Skip to main content

The Sofa Arrives!



My Smidge sofa is here! Wow, that was quick! It is beautifully made and perfectly suited to Josephine. I didn't even redress her for this photo. That's just some old thing she was wearing around the house.

This weekend was really busy. I decided to take the upcoming Year of Luxury seriously. I painted Josephine's living room and installed the wainscotting. Course, I shoulda painted the wall first and the wainscotting got a bit twisty but I still like it. After it's done, it will look like this:


















See how perfect my new sofa looks in this room too? This will probably be Josephine's living room sometimes and a cafe at other times. This means I'm still going to need some Smidge chairs for my sitting room. C'mon payday!

So why wainscotting on only 3/4th of the wall? Well, the truth is, I don't have a wood cutter mechanism for the molding. Not even a little saw. And I wanted Josephine to have a foyer anyway, so this worked out.
I lamented the loss of my damask wallpaper. I really liked it but considering the sofa, it just wouldn't work. So I made a wall of my last scrap of foam core and used the damask for the adjacent entranceway. Since it would be Josephine's house only at certain times, I made a little door out of that Barbie screen that all of us seem to have. It never worked well as a screen for me, so voila, French doors. But it warped terribly on me. I'm weighing it down now hoping to restore it a bit.
















I also sponge painted Josephine's bedroom ochre mixed with some gold. I'm attaching two doors from one of those cheapo jewlery box that looks like a mini armoire. More French doors. I gave up after the first screw. I dunno what this dollhouse shelf is made of but it ain't wood, at least not in wood's natural state. I even drilled a little starter hole but the screw just won't catch. I'm ready to tape the hinges the wall. Well, maybe some hot glue....
















Also, some troubling news. I had Gypsy Ken sitting with Carmen the gypsy sorceress for a week and there is no spark. They don't like each other. Mattel and Fashion Royalty. I mean. It was bound to happen. Plus Gypsy Ken loves Josephine. But I have a solution: This dude
Just imagine him with a nice manly gypsy moustache and eyebrows. That will make him look a lot less douchey.
Oh, what of the gypsy caravan? Glad you asked. I ordered some henna stencils to decorate the outside and I really wasn't very pleased with them. This was through Amazon marketplace. So I got an email asking for feedback. Now I order from Amazon all the time and this is a first. So though there was the usual jazz: call us before you leave feedback, I figured hey, I'll just be honest since you asked for feedback and all. I gave them a poor citing poor quality, getting a duplicate stencil instead of one advertised. So I got a call later asking if I would change the feedback if they sent me a bunch of stencils. Uh? Yeah. So lucky day, free stencils! I do feel like I was a bad small business buyer though.
Okay so after Josephine's house is done, I have to install some doors or covers for the dollhouses. Are you guys familiar with Em'lia Couture? She made some large doors for her doll shelves to keep her cats out. But she made them look like real houses. Just gorgeous. Maybe on the next wave of creativity but for now I just need to keep the interested hands away. Iris is growing very fast.
Know what I love? Expedit shelves. I have the one with 8 cubes and it is a very pleasing room size for dolls. My mom has the 12 cube for her sewing room. My sister uses it for her library and to organize her magazine collections. They're even perfect size for vinyl albums.
Anyway, as I figure it, if I buy the 4 cube ones, which are like $40, I can handle them more easily. They are open on both sides, so I make cardboard or foamcore walls to affix to the back. Adjusting it is problematic when you have to deal with a bigger shelf. Plus if I get the door or drawer inserts, I can keep my stuff organized and the kids from choking to death. Then I can have doll scenes from floor to ceiling if I want.
Okay I love you three and all but I need some more followers! Time to pimp myself out there on the doll forums. I think much of my time will be spent there during the Year of Luxury.
smooches,
dani

Comments

  1. The sofa just comes to life in Josephine's room! Looks fantastic against that blue! So happy you like it :)

    I just love getting a peek into your dollhouse & workroom. You work so fast! Great use for that Barbie screen. I gave mine way, since I could just never make it look like as a screen either, lol!

    Yeah, don't you hate it when you have a plan, and then dolls just refuse to have chemistry? Really looking forward to what you do to that new dude!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should check out my girl Smidge's etsy shop. Lots of good stuff.

    Smidge: yeah those dolls think for themselves a little too often. I'm just glad Barbie's Twilight Edward found love with Dynamite Girl Jasper. I was starting to wonder if he liked girls at all, what with those chiseled good looks and all.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Goodies!

But first, some news: Projects: Still working on the studio space for Remi and Bailey. The Hubs came in and voiced what was in my head, "So where is that kid supposed to sleep? That's messed up. There's no room for him?"  The last thing I wanted in Grandville is a kid's room. I don't want this rated R world changing into something wholesome. Buuut, if there is to be a custody battle for Julian, I have to make the case, right? So on top of the studio space, I'll build a little room for the brat to use. Maybe I'll give it a fun theme or something. Space or sci-fi or something that doesn't involve sports. I'm also working on a space backdrop for Nymeria and her sister. Then I can finally introduce you. I decided to go with a sort of cheesy 60's sci fi movie thing. That's what inspired the Alurium Vaccarra anyway. So, a sort of intentionally cartoony backdrop. The last project for now is my high school. I wanted it to be a three-...

[in that spongebob narrator voice] Ten Years Later

 Well friends, it's been 10 years!  I'm not sure if any of my older friends and followers still blog or still read blogs.  I've been in the BJD hobby all this time a while it was satisfying and helped me to grow a lot as a dioramist, the call of the 1/6 scale dolls called back to me.   It was hard to make stories for BJDs because of the limited number of characters and sets.  While I no longer have a town to make stories with, nor (hardly) any of my original dolls, my new collection continues to grow and some of them are just itching to tell you all about themselves.  But these heauxs don't even have names except for two.  So lemme get on that... Returning to this hobby feels a bit lonely. My doll community was here in the blogosphere, my BJD community was through youtube and Facebook. Where are you, racy playscale collectors?  Let's get back together!  Instagram feels unsuitable for my needs. I'll see if I can direct traffic here. Who k...

The Giveaway! And more.

You guys, let's talk. After I set up Grandville in the new house, I was sort of bored. I liked getting everyone unpacked but I really didn't feel like telling my stories, posing dolls, finding outfits for them. I didn't know where to take this doll thing next. And since my doll break at the end of last year, I've filled up my evenings with other things, especially Facebook where I remember I'm a writer again (in short blurbs). But what I don't feel like writing, are doll stories. I was at this doll crossroads, and already donating and trading away some good stuff when I became suddenly, surprisingly aware that I was (am) pregnant! How did this happen? Well I have a few ideas. I'm 37, I had been debating whether to have another. Sometimes, I swear, I'd be sitting with the girls and think I'm hearing a 3rd kid crying in the background. So that choice was made for me I'm very happy about it (and terrified). And the choice about dolls was made ...