Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Tiny Buttons


Please forgive a short post about something other than miniatures that I made. This is so I test my blog again to see if things are working properly now. I have had several emails from people that are not able to get to this page and some who cannot get into the comments area. Mostly from people that are using Internet Explorer. Firefox works better at the moment. My next post will be about a miniature piece.

I have been collecting antique metal buttons for a long time. I love them! I have them classed by size and color in glass jars. These are all solid brass ones about 1/4 inch wide. I used some black glass ones for this project as well.

I hate it when old buttons get their shanks cut off for jewelry or other uses. So I decided to crochet gold metallic elastic thread for a band. Then just sewed on the buttons to make a cuff bracelet.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

1: 144 Scale French Townhouse



This is a new French townhouse kit that I just finished by Keith Bougourd. He has once again done an absolutely beautiful job interpreting a 1: 1 design into 1: 144 scale. He tells me he will start offering the kit for sale in March, 2012. www.small-time.com/

Several months ago I wrote to Keith and asked him when we could expect a new 1: 144 scale house kit. He wrote back and told me he was looking in books for a new Georgian design. I was excited because I loved working on his last 1:44 scale kit.

I spent the next three nights scouring the Internet looking for something that might tempt him... but I was looking at French townhouses. I thought if I could find one that could be constructed basically the same way as his last kit was, he might like the idea of a French house. I was looking for one that would open from the front and was full of architectural charm. Finally, I found something I thought he might like and lend it self to his 'style use' of building materials and construction (he uses wood and photo etched brass). It was the end wing of a hotel, Chateaubriand in Saint-Malo France. I knew if he liked it....Keith had the skill, talent and the vision to make it into a townhouse.


He was so nice during the process! He sent me his drawings and several pictures while he was developing the kit. I was thrilled to bits he shared this with me.

Thank you so much Keith!!!!!!! I am sure you are aware of how much I LOVE the house!!!

Keith also knows I enjoy making changes to kits to make them my own. That is part of the fun putting together kits. For this house I cut up tiny elements of brass findings using a jewelers saw. I wanted to add three dimensional architectural additions to the windows and capitals. Added to those elements were a few 1/2 mm no hole beads. I found an art nouveau brass fence in my local model train shop and used it on the house, just for something different. The townhouse has a closed attic room. Because I was adding LED lights to the other three floors, I cut sections out of the roof so that light would shine through the windows on the fourth floor.

Here is the French Townhouse assembled and finished by Keith. Lovely, just as it is!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Free Cat!!! ;-)


Kilmouski....Ready for shipping! Having been caught sleeping on one of my white sofas this morning. He knows better too. When I caught him he ran up stairs to hide.

Sorry for the delay.... Just a short post, while I wait for the post office to sort out a missing piece to finish my project.