Creating French Miniatures

 Creating my own miniature pieces for the dollhouse is exciting.  

There is a big learning curve, as miniature making is fiddly work, 

and requires patience and precision. 

 Behold the French Dressing Screen! 

 Sitting at my desk, I created this screen out of paper and paint, with the 

exception of the legs, which are made from dollhouse staircase balusters.

Bristol Paper, which is heavy card stock, is cut according to a pattern

found in my favorite book on miniatures:  The Big Book of a Miniature House, by

French author and miniaturist Christine Lea Frisoni.  She also writes a blog,

which is linked on my blogroll on my right hand sidebar. If 

you are reading this on a mobile phone vs a laptop or desktop,

you can scroll to bottom of blogpost and 

click on "view web version" to view the sidebar. 

 Her book has many DIY projects and this one was the one I decided to try.

 It required Bristol or heavy paper, and acetate paper for the mirrored area,

as well as a printed paper in a pretty  French vintage inspired design.

 The screen gets assembled as if a sandwich, with back solid sections 

layered over with the mirror paper. Then I glued the printed paper to the 

bottom of the mirror, to line up with the top framework of the screen.

 The book says to insert the decorative paper at the end, but I found it 

easier to glue the pink floral paper to the mirror first.

 The finishing touches are the wooden legs, 

and the ribboned bows at the top, which are made of thin paper strips.
Lea shows how to do this in the book.

Its a charming addition to my French dollhouse.

I have much work to do on the house, but finding or making pieces 

that fit my esthetic are ongoing as I complete the interior rooms. 

 Making flowers out of paper is another project in the book.

Lea (the author ) makes them from crepe paper streamers, that she paints 

in a water color way so the colors of the petals are soft and realistic.

I used a coffee filter as I did not have streamers on hand.

 The result was ok, but not as great as the flowers Lea makes....

I will be making more once I buy some streamers. 

One other neat thing I discovered was three dimensional paint!

I used gold 3D paint to add some details to my pastry table and

I loved the result.  These little projects will add nice personal touches to 

the house.  I have a special Vintage piece of furniture coming....

excited to share when it arrives!