My Little Corner of the Net

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Window Trim

I found these plaster window sills and heads at a sale not too long ago for a dollar, so I couldn't pass them up.  I figured that I could probably use them somewhere.


I still had a some mold making supplies from a Sonia Messer Repair project a while back.
To see it, click HERE


The first step was to make a mold of the existing pieces.  The kit comes with a two part putty that you knead together.  (it sets up pretty quickly)


Once the mold material set up, I mixed a two part resin and poured it in.  As you can see, it starts out clear.

As the resin begins to set up, it changes to a white color, literally before your eyes.


This is the window sill right out of the mold.  It has a few pieces that need to be trimmed off and it need to be sanded.


This image shows the new resign pieces on top and the original plaster pieces below.  They are not quite as crisp as the originals, but they will do.


This is a picture of one of the trim pieces above the existing windows in the Kage House.  I am still shocked that it is almost a perfect fit.  The Kage house has 22 windows so I better get busy!

To see the Kage House click HERE
To see my Kage Housecollection click HERE
To see how I made the windows for the Kage House click HERE and HERE



Egyptian Pieces

I came across some Egyptian themed furniture at a local antique mall.




The pieces are:

A statue of a seated Hathor Egyptian Mother Goddess with head dress
A golden throne with a hieroglyphics
A statue of a seated lion 
Royal Egyptian Black Cat with a golden necklace
A black Anubis jackal statue





I posed the pieces with an antique camera for fun.

Now I need to find some hieroglyphic wallpaper or stickers?

Thursday, May 18, 2017

TOOTSIETOY

I came across some wood letters at Michaels the other day that were on sale.  
I decided I could add another name to the logo wall in the miniature studio

You will notice that the letter "O" is a different color.  Thus begins my story.  

The "O" that came with the letters was not a circle it kind of looked more like a flat tire and I didn't really like it.  I looked all over the metro area for some perfect 3-1/2" tall perfectly round circles.  There was no such thing.  I finally found some on Etsy.  They were relatively inexpensive so I ordered them.  They are made from mdf, but I figured that wouldn't matter since I was going to paint them anyway.  They arrived and were about twice as thick as the wood letters that I had.  So I went back to Michael's to purchase another set of wood letters to stack.  I figured that I could stack the letter so that they would be the same thickness as the new "O"s.  Of course they were all out of most of the letters that I needed.  so I bought some different ones and chopped them up to make do.  For example, I had to make the back of the "T"s our of "E"s by cutting off the bottom two 'crossbars' and adding a piece to the top.  The seams don't really matter because it will be on the back of the letter.


Here is a the actual Tootsietoy logo on the bottom of a table.  I have tried to make the logos somewhat relate to the original designs.


I decided to paint the Tootsietoy logo metallic silver since the furniture is that color under the paint.  Here are a couple of photos of the logos on the wall in the studio.


To see my Tootsietoy collection click HERE

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Recent Acquisitions

I came across these two small boxes of miniatures at an estate sale this week.  They were marked down to $5 each.  I knew the cast iron tea cart was worth more than the asking price and I was intrigued by the German hand painted minis in the other box.



The cast iron tea cart is by Kilgore from the 1920's - 1930's, and I liked the vintage Christmas tree.  There is always room for accessories.  
To see my Kilgore collection click HERE


I did a little research and found out more about this set of furniture.  It is a set of Dora Kuhn Miniature Furniture.  They are marked made in Germany on the bottom.  There is a great blog post about the maker of this furniture - click HERE


Dora Kuhn and her husband made these sets in different scales. This appears to be part of mini set made in the 1940's, shortly after WWII.  The bed is only about 2" long.  Many of these sets were purchased by military servicemen and brought home as souvenirs.  I may have to make a little room box to display this set in.


I also recently won this Tynietoy floor lamp in an auction on Ebay.  It stands about 4" tall.


The parchment shade is hand painted and still has its original brass brads. The brads and the parchment have a great patina.  The shade has a few tears and repairs.  


The lamp is marked with the Tynietoy logo on the bottom


To see the rest of my Tynietoy collection, click HERE