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MaryKate

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Everything posted by MaryKate

  1. MaryKate

    IMG-5337.JPG

    It really is going to be fun! (Sorry, I'm not getting notifications about comments on these pics, so I didn't see this until today!)
  2. MaryKate

    IMG-5330.JPG

    Thank you! I'll have to invest in one of these.
  3. Hi Ani! I just started an Orchid, too; I've built several houses before but I got this kit for free (shopping in my mom's craft closet!) and decided to just have some fun with it. I started an album today and I'm going to try to document some of my choices and the steps I'm taking with it; if you want to ask questions (or offer ideas--there's always more I can learn with this hobby) feel free to hit me up! It's a fun little house to try things out with, and it doesn't take much furniture to fill it up. Almost forgot! If you want to look at the whole process of building the house, you might try the More Minis blog, where she details the build. She also does a few things in a different order than the directions, and I think her process works a little better for the way I conceptualize a build. Start at the Day One entry (URL is http://moreminis.blogspot.com/2007/04/orchid-day-1.html#.V-Pvpjs4l-W if that link doesn't work) then hit the "newer post" link at the bottom of each page to go through step by step.
  4. From the album: MaryKate's Orchid

    Yesterday I spackled the pieces that needed it and put a layer of gesso on every available surface. So much easier to work with! (This kit is at least 20 years old, so the wood is not in great shape. I brushed all the sheets in the kit with oil-based stain before I punched anything out, just to condition it. Still, some of the trim pieces crumbled--they didn't splinter, they actually crumbled--so I cut all new trim, windows, and porch pieces out of basswood. Since I got the kit for free, and had most of what I needed wood-wise on hand already, I'm still coming out on the cheap with this house.)
  5. MaryKate

    Dry Fit 1 back

    From the album: MaryKate's Orchid

    Not sure if this is where the partitions will stay. I'm eliminating the stairs so I have room for bathroom/bedroom/kitchen.
  6. MaryKate

    Dry Fit 1

    From the album: MaryKate's Orchid

    Initial dry fit, just to get a feel for the size and vibe.
  7. MaryKate

    A Barn for J

    Building a barn for my youngest nephew for Christmas. He has very definite opinions about what he wants, including colors and "a door that will really open and close." He selected the Backyard Bungalow kit from HBS.
  8. MaryKate

    Porch lights

    From the album: A Barn for J

    When J and I were looking at the photos of the BB online, he was very careful to tell me what colors to make everything. The outside had to be red, the inside had to be yellow. And all the trim, inside and out, had to be white. "Except for those lights, of course. Those should be yellow." I squinted at the screen. "What lights?" He pointed to the keystone piece in the roof line trim. "That light. There's one on the front and one on the back. They should be yellow because they're lights." I dry brushed layers of white, yellow, and orange on the pieces to simulate light, then used 1/16" drafting tape to outline the 'fixtures.' Then I layered on something like five thick coats of clear nail polish to make it look like glass. It was all kind of spur-of-the-moment, but I really love the way they turned out.
  9. I love the porch! I considered the RGT barn, but J wanted this one, and I was happy to save the cash. Though I wouldn't mind a real big old barn with a hay loft and all that kind of stuff, he really wants it for his tractor toys, so this works great.
  10. From the album: A Barn for J

    When I finish this house, I'm going to give J a book with the story of how his friend Molly and I made it for him, so I'm taking some pics of her helping with the process. I now have all the main pieces and trim painted and ready to build!
  11. Oh, Jo, my mom definitely had her hands full! The good thing was, she had us three oldest to help after a certain point. I was babysitting by the time I was 11, and when we went to the grocery store (where she was also buying supplies for her father), we would use 3 carts: 2 for our food, 1 for Grandpa's, with the little ones riding up front and each of us taking an aisle at a time. It was quite the event when we hit the checkout line!!
  12. Jo, I grew up with 4 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters. Most of my toys did not survive, and a lot of those that did (including the first dollhouse my dad made for us) were given to other families. But we have a wealth of stories to tell about the things we did, and the trouble we got into!
  13. I think I've mentioned around here that I spent some time this summer refreshing and rehabbing a dollhouse my dad and I made for my sister when she was a little girl. It's been sitting in her daughter's room, where I could see the broken stairs, dusty floors, missing windows, and stained wallpaper every time I rocked the baby. This rehab was a big hit with her two kids, now 5 and 1. The 5yo kept saying, "Isn't it amazing? It's just amazing!" and happily moved all the Calico Critters furniture he could find into it (which is fine; I also made furniture for the house the first time around but it's in storage until I can rehab that and until they're both a little older). Then he realized his baby sister could pull herself up on the table and reach the first floor. Despite his mother and me telling him she could handle the bigger plastic pieces just fine, he migrated almost everything to the 2nd and 3rd floors (he even declared the living room, with its lace curtains, bay window, and fireplace to be the garage!). Whenever she would touch one of the few things he'd left on the 1st floor, he'd take it out of her hands and move it. "You realize it's actually my house, don't you?" my sister told him. "If your sister wants to play with it, she can." He pretended not to hear. "Buddy, I hate to tell you this," I said, "but there's a storm coming. It's called Margaret's Revenge, and it will be epic." He thought that was pretty funny. Yesterday I got this text from my sister: She has figured out that if she stands on the stool she can reach the second level and all the things Brother is keeping out of her reach. When Brother freaked out and tried to take the piano out of her hand, she smacked him on the head with said piano. Though she be little, she is fierce. That's my girl. ;)
  14. Oh, trust me (and I'm speaking only for myself here), if my efforts at those porch posts had even approached realism, I might have been satisfied. The only way those poor sad babies were realistic is if realism="these look like the house carpenter gave saws to a pack of five-year-olds and let them go at it." ;) Which isn't to say I'm not a perfectionist, because that would be a total lie (I'm totally Angelica Schuyler: "I will never be satisfied!"). You should see how many drafts my writing goes through! But with hobbies like this, I agree with Kathie; it's the trying and failing and trying again to make something that comes close to the picture I have in my head that's the fun part. I love the process, and I love that after years of learning how the process works for me, I know now that if I'm not satisfied, I need to walk away, rant for a bit, and then let my back brain process new approaches until I come up with a solution that works for me. And when it works I do my Happy Dance.
  15. Thresa, I used a 40% off coupon for the Easy Cutter and got it for $17. I was hesitant at $35-40, but for the price I got it I took the leap and it's totally worth it. Spent a lot of today painting pieces for the Backyard Bungalow/Barn I'm making for my nephew (ye gourds and little fishes, that MDF soaks up paint!) and cutting new trim for the Orchid. For the most part it's going well, but for the life of me I can't get the porch rails to come out right. It's that repeating pattern of arches. If I try it on 1/16" basswood, it's too thin and breaks, and I can't get two together that are alike enough that I can laminate them together and sand. I tried using mat board and simplified the pattern a bit, but the cutouts didn't look right. Can't even go back and do the sanding/filling/sanding routine with the original pieces because both of them are crumbling apart. I love the carpenter gothic look of that railing, but I'm going to have to find some other way to achieve it (some way that doesn't involve purchasing a laser cut substitute that costs almost as much as the whole Orchid kit). Weirdly, so far the gable trims are coming out great. It's just that railing giving me fits. Time to take a step back and consider some alternatives.
  16. Wow, what a daunting task (at least for me; my hand just isn't that steady!). Can't wait to see the results!
  17. Anna, that is incredible. So sweet! You all will probably laugh at me, and that's okay: today I got an Easy Cutter for the first time. Five minutes into working with it I was asking it where it had been all my life! I have a great miter box and a miter saw, but this thing--THIS THING. Holy cumquats. In no time, and with very little waste, I had cut all the pieces I needed to make new windows for my Orchid, and they went together beautifully because the cuts were so accurate. All the window pieces and frames are already drying under stacks of books. Consider me a convert.
  18. Oh, and PPS--re: mini history, I pulled some basswood out of my stash toake new window frames for the Orchid, and the price stickers on them are for Frank's Nursery and Crafts, from back when I lived in Indiana. Anyone else remember that store? Pretty sure I bought all kinds of mini things there, including the Arthur kit I bashed. They went out of business years ago.
  19. Yeah, I was hoping the glue would work like a resin, but so much cheaper and less stinky! Oh, well. Back to the drawing board...
  20. FWIW, there were two HBS catalogs in the old Orchid kit my mom gave me. One's from Fall 1995 (has an advert for the 2nd Creatin' Contest!) and one's from Fall 1999. If you have questions (What did a Beacon Hill cost 20 years ago? Which Lasertech kits did they sell?) I can check and see. (Edit: This was back when they charged for catalogs! Both are marked $5.00 on the front.)
  21. Linda, I wonder if some kind of silicone-based caulking would work? I have no idea if it would; just had the thought because I re caulked my RL tub this week. Yesterday I punched out and labeled the pieces of the Orchid kit my mom gave me. For the most part they were in decent (for die cut plywood) shape. Staining beforehand definitely helped, as did wearing gloves to keep splinters out of my hands. One sheet had some crumbly pieces. Luckily most of those were trim that I was going to trace on basswood and replace or eliminate entirely. (It's entirely a personal preference, but I find it easier, and the result more satisfying, to spend time on that instead of the sanding-filling-sanding cycle, which for me always ends in splinters and tears.) IF I have time today, I want to get back to painting the barn project and maybe start on reworking the window trim on the Orchid. Big if, though. I have two different meetings today & tonight and need to prep for both.
  22. Funny you mention this. A week or so ago I found the clear stuff at Michaels and got it to see if I could use it to fill some clear glass vials I got for my witches' kitchen. I mixed some with a tiny drop of food coloring and put some of that in the vial, then put the rest in from the glue bottle. A week later, it still hasn't set. I'm not sure if it ever will!
  23. That's exactly what I'm thinking, Linda! I have some odds and ends from other builds that would be great with this small house, and it would be a good place for some random furniture in my stash. I have several sets I bought on clearance years ago that I might experiment with repainting, etc. I may just make it into my little dream escape cottage. ;) Your pictures are a great inspiration, btw!
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