mini ramblings and musings

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A Fun Link

Several years ago, I discovered that my area of the world had a real live dollhouse museum, the Mildred Mahoney DH museum in Fort Erie Canada. It sounded like a fantastic visit to combine with a cross border shopping trip and a visit to my son who lives 3 hours away from me. Unfortunately what I didn't realize was that the museum was in the process of stock taking with a view to closing down and selling up ...another victim of our economic times and lack of marketing/advertising savvy.
When I got there, the door was closed and although there was a sign that said to knock, no one ever answered. What a disappointment! However it in no way overshadowed the success of the rest of my trip and my visit with my son.

Imagine my surprise then, when several months later, one of the auctioneers who I subscribe to, announced that they would be in charge of the sale of the museum's contents. And with a preview day, I'd be able to see all or at least most of the items without the boredom of sitting through the auction itself.

I hassled my poor husband into coming by promising we'd buy a couple of lawn fertizer items in Buffalo NY, that are unavailable here; we made a mini vacation of it and I even brought our dog who of course was so interested in all this travel that she slept through most of it.

I'm a dud when it comes to the past history of dollhouse making so it was extremely interesting to see many of the houses. Even the museum building had a fascinating past in that escaped US slaves were housed in secret locations there until they were able to be transported across the river and into freedom in Canada.

I won't bore you with detail about the rest of our trip or the extremely chinzy motelroom with its flocked wallpaper and the red heart shaped whirlpool tub in the middle of the room where we stayed in at Niagara Falls ...or even how I managed to engulf much of the room with shampoo bubbles (thanks in part to not having any bubble bath liquid); I won't even mention smuggling our small dog in and out of the motel nor my husbands' fears about getting caught and possibly getting kicked out.
Let's just say a great and interesting time was had by all although I will always have it reinforced in my brain that it is not a good thing to take a husband with you while shopping!

Back to 2012: I received an email from Rebecca who edits the e-mag, Dolls Houses Past and Present, asking for contributions. She's done a great job with some of my photos. Take a look at my contribution.

FYI: I'm off to England at the end of July and looking at my photos, makes me more determined than ever to try and fit Queen Mary's DH in. Fingers crossed we find the time!

Friday, June 8, 2012

The Enchanted Castle

Do you ever get a creative block? Usually it has to do with a concept ...you know what your end result should be but you just can't get past that starting point. I guess that was the trouble with Castle Maureen.

Several false starts, a total rework of the ante chamber along with an added technical problem and what should have been easily completed within one month turned into a laborious on-going process of several months. But until it was completed, I couldn't in good conscience begin the next commission. It didn't help any that my customer for whom Castle Maureen was intended was also the same customer who had ordered the Ruined Castle.

None of that occurred with the Enchanted Castle.

It really helps when you know what your customer has in mind. Having asked her to name her castle, I received this description along with the name:

This enchanted castle, built of grey stone and set deep in a forest, belongs to a scholarly knight. It contains a great many stained glass windows and appears to be thriving. It is approached by a tree-lined avenue. Nearby is a busy dwarven settlement in which there is a conjurer for hire. The holding is rich in mystery. Within the tower is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, and dangerous situations. Many a guest have visited but few find the will to leave the ”Enchanted Castle”.

I don't know about you but reading that immediately gave me an image of what I should be striving to build ....which was a castle rising out of the cliffs. Now you might be tempted to go back and re-read that description. Nowhere do you find the words: cliff, rocks or stone! Don't ask me why but I just knew this castle had to be surrounded by mountainous rocks and stones. When your project tells you what it should turn into, you'd better darn well pay attention. ...and I did!
This time there were no delays, no reworks... Everything came together as it was meant to be.
This is my version of the Enchanted Castle:

Can you see the tiny door hewn into the rock wall beneath the turret? I hope it's large enough ...because when I think of dwarfs, I think of the little guys in Snow White singing "Hi ho hi ho, it's off to work we go", while marching off with their pick axes over their shoulders to work in the mines.

But obviously all their hard work tunneling underground isn't helping the castle structure. I think it just might be their fault that the castle wall has developed a large crack.

A tower was mentioned in the description ....and here is the tower! If I were keeping this castle, I'd have roses climbing up its heights. But perhaps I'm just switching fairy tales from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty whose castle was shrouded by brambles and other various thorny plants.

Even the columns supporting the entry to the ante chamber were hand made.

All that's left to do, is begin the arduous task of finding a secure box so it can be safely shipped to its new home.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

A thread has come up on Facebook ….yet again about copying. A well known miniaturist received a comment on her blog to a post from last year in which the blog owner complained about copyists.
This is what she received:

"Hi, I've been reading your blog and find your art wonderful! I especially liked the …………. In fact, I would love to try to make one myself! I'm not sure I understand why you're upset in this post. Isn't copying the best form of flattery? And don't many mini makers use tutorials to help them create? Is that copying then? Some blogs even HAVE tutorials that show you exactly how to make stuff. I guess those people don't care if you make it (their's (sic) originally) and sell it as your own? I want to start selling some of my minis, but I am very confused and I don't want to be labeled as a copycat or a bad person. Any advice?"

A number of people posted to the Facebook thread, some who aren’t threatened, some who are because they supplement their family income, some are simply extremely protective of their “babies” and then there’s the opinion from the “sidelines”:

“I too would like to make minis to sell... but fear of failure and not wanting to be a copy cat stops me cold! The trick is to make something NO ONE ELSE DOES or to make it so DIFFERENT that it doesn't look like another's. (Examples ~ dolls, teddy bears, furniture... there are thousands of makers, but all the good artisans have their very own style, technique, etc.) Am I right?"

Being a miniaturist means we imitate life ...just in a smaller version. Does that mean I want to discover that someone is making an exact copy of one of my castles? NO! Have I used someone else’s techniques to build mine? YES!
Even though I've taken those techniques and adapted them and changed what didn’t suit me, does that make me a copycat?????

I am fascinated by how Rik Pierce produces his creations and save his techniques whenever I come across them. I noticed that another artisan who is now teaching a workshop at the Chicago Bishop show, had taken a class with Rik. That building/workshop appears to be based on those techniques. Does that make him a copycat????? Does it give him license to earn money giving a workshop?

The lady, who left the comment that started the Facebook thread, wrote several posts on her own blog in which she showed photos of things she had created in miniature ….they were all mini reproductions of items from the Harry Potter movies.
I, myself, have made M&M candy people in miniature. Does that make the both of us copycats …since we’re using intellectual property that has been copyrighted? PROBABLY!

I’m not sure that it’s any longer possible to “make something NO ONE ELSE DOES or to make it so DIFFERENT that it doesn't look like another's”. Blogs, Facebook, etc. …even websites make everything too inter-related. Even if you don’t mean to copy and don’t work with a photo of someone else’s creation in front of you, can you be sure no one has ever made one like it? NOT LIKELY!

Should you stop trying out tutorials or acquired techniques? NO! ...at least not in my opinion. Applaud the generosity of the person who wrote the tutorial or taught the technique. These are how we learn and grow in our chosen hobby.

I’ve noticed that in the last year or two, complaints about copycats have increased and tutorials have decreased and nearly died out. It’s an extremely sad commentary. Is it warranted? Can we do/change anything to reverse the situation....

One caveat before I end this post:
The only reason I sell is because I make more than I can use ...I do not use the money that I earn to supplement my income, so my view will be different from someone who does. It certainly doesn't make me right or them wrong!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Castle Maureen

Here's the finished roombox:

The castle is made entirely of builders foam, carved and painted to look like stone.

...except for the windows which are created by Angela Downton in the UK.

A view into the throne room.

Even the fireplace is made of foam...

All that's left to do is order the plexiglass cover.

I have one more castle roombox to make; this is one of the windows that will go into it

and again the laser cut window frame is a Downton original.

And then I'll enter the latest Greenleaf contest. I really hadn't meant to do this because like most miniaturists, I have a room full of kits that need assembling and had really planned to finish some of them during the summer.

I've bought the sales front, and the greenhouse as well,
planning on turning this into a roadside stand/market garden. I have some ideas for doing trompe d'oeil work on the inside of the store and greenhouse. This is something new for me that I've long admired but never attempted.
As for the front, I thought of a dusty roadside stand typical of the early to mid 20th century.
However as a friend so kindly reminded me, the garage that I started out with during the 2010 SpringFling, ended up as a fishing hut instead...