Beacon Hill Builders: The Next Generation

[KathieB]

4 hours ago, wormwoodz said:

LOL! Now that I think about it, my 1:1 scale house is in dire need of a "rehab"... a fresh coat of paint... and a portion of the floor damaged from a water pipe leak a couple years ago. If only I could just store all the furniture in a box, I'd feel more inclined to get to work on that 'build' 

On topic: I'm making a list of materials I need to buy, anyone has some nice victorian color sugestions? I can't get "violet" out of my mind, I'm feeling inclined to use a dark violet/crimson on the siding, something like this:

What other colors could go well with that for the trims? I'm not finding many pictures of houses with siding in this color on pinterest 

The cream/ivory and sage green on the porch would go well with the violet. I'd like them better than the blue, I think.

[wormwoodz]

1 hour ago, KathieB said:

The cream/ivory and sage green on the porch would go well with the violet. I'd like them better than the blue, I think.

Found another with ivory trims, picture is a bit small but I think the details are dark blue too.

[wormwoodz]

Btw, I'm linking pictures of victorian houses because of that plum siding color only, I'm well aware the Beacon Hill is an American Second Empire so try to picture it in that color scheme.

Here's a second empire with green and ivory details, hmmm the dark red would look really good too.... though decisions!  I think the green and ivory colors would look really good with red, while the blue might fit the dark violet/plum color better. But both would look awsome!

[havanaholly]

/the color complement of red is green; of violet is yellow, so a greenish gold would go well with the plum.

[wormwoodz]

This could be a very interesting bash, I don't think I have the experience to pull it off thou... but maybe someone will find it inspiring. 

[Sanna]

Here is a pic of my violet Beacon Hill if it's anything that intrest you. It's still under construction and I haven't decided if I'm going to use another colors as well.

[havanaholly]

In 1:12 you don't really need that many colors.  It is gorgeous!

[dkumpula]

On 3/11/2017, 10:50:18, wormwoodz said:

Here's a second empire with green and ivory details, hmmm the dark red would look really good too.... though decisions!  I think the green and ivory colors would look really good with red, while the blue might fit the dark violet/plum color better. But both would look awsome!

This is really beautiful, but now I'm thinking I should replace the siding from my Beacon Hill with fancy brick work.  My chimney work took a week to do, so I'm afraid my daughter will be an adult before I truly finish this build! ;)

-David

[havanaholly]

If you side it with the brick you used for the chimney, you better hope your daughter goes for weight-lifting & strength training.  If the idea is for her to play with it somewhere during her childhood, why not leave it be?

[dkumpula]

9 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

If you side it with the brick you used for the chimney, you better hope your daughter goes for weight-lifting & strength training.  If the idea is for her to play with it somewhere during her childhood, why not leave it be?

You are probably right.  That said, a heavy brick-faced miniature is unlikely to be stolen!

[KathieB]

40 minutes ago, dkumpula said:

You are probably right.  That said, a heavy brick-faced miniature is unlikely to be stolen!

Theft is an issue? News to me! 

[wormwoodz]

58 minutes ago, dkumpula said:

This is really beautiful, but now I'm thinking I should replace the siding from my Beacon Hill with fancy brick work.  My chimney work took a week to do, so I'm afraid my daughter will be an adult before I truly finish this build! ;)

-David

Gorgeous work on the chimney David! Your BH is looking amazing, take as much time as you need it will be worth it! ;) 

While yes the brickwork would make the house a lot heavier, it would also look really awsome! I've seen a Beacon Hill from someone else... I think here in the gallery, done in brick (grey) and looked pretty awsome, and also a Lily in clay colored brick that made my parter wish I had gotten that kit instead lol. Dollhouses with a brick finish are very popular over here, I see them a lot in british dollhouses and they are usually even heavier (cabinet style). I feel a bit more inclined to the american style wood sidding, but I'd say both look really awsome on the BH.

I have been looking at pictures from second empire houses (real size) for inspiration, there are a lot of details that go perfect with this style. For example the double paladian doors, I was never much of a fan of those and was thinking about replacing the ones in the kit, but I've changed my mind after seeing them 'prettied up' a little. 

Also the gorgeous parket floors... 

I think I'm going to take inspiration from the colors used in the interior design of this house, I'm just so in love with it! I've decided to change that curved wall on the 1st floor and make it straight, I'll do wood panneling on the parlour+dinning area and wainscot on the stairs portion. I'll also try to make the connecting doorway wider, might need to change it's position because of the stairs but I'll see what I can do. 

I was feeling a bit torn between doing a period kitchen or cabinets, both look so nice! I'm thinking of doing my kitchen in the colors yellow and green, here's some cute cabinets that would look great with the window:

I'm finding a lot of inspiring ideas at the member's gallery as well, thanks so much to everyone who posted pics! I love the custom fireplaces you guys added, and the layouts in the kitchen. I might end up doing a period kitchen after all, old stoves are just so cute and I love the iceboxes

I am going to buy both green and dark blue, plus the ivory white and the plum color, I'll decide the color of the main trims later when I test the swatches on the house in dry fit. 

[Sable]

2 hours ago, dkumpula said:

This is really beautiful, but now I'm thinking I should replace the siding from my Beacon Hill with fancy brick work.  My chimney work took a week to do, so I'm afraid my daughter will be an adult before I truly finish this build! ;)

-David

That is a wonderful chimney! I just made sidewalks using these bricks. They are not all that heavy. Actually, much lighter than I expected. On my houses I am prone to use real travertine or carerra marble and slate. That stuff adds a lot of weight.  

[dkumpula]

2 hours ago, KathieB said:

Theft is an issue? News to me! 

Well, even if my investment in time alone is worth just current US federal minimum wage, my BH would be worth US$14.5K . . . 

[WyckedWood]

Speaking of theft...I had a really bizarre experience last summer with my SeaHag beacon hill. Some woman and her cohort (a shop owner) worked in cahoots and went through my greenleaf albums, copying every aspect of my SeaHag and all of its contents to some of the smallest detail. Some of those details were very personal to me, to see them replicated was very disturbing. To top it off this woman named her house the Sea Gypsy. Made me sick to my stomach. Never once giving a nod of credit or letting anyone know it was a total copy. 

Nothing to be done though, once we put our pictures out there, there's not a lot you can do. Put me off minis for awhile though. 

 

[havanaholly]

Oh, Karin, what a bummer!  Too bad you can't nail them for copyright violation (since all the pictures we post here are copyrighted).

[dkumpula]

Wow WyckedWood, that is strange.  Other than the personal items you described, I would be generally complemented if it was an amateur that just wanted to replicate poritions your great work.  I know I went through thousands of pictures looking for inspiration, although never directly copying anything.  A professional or serious mini builder copying an entire mini is at a minimum unprofessional and impolite, akin to copying a Monet and casting it off as you own work.

-David

[WyckedWood]

I didn't realize that our pictures were copyrighted here. 

David my husband said to just take it as a compliment and be flattered. Then I showed him the pictures and he said, "You've got to be kidding me.You have to say something." I didn't. 

Well she's moved on to  copying someone else's Tuscan Willowcrest now. I guess people don't realize what a small world our hobby is and that you can't make a copy of someone's work and plaster it all over facebook and not expect to be found out. 

[havanaholly]

Karin, all the way at the bottom of each & every forum page appears the following:  "All posts by Members and the Greenleaf Miniature Community Staff are the opinions of the original author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Greenleaf Dollhouses. Material on this site cannot be reproduced without written permission from Greenleaf Dollhouses or the original author."

[wormwoodz]

On 02/04/2017, 15:05:59, WyckedWood said:

David my husband said to just take it as a compliment and be flattered. Then I showed him the pictures and he said, "You've got to be kidding me.You have to say something." I didn't. 

That was my initial thought when I read your story, I guess I try to look at the positive side in these situations... "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and all that, but that's disheartening to hear  If this person owns a store, was this done for comercial purposes? Could someone have comissioned this house, as in "I want a dollhouse just like this one" and showed them the pictures?

I guess I find it a bit hard to understand why someone who would be into this hobby would try to make an exact "copy" of someone else's custom work, without at least acknowledging the source. Are the pictures of this house availiable online? I am a bit intrigued as I can't even imagine how complicated it must be to try to make a "replica" of a dollhouse with as many details as your SeaHag.  

[havanaholly]

2 hours ago, wormwoodz said:

...Are the pictures of this house availiable online?...

I went googling, but haven't found them yet.  Stealing another person's work and passing it off as one's own is just low!  Sorry, Karin, I agree with the hubs; say something!

[Griffonfeathers]

50 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

I went googling, but haven't found them yet.  Stealing another person's work and passing it off as one's own is just low!  Sorry, Karin, I agree with the hubs; say something!

I went googling too, Holly! You make me feel better, 'cause I couldn't find anything either and I thought maybe my Google Fu was just bad.   I looked around on Facebook a bit, and I would be very interested in knowing who this shop owner is and seeing this Willowcrest too.

@WyckedWood, I'm sorry that happened to you. That's just a bad practice, there. IMHO, that kind of thing needs to be called out. 

[WyckedWood]

Thanks Holly, I guess I never thought much about the copyright because I never expected anything like that to happen. I do have more compassion and understanding for those artists who have to deal with it, especially when they're trying to run a business. It may be the equivalent of hanging garlic out the front door to ward off creativity vampires, but in the future I will put my name/ watermark on my pictures of finished work and on the copyright line here in the gallery and think everyone else should to. I will private message you all tonight or tomorrow with info. 

[wormwoodz]

As someone with experience in the study and 'reproduction' of the work from the 'great masters' (da Vinci, van Gogh, Rembrandt, etc...), it is good practice to make the 'replica' a work of your own... even if you are paying homage to a well known artist, there are creative ways to re-imagine the original work and still make it recognizable. Here’s one example of artistic reinterpretation done well by artist Wolfe von Lenkiewicz: while keeping the style and aesthetics of the original work, making it instantly recognizable, it is also a whole new take on it. In fact if you compare both works detail by detail you’ll notice each one makes it’s own statement, and they reflect the authors’ own imagination, style and ‘personality’.

If a customer asks me to paint an ‘exact replica’ of the Mona Lisa, and trust me sometimes people will ask for something like that just to decorate their house... I kindly sugest they hire the services of a printer, lol. I suffered a lot of frustration regarding 'ethics' in arts... unfortunately the most effective 'repellent' for intellectual theft is one's own conscience...

Don't let these situations discourage you from sharing your work and enthusiasm with others, it's a beautiful piece you have created with a lot of passion and soul 

[SewMini]

This is something that comes up a lot in costuming because, essentially, cosplayers are all replicating the designs of someone else. So just a note about copyright. I do believe the copyright that is one here only refers to the actual pictures so someone can't take your actual photo and use it elsewhere without the permission of Greenleaf or yourself. It doesn't extend to the design of your house. Here's where it gets really tricky. As long as it is an artistic reinterpretation of a design and the person can point out fundamental differences in their design from yours (even then, they can be slight) then their work is not an infringement. So if their roofline is slightly different, the color scheme is slightly different, etc. it's not infringement. If their flower pot is square and yours is round, it's not an infringement. If it is an EXACT replica or someone could reasonably mistake it for the original then it is, indeed, infringement. That is where it gets really tricky in cosplay. If you are really good at it, you really skirt the line. You cannot use copyrighted names (so technically I'd have to call my Kylo "Dark Apprentice" or something and you have to say it's your "interpretation" of so and so's design. I studied many, many, many photos to create my kylo and it came out very, very close to the original. If you make it too good, you can receive a cease and desist order (I personally know people who have). As an example this is the original version of Kylo from the movie

And this is the version I made for my friend (that took a million years to make)

There are a few things here that give it away that it's not an original BUT it really skirts the line and I'd never be able to sell this to the public. Technically, my friend only paid me for my seamstress services and I was actually legitimately concerned about copyright issues and consulted a friend who makes screen accurate replicas of Game of Thrones designs. Her stuff is so good that Lionsgate actually reached out to her not with a cease and desist but a "Let's make a deal." It can get pretty hairy when you are good at what you do.

Now, not giving credit where credit is due is definitely a low blow. That said, legally, while they may be skirting the law, it's on the original designer to prove that they are infringing on their design and that can be hard to do. Copyright laws in the area of design are REALLY vague adn there is a lot of grey area. That's both good and bad.