Sunday, April 20, 2008

My Apologies To Dollhouse Haters

I've decided that I have to show my other surviving dollhouse....although it's really a "shop"....not a "house". In total, over the years, I have completed six "dollhouses" and only half finished a lighthouse. In the category of "dollhouse", I include two homes that a mouse would have. One was a papier mache tree stump, and an orange crate "behind the wall" look at a mouse's home. I'll try to find the old photos for my darling fiancee to scan for me, since the buildings themselves no longer exist. THIS building DOES exist and I can't for the life of me recall the kit it was from. All I know is that it was inexpensive and I customized it. Here is the interior near the cash register. For the "linoleum" floor I used printed paper covered with layers of clear varnish. The plastic skeleton is a leftover from my "haunted" dollhouse.
Over in the far right, you can see a "Mudhead Kachina" I made out of Sculpey. The woven "bowls" (on the floor) were made from sweetgrass I had growing in my backyard. And that's a real birchbark basket I made. No, I didn't make the teddy
bear.
You never know WHAT you'll find at THIS Curiosity Shoppe. It seems someone has got their hands on a Tutankhamun sarcophagus. The little gold chest to the left of it is a tiny jewellery box, apparently plated with real gold. Another of my foolish purchases of the past! And there's my mini-horse painting!
Here is the corner of paintings. The three coming up the staircase are matchbook covers that I found interesting, and the other Indian art has been clipped from a cheap copy of the "Kama Sutra". The Cezanne is my own painting, shown in an early post, and I made the tiny paint box.
The Dream Catcher was one of a pair of earrings.
Now THESE little beauties are hand blown tiny glass statues from Russia. I bought them at the CNE one year and they are SO cute! The shark's jaws are plastic and came as a set of earrings. The tiny piggy bank was one of my very first miniature purchases, as well as the fish vase almost directly under it.
And here's a long shot of the interior of the shop. It's not completely finished yet. I still have some more shingles to stick on, and I need more tables or shelves for the interior, but I wanted to show it off. Cute, ain't it?

9 comments:

el pancake said...

wonderful!!
apologize to no one!

Lisa said...

agreed, apologies to no one!
This is wonderful, and thanks so much for letting me know you posted more photos.
You've done a wonderful job.
Please post photos of your other miniature photos.

Did you ever see the miniature of the WhiteHouse?

Also, if you tour Windsor Castle there's an incredible miniature house that was the gift to one of the princesses by some other princess or queen or something of that kind.

Camille Minichino said...

Wonderful shop! I love the closeups of the different sections, especially the front near the cash register.

Where is the miniature of the White House that someone mentioned??

Margaret Grace
author of "Murder in Miniature"

Lisa said...

I think I saw the mini white house in chicago quite a number of years ago. It might have been a traveling exhibit - not sure.

In Rye, England there is a miniature of the entire village!

Sumaiya Mehreen said...

I love the house...especially the toile printed wallpaper!

Suzanne Dargie said...

Thank you for all the kind comments.
Lisa- No, I've never seen the miniature of the WhiteHouse, but I do recall reading something about it years ago in a Miniatures magazine.
Camille and S. Mehreen - I've linked your Dollhouse Minis blog so I can look at it all the time!

Willy Ashworth said...

More dollhouses in the world would make for a better world it says here!!

Curses to dollhouse haters!

Are you still trying to get into Cuppa?

Lisa said...

Willy - here here - mini loves have big hearts!

Kat57 said...

This is a fantastic bash of a Dura-Craft Ashley. This little dollhouse kit is wonderful as is,but what you did with it is amazing! Si glad you shared it with us.Kat