art-deco-mini-house

Sunday 26 March 2023

26 March 2023

It’s been a long time, for various reasons. Still no progress on the house, but I did make a few items from kits I had bought at the dollhouse fairs in London and Aarnhem (Holland). Hours and hours were spent on finding printable book covers on internet and making mini-books. I found copies of about a hundred dustjackets of books published in the 20s and 30s (first prints as well as reprints of earlier works), including the early works of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Obviously I also have older books. Here are just a few:

With the Brexit rules, I no longer buy from the UK, my main suppliers, because the cost of VAT and import duties make it horrendously expensive. So, no more purchases until I can get the UK again. I feel terribly sorry for the UK suppliers who lost their customers on mainland Europe with these new rules, some of whom are now no longer in business.

I did go to London last October, but I got sick with Covid which made it impossible to do anything nor go anywhere I had to travel back home to Brussels empty handed. That was a drag as I had been wanting to go for 3 years. Hopefully I will finally make it to KDF next May.

One of the other reasons why there has been no progress on the house is that I have been wracking my brains about the staircase railing, which I wanted to be art deco style. The staircase that came with the Malibu dollhouse kit is too modern for the thirties. I had so many ideas (too many) that I could not come to a decision, and when I did, I realised that I can’t make it without a laser cutter. That’s an investment I’m not willing to make. Standard spindles seem to be the only alternative for me.

Meanwhile, I’ve now taken retirement from my “paid” job. Not something I had anticipated, but when it came about, I have to admit I was relieved. I thought I would now have all the time in the world to work on the dollhouse. Well, not so. I don’t know where the time goes. With all the time spent on thinking about things, internet research, reading other miniaturists’ blogs and generally wondering how I can turn my genius ideas into concrete projects, by the end of the day, nothing gets done. It’s the story of my life though, making a million things in my mind, but nothing actually materialises.

Back to miniatures, below are some pictures of the things I made from kits, as well as a chaise longue I refurbished. I’m quite pleased with the result on that one.