Burning the Midnight Oil

Real life has intervened, but last night I went downstairs when I normally would have been heading for bed and got a fair amount accomplished. I made new pillows, filled them with slightly less sand, and used the pins-and-hairspray method of making them look used. Success!

Then I dug out some smaller scale wooden furniture left over from the Suitcase House and glued some risers under them to adapt to elf scale. Haven't decided whether to paint them (sofa and two chairs) or cover them with cloth. If cloth, I think another trip to a fabric shop is in order. I'll prime them today and then figure it out.

I also rummaged through my stash and found more children's toys that I remembered having. With what I ordered from Manorhouse Minis the other day, the elves should have a grand display for Santa when he drops by. I also found a workbench I bought years ago for another house but won't be using it there, so the elves got it. It's a full 1:12 scale, so they have to stand on a stepstool, but that's okay. And would you believe, I had the stepstools in the stash, too.

I found some wide lace to make curtains. I know, a mushroom ought to be a bit more primitive, but the girl elf is a whiz with a needle, and most of the houses I saw in Bohemia had lace curtains that didn't quite reach the window sill so as to make room for plants. I like the light, airy look, or at least I did last night. I made one curtain and gave it the pins-and-hairspray treatment. I'll see if it still appeals when I go back downstairs in a few minutes.

All in all, a good night's work, and I wasn't up all that late. I'll take photos today.

Oh ... and I saw a line someplace the other day that won't leave my head: Santa and the Subordinate Clauses. I keep thinking of the elves as the Subs ... I don't think they'd like that if they were to find out.

The Hammocks are finished

Well, after a fairly long hiatus, life is giving me some time to work on the White Orchid. I took the materials for the hammocks with me to New Orleans, but there was too much to see, too many people to visit, to leave any time for working on minis. This is what they look like now:

I'm not finished fiddling. I like the overall effect with the cuddly blankets at the foot, and I like the colors. I'm not too keen on the pillows. They look too new and unused. Haven't quite figured out how to age them, but I'm sure it will come to me after a while.

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This is how I got the cuddly blankets to drape so nicely: some foam cut to the width of the hammocks and covered with waxed paper. The folds were held in place with pins, and then they were sprayed with hairspray. I get impatient waiting for it to dry, so I turn a hairdryer on it. They dry in just a few minutes.

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There will be a table with a lamp on it by the window between the hammocks.

Priorities? What Priorities?

We're leaving on a road trip tomorrow morning. You know everything that needs to be done beforehand. Plus add getting the tax stuff ready for the accountant, and . . . you get the drift.

So what did I do today besides six loads of laundry? I made the frame for the elves's hammocks. I'm going to take it and the hammock materials with to work on while we're driving maybe, or if there's some quiet time during the week.

The frame has been painted Honeycomb. It's the first layer for a faux wood finish. I've forgotten the name of the paint that goes on top. Mink or something soft like that, I think. It's the same paint used on the downstairs room divider. I like the look and didn't want to mess with stain.

There will be two hammocks on either side of the window, one above the other. I used square dowels for the uprights and braces and balsawood for the base and top.

Sorry for such a short post, but it's nearly 6 pm and the To-Do list didn't get much shorter this afternoon! We're taking the laptop with us. I'll try to post from the road if I make any progress on the hammocks.