jaie

LMAO...oh..eBay, I can buy 6060606060 different bongs from China up there but a dollhouse listing scares them, yep, can do that right now.

So, I live in a tiny house. Like, literally. It's 280 square feet. It's a vintage travel trailer from the 50s. I do have my old trailer, which I use mainly for storage, where I'm currently purging, with the goal of eventually getting everything down so that eventually, life can be lived in under 700 square feet. But it brings up interesting issues when you're working with dollhouses. What takes up not much room in the world of tiny, can take up a ton of space in the world of tiny houses. And I'm building an apartment ;) The majority of the build took place in my tiny house, but the house itself, will live in the other space, at least until I have a new home. So yesterday, after the last of the beams had been fixed in place, I took the shops up to my big place to live. The other apartments will be built out in what I lovingly call my tiny house "the minty turd". What would I do if I didn't have the big place? Probably make the apartment building weatherproof ;) but I'd prove that when it comes to dollhouses, space constraints shouldn't constrain your dreams.

There's 20 years of dreams being shoved into this, all at once it feels like, at times.

No, THANK YOU! One of the plans for my shops is a dispensary, you weren't the only one doing that idea, but you're one of the best, and in 1/12 scale was just such a find for me when searching, most of these when they're done at all, are in playscale, which I love, but I'm working in 1/12! I do understand about moving on, but when you do another dispensary, I am going to be following you like a love interest. You really pulled out all the stops on that project and I can only imagine a second one would be even more fantastic. Good luck.

I thought I recognized that RGT ranch, I have your dispensary pinned to my Pinterest as inspiration for one of the shops in my apartment. I'm sorry to see you dismantled it, but I wish you good luck on dispersing your collection.

So, last night, before heading to bed, I put the last "beam" onto the ceiling of the 4 shops on my apartment building. From here, it's going to be building each apartment, onwards, and upwards! It finally starts to really look like a building, I cannot wait to get that first apartment put together, since there's to be 4, I haven't decided yet if I'm just going to build all the walls I need as I go, or build each apartment on its own. Both methods have an appeal. Just that building one will give instant gratification. Right now, when it comes to the apartments, I'm building no interior walls. The apartments will have them, but not until I figure layouts. The original plans have the rooms set up traditionally, for dollhouses, rooms in a row, and that's not entirely what I want, my apartments will have parts you won't be able to instantly see, such as built in closets. But that's all for later. Right now, I want to get to work on the store's interiors. I won't be working on the exteriors, mainly because I need sections together first, the plan in my head, is that because this building will be so tall (the original is 56" tall) I'd like to be able to take it apart in sections, to make moving it easier. And, since the entire building will be on a base, it'll really be well over 6' tall by the time I'm done. So eventually, the plan is, once it is complete, to sheath the outside, perhaps in sections. I can at least work on the doors and windows, once I figure out how I want them done. The tentative plan for now for the insides is to create a removable "room box", for the shops. This will allow me to work on the insides, and not worry about the bottom of the shops, which currently have no floor, that will be supplied by the eventual base and right now I want to furnish these shops!

So, this weekend I was working on Johnson Towers and I've been having the occasional structure frustration. Until the ceiling joists are in, the shops are a tad on the fragile side. But, I did manage to get the inner walls done, and dry fitted. I've since this picture glued the furthest inner wall, and I'm currently re-gluing some other walls to be a bit stronger. Other than that, I've had decent progress. I was able to order a bundle of 3/8" square dowels off Amazon, the best deal I've found yet, 50 36" long dowels, when before, I was getting then in bundles of 15 at 24" long, and the ones on Amazon are 20 cents cheaper. Which is fantastic. The Towers are going to require a ton of wood. And that's just the structure. I've also been doing a lot of window shopping and idea harvesting. I've made a Pinterest board you might enjoy. Hopefully by tonight, or tomorrow, I'll have this all glued properly, and can finally get going on the joists. I'd like to get started on the insides soon!

A friend of mine who is local and will be helping me with some of the furnishing of the apartment dollhouse and I were having a bit of a chat. And I mentioned that I wanted to add an infinity pool to the top of the apartment building. She felt it was too much. So, when you're building a 6 story apartment building, complete with basement, an operating elevator, shops, and apartments, when do you cross the line of "no no, that's just too much". I don't think you can. The line is a lie.

I have to give a vote to Meirucorp. It's what I consider "mid range" luxury, nice, but not always bank breaking, you're paying a bit more than say a dollar store couch but you're getting some nice detail and quality. Little lower than Bespaq but still nice.

Technology is amazing these days, even in hand crafts like these, first thing I thought on seeing that microscope was, "I wonder what size micro camera would fit that". I've seen some antique working miniatures in my time that blow you away with how advanced they are, and if you're a fan of Youtube, "Lucky Penny Shop" often shows working modern miniatures, there's a couple of others as well who occasionally do antique pieces. Grand Illusions on Youtube is also amazing to watch for working miniatures. And as we get more and more tech, I expect to see more working miniatures, I've seen working televisions, working Linux based computers, and elevators operated by Arduino. It's only going to get more real from here.

If you can, why would you not? For some of us into miniatures, the working ones are the most charming.

So, I've wanted to build this building for years. When I finally grabbed a set of plans after years of searching, I was thrilled. I'm basically building this on a budget. When I've got money, I pick up parts. One of the reasons I really like this plan, is because it uses 3/8" square wood, and the levels are done one at a time, in sections that you then stack. So not being able to afford an entire front wall, isn't a thing. I can take my time, build a section, and when I can, build the next section. Each section takes around 50 strips or so, and each bundle of 15 is around $12(on sale). I do wish I could find cheaper, bigger bundles, but for now these are working. The biggest use of wood is the ceiling "beams" that are used to help support the structure. Right now I just have the shops started and I'm currently stalled with wood until I order some in the next few days, and then I'll get back to building the frame. Then I'll start building in shelving, and create slide out room boxes, using foam board, to make decorating the shops a bit easier than reaching in almost 2 feet deep towards the front. It's not a tiny structure. So, 4 shops below, right now, those are a donut shop at the first end, seen in the picture, then a tattoo parlour, a dispensary (yes, that kind) and then finally, a grocery. And before you think this place is in the sketchy part of town, think again, this is going to be pretty upscale, trust me ;)

I haven't been feeling great, but tonight I finally got some time and energy to work on a phone, these are going into the apartment building. Along with the Petite Princess stuff in the pictures.

So, I put in some work on the New Year, and at some point will have a few more pictures to share, I actually have an outside wall installed on the pieces seen here, which will be one store section nearly done. I really need to work on getting some lightweight clamps that can go the length of these walls.

I get nightmarishly sick if it is too warm, so anything above 60 and my lungs start to fill. I won't say that this year though, I'm not debating a cruise just so I can get a slight break, we've more storms moving in and a town not far of me actually has more snow than we do. It's just how it is up here, but it can still be a bit much sometimes. I also got a really nice hand warmer this year for a gift and I admit, that thing has become my new cuddle buddy to help offset my Raynaud's disease in my extremities.

I'm working on shoveling, we've had 64" of snow in a few days, but I did find more wood I didn't realize I had, so I can hopefully bring in the new year by putting the last outside wall on my bottom floor of my apartment building. I was really pleased to find them, I figured I had to order more. I still do so I can work on the apartments, but at least I can get the shell to the shops done now.

Eh, compared to Oswego, Rochester is easy. Took this last night. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/jacqueline13126/IMG_3023.jpg (I'd upload but the feature is fighting me)

I live in Upstate NY, we had 64" in 3 days. When someone asks me why I'm building a dollhouse, I laugh, and laugh and laugh. Then I cry a little and go shovel.

I'll play with it same as I do my room boxes, it won't be far away.

I can have it where I live. It just won't be inside the tiny house. It'll still be here however.