Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Small Steps

The shelf I bought two weeks ago is slowly looking like a dollhouse. The main occupants of the shelf/dollhouse are my two male Heidi Ott dolls but the population of my 12th scale dolls has grown courtesy of a friend.


I'm also slowly procuring more 12th scale furniture, most of which are locally bought. They cost a little more than the ones I can get from eBay but eBay shopping is risky and requires a lot of waiting, things I don't want to deal with right now, so I settled for the local store even if the design options are very limited and the stocks lacking.




Toilet fixtures like the bowl and sink are not available locally so I have to rely on eBay for that. I also noted on each picture things I want to do. Of course, other than what I noted, there are more things to make or acquire like the miniature bedside lamp, changing the sheets etc.


I'm trying to make the dollhouse look like a home for an ordinary couple without kids. I'd like to use less opulent looking furniture and the space for each area of the house will seem cramped, like regular people making do of the little spaces they live in.


I initially planned to use the 1st floor as the living room but I later decided to divide the floor into two areas (area not room)--the living area and the study area. I'm thinking that the occupants of this house are not very much into entertaining guest. They do like surfing the net to maybe blog or shop online. One of them likes books so there must be a big bookshelf. They also like to cuddle while watching a good movie at home.


Both of them agreed that take outs are unhealthy so they rely mainly on home cooked dinner. And just like any Filipino family, they bond over food. They keep up to date with each other over dinner. That is why the second floor is just for that.


Did I say Filipino? But Heidi Ott dolls are too pale to look Filipino. So I'm trying different methods of dyeing the dolls. I've tried dyes for clothes, oil pastel and even ink (yes permanent markers) but they weren't so permanent after all. Some of the ideas I tried are really stupid. I should have put more research into it. I tried to use watercolor pencil and it turned out okay. I just need to find a way making the color even.


And I was able to try my hands on making clothes for these small dolls. Their size limits the things I can to with their clothes but with dollhouse dolls, it's not really about the fashion. :)

2 comments:

Kory Okno said...

I'm loving your new (home)shelf. I may borrow your idea and buy one myself. There's a second hand store that's closing in a couple of weeks and I may do some scavenging.
Unfortunately I'll have to do some furniture buying as most of my accessories are little plastic and rubber animals and plants.
Most of my sets I build individually and take down when I want to change it up. Considering I build my sets on my freezer in my garage, it can be a lot of hassle not having a permanent area to work with.
It's all fun. Keep up the great work.

Niel Camhalla said...

Thanks. I guess if you're in it for the long haul, it helps to have something permanent, right? :)

Good luck with your project. :)