Plain Dress

I cleaned up my work area today from all of the crafting last week. In doing so, I got a bit inspired and whipped up a dress for my dress form. It is a replica of a Plain dress that an Amish or Mennonite woman might wear. I included an  apron (made from some linen napkins) and a cap. I didn't use a pattern or anything, just from what I have been researching on the web. I think it turned okay for my first attempt.

Front view of both the dress and cap.

Back view.

Side view

Placed in the historical society. 

Now, I am trying to figure out what to add next...

Wordless Wednesday: more details

Tutorial Tuesday: Quick Books!

I think each miniaturist has their own way of making books. Some skillful artisans craft very realistic books with tiny printed pages and beautiful binding that take a lot of time and effort (and look amazing). Others might buy some of the blank books that are out there in many miniature shops. But many of us, with less time, perhaps, need something quick (and cheap!) to fill up a bookshelf.

Today, that was my goal: to make some books that are quick and easy to fill up space in my historical society bookshelf. This is what I did (and I don't take full credit for this idea, as I am sure I've been inspired by others I've seen online - but can't quite remember who at the moment...). Anyway, here's what you need:

- a piece of scrap wood that you can easily cut to the size of books you need. I used the extra pieces of wood you get with art canvases. I never use them for whatever their intended purpose is...
- some white or off-white paint and brush
- brown Kraft paper (used for wrapping parcels)
- covers of the books you'd like to make shrunk down to size on your computer (I use Gimp photo imaging software - it's free and very easy to use, especially if you know how to use Photoshop)

Hint: If you have a color inkjet printer, you will definitely want to seal your book covers after printing - Mod-podge is a quick and easy solution. I have a color laser printer, so it's probably not completely necessary, but I do it anyway, just in case. (And it looks nice!)

Step 1: Measure the size of your book (using a cut out cover as a guide) onto your piece of wood.

Step 2: Cut the wood! Use what you have in your stash - a miter box and saw, an X-acto knife, or an Easy Cutter (my favorite tool!)

Step 3: Paint the edges of your block of wood. You only need to paint one long edge and both short edges. These are your "pages". :)

Step 4: Cover the book (except for the "pages" of course) with the Kraft paper.

Heck, you could leave it like this for school text books!

Step 5: Glue on your cover!

This tutorial is especially good for books that you plan to display as above, with the front covers facing out. I didn't put any printing on the spine of the books, but you could certainly do so. There are some great book printie sites out there where you can find some modern and antique book covers. :)

I hope this was useful! If you have any questions about something I did, I will be happy to add it in to this tutorial.

Cheers,
Linda

Historical Society Tour

Alright, just got back from a seriously thorough and challenging workout at the gym. *phew* Waiting for dinner so I can share some things with you now. :)

I took some pics of the historical society, so here's a little tour. First of all, this little historical society is set in Amish Country in Pennsylvania. There will be lots of historical stuff in here that deals with the Civil War, Amish and PA Dutch culture.

First, here's the whole thing in my little corner of the living room. (I have a favorite side of the couch, and my fiance has his favorite side of the couch...).

 This is the first room you would walk into when you entered. You can see I have some touchups, but there was also a push toward making this house a little imperfect since it's supposed to be old. I am also going to add a writing desk (kit by Daisy House) in here for the curator (Stanley, who's standing on the porch above). I am also considering purchasing a dress form to make a PA Dutch or Amish cape dress for display in this room.

Hey, it's Honest Abe! And he appears to be glancing over at the PA Dutch trivet hanging on the wall.

The thing on the left is a wooden nickel I found at an antique shop in Cambridge, NY. I couldn't resist. The owner gave me a great deal on this and some tin types. The distelfink on the right came from a brochure I picked up at a rest stop in PA for the Kutztown Folk Festival. I cut out the design and mod-podged it onto a wooden disk.

The design above the door came from the same brochure. This time I mod-podged it under an acrylic square so it looks like a quilted piece under glass.

Okay this is the other room on the ground floor. This is the research room. There is a computer on the desk and I will be adding a screen to it soon. You can kinda see the barrister bookcase on the left side. I filled it with some generic books for now, but will be adding handmade ones soon. The aforementioned tintypes are on the wall on either side of the desk. On the left is a lady (it's too big for any of the frames I currently have; going to have to make one. On the right...

...is a gentleman's picture that I framed. You can see the detail in the crown moulding at the top of the room here. I bought it in the wood aisle at Michael's.

The upstairs in the Canterbury house is very small, as you can see below. I am using it for "storage" and it's nice because I have a lot of "antique" miniatures in my collection which look great up here. 

Closeup of the Lincoln chest and chair in the background.

The other small room. I want to fill this up with more stuff. The rug is a fabric I found in the scrapbook paper section of Michael's It's perfect as a worn-looking carpet.

As I said, I still have touch-ups and lots of details to add, but I am glad I finished the building part. Decorating and detailing is my favorite part. :)

Here are some other pics from my collection:

Grand opening of the historical society

I am pretty much done with the building part of the historical society - just a few touch-ups. :)

Stanley Beauregarde is celebrating with his neighbors. Soon, I'll have a tour of the society. :)







Looks like everyone's having a good time. :)

Painting the stones....

Here's what I have so far:




I have to wait for the Paperclay I added today to finish drying. Once everything is painted, I am going to seal it and add the porch trim. The outside is almost done. :) Then I can at least display it while working on the inside stuff.

Shingling done and first part stonework almost finished

I managed to shingle this house pretty quickly and then stain it. I also started on the Paperclay stones for the outside finish. Once I get all of these on the outside, I am going to paint them in grays and browns and then paint between them with a light gray for the mortar. I am hoping it looks pretty realistic...here's what I have done so far:










As you can see, there's not many "stones" left to add. :)

Shingling

Oscar's helping! :)

More pics from the build...

The tower and gable roofs are on...

I also played around with the furniture, too. I am probably not going to use the round table below for the computer - it's a little awkward. I have some other desks and tables in my stash. :)

 

Next, I am going to shingle the roof before I add the rest of the paperclay "stone" finish. 

Canterbury Day 3

Here are the pics promised from my previous post. This is what the house looked like before I worked on it today:

Today I added the rest of the roof and put together the tower. I am going to glue it on later tonight and  hopefully add those pictures either later tonight or tomorrow. :) It's coming along real nice.

This kit comes with pieces to make furniture, too. I am not going to use that furniture for this build, but I've punched out all of the pieces and put them in individual little ziploc bags in case I could use them for a later project.

Compared to the Glencroft, this kit is coming together pretty quickly. It is my second Greenleaf build, but it is smaller, with fewer pieces. I have had some issues with some pieces not fitting together perfectly, but I think my plans for finishing will fix those. :)

Stay tuned. :)

(PS: We have 45 followers on Linda's Minis on facebook. We just need 5 more "likes" before I announce the giveaway!)