Sunday, July 29, 2012

Fixing here and fixing a little there

I slowly started to work on the roof today, well selecting a piece of wood. I found this in my fathers garage, a sign he had used when he sold his old car. It says "For Sale" in swedish, but rest assured, my house is not for sale!

Feeling rather daring, I painted the clock. The result is not perfect, but maybe they contracted a bad uninspired painter to decorate the case? I made sure to write "Mats Margit 1842" on it, it's time they got married. Then I can fast forward a few years so they can have some children. But I have decided to have this part of my cottage set in the 1840's.

And the windows are finally in place, properly fitted with logs to cover up the cardboard.

Friday, July 27, 2012

A lovenest is the making?

It was when making this piece of handy equipement that I cut my finger. Still scared of doing some serious carving in oak, and my finger, I decided to change material and use a thick kind of matchstick instead. It's a very handy thing to have in your house, since you can hang your wet socks above the fire. Then they will be nice and cosy when putting them on again.

Margit wanted you to meet Mats, her sweetheart. She says that he might not be a looker but he has some spiffing cows and is very very kind to her. He is dressed in the male folk costume. Special for his clothes is that they are made from the same cloth that the real ones are made of.

You might remember how the window looked in this room. It was so wrong, and yesterday I could not sleep thinking about how odd and horrible it looked. So I came up with the idea that I could make one myself. The picture is of course of the worse quality but it shows that the old window has been knocked out and something smaller has replaced it. The glass is painted but the paint is supposed to be lead. Well, this improvement might help me sleep tonight. And I have no idea why Mats is on the floor...

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

And now to something completely diffent

My thumb is better but for a few days it was horror. I could not do any sewing, no crafts, no nothing. I felt I was going mad. But, I found some books about furniture at the library and started reading. Well, mostly looking at the pictures. Yesterday I covered up my split nail so I could do some work.

I started with this bed before the "big" injury but was not pleased with it and was ready to just toss it. But, I could be a very nice bed "Lit à la Polonaise" and in the books I have been reading there are some very nice examples. So I wanted one! And it gives me a great excuse to look for fabrics and reading books about pretty furniture.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Brown Cottage?

Today is my birthday, I am now 26 years old. And to celebrate this I almost cut my finger off with a scalpel trying to carve a piece of oak.

Been of miniatures for a few days, my boyfriend came to stay so we did the grand tour of this area. Nice being the tourist sometimes instead of the guide doing all the talking. But back to buisness. I am thinking of calling my cottage brown instead of red. The ceiling is now covered with wood and makes the room even more brown. The floor needs some work. They are too light.
The shelf in the corner is new, stained and ready and rests on the bensch. I tried making a small stol just for the fun of it. I have difficulties writing this since my fingers are wrapped up in bangages. Well, one have to suffer for art. Until tomorrow!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Bensches

In yesterdays post I wrote that I would "trim" the table. Trimming that table meant that I would glue two pieced of wood to it. As the picture show, I have added three bensches. Two of them are very simple, firmly attatched to the walls. Simple and rough, just like their real size counterparts. And very easy to reproduce in scale. The third bensch is a moveable piece. For me, it's quite easy to make this kind of furniture, but making them in full scale with the tools they used and material - strong solid wood. It must have been quite an ordeal.

Margit sat alone in her, almost, furnished cottage and told me she was feeling lonely. She wants a man. And some children.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Oh la la!

The cottage looks like a cottage now! Margit's given it her approval and decided to move in. So I made up one of the beds for her with a nice embroidered blue woolen blanket. And brought some smalls things to make it more like a home. I stained the walls yesterday, but the ceiling leaves lot to ask about. I have to cover it with wood. It's starting to look like a wooden box, but that is what it is about. Everything were made out of wood. Except the stove, mine has had a go-over with coffee to get some more colour.

And this is the table I made today. Mind that it's not trimmed and stained yet and is just a very raw piece of furniture. Will fix it tomorrow!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

A stove in the making day 2

I have decided to take a break from The Yellow House for a time. After working on one room for more than two weeks I feel I really need a change. Lucky me I have The Red Cottage!

At work (an open air museum with old cottages) I sat down and had a proper look at the stoves and made drawings on how they were costructed. The picture is from a cottage from the 18th century, there is one cottage from the 17th century (we also have one cottage from the 13th century) but the lighting is very bad in there so no pictures. It is such a delight to have opportunity to make such close observations when creating a miniature based on an actual object. Even though the result can vary...

Making a more detailed study of the real thing made me compare with what I had started to make yesterday. If I had put some thought into it and not just run away with myself yesterday, I would have put the oven on the other side of the stove. There is a place for the open fire, used for both cooking, heating and light, and should hence be more centerplace in the room. My stove has the open fire section facing into the outer wall, and will bring little heating. Luckily for my house, heating is not a big issue and any attempt to follow historical accuracy has already gone out the window.

And this picture shows my progress with the room. I placed my cupboard bed in the corner and the wall that is supposed to be cut wooden logs I starting to build. They will need a bit of staining. And the floor needs to be more uneven. And the stove needs to be painted and blackend. I love this project!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Bam! There goes the wall!

Ok... So what happend here? Papa and I knocked out a wall in my red cottage. Why? So that I could have room for a proper stove, and create a room, separated from the hall. And this needed access from the back. I will put up a wall at a later point. The pictures are very bad, there was no light but I just wanted to get them up for you to see. There is a strange smell in the house now. It got a bit hot during sawing and the house started to smoke, I was afraid that it was going to catch fire. Stared working on the stove, it doesnt look much at present but that will change. Picture also show the "door" that will lead to the new room.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Fourth time a charm?

Gertrude said her morning room looked like a hospital. And I agreed with her and repainted, for the fourth time, the room in a pale shade of yellow. When it was done she invited that nice Miss Nilsson for a cup of tea, letting her sit in one of the matching chairs. I bought the chairs on ebay many years ago, white and dressed in pink. But with a little sanding and vaxing they turned out quite nice.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Chippendale sofa, take three

I did it again! The poor Chippendale sofa from House of Miniatures... The fabric was too dark, and it felt out of place in the now white salon. Gertrude was very pleased when she set her eyes on it. "But it wont be in the salon, what salon are you talking about? It will be in my morning room, even though I will spend most of my days there." So be it. It has a femenine, chintz feel to it now. While I was downstairs doing some vaxing, she made herself comfortable. It's a good sign when the lady of the house likes a piece of furniture just as I do. So, three time a charm? I hope so!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Three times a charm?

The walls have haunted me. First they were screaming at me, then they were sighing to me. My attempt to salvage the situation turned in to anothr bitter failiure. The colours now clashed with the floors. Why did I not think of this before?! I was close to tears today. The floors were getting ruined, the ceiling was a mess and even the open fireplace was blue. So. Paint it all white. So I went to a proper store today after work and bought a large can of white paint and went to work. It works better with the floor, and there is no harm in white. I will probably think other tomorrow, but I will have to let it rest for a while.

I have continued working on my cupboard-bed. It's been trimmed and vaxed. And fitted with mattresses and pillows stuffed with raw cotton. Raw cotton gived a heavy feel to them. No fluffyness allowed! The clock was factory made, but I did some sawing into it and gave it some new paint. Clocks were usually painted in bright colours and wild patterns. But I did not dare to do anythin much artistic, I am a bit shy when it comes to painting.



And also, I would like to introduce Margit, she will live in The Red Cottage and is dressed in local costume. I have one just like hers.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

NO NO NO!

I did alot of work on the salon yesterday and was very pleased with the result. Until I installed all the panels. It reminded me of the finnish flag, very blue and white. If I lived in that house I would not have liked to have a salon that looked like something out of a tourist brochure. If I had only thought about it more. I knew it would be tricky, wallpaper is much easier.

So what to do? I thought about it, and found the best soliution was to cover it all in paint. Brilliant! If you were in a place where you could buy some paint. And my current location is not one of thoose. Sigh. I almost had a fit in one store, since they had the brand I normally use, but strange selection of colours. Tons of glossy lime green instead of plain white? Priorities?! I found the last tube of white in the back of their store. It was part of a set that cost me 150 SEK.

This is the result. Brighter yes, but I wish I had had more paint to fix things up. It just feels so messy and disorderly. I need paint! I cant work in theese conditions! (note to self: dramatization must end here.) And I ruined the wallpaper in the room next to it. My boyfriend will have to forward some paint later on...

Until later, L.

Monday, July 2, 2012

The cupboard bed

Now this is something new! At work today it was raining "cats and dogs" and there were no people at the museum. So I walked around and started thinking. About this bed... It's easy to get inspired when working in such an environment.

It's a traditional bed from the region where I was born in, typical for northern Dalarna. The straight translation is "cupboard bed". It can be one or two berths, most common is that one berth for sleeping and one for storage. This one does has two berths for sleeping. The one on top were reserved for athletic youngesters who could climb (or jump) to reach it. The bed looks smaller than it actually it, since the cupboard is centered, leaving a pocket for the feet. Every day, I explain to tourist how this bed works.

For me, it's also a personal story. I used to sleep in such a bed with my grandmother when we visited her summer house when I was a child. She in her turn slept there with her grandmother, during the 20's. My grandmother passed away, aged 94, last christmas and I feel the need to make miniatures of the things she liked. And it will be perfect for my little red cottage (not yet introduced in this blog)

To return to the subject. Since there were no tourist to guide, I went out and measured the bed, made a drawing and later sat and calculated the scale of the model. I ended up making a blueprint. Feeling very proud of this, I made the bed when I finished work. Mind, it's only a sceleton so far and lots of work need to be put in for it. Gosh, such fun!