It's Official: Dollhouse Weather

This is the scene I woke to this morning,dear Readers.  The first snow!  The first snow is rather devious:  it always fools you into thinking, "oh, how pretty.  Maybe winter isn't so bad, after all..."  That's before it piles up in glacier-like proportions.  They are predicting a 'colder and snowier winter than usual,' here in Siberia I mean Minnesota.  All I have to say in response is "BRING IT!"  I have five count 'em five rooms to work on!  And Old Man Winter (and Seasonal Affect Disorder) ain't about to stop the likes of me, I'm here to tell you!

Winter-Schminter!  I laugh in the face of sub-zero temperatures!  Wind-Chill Factor?  Ha!  --Oh, I suppose you probably don't even know what the Wind-Chill Factor is, poor, deprived Reader!  The Wind-Chill Factor is, I believe, strictly a Minnesota thing (or at least a Mid-Western thing), when the thermometer actually reads thirty degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) but because of the Wind-Chill Factor it feels like fifty below!  I know!  What fun, right?

But like I said, who even has time to dwell on the weather when the empty, bare-plywood rooms of Merriman Park are staring me in the face?

So I'm plodding along with the Drawing Room...  My new fireplace mantle from Braxton Payne Miniatures arrived this week.  May I wax poetic for a moment on Braxton Payne?  If you're not familiar with him, gentle Reader, you should be!  His mantles are the most divoon creations on Earth!  Not only are they exquisitely designed, but also expertly wrought with the most superb detail.  He even signs and dates his work, which I think is such a nice touch!  But don't take my word for it:  check out his on-line catalog.  You affectionados of eighteenth-century design will undoubtedly find something to delight the eye. 

The arched frame over the mantle will hold a mirror, and mimic the corner niches.

Because there are so many moldings and panels in this room, I decided to use illustration board, cut to the rooms dimensions, as a 'backer' for everything.  This way, I can work on each wall separately and flat on my work table.  It will also conveniently hide all the wiring.  Sweet!  I stole this idea from Mulvany & Rogers.

 ...Just waiting for my cornice, flooring and ceiling ornamentation to arrive.  Hopefully, it will all come before I run out of stuff to work on!  If it doesn't arrive before then, I may end up like poor little Edie, the Sheltie:

Poor girl!  She looks positively bored to sobs!  I know exactly how she feels --I tell you, it's this weather!  Think she needs a walk, or something?

Tutorial: How to Etch Bricks

Though there are many ways to simulate brick on a dollhouse --beautifully printed papers, embossed wood or latex veneers, intricate stencils, and many other methods-- perhaps the most realistic way is by etching individual scale bricks into paint.  Nothing can quite compare to a "brick" surface finished in this manner.  It is a cost-effective, but highly time-consuming, labor-intensive process. It is the method favored by the dollhouse deities, Mulvany and Rogers.  And if it's good enough for them, well then certainly it's good enough for Merriman Park!   

                                 (The dollhouse Holy Bible)!


 Deborah Knight of my dollhouse miniatures chat group asked how I do it and I thought, "How funny, didn't I already explain the process in my blog?"   Guess I'm spending too much time blabbing on and on about Dark Shadows, and not enough about the nuts and bolts about Merriman Park.               

How to Do It:

Step One:  With any project, surface preparation is key.  Seal your surface with a quality primer.  I used to be on the enamel-primer-only team, but recent improvements to latex primers have brought me around.  (Cleaning up with soap and water, as opposed to chemical solvents was a big factor in my change of heart). 

Step Two:  Two coats of gesso make up your mortar base.  Be sure to tint your gesso with acrylic paints --the au natural gesso is a bit too bright for most projects.  I used a drop or two of burnt sienna for Merriman Park.

Step Three:  On top of the gesso, apply two coats of your brick base color.  Bricks come in many colors and I mixed mine from artist's acrylic paints, but any latex paint will do.  Keep in mind that your finished bricks will look considerably lighter once the bricks are etched into your base coat.  Let base coat dry for at least twenty-four hours.

Step Four:  With a ruler, mark the horizontal mortar joints.  I used 3/16th" for Merriman Park.

Step Five:  Using a small woodworker's gouge, etch the horizontal mortar lines.  I found it helpful to go up two or three inches at a time.  That is, mark your lines for two or three inches and then go ahead and etch them in.  Continue marking and etching.  If your lines are off by even a little, it will show.  You can always paint out any mistakes and do over, but that is such a drag!  The gouge will leave miniature curlicues of acrylic paint all over the place, so be warned!  Use a small, stiff paintbrush to keep them at bay.

       (One of the first brick mock-ups for Merriman Park.  Always     experiment on a piece of scrap before tackling your project)!


Step Six:  Mark your vertical lines.  This creates the "individual bricks" so take your time and be accurate.  Merriman Park is an eighteenth-century house so they would have used the flemish bond, which is what I reproduced.

              (Photographs do not show the detailed, 3-D effect that etched grout lines produce).

Step Seven:  Have a cocktail, rest your eyes and appreciate your work! (Most important step).

I haven't done Step Eight, yet, which is to go back and highlight individual bricks in a random pattern. I'm working on bricking the chimneys right now.  (Chimneys with pots, I might add, thanks to Karin Corbin!

Flemish Bond

I was chomping at the bit at work today to get home and start etching bricks into the facade of Merriman Park. But after working at it for an hour or so I was all like, "Is RuPaul's Drag Race on tonight?"  (And more importantly, will Miss Changela throw another Absolut cocktail on some other queen's face)?   I do recall how in my Holy Bible of Dollhouses, namely: Magnificent Miniatures (see prior post)  the authors, Mulvany and Rogers,  mentioned that etching bricks was a rather tedious chore and I now realize how right they were! 

S

But they were also right about how magical it is when the bricks emerge and the whole project comes to life!  The photos do NOT do justice, I have to say.  There is a total 3-D effect  in the process that that camera just does not capture.  It will be enhanced when I go back and highlight individual bricks (I hope)! 

In the second photo you can see how much lighter the lower wall is from the unfinished, upper wall.  Which is good, because I was a little worried that the base color was too dark.

I kind of thought I'd get the whole wall finished tonight but --ugh!--  as Miss Scarlet used to say, "Tomorrow is another day!"

Plug du jour

OK, if you haven't read this book yet, run I said run do not walk to your local non-chain bookstore and pick up Magnificent Miniatures: Inspiration & Technique for Grand Houses on a Small Scale.

This brilliant tome is the Holy Grail for aspiring miniaturists. Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers should be WORSHIPED LIKE GODS for their FABULOUS (and I don't use the "F" word lightly) dollhouses! I have read and re-read this book approximately one hundred times, each time sucking up more ideas and inspiration. The photography is pure perfection and the reader will be hard-pressed to tell whether they are looking at a photo-spread of the real Buckingham Palace as opposed to a mere dollhouse/facsimile. Only the occasional inclusion of a full-scale prop (such as a tea cup) gives the illusion away. Speaking of which, my only complaint is WHY I ASK YOU WHY would you plunk a pair of tired, scuffed-up Mary Janes in the otherwise flawless Spencer House Red Drawing Room? Eesh. Sacrilege.