HUSH A BYE BABY

Some years ago when my younger daughter told us that she was going to give us grandchild #3 and when I knew that the baby shower would be held in Miami, I decided that my gift to her had to be something miniature and hopefully, something practical. I talked over my ideas with husband Tom because he would be making the basic box and we decided to build a miniature nursery which would be done as much as possible in the colors and style of the real nursery. It also would have lights in the ceiling and a music box to hopefully lull the baby to sleep. Tom completed the box for me and I proceeded to decorate it. The first nursery box had a teddy bear theme and I found a mini shop owner who said she could order wallpaper for me. When the paper came in, it was not colored, that is the teddy bears were colorless and that just didn't work for me, so I hand colored every single one of those teddies. The final result worked well; so much more attractive than colorless bears on the mini wall. Tom used two night lights in the ceiling of the nursery box and they were wired to regular 110 house current. The nursery could be set on a dresser and enough light was given for Mom to feed the baby at night. I will post some pictures so that you can see just what the nurseries looked like. The project snowballed in that many relatives and friends asked to have one. In all we built 15 of them. The nurseries were all pretty much the same although some things were added. I enjoy decorative painting so some of that was added to almost all of the boxes. I made a lot of the toys, painted the tiny dollhouses and made pictures and Christening gowns. We also took measurements and drew up plans so that each new nursery would not be a new learning process. This was a fun project and I think I can say that it was much appreciated by all.

SOME EARLY PROJECTS 2

Most of the furniture in my first dollhouse came from kits as many were being produced at that time. The wallpaper in this house is also of a much earlier time period and most probably no longer exists. The Light fixtures are different and old, made by a company whose name, if I remember correctly, was Illinois Hobbycraft. Their fixtures were old fashioned, but said to last for years if one tested the bulbs before installing the fixtures. I never had one burn out so I guess the company told the truth.


I also should point out that the Wizard of OZ figures are made of Fimo. I found them on a trip to Carmel, CA. Wendy Brokaw was their maker and she did magnificent work.

SOME EARLY PROJECTS

In the early years of miniatures almost everyone had a General Store and I was no exception. It was the very first project that I made and kept for myself. Realife Miniatures had started to produce some kits and one of the very popular ones was the one to make the main pieces for a Country/General Store. There was always a Post Office, an A&P bin, a Coates and Clarks Spool Cabinet, a Diamond Dye cabinet and of course, lots of shelves. After the kits were put together, the mini maker then had to collect and/or make the other ingredients to complete the look of an old time general store. Here is a picture of mine.

It was about the same time that I discovered my first mini shop. I can't even begin to describe the joy that I felt when I first walked into The Dollhouse Factory in Lebanon, NJ. What wonders were to be found in that shop and I wanted one of everything. I purchased my first dollhouse kit there and then could not wait to get back to Miami so that I could put that kit together!! The company who made the kit is long out of business, but I still have that first dollhouse.

The kit was basically a farmhouse and seemed a bit plain so the next picture shows the porch a few years later when I decided to upgrade the trim. Next there is a picture of one of the bedrooms, a very basic room, but there is also a picture of that room when the house was redone/upgraded/ beautified at a later time.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

In the past few weeks my two daughters have complained that they have enjoyed reading my blog, but that I have left out the most important part of my experience in the miniature world. As far as they are concerned, all that Tom and I have done is wonderful, but the best part was the very first dollhouse, and that of course was the dollhouse built for them. In the 60's when our girls were in elementary school...the second and fifth grades, to be exact, I saw an article about a dollhouse in one of the magazines, Better Homes & Gardens, if I remember correctly. I showed the magazine to Tom and asked him to build it for the girls for Christmas that year. He actually built two houses and they were housed in a neighbor's garage for the weeks until Christmas. The other house was for the neighbor's daughter and because their garage was well arranged so that the dollhouses could be worked on, but not seen, many evenings were spent in that garage until the holiday arrived. The first dollhouse was nothing like what we have today. First, there were no shops where one could purchase supplies and second, no one knew much about the hobby in those days. Scale was not even considered and anything that went into a house was made by the beginning builders. Furniture was just odd pieces of wood and the fabric most used was felt as it didn't ravel or fray and was easily cut to desired sizes. Perhaps I should add a picture to show just what I am trying to explain.The original dollhouse is the one with the pink roof.

That first dollhouse was a strange looking one, but it was the most treasured toy that my girls had in their childhood. They loved it and took great care with it. If a friend came over and wasn't careful, she was not allowed over again, or at the very least, she was not allowed access to that favorite dollhouse. Notice that there is no staircase in that first dollhouse, a subject that frequently causes much discussion. My girls for some reason were not at all bothered by the missing stairs. After all, they just used their imaginary elevator to put their dolls wherever they needed to be. Mattel had come out with some small dolls called "Little Kiddles". My girls had about two dozen of them and all had their space in the dollhouse.

I am now well used to the wonderful furniture, mouldings and accessories that we have available to us in the miniatures hobby, but I still remember how things were in the early days. How many hobbyists remember when we had only contact paper for walls; when we used earring parts to simulate lights; when toothpaste caps became flower pots and spent bullet shells were vases? These days I wonder if there is anything in the real world that cannot be found in miniature. In the top picture, the yellow roof picture, is a dollhouse of the same design, but built more than ten year later. I still had not found my first miniature shop, but I did find a book with patterns for building furniture in scale. It was all made from balsa wood and some of it was not particularly attractive, but it did serve the purpose and very soon after that, real miniature furniture became available. The first bathroom and kitchen pieces were already on the market and a few stores carried them so I was able to use those in the house made for the two daughters of good friends, but that house also has toothpaste caps and bullet vases. How far we have come!!