Monday 28 January 2013

Bead curtian and more painting...



Hello there, well the caravan project is running at a gentle pace.  Lately I’ve been mainly painting, gluing and modifying things and researching real size caravans of the same sort too.  Research forms a massive part of miniature creation.  I noted that most caravans have a closed off stove area, often with a tilled back and a mirror and sometimes a small shelf for ornaments above the stove, much like if it were a fireplace.  I’ll be doing the same in my caravan.  


I thought I’d show you first my efforts with my bead curtain that will sit over the doorway eventually.  After some time spent threading multi-coloured beads onto thread I decided two things, one there was too little weight so the beads did not drop down but instead they floated at strange angles and two, it didn’t look as ‘real’ as I wanted it to.  So I scrapped that and went with bugle beads, seed beads and cotton, this coupled with a slight unevenness gave me both a weighted curtain and one that had more possibility of looking real when in place.  



After I had threaded all of the beads on to cotton, using the doorway as a rough guide to size (there are around 14 strands to the curtain), I then attached the cottons to a cocktail stick which I will later paint.  This picture gives you a little idea of how it will look when in place.


 Around every corner there is a hurdle.  I was painting more sections of the caravan and began work on the windows only to find that the shutters are too big!  They are approximately (in my stickler for details opinion lol) about 1 half inch over size, or there about.  One covers the window, two over power the wall of the caravan, such a shame because I like the shape and they are the right height.  Happily, I found that when I pressed gently on the shutters, the side sections came off, making them just about the right size, fantastic! I painted these in the lovely buttermilk yellow that I am using for the wheels and undercarriage.  







As I said I’d been doing mostly painting and gluing but I have managed to make some wallpaper that I liked for the inside, it will hardly show once all the furniture in in place but I wanted something other than just paint as simple paint can be a little uninteresting and I want this caravan to be brimming with interest, so here is the wallpaper.


Inside you can see it is coming along and has great potential, nothing is glued in place yet as there is still a long way to go, I’m making the cupboard doors open etc so lots to do still and of course every inch will need some form of decoration but so far so good.
Next job will be adding detail to the outer shell. 








Don’t forget to enter my giveaway and check out my other blogs too.
Hugs
Gill x


Thursday 10 January 2013

Giveaway



I'm having four giveaways, see my Teeny Tiny Things Blog for full details. 
Giveaway 2 (Gypsy Caravan). A little plate with a cupcake, a cup an saucer, two fabric covered notebooks, some old letters and a heart necklace.
JFollow my Gypsy Caravan blog and post a link to your page to be entered into the draw for this mini giveaway.
As soon as I have 50 followers I will make the draw and inform the lucky winner.

 Good Luck!

Just an update...



The caravan is a slow project lol, between pram orders, other mini makes, waiting for materials to arrive and sorting out pictures of giveaways it’s not getting much of a look in.  Here is what I’ve done since last update. 



I gathered a few prints up to see how they would work with the colours I have chosen.  I plan to make lots of cushions, curtains and rugs. Speaking of curtains, I attempted the bead curtain and decided it will take an age threading all my tiny beads but I’m getting on with it anyway, it will be completed, even if I fall asleep several times doing it lol.  For the bead curtain I’m using some tiny beads that are larger than seed beads but not too big, they are just from the local cheap shop and cost around £1 for all of them, I’m also using a very fine nylon cord that I can hardly see.  I think I may have a problem with the weight of the curtain so I may need to add some heavy metal beads to the ends of each one to make it hang straight.  This is all trial and error so we’ll see what happens.



After painting some decoration on the caravan I decided I needed to print some flowers off to see how transfers would work and if they would look any better, I left a document open with all my pictures in so I could re-size them as I tested them out and somehow managed to close the program and loose the document, so disastrous results there lol.  However I think transfers will look better so I’ll get back on the case as soon as I have another day free because it takes that long to do.



I finally managed to get paint for the stove and I’m now faced with the dilemma of how to light it up from behind to look real with only a tiny space behind it.  I have some clear water that I can add colour to and maybe even paint up something to look like burnt wood and set in into the clear water to look like a lit stove.  My plan is to make it quite thin so a light will sit behind it and glow.  Of course this could all go to put because I need to research the effect of a small amount of heat on set clear water.  I could just end up using some gel like that used in filming for the lights instead.  I recon I can just use a tiny bulb and attach it to a battery; I have to think of a way to remove the battery and bulb easily for when it needs changing.  Such a high percentage of mini making is research and working out.   
Looking good!


I also glued in place one wall, sanded lots of things down and ironed on some floor.  Instead of paying a fortune for special dolls house wooden flooring cheated and went to the local DIY shop where it’s a lot cheaper, it is wider so it’s not to scale but it looks fine to me and if you wanted it thinner you could cut it down. 

This pic makes the van look really small.


Lastly I changed the shape of the door... I wanted it to be a three-way opening door with a curved top, so I set about making a curve in the front panel and then made two thin wooden doors to fit it.  





So that’s my caravan update for now, hopefully I’ll get some time this weekend to do more work and it may even start to actually look like a caravan lol
See you soon xx