MamaV Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 My Great Aunt passed away last year, and my Mom managed to claim her dollhouse because none of the other family wished to store it. It came with so, so many bits and pieces, it would take much longer than I have today to showcase it. That being said, apparently my phone photos are unacceptable quality for the forum, so stay tuned while I wrangle it…. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 Geez Louise okay here we are: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 So sorry for the loss of your Great Aunt. Her dollhouse is beautiful! Love the porch. Looking forward to seeing how you and your Mom decorate it! Your phone photos look good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPCullen Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 It's beautiful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Look at all the furniture and stuff that comes with it! What a treasure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 14, 2023 Author Share Posted November 14, 2023 Thank you all, both for the condolences and the excitement. My great aunt (Bonny, if you wondered) was a bit of an odd duck, but her tendencies contributed to having every imaginable miniature addition to the house - down to a legendary TEENY tube of lipstick (I believe it opens???) that my Mom somehow didn’t miss while unpacking the whole shebang. I wish I had pictures of when it was set up, my little sister (10 yo) and her friends were so particular and tender when they played with it last year. Now that I’m getting more invested, hopefully it’ll be set up again soon! I do wish I knew more of its history though; if my aunt built it or bought it (I lean towards bought), how long she’d had it, how long her interest in it spanned before she died…so many questions I won’t get answers for, EXCEPT! She almost compulsively wrote down the date and price she paid for everything she bought, so mayhaps somewhere somehow there’s a personal record in that form…we’ll see, maybe! In the meantime, I’m grateful for the connection to an otherwise disconnected relative, and what a connection! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 14, 2023 Author Share Posted November 14, 2023 6 hours ago, havanaholly said: Look at all the furniture and stuff that comes with it! What a treasure. I also got all the duplicates to use on other houses!!! It’s the gift that keeps giving! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 14, 2023 Share Posted November 14, 2023 34 minutes ago, MamaV said: Thank you all, both for the condolences and the excitement. My great aunt (Bonny, if you wondered) was a bit of an odd duck, but her tendencies contributed to having every imaginable miniature addition to the house - down to a legendary TEENY tube of lipstick (I believe it opens???) that my Mom somehow didn’t miss while unpacking the whole shebang. I wish I had pictures of when it was set up, my little sister (10 yo) and her friends were so particular and tender when they played with it last year. Now that I’m getting more invested, hopefully it’ll be set up again soon! I do wish I knew more of its history though; if my aunt built it or bought it (I lean towards bought), how long she’d had it, how long her interest in it spanned before she died…so many questions I won’t get answers for, EXCEPT! She almost compulsively wrote down the date and price she paid for everything she bought, so mayhaps somewhere somehow there’s a personal record in that form…we’ll see, maybe! In the meantime, I’m grateful for the connection to an otherwise disconnected relative, and what a connection! I believe I am an odd duck too! Lol. We Dollhouse crafters do try to make the dollhouse as realistic as possible, even with a lipstick tube that opens! We are very detail oriented and most of us are probably perfectionists too. I wish I could live in my dollhouse! Maybe you will find pictures, from when the house was set up and more information about the house at some point. Sounds like your Aunt Bonny was very meticulous with how she wrote down everything. What a wonderful connection to have with your Great Aunt Bonny! I am sure her Spirit is happy seeing that you are taking an interest in her beautiful dollhouse. I did find a dollhouse online called a farmhouse. It looks very similar to your Great Aunt's house. Will attach the link. I will see what other info I can find. Looking forward to seeing pictures when you have the dollhouse all set up! https://csbergman.com/dollhouse-2-farmhouse/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 14, 2023 Share Posted November 14, 2023 I believe I found some more information about your Great Aunt's Dollhouse. I believe her dollhouse could be a Dura-Craft Farmhouse FH 500. I did notice that your Great Aunt's chimney is in a different location than the picture on the kit picture, but sometimes miniaturists do place the chimney at a different spot. I will share screenshot and link to blog. It is definitely a vintage dollhouse! https://nanasminis.com/yellow-farmhouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 14, 2023 Author Share Posted November 14, 2023 11 hours ago, LoriLovesMiniatures said: I believe I am an odd duck too! Lol. We Dollhouse crafters do try to make the dollhouse as realistic as possible, even with a lipstick tube that opens! We are very detail oriented and most of us are probably perfectionists too. I wish I could live in my dollhouse! Maybe you will find pictures, from when the house was set up and more information about the house at some point. Sounds like your Aunt Bonny was very meticulous with how she wrote down everything. What a wonderful connection to have with your Great Aunt Bonny! I am sure her Spirit is happy seeing that you are taking an interest in her beautiful dollhouse. I did find a dollhouse online called a farmhouse. It looks very similar to your Great Aunt's house. Will attach the link. I will see what other info I can find. Looking forward to seeing pictures when you have the dollhouse all set up! https://csbergman.com/dollhouse-2-farmhouse/ I'm worried about not being realistic enough; I mostly do dollhouses to have homes for my clay creations, and I'm not very good at realism yet. They'll usually look like what they're supposed to, of course, but it's still clearly clay that they're made of....we'll see what happens as I go along. I'm thinking maybe one house will be the clay "botched attempts" house and another will be the more perfectionist, realistic house. In any case, Aunt Bonny's house is the most realistic one my family owns! 10 hours ago, LoriLovesMiniatures said: I believe I found some more information about your Great Aunt's Dollhouse. I believe her dollhouse could be a Dura-Craft Farmhouse FH 500. I did notice that your Great Aunt's chimney is in a different location than the picture on the kit picture, but sometimes miniaturists do place the chimney at a different spot. I will share screenshot and link to blog. It is definitely a vintage dollhouse! https://nanasminis.com/yellow-farmhouse I think you're completely correct, it all lines up perfectly except the chimney. That brings me back to wondering if she built it or bought it that way....I'll have to ask my uncles or whoever was still in contact with her. The blog is also a beautiful inspiration and guide to refurbishing a completely different dollhouse (my Unknown Colonial that isn't unknown anymore but I don't have a better name), so thank you for finding and sharing it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 14, 2023 Share Posted November 14, 2023 4 hours ago, MamaV said: I'm worried about not being realistic enough; I mostly do dollhouses to have homes for my clay creations, and I'm not very good at realism yet. They'll usually look like what they're supposed to, of course, but it's still clearly clay that they're made of....we'll see what happens as I go along. I'm thinking maybe one house will be the clay "botched attempts" house and another will be the more perfectionist, realistic house. In any case, Aunt Bonny's house is the most realistic one my family owns! I think you're completely correct, it all lines up perfectly except the chimney. That brings me back to wondering if she built it or bought it that way....I'll have to ask my uncles or whoever was still in contact with her. The blog is also a beautiful inspiration and guide to refurbishing a completely different dollhouse (my Unknown Colonial that isn't unknown anymore but I don't have a better name), so thank you for finding and sharing it! What a neat way to display your clay creations! I would love to see them. They may look realistic to others. We can be too critical of our own work. I enjoyed looking at the pictures with the blog. I am glad that I found the inspirational blog for you! I do wonder if your Great Aunt Bonny assembled it. I am looking forward to seeing her beautiful, realistic house when you are ready to display it! You should call it the "Bonny House"! I recently bought polymer clay, a pasta machine and tools. I want to learn to make mini cakes. Have you ever made cakes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 15, 2023 Share Posted November 15, 2023 I made a layer cake once from some old shirt buttons and one ornamental floral button that were all the same diameter. I glued then into a stack with the ornamental button on top, sprayed them with two coats of Rustoleum gloss white (letting each coat dry between and glued a few itty red beads on top and put it on a Chrysnbon cake plate. The poly clay makes nifty cakes when you want to display one with a slice cut out. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pats Posted November 15, 2023 Share Posted November 15, 2023 You made a great point when you said you wish you knew more about the history of your aunt’s house. Maybe we should all include a note somewhere on our well loved houses, telling their story. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 10 hours ago, pats said: You made a great point when you said you wish you knew more about the history of your aunt’s house. Maybe we should all include a note somewhere on our well loved houses, telling their story. This is a great idea, Pats. I signed my dollhouse underneath the foundation, before I assembled it, but no one may notice that I did that. I thought about attaching a small piece of wood to the bottom back area of dollhouse with my name and the year when I started to assemble house and the year I finished. I may hide a note in the downstairs closet underneath the stairs! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 21 hours ago, havanaholly said: I made a layer cake once from some old shirt buttons and one ornamental floral button that were all the same diameter. I glued then into a stack with the ornamental button on top, sprayed them with two coats of Rustoleum gloss white (letting each coat dry between and glued a few itty red beads on top and put it on a Chrysnbon cake plate. The poly clay makes nifty cakes when you want to display one with a slice cut out. Very creative way to make a cake with buttons and beads! I love the polymer clay cakes I have seen with a slice cut out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 16, 2023 Author Share Posted November 16, 2023 On 11/14/2023 at 4:11 PM, LoriLovesMiniatures said: What a neat way to display your clay creations! I would love to see them. They may look realistic to others. We can be too critical of our own work. I enjoyed looking at the pictures with the blog. I am glad that I found the inspirational blog for you! I do wonder if your Great Aunt Bonny assembled it. I am looking forward to seeing her beautiful, realistic house when you are ready to display it! You should call it the "Bonny House"! I recently bought polymer clay, a pasta machine and tools. I want to learn to make mini cakes. Have you ever made cakes? I have some pieces that are more realistic than others; it's all an experiment! I haven't made a cake in a long time, if ever (I used to make Barbie food), but I've made macaroons! I think they were alright, I could've done better but I liked the process. Online tutorials are great, but can be intimidating because they seem so perfect. I really like Christi Friesen's work, it's not realistic usually but I love her style and humor! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 16, 2023 Author Share Posted November 16, 2023 23 hours ago, pats said: You made a great point when you said you wish you knew more about the history of your aunt’s house. Maybe we should all include a note somewhere on our well loved houses, telling their story. I never would've thought of this - I'll do that! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 On 11/16/2023 at 1:54 PM, MamaV said: I have some pieces that are more realistic than others; it's all an experiment! I haven't made a cake in a long time, if ever (I used to make Barbie food), but I've made macaroons! I think they were alright, I could've done better but I liked the process. Online tutorials are great, but can be intimidating because they seem so perfect. I really like Christi Friesen's work, it's not realistic usually but I love her style and humor! You will no doubt get better at making dollhouse food. It will take me some time to make the mini cakes the way I want them to look. I want to start making Easter cakes now, maybe I will master it by the time Easter is here. Lol. I have a few mini macarons that a seller sent me for free. They look so real. I love watching online tutorials. There is an Etsy seller who post videos on YouTube of the mini 1:12 scale cakes she makes. One of her cakes sells for $100 and up! Just think, your mini food will be close to perfect when you continue to practice making them. I never heard of Christi Friesen. I will check out the work she has done. I will attach a YouTube video tutorial I watched. This lady is a pro at making mini cakes. https://youtu.be/hRjoKc9SJQw?si=sCKsAboeN5BRPjb5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 19, 2023 Author Share Posted November 19, 2023 On 11/17/2023 at 6:02 PM, LoriLovesMiniatures said: You will no doubt get better at making dollhouse food. It will take me some time to make the mini cakes the way I want them to look. I want to start making Easter cakes now, maybe I will master it by the time Easter is here. Lol. I have a few mini macarons that a seller sent me for free. They look so real. I love watching online tutorials. There is an Etsy seller who post videos on YouTube of the mini 1:12 scale cakes she makes. One of her cakes sells for $100 and up! Just think, your mini food will be close to perfect when you continue to practice making them. I never heard of Christi Friesen. I will check out the work she has done. I will attach a YouTube video tutorial I watched. This lady is a pro at making mini cakes. https://youtu.be/hRjoKc9SJQw?si=sCKsAboeN5BRPjb5 Wait now I'm confused; if a house scale is 1" to 1', shouldn't the food have that scale too? How do you balance the different sizes??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 5 hours ago, MamaV said: Wait now I'm confused; if a house scale is 1" to 1', shouldn't the food have that scale too? How do you balance the different sizes??? I searched and found an informative blog that shows a size chart comparing the size of a real cake to what size a dollhouse cake would be. Even when a dollhouse is a 1" scale, you can make a dollhouse cake that is slightly larger than 1". For instance, I have a Halloween tier cake that I bought. The cake tiers are different sizes. The bottom cake tier is larger than 1". I will share the blog with you and a picture of my Halloween cake. https://decoratesmall.com/how-to-make-112-scale-dollhouse-cakes/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Angie Scarr discusses sizing food to 1:12 scale in one of her books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 13 hours ago, havanaholly said: Angie Scarr discusses sizing food to 1:12 scale in one of her books. And here I am, just realizing that 1:12 is the same as 1" to 1'.....genius, I is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 15 hours ago, LoriLovesMiniatures said: I searched and found an informative blog that shows a size chart comparing the size of a real cake to what size a dollhouse cake would be. Even when a dollhouse is a 1" scale, you can make a dollhouse cake that is slightly larger than 1". For instance, I have a Halloween tier cake that I bought. The cake tiers are different sizes. The bottom cake tier is larger than 1". I will share the blog with you and a picture of my Halloween cake. https://decoratesmall.com/how-to-make-112-scale-dollhouse-cakes/ That makes so much sense! Also, VERY cute decor!! Someday I'll get to the decor stage...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriLovesMiniatures Posted November 21, 2023 Share Posted November 21, 2023 Thank you so much! You will have so much fun decorating! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaV Posted November 22, 2023 Author Share Posted November 22, 2023 I was going through some of the miniatures I have from my great aunt tonight. Most of them are still in their packaging, and it feels almost sacrilegious to open them now...that being said, this is how she recorded what she bought. It seems she was only this particular on special pieces, because the dog was labeled and the cat was NOT. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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