century Modern and Danish Modern style. I am, in fact looking for our RL dream home...believe it or not, Mid Century Moderns do exist here in farm country!

We won't be buying for a little while but if I find the ONE, I will be pressuring hubs, leasebound or not! :)

It's something I've been interested in for a long time but really had only dipped my toes into those miniature waters.

I just won this on evilbay, and probably overpaid for it but I am so in love with the whole set!

Dig that room divider!!!

I am slowly building my stash of MCM furnishings and odds and ends and bits and bobs so I can build some scenes to photograph...for my own pure, unadulterated pleasure :D

I've done few Mod scenes with my Blythe dolls but never any 1:12th scale.

There are so many wonderful and inspiring Mini Modern bloggers out there...thank you all for sharing in the blogosphere!

Here are just a few, there are more and you can probably find them in my sidebar:

http://minimodern.blogspot.com - a truly devout miniature modernist and collector with exquisite tastes.

http://call-small.blogspot.com/ - Brilliant Miniaturist who never ceases to amaze me.

http://raumfuerraum.blogspot.com/ -What can I say? This dear woman keeps me gobsmacked with her brilliant use of the everyday object.

http://minimodpod.blogspot.com - Another brilliant miniaturist with lots of mod eye candy.

http://amazingminiatures.com/blog/ - Fantaculous MCM furnishings and a sweet and sharing nature.

Hope you will visit some of these fabulous bloggers!

Not that I am giving up on any of the other styles that I love so much... I still enjoy making all things shabby and chic as well as cottage-y and storybook-ish. It's a wide and wondrous world that we can recreate in miniature, no?