Project: Turning a Chair into a Vanity Bench

Here's a short little entry.  I have a 1:3 scale Bespaq Swan Vanity that really needs a vanity stool.  It's in the mahogany finish and I happen to have a Victorian side chair that I won cheaply because the upper part of the back of the chair had split.  The piece looked like this  when I started:

You can't tell from the picture that the chair was damaged but it was, right at the very top where the delicate woodwork is.  So, I got out my hand saw....

and I turned it into a stool.  In the pic above I added two round wooden beads to the area where I cut the frame.  The beads are in the same mahogany finish and are from a very damaged 1:3 rocking chair that I bought for it's parts.  Some men keep broken-down chevys on cinder blocks on the front lawn for parts, and some men keep broken Bespaq doll furniture for parts, to each his own.

I like the wooden beads, but I also tried out two brass knobs that I saved from a jewelry box that I had turned into an armoire:

Before I glue them down, I need to sand the area a bit so they are level, and touch it up a bit with a wood-stain marker, but I haven't decided which I like better.  Here's what the stool will look like from behind, remember, I still need to sand the point of contact down so the beads or knobs are attached correctly.  Wooden bead on the left, brass knob on the right:

I'd like some opinions if you care to offer them.  Brass knobs, or mahogany beads?  Life is full of tough choices.

DIORAMA SOURCES: PART I

I receive many emails and comments asking me where I find the props and furniture for my doll displays.  Well, to be honest, EVERYWHERE.  But there are two sources that have really supplied me with the best of the best in my dioramas.  I am calling this entry "Part I" because over time I will share more sources as I find them.  To me, a huge part of the fun of doll collecting is sharing ideas and sources and helping each other find that perfect item for our dolls. 

FURNITURE SOURCE:

pumpkinhillstudios is a reputable seller on Ebay selling doll miniatures in several scales.  One of her specialties is large-scale Bespaq.  Many of you may know Bespaq already as a high-end dealer in dollhouse (1:12) scale miniatures.  Back in the late 1990's Bespaq made a line of larger-scale doll miniatures and managed to keep their impeccable quality and detail.  The line of large-scale Bespaq has long been discontinued and pumpkinhillstudios is one of the only dealers that has it available for sale and she certainly has the best selection out there.  For Evangeline, stick to the 1:3 scale.  For your 16" dolls you will find the 1:4 scale perfect.  Many of you have written asking me about the vanity I use for Evangeline.  It is exquisite and is the crown jewel of my doll furniture collection for sure!  That vanity is the "1:3 scale Bespaq Hat Vanity".  The 1:4 scale Bespaq Hat Vanity does NOT work for Evangeline but it DOES work really well for all 16" Tonner dolls.  It is so highly detailed you will be blown away by it.  Please be sure to read her descriptions.  She takes great pain to describe each piece and any flaws it may have in detail.  Many of the items are first quality but for the items that have flaws, most can be fixed with glue and patience.  I highly recommend her doll furniture, it has made my dioramas come alive!  You can contact the seller directly through E-bay or by e-mail at pumpkinhillstudios@msn.com

Here is a picture of Parnilla Ghastly in front of the 1:3 scale Hat Vanity.  On the left of the picture is the 1:3 Curio.  I have the curio stuffed with hat boxes I made in a previous blog entry and several velvet necklace display busts (source to come in a later blog post)  All items in this picture are in the walnut finish:

Here is Cemetery Wedding preparing for her wedding-day-sans-groom at the same vanity:

Here is another vanity available from pumpkinhillstudios.  This one is the 1:3 Swan Vanity.  I am using it here with the 1:3 piano chair, both are in the mahogany finish.  On top of the vanity from left to right are as follows: (1) plastic cake candelabra that has had some of it's arms trimmed off to make it a more traditional candelabra (source to come later),  primed black, and dry-brushed with Golden brand sterling silver paint. (2) assorted vanity bottles I made in a previous blog entry, (3) black velvet necklace display bust, (4) two Durham bowls discussed below:

Here is Mortimer in the 1:3 Bespaq Rocking Chair:

And this pic of Mouette and Valentine taking it for a spin in the attic shows you more of the amazing detail in the chair:

Here is the 1:4 Bespaq armoire that I use for Agnes Dreary's wardrobe:

Here is Lady Dreary (aka The Queen of Hearts), with daughter Agnes, at her 1:4 Hat Vanity.  The lamp and the radio will be discussed below:

One last photo.  In this photo I am using the 1:4 Swan Vanity without the mirror (the mirrors are removable) as a tea table in Mort's parlor.  So as you can see some of the 1:4 scale Bespaq can be adapted to use with Evangeline.   In the back is a large scale Bespaq room screen (I don't know if it's 1:3 or 1:4 to be honest) and the Bespaq fireplace which I altered in a previous blog entry to add a simulated fire:

.

PROPS SOURCE:

The question I get most often is where did I find the little phone that Evangeline uses in my dioramas.  The phone is by Durham Industries.  Durham made a line of die cast miniatures in the 70's.  They are lovely.  The only problem is the scale in the line is ALL OVER the place.  So some pieces work beautifully and some don't work at all.  At this time I can confirm the following miniatures work in the following scales:

1:3 (Evangeline) scale: telephone, mixing bowl (with and without lid - makes an excellent bowl for a floral arrangement to go on top of the 1:3 vanities, see photo above), egg beaters, old-fashioned clothes iron (see photo), miner's lantern (I have 3 of these and LOVE LOVE LOVE them, they are pictured somewhere in a previous blog entry), coffee grinder, the typewriter (see pic), and the kitchen scale.

Here is Evangeline lounging in the 1:3 Bespaq Bergere chair, talking on the Durham phone:

Here is Evangeline using the Durham old-fashioned steam iron getting ready to go out:

Here is Mort's desk (the desk is a jewelry armoire I found at a junk shop) with (from left to right) the Durham globe pencil sharpener , the typewriter, and the phone:

For your 1:4 (Tonner 16") scale dolls the following Durham miniatures work well: hurricane lanterns, lamp, radio, and typewriter.  The lamp and radio are perfect on the 1:4 hat vanity (see above)

1:6 (Barbie) scale: the gramophone and the old fashioned wall phone

IMPORTANT: There are 3 ways that these miniatures were marketed and sold.  1) They were sold as lovely die-cast metal miniatures for collectors.  2) They were packaged and branded under the "Holly Hobby" name.  3) They were made with a built-in pencil sharpener and sold as collectible pencil sharpeners.  They are available in mass quantities on ebay in all 3 formats.  Whenever possible I try to avoid the pencil sharpener versions because they have a big hole in them somewhere for the pencil. That said, the pencil sharpener line has some pieces that I have not seen in the two non-pencil sharpener lines, for example, the desk globe that I use for Mort's desk, and the radio on Lady Dreary's vanity.  Usually, the pencil hole can be easily hidden but if you can avoid it why wouldn't you?

*Important note on Durham pricing:  DO NOT OVERPAY for Durham Miniatures.  The pricing on ebay is all over the place.  Generally speaking, never pay more than $12-$15 for a single piece and then only if it is in mint condition and you just HAVE to have it.  I have had amazing luck buying "lots" of them on ebay.  For $20 or so I have routinely scored lots of 8-10 pieces, some of which I want, some I don't, but it's still usually cheaper to buy or win lots. 

Have fun shopping, there will be more sources in later blog posts.

PROJECT: Miniature Art

Victorians really didn't like to have any vacant wall space so today I made miniature art to hang on the walls of the library.  The two that are the subject of this blog entry are the small ones hanging just to the left of Evangeline.  The picture on the far left, in the very dramatic frame, was purchased at an antique store.  The miniature tapestry is one of a pair that I won on Ebay (keywords search: "small French tapestry") and they are actually real tapestries that were meant to be sewn in to throw pillows, or, a perfect size for Barkley manor!  I still need to make a hanging rod for it to make it look better.  The picture on the far right in the oval gold frame is actually a postcard that came with the Tonner Metrodolls Gothic Romance doll (google it if you aren't familiar with it, it's awesome, and they still have some for sale on the metrodolls blog).  It's a postcard of the original sketch of the doll.  That outfit fits the plastic Evangeline, which is why I bought the doll, and I framed the postcard and hung it in he library.  Surely when Evangeline stumbled on the outfit in an armoire in the attic she recognized it from the portrait in the library!

Anyway, let's get started.  To begin with, I needed some frames.  Ebay keywords search was "miniature victorian frame" and I won this cool set for only $5.

I have plenty of oval frames already so I decided to work with the rectangular ones.  To begin with I spray-painted them with a black primer and then got out my Krylon gold-leafing marker:

Shake the pen, remove the cap, press the nib down on to a piece of wax paper, freezer paper, or some type of disposable plastic until you get a little pool of ink.  Then dip the tip of your index finger in the ink and rub it over and into the raised surfaces of the frame:

This gives the frame a tarnished gold look.  Next, I used little Dover art stickers:

This little book of stickers is only $1.50 and Gainsborough is a perfect match for Barkley Manor! I  applied the stickers directly to the cardboard that comes with the frame.  In this case, the stickers were the exact size needed for the frame so I didn't even need to trim anything!

The finished art work:

Barkley Manor library now has two Gainsboroughs in it's collection: