Uphostering a Wing Chair in Miniature & a Dollar Store Score!

How hard can it be to make a little wing chair?  Especially since I found a little kit at one of my favorite antique stores.  My sister was with me and she patiently checked to make sure all the pieces were included since the company that makes it is no longer in business and I could not order a new part.  Sure enough, one of the legs was missing.  Well how hard can it be to carve a new little leg?  Really, really hard! However, I soldiered on and glued up the frame.

Next up was cutting and gluing on the leather to the seat.  After several attempts with a little piece of "pleather".  I decided I would buy a chair instead.  Off to Esty to discover I was going to have to spend at least $40 on a wing chair.  Yikes, maybe Snape could have a kitchen chair in his office!  

On to other projects, like building four lab tables for the Potions classroom.  Browsing at the Dollar Store, I found these little tables for $1.00 each. 

They are not quite big enough, but cutting a new larger top will be much easier than making, from scratch, four tables.  And of course painting them will help as well.

And that little Chippendale wing chair?  

Well, I located some paper that looked like leather and found it much easier to work with, so here it is.

 Several bad words where uttered making this little beauty and I just have to admit that $40 no longer sounds like too much to charge.  I wouldn't sell this one at all!

Beauxbaton Academy of Magic and Durmstrang School of Wizardry Arriving!

Professor Snape has complained to the Hogwarts's architect (that would be me) that his potions classroom could not possibly handle the imminent influx of students when pupils from the Beauxbaton Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang School of Wizardry join the Hogwarts Student body for the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

So the house elves are busy at demolition to expand the potions classroom into the adjacent chamber.  Professor Snape was preparing his syllabus in the Great Hall, when much to his annoyance and everyone's, Neville, who is spending the summer at Hogwarts, once again let his cauldron overflow. Snape has informed Neville that he might consider giving up Potions altogether.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, the new greenhouse for Professor Sprout is almost complete after the unfortunate incident involving a plant that exhibited a decided preference for wood rather than it's usual meat.  No one realized it was eating the support posts until one side of the greenhouse collapsed.  Here is a sneak preview of the new greenhouse
Most of the plants died when their pots broke and no one discovered the devastation for two days.  Fortunately two of the baby mandrakes survived.   Professor Sprout is recovering nicely from her hysteria.  Chocolate was administered immediately for shock.  Neville has volunteered to help restore order.  Check back soon to see the greenhouse fill up... as plant cuttings begin to arrive by Owl Post.

Fantasy, Foamcore, and Fun...AND A CONTEST!

Dumbledore's office is almost complete!  

It needs a lot more little books to fill in the shelves of his library. 

The little chandelier needs to be hung... 

Finishing the phoenix for the bird stand is a priority because Fawkes is so important to the story...

Still need to print and frame the portraits of former headmasters.

Portraits I cot out of an old art book which I intended to use before finding the great images below on line.

And I haven't yet figured out how to make the cabinet for the Pensieve.

Here is a photo of a fabulous Pensieve that a crafter made and was selling on Esty.  It is sold (thank heavens since I am not married to Bill Gates or anyone else that would not question $175 for one miniature item for my Hogwarts.)

My version of the pensieve

Contest Details:  The first person to identify what the blue part of the Pensieve was originally used for wins a set of six miniature silver goblets.  You may either use the comment box below or send me an email.  heathergaume@gmail.com

Set of six miniature silver goblets could be yours!. 1-12" scale.

Clearly the fantasy part of this post is the World of Harry Potter.  I confess to being a fan!  Every summer I am transfigured into Professor Minerva McGonagle for the Harry Potter camp at Camp Stoney.  Too bad, I cannot actually make myself a different size so that I could sit at Dumbledore's desk.

The Foamcore part of this post is the primary construction material used for this project.  You can paint it, press designs into it, cut it with an exacto knife (only a very sharp new blade works, however) and glue it together with white glue.  Because my project will be several stories tall, I did glue some wood support posts here and there to give it extra rigidity. 

 And the fun?  Self-explanatory to my artist friends!

Dumbledore's Desk in Miniature

Having completed the Potions classroom, I am moving on to Dumbledore's office.  I started the project by looking at photo's of his desk and looking at the materials that I had on hand, and came up with a design that uses painted panels to simulate the carving on the desk.  Here is the desk from the movies.

And here is another image

Photo by Lindsey Brown via Flicker

The front of my desk before assembly...

 

 Not quite finished, but couldn't resist a few accessories to see how

 it would look.  Off to purchase an Ott light for my old eyes that not see the tiny areas of missing gold last night.

And of course Dumbdore will need a chair!

One Things Leads to Another in a Small, Small World

My sister, Rosalind gave me a box of miniature slate tiles for the front porch of the dollhouse.  Rats, not enough!  Casting about for a way to use them, I arranged them on a piece of cardboard. Still not enough...

So I looked for a mosaic to use for the center and (gasp!) cut it out of one of my art books.  Okay, here is a floor, but it still doesn't fit in the dollhouse, but it is very cool.  How could I use it?  Maybe a Hogwarts miniature potions classroom.  So better make some walls...rock perhaps to go with the slate?

And, of course, more Byzantine art work to fill the arched doors.

How did I make the stones?   With a foam meat tray.  These are from Costco and held wild salmon. Yum!  Unfortunately, after washing, they still smelled a little of fish, so I re-washed them with Dr. Bonner's Peppermint Soap which I use for hand soap, to wash clothes on river trips, and anything else that smells really bad.  We buy it by the gallon and refill all our containers.  

Available at REI and most drugstores.  Also comes in Lavender. 

Cut off the edges so you have a flat piece.  Then draw the stones by pressing firmly with the end of a paint brush.

Then paint it to match your decor.  I chose gray to go with the slate.  It would look even better if you filled the lines with grout.  However I was anxious to get on with "stuff" for the potions classroom.

Here is the room...

The flash make the walls look blue, but they are really gray.  Don't you love the little mini skeleton which I picked up at the Dollar Store as part of a garland.  Think that Michael's and Hobby Lobby carry them as well.  Or if you can't find one, email me and I will send you one of the five left on the garland.

And the room with laboratory "stuff"...

I have not been able to find much in the way of miniature supplies in Albuquerque, but here are my sources...

Potion Bottles - Hobby Lobby
Miniature books - Hobby Lobby
Small scale balsa to make the shelves - Hobby Lobby
Jewelry findings - Michael's
Small chess pieces, chest, table and owl - Vintage Market and Design on Lomas.
I have picked up a few other items for future projects as well. 

I am still searching for the perfect little Snape's doll to keep order in this vignette.  If you know of a doll maker who could help, let me know.

Bees, Bears, and Dogs

Living on the mountainside brings challenges as well as joys.  Last week I received an email from neighbors reporting that a bear had broken into their rabbit cages and one of their rabbits was missing.  A few days later, our closest neighbor reported that her early morning REM sleep was destroyed when a bear was interested in a visit to their bee hives and her dogs (being very protective) went crazy.  Our dog, Tar, went into a frenzy of bounding (rather like a kangaroo) from one window to the next last night, barking furiously to scare off an unseen, but very likely nocturnal ursine visitor.   

The poor bear is all grown up from last year's cute cub and somewhat less adorable.  However, we all believe the bear's territory has been invaded by us, and are trying to protect it from being re-located by not encouraging its visits.  Which means that today, I am moving my tomatoes back to the south deck.  It is somewhat less accessible with metal posts and on the second story.  I am hoping the large bite out of one of them was actually many chipmunk bites instead of a bear!

Since I don't have a photo of "our" bear, here is one that a friend took in Glacier Bay after we left the Alaska trip when Norm's Mom had her first stoke.

Grizzlies in camp

 Now we know why tents should have a front and a back door!

Here is a sneak peek of a project I am working on which will be a fundraiser for children's ministry events at St. Mark's.  Any guesses what it might be?

Leave your guess in the comment box below. and the first person to guess correctly will receive one of my watercolors in the mail.

Busy Bees

Despite stepping on a hornets nest, being chased all the way home, and stung repeatedly as a child, I am not afraid of bees.  I love the bumble bees who roll luxuriously in the pollen and then because of their greed, must sit and patiently clean some of it off in order to fly off again.  

I love the honey bees from my neighbor's hives who swarm on the orange Hummingbird Mint (Agastache aurantiiaca), the Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), the lavenders, the cosmos, and the Butterfly bushes. 

Hard to catch the bees sitting still.  There is one in the upper left corner sharing the bush with an orange butterfly in the lower right corner.

  
Butterflies and bees swarming are a testament to the lack of pesticides in my neighborhood.  And even though I really HATE the horned tomato worm, I patiently pick them off by hand (and leave them as a tasty treat for the birds, far from the tomato) rather than use poison.  So far the score is definately on the tomato worm's side.  My husband can spot them much better than I am able to do.  Maybe we will get some tomatoes this year... and maybe not.  The chipmunks love them as well.

We do, however have lots of flowers.  I cut some today to bring into the house (braving the bees, wasps, etc. to do so!) so that I could link to Jane's "Flowers in the House" Party.

Loosely arranged in a blue glass vase.  Everything from my garden except the white mums which are hanging around after almost two weeks from Dorothy's Memorial service.

I even love the bee (or is it a wasp?) with the orange wings on the cosmos flower.

  And of course...bees make honey, which we enjoyed with sopapillas when my brother, niece, and great-niece came for a very short visit with my Mom.

Mina and her grand-auntie Rosalind.

Sopapillas with honey..recipe here

 Don't forget to click on Jane's link to enjoy lots more photos of flowers.