Themes Page: 18 |
Fishing Cabin: Didn't see anybody include - - - Open ice box filled with basic essentials: beer, worms, limburger, crickets, headache bags (ice bags for hangovers), dough bait, and more beer. Fly tying box set up with a nice clutter of threads, feathers, furs, hooks, and all the standard tools and perhaps a tier's manual of patterns. Two open boxes: A terribly haphazard suit case and perfectly ordered tackle box, rubber waders, felt shoes, landing net, creel vest with - sheepskin patch for flies, clippers and hemostat on tethers, patch pockets stuffed with treasures, fishing hat with attached magnifying glass. Note that paraphernalia is a mixture from two different 'classes" of piscator: Bait bum and gentleman fly fisher - the characters could make a fantastic odd couple. Books on the orange crate book shelf must include the works of Ed Zern and Pat McMannus not to mention Isaak Walton's "Complete Angler". Orvis catalog for the fly fisher and a vintage Esquire for the bait snagger. The miniature Coleman Lanterns available with tiny batteries on a key ring are fairly good for 1" scale. Remember that some of the vintage white gas lanterns were red rather than green. Dress up with a bit of rust and perhaps a dent or two. A familiar sight in the evening could be a disassembled lantern or fishing reel on the "dining" table using a sheet of newspaper only to keep from loosing small parts amid the mess. Any W.C. in this man's sanctuary may guiltlessly have the seat and lid up. Any shaving kit on the shelf will have accumulated dust and cobwebs. Meals are appropriately served with a fork - - - in the fry pan. Dinner and breakfast are identical except substitute bacon with fresh fish in the P.M. Lunch is served in the VanCamps can - - - - opened and provided with a fork. On Sundays add a side of teeny weenies. Mel K. |
Fishing Cabin: There has been a discussion about a fishing cabin and I have a bunch of fishing stuff which may fit in. The page with the items is: http://www.spminiatures.com/fishing.htm Carol |
Backyard items: : how about a fishpond, some bushes, a tree, some flowers, some tiny animals like a squirrel, turtles, birds with birdfeeder or birdbath or both, a cat or dog, maybe the cat or dog got into the flowers and turned over a flower pot, maybe some discarded kid toys like a kite or sand pail and shovel? An Adirondack lawn chair or two, a sand box to go with the shovel and pail? Once you start on this the ideas will flow. Ask your pals at work what was in their backyards when they were growing up or have your kids ask their friends what is in their backyards. Have fun!!! Linda in GA |
Backyard items: When our six kids were little, our yard was where kids came to play. We had a little playhouse my Dad built. The kids spent as much time ON it as IN it. The roof was definitely the place to be. We had a tire swing hanging from our cherry tree and a vegetable garden in one corner. In the winter, there were snowmen and snow forts. For a long time, we had one of those big wooden cable spools rolling around out there. The kids found more ways to play with that crazy thing. Always there were baseballs, footballs, frisbees, etc. lying around. Various dogs, too. My son and his friend once built a 'fort' from wood scrounged from the garage. What a Rube Goldberg conglomeration THAT was! Sometimes they would camp out in a tent. Linda in Leroy, OH |
Backyard items: Back yards need somewhere to sit. If the kids are fairly young, you may need a fence so they can't wander. Other fun stuff -- sandbox, wading pool, hose and sprinkler, clothes line for soggy towels and bathing suits, playground type equipment (swings, slide, fort), lawn games (croquet, badminton). If there's room, a good shade tree with a tree house. Mom needs a chaise to sunbathe while reading a novel and "watching" the kids. Dad will need a radio to listen to the game while he cooks dinner. You could put in a garden, but with kids, why bother? They'll just stomp on it anyway. Window boxes and patio tub plantings are my choice near a play area. You can put the flowering borders and foundation plantings outside the fence or around front to wow the neighbors. Chrissy the hyphenated |
Backyard items: The backyard might contain a picnic table and benches to go with the BBQ grill, or a potting shed, or the lawn mower left out under one of the trees, perhaps a swing set, sliding board and/or sand pile for the two kids? A wading pool? trike / bike? If she rides out through suburban neighborhoods there are all sorts of ideas! Olegator |
Backyard items: The backyard might contain a picnic table and Backyard items: bicycles - balls - buckets - a shovel - glass jars with insects - ropes - plant pots - a cart - garden chairs - garden table - a foot for a parasol - a tent (tipi for kids) - a watering can - a water cask - a garbage can - a bird's house on a (small) tree - garden shed with tools. Seasonal stuff like pumpkins, snowman etc. Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands) |
Dutch interiors from 1900: there was a great difference between the interiors of the workers; the so called middle class, the rich farmers and the people who lived in towns.. So their interior was very simple: when they got married in the 20ties, they bought the most necessary furniture in straight, dark brown oak, the seats covered in dark red velvety fabric, a carpet on the floor, which first had a layer of dark patterned floor-cloth. They had yuckie brown, hairy curtains! They did not have wallpaper, but the walls were painted in a gloomy green shade(30ties) BUT earlier that century the walls had had a deep pink color: Dark apple blossom. There was a mirror above the mantelpiece! And there was a clock and a tiny , little bookcase, they did not have many books... They had BIG lampshades with frills, in the 40-50ties, but must have had oil-lamps in the early years. The kitchen was painted in BLUE, . It was the same shade used in the farms; against the flies! In this kitchen we only had a 2 pan electrical cooking set. And a built-in cupboard. Important in every kitchen was the rack with earthenware drawers, hanging in a little wooden rack on the wall. For sugar, coffee, flour, little ones for herbs. The more luxurious racks had a clock in it. There was a sink in our kitchen, but we can still see that there have been alterations in the twenties. I think there was none when the house was built...(1900) Next to the fire-places in the kitchen AND the living room were two little cupboards above one an other: which opened in the kitchen as well in the living room: the upper for stock that had to be stored absolutely dry, like meds, tobacco, her sewing box....and the lowest little cupboard was forstoring....wood and peat, to keep the stove burning in winter. My parents slept in a bed in a small backroom, but we also had those kind of cupboards, we children slept in , called "bedstee"! These were in the living room as that was the only place we had a stove! So it was warm there. This stove was black and round, with copper finishings. But earlier they also came in several colors (olive-green or even apple blossom pink!) Under the" bedstee" was always a cellar OR, at poor people's: an extra room to store all those children; most people had at least 8 to 12 children, my parents only had three... My mother had no modern washing machine until the seventies! She washed all her life in that big wooden washing machine(NOW available in mini!) with an electro motor under it, so she did NOT have to rub on a washboard! We did not have a TV, BUT we had radio, from the beginning on! (20ties) Neither did we have an refrigerator....I did not know how she kept her food cool....well, we had instant airco: the wind blew right through the house! The walls were only one stone thick with a plank wall on the inside. Not to mention I had colds very often... We had no bathroom either...once a week in a tub and we went to the outside loo, mentioned before in this digest. You people in the countryside of America lived in almost the same circumstances. I even have read stories about NO electricity. My parents did have electricity; as they lived in a village. But when you lived isolated , somewhere in the polder, in the middle of nowhere, the electric co. did not give you a connection. So those people used oil lamps 'till the 60ties! Farmers had the so called "Good room" of Mooie kamer; an extra room where they only came when there was something to celebrate and you wanted to impress people! This room had beautiful dark red upholstered chairs, mostly neo-classic or Biedermeier, luxurious velveteen wallpaper, a Bonheur case (see my website; the parlour)Etc. etc. Questions? Just mail me! ati.jonker@planet.nl http://members.tripodnet.nl/atiekees/ Atie, Holland |
Queen of Sheba: I have been fascinated by (and researching) her story for years now. Oddly enough, of all the dignitaries who visited King Solomon during his reign, she is the only one mentioned by name in the bible. There is also a very detailed list of all the gifts she brought him, kind of interesting. As Paulette said, she was the Queen of the Ethiopian people (the Sheban kingdom is believed to have stretched across the Red Sea, including what is now Ethiopia and also Yemen). The son she bore from Solomon is a legendary hero in Ethiopia. Their stories have a lot of info about her. You will also find stories about her in Arabic traditions, though there she is represented as a witch or a demon (I have a few theories about all this, if you're interested - I think there was basically a "trade war" at the time & Sheba & Israel cut a deal). She would be a fascinating character to create. Graceanne |
Castle wiring: Cutting channels in the foam and then covering the channel with Bristol board ( a card stock ) is exactly the method I use.. This method has an additional benefit of leaving the wire loose in the channel so that if you leave a little extra at the bottom you can pull the fixture out of you ever have to work on them. Rik Pierce |
Chicken Ideas: Ever since we started talking about chickens, I seem to keep running into the critters everywhere! So I thought I might as well start compiling a reference list Hope it's of some use to someone. A somewhat twisted idea... We use to have a Jamaican restaurant in town whose walls were decorated with some humorous hand drawn posters. One of them was an add for their chicken wings, so on it was a drawing of an annoyed looking chicken...minus it's arms/wings! Roesner's Miniature Menagerie has a menagerie of animals (web site http://www.mini-figurines.com/) Toll Free 888.818.6450 Chicken coops and chickens and rooster: http://www.spminiatures.com/chickens.htm Egg warmers (chicken shaped lid over bowl) & egg cup Eggs in cartons: http://www.avonminiatures.com/kit1p1.htm"hen & basket" dish set Other crate labels with pictures of rooster Karen in PA |
Oriental Theme: This is a subject dear to my heart. Ideas are all around us even though they seem very obscure and hard to find. Movies are an ideal spot to pick up ideas of both antique and modern designs: for Japanese ideas try movies by the great director Kurosawa (he did both modern and ancient themes) and Chinese films are really coming into their own now with some of the newest movies such as Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Dragon (one of my favorites for accurate inside design is Light the Red Lantern). I could go on and on but the best thing to do would be to go to your video store and check their foreign flicks and see what turns you on (a lot of the stories are unhappy but the sets are great) and Kung-fu movies are OK for some Chinatown ideas (think Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan for example). If your local big city has a Chinatown (or Japantown such as SF) go through the shops there to see what variety they have). And some of the Botanic Gardens have Chinese and Japanese gardens (such as Montreal's Botanic Gardens and SF's Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park) I got some great ideas for my Chinese house from the incredible Chinese Garden (complete with lake) in the Montreal site. You can also check out the shop on http://www.kowloontraders.com - (click on the miniatures section) it's a wonderful little Japanese shop complete with all sorts of odds and ends). Try books...I have a wonderful personal reference library of books on any of the periods or cultures I want to do in miniature. I also belong to J.A.D.E., an organization with a newsletter that is an invaluable source of information on Japanese and oriental dolls, culture, etc. which may be going down the tubes because of a drop in membership (have no idea why as their information is extremely accurate). Check out their web page http://www.japandolls.com - their subscription rate is $18.00 yr for 3 newsletters - AND they are going to have a convention in Pasadena next year (so far they have had 3). I started using http://google.com after it was recommended on SS and found that a lot of the smut that I had gotten on other sites when I put in "Japanese Dolls" for example was eliminated and I was able to get some great sites for both Japanese and Chinese ideas. If you look around you at larger items, big dolls, houses, parks etc. , not just miniatures, your horizons and ideas are increased which will reflect in the variety and quality of your miniatures. Ana |
Chinese: Well, I happen to love oriental decorative arts so I wanted to have some Chinese designs in the wallpaper of my house. Some time ago I bought a book called "Chinese patterns" which comes with a CDROM with hundreds of pictures that can be used for wallpaper, fabric, plates... It has been really useful for me, so here is the reference in case anybody finds it useful too: Chinese patterns It has no text, just the pictures and the CDROM. High resolution pictures, need to be re-dimensioned for minis. Alicia from Spain |
Egyptian Miniatures: The last information I have on Northern Lites Miniatures is the following email: northernlitesminis@libby.org She is in Libby Montana. The phone & fax # is 1-406-293-3566 I have ordered some Egyptian things from her and they're fabulous. I think her name is Teresa Dudley. Cindy T. |
Dentist Office: I make miniature dental tools, you can see a picture of them in Dollhouse Miniatures August 2000, in the Artisans showcase, and in the new products, page 62, of the same issue I have change since then the syringe. http://www.fay-vourite.com Fay |
Dutch interiors: Here is a link to a Dutch site with a lot of old interiors. Enjoy! http://interieurmanifestatie.nl/index2.html Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands) |
Dressing Room: Purchase a small one of those makeup mirrors with the lights all around. Take out the mirror. Make or buy a box out of foam core or wood to fit on the back, and do a dressing room scene. Have the makeup table right in the front, with the frame from the mirror, but no actual mirror in it so that when the doll who is sitting there looks out, you can see her face. If you could get a portrait doll that looks like your niece, she would be 'looking at herself in the mirror! Alice Zinn |
Easy to make Coke sign: I was drinking a can of diet coke yesterday and realized that there are two mini signs on the can. Look on the side and there are two "Enjoy Diet Coke" slogans, with the little picture of a coke glass. I haven't tried it but it should be pretty easy to snip those out in squares. Flatten them out a little and you have an instant sign for your soda shoppe or ice cream parlor! Lynn in Gainesville |
Orrin's Turntable Idea: Not only is this a good idea, it works beautifully. I have used Lazy Susans, even Rubbermaid turntables, divided them into halves and made wonderful scenes. Great for the front façade of any store with window-shoppers looking through the window and the interior of the front of the shop. Good for Halloween trick-or treat scenes, and the list goes on and on and on. Becky Holliday |
Scotty Room: Have you tried the following site?http://homespunminiatures.homestead.com There are all kinds of printie things featuring Scotties and West Highland Terriers. Maureen in Hemel, UK |
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