The Moving Around Goose!

The polymer clay goose

My daughter made this goose for me, the first time she'd made anything out of polymer clay. And it has proved to be very versatile.
  Most of the time it resides in my Tudor dolls house, in the kitchen. I made the chopping block out of a tree branch from our garden. The 'iron' hoops are black paper strips. The chopper is a metal miniature. You can't see it from the angle of this photo but there is very realistic looking 'blood' on the blade and on the block!
  And when the bird's not in the Tudor house, you can find it in the Edwardian house scullery. The Edwardians were partial to a bit of roast goose at Christmas time.

The goose in the scullery

  Here it is, waiting to be cleaned and stuffed with chestnuts and apples and served with apple, gooseberry and bread sauces for the Christmas feast!

Dolls House Scale Measurements - What do They Mean?

Chairs in 1:12 scale (the largest), 1:24 scale and 1:48 scale

What is 1:48 scale? What is half scale? The measurements used in the dolls house and miniatures hobby can be confusing to beginners. I have often been asked about the scale of a dolls house so I thought I would write this detailed account so you can determine what scale your dolls house is.
  Universally, even in countries which use the metric system of measurement, dolls house scales are always shown in inches. In the ratios given for the different scales, the larger the number, the smaller the dolls house will be.
   Imagine you are sitting in a real room that is 12 feet wide. I'll use this imaginary room to show you the difference in the dolls house scales.
  
1:12 Scale: Also known as 1 inch to 1 foot scale, this is the most common dolls house size. The majority of miniature furniture and accessories as well as dolls houses that are available to buy are in this scale. The 1:12 ratio shows that 1 inch in a model equates to 12 inches in real size.
   This means our imaginary 12 feet wide room would make a miniature room 12 inches wide.
In this scale the door of a dolls house is just over 6 inches tall, ceilings are 8 inches high, and a female doll is about 5 1/2 inches tall.
  
 1:24 Scale: The 1:24 ratio is also called 'half scale'. This means that 1 inch in a model would equal 24 inches in real size. Our imaginary room would be scaled down to just 6 inches wide.
   Half scale is gaining in popularity. Dolls house enthusiasts who are getting short of space are increasingly turning to 1:24 scale as it takes up so much less room.

  1:48 Scale: This 1:48 ratio known as the 'quarter scale' is even smaller with 1 inch on a model equalling 48 inches in real size. Now the imaginary 12 feet wide room is only 3 inches wide in miniature.
   Dolls houses in quarter scale are often built of thin basswood, foam core or matboard. They take up very little room and are a good size to sit on a shelf or counter top.
   
Now if your brain can compute even smaller measurements for a miniature building, think about 1:144 scale! Dolls houses this size can fit in the palm of your hand. The scale is sometimes called 'dolls house for a dolls house' because it is just the right size to be used as a dolls house in a 1:12 scale nursery.
  
And what about Barbie size? This is 1:6 scale as the size is large enough to fit dolls the height of a Barbie doll into a house. Dolls houses in this size are suitable for young children to play with as they can move furniture and dolls around easily in the spacious rooms.
   I think choosing which is the dolls house scale for you depends on your personal preference and the space you have available in your home to work in and display your miniatures.

The Authentic Tudor & Stuart Dolls' House

Published by The Guild of Master Craftsman Publications

I wonder if any of you Tudor dolls house enthusiasts got this book for Christmas. I referred to it constantly when I was building my dolls house, set, I imagined, in 1588, the year the Spanish Armada sailed against England.
   Brian Long has created a very detailed and wonderfully illustrated guide. Photographs of existing Tudor and Stuart buildings are shown as well as drawings and models. Historical notes add depth to the information and there are also 'how to' guides for making things as varied as a thatched roof and a livery cupboard and a water clock.
  All aspects of Tudor life are covered, from lighting to sanitation; from children's toys to cooking utensils; from furnishings to fireplaces. This really is the definitive book to making a dolls house authentic-looking for the 16th and 17th centuries.
  So if you didn't get this book for Christmas, you might like to drop hints or put it on your wishlist for your birthday in 2013!

Merry Christmas to You

A Miniature Father Christmas

Here's a tiny Santa Claus I made from a kit set one Miniatures Club Day. He's a 'shelf sitter' and very cute!
   Thank you so much for following my blog this year and for the encouraging comments and emails I've had. It has been a pleasure writing about our wonderful, creative miniatures and dolls house hobby.

  I wish you all
      
            a very Merry Christmas 

and I sincerely hope that 2013 will be a great year for you! See you in the New Year!

How to ... Tips for Miniature Embroidery

Sue Bakker's Bargello Embroidery in Progress

Throughout her career in needlework, both 'real size' and miniature, Sue Bakker has been committed to raising the standard of embroidery. So she was happy to share with us her tips and hints for our miniature stitching.

1. Frame up your work before you start embroidering. For smaller pieces use a hoop. A wooden frame with the canvas or cotton fixed along the edges with drawing pins is good for larger items. For silk gauze use a cardboard frame. Using a frame keeps your hands off the work so it is cleaner and it also helps to keep the material from pulling out of shape.
2. Start the embroidery in the middle of the pattern. By beginning there and working outwards, the material will not distort as it could if you began stitching on one edge.
3. For the design details, use half cross stitch. To save trailing threads across the back of the work between the designs, work every alternate stitch outwards, then fill in the gaps as you work back to where you began.
4. For the backgrounds, use basketweave stitch. This fills in the spaces nicely and keeps the material lying flat. By stitching carefully, the back of your mini embroidery can be as neat as the front.

The back of Sue Bakker's embroidery is as neat as the front

      5. Before you get to the edges of a carpet, work the last row of the outside border, then fold the material over to the underside along this last row of stitching. Do overcast stitch to wrap the edge, then go back to complete the border in basketweave stitch and half cross stitch, working through both layers of the fabric. 
      6. For a fringe, use Surrey stitch as it is neat and not bulky.

The embroidery in the frame is done on 60 count gauze!

  Many thanks to Sue for showing us these tips. We're all inspired to get stitching now!

Sue Bakker, Miniaturist: Embroidery

Sue Bakker 

We were very fortunate at our miniatures club yesterday to have as our guest, Sue Bakker from Scotland. Sue's speciality is miniature embroidery and her work is of such a high standard that pieces are displayed in museums and galleries in the United Kingdom and United States.
  She is a member of GMNA (the Guild of Miniature Needle Arts) and a founder member of the Miniature Needlework Society International.
  Sue kindly agreed to answer my questions.
Wendy: Did you do 'full size' needlework before you started stitching in miniature?
Sue:  Yes, I did my training at the London City and Guilds specialising in creative embroidery.
W: How did you get involved with miniatures?
S:  My sister-in-law had a big dolls house and one day I offered to stitch a carpet for it. That was in the 1980s and I could find only one book, a Dover Publication, that had embroidery charts for a carpet. So I decided I would design my own pattern and since then I always have. That carpet for my sister-in-law started me doing embroidery in the dolls house 1:12 scale.
W: And how did your career in miniature embroidery grow from there?
S: I was invited to exhibit at the 1989 Kensington Dolls House Show and did so every second year until 2001. As well as carpets I had stitched I produced small items such as cushions, fire screens, and footstools for sale. I developed a range of embroidery kit sets and charts, with new patterns available for each fair. I also attended some of the dolls houses and miniature shows in the United States.

Examples of Sue Bakker's embroidery in 1:12 scale

(It was interesting to see Sue's blue and white oriental carpet (above) as that is the one I did in green for my Edwardian dolls house and another member of our club has stitched it in brown tones.)

S: As I became more well-known I began to get commissions from clients in the United Kingdom and America. I also collaborated with (miniature) furniture designers to incorporate embroidery into some of their pieces.
  For about 12 years I wrote for and designed charts for the International Dolls House News magazine.
W: Do you have a dolls house?
S:  No, but I do have a glass fronted display cabinet that I have made miniature room settings in. My favourite is the Georgian room - I love that era's embroidery and china so I have been able to display many miniature pieces in it.

Sue's favourite miniature room, as shown in the International Dolls House News magazine.

W: Many thanks, Sue, for an interesting chat, and for donating patterns to our club. 

We were all in awe of Sue's embroidery, some of it done on 60 count silk gauze (that's 60 stitches to the inch!) We were also so impressed that the back of Sue's needlework is as beautiful as the front!
In my next blog post, (How to ...Tips for Miniature Embroidery) I'll share the hints and techniques Sue gave us to improve our miniature stitching projects.

Miniature Christmas Village on Display

The Christmas Village made of paper

Here it is, the miniature Christmas Village that started out as a paper kit set. Today I placed some white material over a small table and set out the buildings and trees. Inside each building is a LED candle.
  Then I disembowelled a cushion! The fibrefill stuffing is the snow on the ground.
  At nightfall I turned on the candles and took these photos.

Now I'm really in a Christmassy mood!