White Orchid (nearly) Finished

I built the White Orchid six years ago and promised to post finished pictures. Well, it is about to be packed up for a move and won't see daylight until about Thanksgiving, so I took some photos to update you. (Click this link to see the building progress. Click on the images to see larger views.)

For those unacquainted with what I did here, I used the 1:12 scale house and fitted it out for its 1:24 scale occupants.

This is how she looks today. The opening above the door is meant to house a cuckoo. His polyclay body is baked but his feathers have not been applied.

I did not install the front door as  it would have taken up too much room inside. I wanted it open so as to be able to see in. None of the folks who have viewed the house have mentioned the lack of a door.  The settee was scratch built. The two thin dowels (plus a U-channel along the back edge) are sufficient to keep the ceiling from sagging, since I also left out the ground floor interior wall.

The landscaping is a mix of natural materials, plastic flowers and polyclay mushrooms. The base is contractor's foam covered with gesso and painted to look like sandy soil. The little men on the step are salt and pepper shakers.

The large mushroom is a Christmas tree ornament, just like the ones that decorated our tree as I was growing up. That, plus the creamy whiteness of the White Orchid's plastic, provided the inspiration for this house in the Bohemian forest.

The left side is fairly plain, as befitting its mushroom appearance.

The right side is a bit more complex with the bay window, so the landscaping has less detail.

The back reveals three rooms. A combination workshop and kitchen on the ground floor with a trundle bed for the one girl elf and a bunk room for the four boy elves and a shared sitting/dining area for all of them. (By the way, three of the elves were out when the photos were taken.)

The landscaping across the back just fills the narrow ledge. The cute little raccoon is a button. The red-capped mushrooms are showing up a bit dull in the photos. I blasted them with canned air but it left some dust behind.

The workshop is on the ground floor. The guys have been busy, with lots of toys already finished. The room divider holds some of the sugary goodies baked in the kitchen. Under the divider is a trundle bed for the female elf. It would not do for her to bunk with the boys.

You can see from the workbench that they're still at it. Look at the plastic stars on the walls. They are each wired with a tiny light. The stars themselves are real life mirror fasteners.

 The kitchen is small but efficient.

The stairway is constructed from contractor's foam painted with gesso. The bricks are ceramic. The little mouse band on the stairs was a set of miniature Christmas ornaments. With the bottom steps pulled away you can see the lever that activates the batter pack to turn on the lights. The channels for the wiring are carved into the backside of the fireplace wall, which can be moved away from the wall for maintenance. 

The common area upstairs has a dining area and some comfy chairs. 

There are books in the shelves built into the center gable. The lamps on the hutch light up,

The doorway leads to the bunk room.

The lady elf keeps her sewing machine upstairs, away from the sawdust and paint splatters of the downstairs workshop. The lamps on the end tables light up.

The wooden floor is a sample of window blind from Lowe's. It covers the lamp wires that feed up to this floor from the battery pack below.

The bunk room is fitted with hammocks. With the sloping ceiling, they worked better than bunk beds.

The closeup of the roof seen here shows what a nice covering the Krylon spray paint provided. It's in keeping with the satiny sheen of the raw plastic. The white spots are cut from craft foam sheets.

White Orchid Workshop

Today I had great fun unpacking the toys I've been collecting to set up the elves' workshop. I think the elf who's supposed to take the finished work to the elves who pack Santa's bags has fallen down on the job, as the toys are piling up!

The kitchen and stove got a few more accessories. This area needs a rug.

A band of mice have arranged themselves on the stairs. The girl elf likes their music as she cooks.

Not much was done upstairs. I put out some bread with coffee and tea for break time, spiffed up the sewing machine, put books and a vase on the shelves, and found a puppy for the house. This area needs a rug, too. I'm envisioning a braided oval rug under the table and chairs.

Outside, the tiny salt and pepper shakers took their place on the step. Santa seems to approve.

I found some really tiny mushrooms with the toys and added them to the landscape. They will be those little things that people won't notice until about the fourth time they look at the house.

White Orchid Mushrooms Growing

Today I spent in the dark basement, growing mushrooms! The characteristic white dots were added to the red roof, and tiny mushrooms were planted around the house. To give an idea of scale, the pink foam is one inch thick. The stems and caps are made of Fimo polyclay. The stems are translucent with a smidge of flesh mixed in; the caps are red with sparkles. I formed the caps over the ends of a couple of paint brushes and baked stems and caps separately. After they cooled, I glued them together and used the tip of a toothpick to put tiny dots of 3D "puff" paint on them.

They add just the right amount of color to landscaping.

This side of the house looks a bit bare. Not sure what will go here, but it needs something.

The bay window side seems to be finished.

A little visitor came to the back of the house. It's hard to believe he's a button. Too cute!

The White Orchid garden grows

I spent several hours today on the landscaping, adding flowers and several kinds of greenery. In addition to the base paint, there are patches of model railroad turf, dry moss, and model railroad lichen. In combination, they give the effect of a forest floor.The yellow and purple flowers started out as white flowers cut from real life size artificial flower stems. They got a makeover with two or three shades of craft paint just blobbed on. Plain white just didn't cut the mustard. They're not planted in formal beds but just grow willy-nilly.

I like the way the mushroom looks. I want to make some smaller ones out of polyclay to tuck in here and there to bring in more red color.

As a change from the messy greenery, I put together a birdhouse kit I've had for some time. I like the natural colors, so I didn't paint it as suggested in the kit's directions. I painted the pole brown and I think I'll darken the scalloped edge a little; it looks too new. I may have to glue some moss on the roof, too.

Across the back I put a couple kinds of moss. I may add a few surprises there later on.

White Orchid landscaping

As I typed the title for this entry, I realized I'd started out numbering the White Orchid entries. I don't know why. It's another example of how I over-engineer projects ... lol.

Today I worked on the landscaping. I'm trying to do this with stuff I have on hand. Luckily, there are lots of items left from prior projects. I have no idea where the pine tree came from, but it works well on one side of the door. The mushroom on the other side of the porch is a glass Christmas ornament. I took the hanger part off and used the Dremel ever so gently to remove the glass stub on the top. I glued a circle from the paper punch over the hole. When it dries, I'll glue the mushroom in; in this photo it's leaning.

The base was painted to simulate the bricks, rocks, grass, and dirt. Old tea leaves were glued on for the dirt, and the moss/grass is model railroad greenery. There's a lot of detail work to be done. If you click on the pictures, you can see the small plants on the pine tree side.

In the second photo you can see a bit of fencing left over from the houseboat. I hadn't planned to put a fence there, but it looks good, so it will stay.

Back to Work on the White Orchid

Two months! That's a long time to go without minis, but I've been keeping in touch via the Greenleaf Dollhouse Forum for vicarious mini fixes. The garden has been keeping me busy, and the first two weeks in August, Lloyd and I were in the Czech Republic. It has been a busy summer! These ceramic pieces are souvenirs from the Czech Republic. They are decorated in the traditional Southern Bohemia manner. They will go into the Pierce, which insists it is going to be a Bohemian inn with a bar and restaurant. I'm looking forward to making mini roast pork and dumplings with sauerkraut.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The garden is semi dormant, and my craft area has been screaming for attention, so this afternoon I descended to do a little cleanup -- or so I thought. I almost hate to post these photos, but you really need to see how it deteriorated while sitting unused.

Oh ... see the Van Buren box? A cousin presented me with it when we went to visit in July. She'd bought it for her daughter years ago but never got around to building it. I think this one will be made and donated to a charity, but that's a way down the line. The current project is the White Orchid, which ought to be finished in jig time. After I got everything cleaned up, somewhat sorted and put away, I worked on the base. It is glued to a lazy susan, so the house will turn easily. Because it has battery pack lights, no need to worry about a cord getting tangled.

The base is a sheet of foamcore board with a layer of contractor's foam with rounded edges. A couple scraps of the foam form the berms on either side of the porch. I covered all of it with a thin layer of wallboard mud. For a while I was thinking it would be a snow scene, but I think it will be a summery forest setting for better contrast with the white of the building. When the mud dries, I'll give it a coat of gesso, and then paint in some rocks and the brick walkway by the stairs. I have some train layout greenery and lycopodium and other bits of greenery and flowers I can use. I may make some tiny mushrooms, too.

It's good to be back in the mini workshop!

By the way, if you'd like to see some photos from our trip, check the blog here.

Mining for Magic

Not exactly mining, but this evening I started looking through all of the little boxes of accessories that have accumulated in the past several years. I was looking for lantern tops for the two "oil" lamps upstairs. I found them and a lot of other little goodies that I thought would look good in the mushroom.

This picture shows a wall hanging I made from a printie on cloth. I think it was for a swap, as I found several in various states of construction. Also found some candy, a little plastic rocker so the little elf can rest while the cookies bake, and stuff to put into the cooking area. I think I'll paint the rocker but will save the paper design on it.

[By the way, you do know that if you click on a picture a larger version will appear, don't you? If you do a left click, use the Back button to get back to the blog. If you do a right click, you can open it in a separate window.]


The counter looks awfully clean considering the amount of dirty dishes in the sink, but I'm pretty sure this area isn't finished. It needs some dish towels and a bucket of water for the dry sink at the very least.


For the upstairs, I found a little ship and a sewing machine. One of the elves builds miniature ships as a hobby in the down season. I gave the seamstress a basket for her materials, but I may build her a little bench with drawers or a lift-up top instead. The railing on the stair rail is a little wonky, but I'm not overly concerned. I think that eventually it will be covered by something over the railing, like a drape or throw or a garland.

Here's the sideboard with the new lanterns that I finally found. They are some kind of little bottle. I bought them at Through the Keyhole in Dallas a few years ago with no idea how I'd use them. They came with two or three teensy little seashells. I tested the lights in them and decided they are keepers. The gingerbread house is made from Fimo, glitter, puff paint, and a couple of little gems. It was made for a swap in 2006. I'm not sure if the baskets will stay there. They're being auditioned for color and texture.

Last, but not least, here is the divider wall. I glued a couple of little wooden deer blanks on the shelf and put a scrapbooking sticker wreath at the top. In the corner of the photo you can see a bit of a Christmas tree on a table, part of a 1/2" swap. It has a little card and some packages with it. I'm not sure it will stay. I'm wondering if the elves would go all out for Christmas decorations or would they be so tired of Christmas cheer after making all of those toys that they'd downplay it.