The Denouement….

 

The Show must go on…The structure

 

The Show Must Go On ..The Gents

The show must go on …we must have sit-uopns!

The show must go on .... The Ladies

The show must go on......Opening Act

Nutcracker Sweet

Once upon a time, I came upon this sweetfaced doll at a garage sale. Then I came across these nutcrackers at the $ store. Hmmmm.......

The little lady was somewhat strangely bulky around the waist. And once her clothes came off, what did appear! Gee, aren’t there smaller music boxes?

So to reshape and dress.

Then sit her in a dome to admire her nutcracker.

Parasols

Instructions with kind permission from Viola Williams,
www.violasdolls.com

Times and fashions do change, don't they? Sometimes they go in circles. Once upon a time, privileged ladies of the upper classes valued a pallid face, which indicated they had the money to achieve this result. Elaborate parasols protected them from the sun, while ingesting arsenic, or applying lead based creams supplemented the effect. 

Heaven forbid you had freckles! Remember the portraits of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England? A real paleface! She was a redhead......just  saying.....  It was only working class women who worked in the sun who were tanned.

Times changed again in the 1920's, popularized by Coco Chanel, and the privileged could spend time in the sun, with a tan being associated with health, wealth and leisure, while the pale working class were confined to factories and offices.

Now again, with more knowledge about the harmful effects of too much sun,  umbrellas are seen more on sunny days, as well as in the rain.

Probably the most popular periods for the parasol were Regency, Edwardian and Victorian. Some parasols to were quite tiny, just large enough to shade one tiny lady, while others were larger. 

The photo below shows the smaller size on the left, larger on the right.

To make a parasol, you will need

• Pull tab from a beverage container
• Lace (straight edged works better on smaller parasol, and stiff lace is best) 
• Tacky glue
• I Dowel or wire for handle
• 1 small and 1 larger spools

Remove the circle from the pull tab and punch a small hole in the centre. 

Gather the side-edge of a strip of lace. Then pull gathers, join ends together and tie off, forming a circle to create the top of the parasol.

Tacky glue the lace to the top of the plastic circle, using clips to hold in place.

Gather a narrower strip of lace, join the two ends and slip over the handle to cover the plastic circle. Glue in place.

Push a dowel or wire from the insides through the centre of the plastic circle so that approximately 1/16 to 1/18 inch protrudes through the top. Glue the handle securely.

Stack two spools together to support the parasol. Drape the lace into a parasol shape. Give the parasol several coats of clear drying glue, hairspray or other stiffener.

Cover the top of the handle with flowers or a bead. Please note the larger parasol has lace glued to both inside and outside of the parasol.

How elegant, swelligant!

 

Hair Today and Gone Tomorrow

Chris from Canada wrote
I have a hint for those of you who make 1:12 people and need hair. I've found that what is generally available has a very limited colour range and absolutely zilch shading, so the hair looks like either a cheap wig, or the result of a hair colouring preparation left on too long. And if you want hair that is in the process of greying, forget it.

WARNING: Persons suffering from Bacillophobia or Bacteriophobia should stop reading now!

A free and easy solution for dog owners is to take the scissors to the long hair on your pup's tail or body right before his or her visit to the Doggie Spa. (If you really want to you can explain the
clipped spots, but be prepared for some strange looks.) No dog or no long hair? No problem! Visit a groomer and ask if he/she would mind saving some longer clippings for you in exchange for something like a 1:12 scale poster of popular dog breeds and their traditional haircuts. I did this 2 1/2 years ago after my source of soft mixed grey and white hair had crossed the rainbow bridge, and ended up with enough hair to last me the rest of my life, as well as selling 30 posters to my groomer who wanted to include one with each Christmas card she sent that year!

To prepare the hair, sort and bind clumps of similar colour tightly with sewing thread into small bundles, then give the bundles a 'bath" using warm water and either dish soap or dog shampoo. Rinse well, then gently massage in some 'people' hair conditioner or creme rinse, and rinse again. Let the bundles air-dry and store in a clear baggie until needed. NOTE: If you are over the age of 70, put a label on the baggie so your heirs do not think they are souvenirs from your secret
life as an axe murderer. :-D

Valentine's Day

Tanya made this fabulous scene for Valentine's Day....

Don't it just make you all warm and fuzzy?
Here is a link to her Picturetrail album:
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/7251673

New Years Baby

Masks

Halloween, New Year, Costume parties, masks for your dolls can be great fun.
Here are some made by Karen from Bracebridge Ontario.



Tanya from Tanya's Mini Dolls has a tutorial, as well as one for a fan.
http://www.taynasminidolls.com/Tutorials/mask/index.shtml

For Halloween, your little monsters cam wear masks by Alice Zinn:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1047731230034817961qkHgEK

Fisher Price Dolls

Dolls add life and character to a scene. A couple of miniaturists use Fisher Price Dolls to great advantage in their work.
Tanya from Ty-nee-stuff has many wonderful scenes.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/5815043

Doreen Playter uses her FP family to illustrate phases in the construction of her dollhouse.
Here are David and Julie in action.

http://doreensminiatures.blogspot.com/2009/05/flooring-gets-stained-and-wallpaper.html

Also look at:
http://minitreasures.pbworks.com/fisher_price?SearchFor=fisher+price+dolls&sp=3
There is a section on dolls - use the search button for character dolls, or look in the sidebar for inhabitants.

Maharajah's Palace

San from Singapore has a wonderful blog, where she is creating an Indian delight!
http://sansdollhousediaries.blogspot.com/search/label/Palace%20Interiors


Sumaiya Mehreen makes Fabulous dolls.
http://exoticdolls.blogspot.com/

Wigging Cross

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpA-TwH2DpI&feature=channel

Fairy Tiara

http://www.youtube.com/user/GardenOfImagination

Hats!

http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/04/ease-of-straw-hat-making.html
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/03/straw-boater-tutorial.html

Trims, Pleats and Lace

Kathi Mendenhall, IGMA Artisan, and owner of La Petite Belle Patterns has written some great posts on trims on the blog, the Creative Doll.
Pleaters:
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/01/pleaters.html

Bunka
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/03/bunka-bunk-bunkawhat-heckis-bunka.html

Tassels
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/02/tassel-tutorial.html
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/11/tutorial-make-your-own-tassels.html

Ruching Ribbon
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/10/ruche-ribbon-how-to.html

Cartridge Pleats
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/09/tutorial-cartridge-pleat.html

Silk ribbon Rose
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/06/making-silk-ribbon-peace-rose.html

Picking fabric and trim which is in scale for your doll:
http://creativedoll.blogspot.com/2008/03/all-about-scale.html

From Cindy Crane:
http://www.miniatureluxuries.com/store/
Use bunka for quick and easy buds!
This also works with silk ribbon. Simply tie the bunka into small knots. The more knots the larger the "rose".
Add a dab of glue to seal the knot, snip off the ends and presto! these can be clustered together for a very pretty look. The same with the silk ribbon, just make loose knots one on top of the other, glue and snip the ends. These work especially well when you need a cluster of roses at the neck of a dress or on a hat. Don't forget to place a small bit of green to fashion leaves and place those among the roses.

How to Assemble and Pose a Doll

Sammy Smith has a generously informative page which shows how to assemble and pose dolls.
Her husband Jerry makes marvellous mini furniture.
http://happinessisminiatures.com/howtos.htm

Colour Choices

These are a few sites where you can plan different colour combinations.

http://www.colorschemer.com/schemes/
http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html