Tag Archives: work style

Hoarding, or, a Miniature Builder’s Suggested Inventory:

Posted on March 19, 2012 by smallhousepress

Mini driftwood broken sorted by size, mini stones, gravel and pebbles, beach sand, bird gravel, mini bricks and seashells, 1 coffee tin beer pull tabs, rusty metal, rust dust, real-world-sized rusted wood–splitting wedge, railroad spikes and flatirons, baby bird head-feathers (don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Miniatures | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

The Ultimate Victorian: The Octagon House

Posted on January 8, 2012 by smallhousepress

Thanks to the frenzy of enthusiasm for Victorian architecture during the 1970s-80s, we had lots of reference materials, largely in the form of period architectural magazines, coming across the doorstep. Plus, our reputation as builders of miniature Victorians brought in … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Miniatures, People | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Diving In: The Model A Garage

Posted on December 31, 2011 by smallhousepress

When Allan Davis and Babs Raftery of Mr. Peepers mini-shop in Seattle asked us in 1981 to come up with a project for teaching our aging techniques, we had no idea of how much we didn’t know. They insisted that … Continue reading →

Posted in Miniatures | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

The Port Townsend, Pyrotechnics, and the Deer Revival

Posted on December 11, 2011 by smallhousepress

The Port Townsend, miniature house # 25, was the second of the major houses we built in 1981. It was named for a Victorian seaport on the Quimper Peninsula in Washington State, a town whose architecture deeply influenced our own … Continue reading →

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With a Little Help from Our Friends

Posted on October 8, 2011 by smallhousepress

Being our first commercial building, the 20thSt. Emporium required a jump-start for our learning curve. The three-story structure would include a 7-stool soda fountain and mirrored backbar. To show it off we wanted gold-leaf lettering embellishing the reflective surface of … Continue reading →

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The Bear and the Secret Room

Posted on July 21, 2011 by smallhousepress

The third house we completed in 1979 we called the Bear River (there are a lot of rivers in our neck of the woods, but this is one we had an up-close and personal with–blackberrying one summer’s evening on a … Continue reading →

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A Brick in Time

Posted on July 16, 2011 by smallhousepress

Last week the Den Mother of THE CAMP (the irrepressible miniatures chat group found at THECAMP@Yahoogroups.com) asked if I’d ever written about our bricks. While giving her the short answer, I remembered a brick story from the 80’s. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in Miniatures | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

When What’s Old Was New

Posted on July 8, 2011 by smallhousepress

Number 20, our second house of 1979, was a project of another sort—the customers specifically asked for less aging. At the time, the idea of aged miniatures was still new. The buyers wanted to display the house in their miniature … Continue reading →

Posted in Houses, Miniatures | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Dirty Little Secrets

Posted on July 1, 2011 by smallhousepress

In 1979 the world tilted in our favor–Mork & Mindy came on the air, and Suzanne, a new customer, asked for an aged house. Not just a hint of age, but old. “Show all the bumps and wrinkles, I love … Continue reading →

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To and from The Tool Pool: Our Gold Watch

Posted on June 26, 2011 by smallhousepress

Noel and I just returned from 15 days and our last teach-a-thon at The Guild School in Castine, Me, and our last class ever. The School and Castine were their usual lovely selves and difficult to say goodbye to. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio, Miniatures, People | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment