MaryKate

Oh, no! You know, the tiny museum where I work had a Kupjack exhibit...decades ago, at least. I came across one of the booklets when were were cleaning out spaces and snagged it, because no one else wanted it. One of the facilities staff who's worked at the museum since the 70s said Henry actually came to the exhibit, and she thinks the museum owns a Kupjack room box and that it's in our storage building across the street. I don't have keys to that building or anything, but I've been meaning to have a talk with our curator to see if it's for real, and if it is, if I can get a peek at it. I'll have to step up my efforts on that front.

Hi Shannon--I don't know if I'll get to it right away, but I would love to do something with the pieces eventually. I will certainly post pictures of the book once I receive it. I'm trying to remember what I ever did with the pieces I made from the copy I had back in grade school. Maybe holding it in my hand will spark some memories.

Ahaha I love how the universe works. As soon as I posted this, I went back to Ebay again and found it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1974-DOLLHOUSE-FURNITURE-TO-MAKE-FROM-PRINTED-HEAVY-PAPER-BOOK/183612133920?hash=item2ac022d220:g:6hwAAOSw~SlbCgYF Of course, "Doll House Book" is such a unique, searchable term... ;)

Calling all dollhouse detectives... I'm trying to track down at the very least a title and maybe a photo or two of a book I had when I was a girl. Some of its pages were heavy, and I think slightly textured, paper on which were printed pieces you could cut out and fold and paste to make dollhouse furniture. I remember the prints being red, white, and black, with lots of polka dots and stripes; it was all very 70s/colonial in style. The thing is, I think I saw it online recently, probably on a late-night deep dive on Ebay or something close to that, and I should have taken a screen shot or just bought it...I have tried searching a bunch of different word salad combos on Google, Alibris, and Ebay but I haven't seen it yet. Just wondering if anyone here remembers it and can help me figure out the title. It's more curiosity than anything else at this point.

Okay, who wants to hear the kicker end to this story? A) My sister loved it when she unwrapped it last night, so yay! She also laughed a bit uncontrollably and said she would explain later... B) This morning, when we unwrapped presents from Santa, guess what I got? The same kit! Also the same book I put into her shoe for St. Nicholas Day. We know each other almost too well. (I will say this: though I'm delighted to have the kit because I, too, am a bit obsessive about books, the one I made from her came from a Chinese company and was great. Very easy to put together, good quality materials, and it included the silicon glue and batteries. This one is from Fat Brain Toys, and what I've noticed so far is that some of the pages printed with book covers and other items are wrinkled in the bottom of the box, there is no silicon glue, and when I went to put one of the small cabinets together with tacky glue (everyone else was building Legos; I had to make something!), I had a terrible time because the pieces, small as they are, are warped and I had to force hold them in place to get the glue to stick. I will probably take it apart, flatten the boards under some books, and try again.)

The case worked! It's actually a perfect fit, and it has a nice little platform to lift the roombox off the surface. I will post a few more pictures in an album.

Thank you, Deborah--I decided to go to the big box craft store on my way home from work, and found a basketball display case for around $20 after I'd used a coupon. Crossing my fingers it works better than everything else I've tried--I had tried a terrarium and then a clear shoe box that both were listed as having the right dimensions, but they were each 1/2" shy or so. The basketball case *should* work, but I won't know until I get home tonight... (when I can take some pictures, too ;).

I just finished my sister's Christmas gift: one of those half-scale roombox kits from Robotime. It's a little bookstore, which is perfect for my English professor sister. I've been working on the kit off and on since this summer, and it's the first one like this that I've done (it's also my first time with a smaller scale). I have since bought a couple more kits to make for myself, but haven't had time for them yet. I really like the kit, though. The directions seem difficult to parse at first, but if I made myself slow down and go step by step, most of it wasn't difficult at all. The accessories are time-consuming (some of the books have printed pages, some are wood pieces with covers glued on, and some are actually boxes with book spines and edges printed on them), but the furniture went together really quickly, as all the pieces were pre-cut and painted. I even made a working light! I switched out the plain red fabric of the chair for something I had on hand that seemed more my sister's style, and instead of painting the walls I covered the inside with deep green mulberry paper and the outside with some scrapbooking paper that looks like dictionary pages to go with the theme. I'll post some pictures here once I get a chance to take them. Now if I could only find a display case for a reasonable price! She has two little ones and a dog, so I'd love to find some way she can keep the dust out--along with Lego Batman and Fisher Price Disney princesses. The pieces are really too little and the accessories too fragile to be played with intensely. Oh, and the other first: this was my first time using silicon glue. I'm kind of in love with the stuff! It's not perfect for everything, but it grabs quickly and seems to work with a number of different materials.