Jane's attic update No LIII: a very special doll.

Last week I was at a miniatures fair in the city of Arnhem, The Netherlands, organized by DollsHouse Nederland in a truly exceptional venue: a gothic church in the city center! Below are some pictures of the scene.

The whole fair was an incredible gathering of magnificent artists showing skills that made one feel very humble indeed! The level of expertise was stunning, and the items displayed jaw-dropping. 

One of these artists was Mrs Victoria Heredia Guerbós, a miniaturist and sculptress from Málaga, Spain. I would actually add 'magician' to her titles, because the miniature dolls she makes look as if made by magic! I bought one of these tiny little wonders for Jane's attic. Below are some pictures of it for you to enjoy.

The doll is made in exquisite detail, everything about it is just right! She has five fingers on each hand, her legs can move, and she even has tiny beads for eyes, which were painted green. The doll's clothes are made of antique fabric for that extra authentic look. And to put things into perspective, you should know that she's just 2,5 cm tall!!! That's 0,98 inches!!! As I said: magic!

The doll even came with her own cardboard box. She didn't have a name, but I will call her 'Victoria' to honor the wonderful lady that created her.

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© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No LII: attaching frames to the walls.

Jane's attic holds many old portraits and enigmatic paintings hanging from its aging walls, sitting on the dusty floor, or the dilapidated sofa! These are interesting enough to be reviewed in a separate blog, but the purpose of this one is to discuss the way they are attached to the attic walls.

Most dolls house builders use some sort of adhesive wax or paste to fix frames to walls. That is a quick and effective way of doing things, and what's more, the paste is more or less removable. However, despite the advantages, this is not my preferred method. For starters, I like to work on the back of the frames as much as on the front, even though the back is hidden from view for obvious reasons. I don't mind that the extra details will become invisible; to me it's enough to know that they're there! Hence, if I put so much effort in making a frame look like a frame, then hanging it like one comes only naturally!

I feel that hanging the frames on the walls in the same way real ones are done, adds that extra bit of realism to my work. To achieve this, I attach a metal cord or loop to the back of the frame, and hang it from a metal hook stuck into the wall. By doing this, the upper part of the frame comes a bit off the wall, adding depth, specially when shadows and lights come into play. This is something that cannot be achieved by fixing the frames with adhesive paste (ok, it can be done, but it looks very ugly!). True, it's a lot of additional work, but I think the result is worth the effort!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No LI: an antique wall crank telephone.

Now that the attic is as good as finished, I find great pleasure in adding extra's to it, be it a box, a book, or a portrait. Even when some of these items are quite small and 'humble', each of them enhances the attic's overall appearance.

Going through my miniatures stash, I came across a nice, antique wall crank telephone which I thought would look great in the attic, even though it was in desperate need of some old-fashioned 'weathering'. After completion, it came to look like this:

But that's not how it initially looked like! The below image shows the same phone before the make-over.

As you can see, it looked way too pristine for the attic! So... I decided to get my hands on it, and make it look more like the early 1900's telephone it was supposed to represent!

For starters, I needed to get rid of that awful plastic cord, which resembled a garden hose, rather than a phone cord. Above is the 'hose' next to its replacement, a more realistic cord.

The ear piece needed some attention too. Some research work helped me figure out how a real ear piece would look like, so I tried to do something similar with this one. The result can be seen in the below images.

Then some work was done to the mouth piece as well. I didn't drill any holes in it because the piece is so small that I feared of destroying it completely, even using the smallest of drills. I did, however, weather the metal part, to make it look like corroded brass.

Finally, I gave the crank some attention. In the old days, many rural areas required the use of a magneto crank and internal battery to generate the current needed to use the phone, until the introduction of electricity made these unnecessary. Yet this type of telephone remained in use for many decades.

I must say I'm very pleased with the final result, so the old crank telephone is now ready to be attached to the wall!

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© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No L: a crucifix.

Hi all,

Here's a new little item for the attic: a crucifix. I made it using wood, cardboard and paper. The figure of the Christ is purposely quite abstract, because the idea was not to create a distinct and anatomically perfect image, but rather a 'feeling', a recognizable 'symbol' of the Passion.

The image below shows the miniature in the palm of my hand. It measures 2,5 x 2,0 cm (0,98 x 0,78 inches), so it's quite small.

Below is a possible location for the crucifix, above a dresser. It's by no means a central location, being on one of the side walls, yet I feel the image is quite 'commanding' nonetheless; its presence can be felt even when looking at the attic as a whole. Not sure if I'll leave it there, but I do definitely like it.

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No XLIX: An old bible.

Sometimes, even a seemingly simple and trivial object makes an interesting subject for a 'makeover' and, subsequently, a blog. Looking for items to add to Jane's attic, I came across a miniature bible which I had all forgotten about. However, it looked rather 'basic' and, honestly, quite boring. So I decided to work on it, and turn it into something more eye catching. 

For starters I weathered its cover to make it look like old, heavily used leather, instead of the 'brand new' look it originally had. By doing so, the color changed from deep, uniform black, to a more varied black/gray/white pattern. The golden print which reads "Holy Bible" was weathered too, making it faded and almost unreadable.

I also created 'pages' where there were none, this being one of those 'dummy' books that have a solid body.

I tore off the spine, and added a layer of fabric, weathered it, then put back the spine, but left it largely loose, as if it's about to fall off at any time.

When I was done, I was left with a very old and well-worn looking bible; a book that could easily be one hundred years old. I do have some books that old, and a couple of them look like this too.

The above image showing the little bible in the palm of my hand gives you an idea of its size. I'm very pleased with the result, I hope you like it too!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No XLVIII: Little Annie and her kittie.

Jane's attic holds many interesting items, and this portrait is definitely one of them. Titled "Little Annie and her kittie", this miniature print is a reproduction of a nineteenth century lithograph which was published by the American printmaking firm Currier & Ives of New York.

Between 1835 and 1907, the firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored. Because the lithographs could be produced quickly and purchased inexpensively, the firm advertised them as "colored engravings for the people."

"Little Annie and her kittie" graces Jane's attic as can be seen in these images. One thing remains a mystery though: several people have reported seeing the spectre of a white cat in and around the old house. Could it be, that, perhaps...?

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No XLVII: Another sneak preview.

Hi All,

Here's another update for Jane's attic: a picture showing part of the room with the staircase. This is a little room next to the main attic room. It is here where the chilling spectre of a woman dressed in a wedding gown can often be seen...

"The dead will not lie still,

And things throw light

On things."

Theodore Roethke, American poet (1908-1963)

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.