Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Outfits for the Edwardian shop

Well i have been having a great time making up some outfits for the Edwardian shop. The first i made was a wedding dress which was a workshop from  Hazel Dowd. I love making up kits by Hazel as the instructions are so easy to follow and you always get such beautiful realistic results. Her tips for draping have to be the best.


Here is the wedding dress



I also made an outfit form the May issue of the  dolls house and miniature scene magazine.  It looked a bit difficult to do and i wanted mine on a mannequin and not on a doll so I had to make a few alterations but i think it turned out ok.
 Here is a picture of it. Sorry  the picture is not straight. I will have to remember to take a better one when i am taking photographs again.




Thursday, April 12, 2012

A new project.

Over the Easter holidays I have been busy starting another project.  This time in 12th scale .It is to be an Edwardian clothes shop and haberdashery.

Several years ago my hubby bought me a Sid Cooke shop from a seller on  ebay. The shop kit  had already been made up and was used as a sweet shop. It looked super with all its little glass jars of sweets and chocolates, but the person who owned it only wanted to sell the shop.


It has sat here on the shelf looking sad and neglected and desperately in need of a face lift. So the work started.

Some bricks had been added to one side of the shop which had to be removed, I wet them slightly and let them soak for a little while and they were able to be removed with the help of a a paint scraper.


 I  removed the shop front  and i removed all the glass. It was easier to paint this way.

I repainted the inside in a lovely Laura Ashley emulsion paint in a pale blue colour, and painted the shop front in a cream and beige  to brighten it up. The front paved area had been covered with tapestry canvas  and painted green, which i was unable to remove so after much thought I decided to just cover it with air drying clay .Thankfully it worked well.

After everything was nice and dry i set to work distressing the paintwork on the shop front so that it had the lived feel. Anyone who knows me will know that i don't  do neat and tidy with my miniatures . I always like the well worn and lived in look. I think it looks more natural, more realistic and gives it more charm.But then that's just me, everyone has their own tastes.

Here it is now..

 I just have to decide on a name for it, and finish adding skirting boards to the inside when i decide on the layout, Then i can start to fill it with all the little things i am going to make.