B. Zedan

A Miniature Respite

Posted by bzedan on Jul 23, 2022

[Main image description: A cool night-blue toned photo of a dollhouse that looks like an outdoor patio off of a glass-walled solarium. The angled makes it feel as though it is life-sized and the patio with its worn leather chair and plentiful plants looks very cosy. A bright light is on in the solarium, reflecting cheerily off the Spanish tile floor and palm-tree patterned wallpaper on the far wall. There are landscape photos on the wall and more plants on a side table.]

Over a year ago I picked up a Rolife miniature kit and when it arrived I had fun following the directions and putting together all the little components. Eventually, it went on the backburner but my brain has been itchy lately so it was time to break back out Crafts With Instructions. I wasn't very into the overall style that the kit intended, so from the start, I was using my own papers (pasting the bits to cut out on it) and paints, but once it came to putting the whole thing together is where I really had fun.

A series of three photos of a miniature scene being put together. From the left to right is a progression of an empty peach-stucco coloured patio shell with a raised tile area and palm tree wallpaper decorative wall, then the addition of faux black-framed glass walls forming an atrium, and finally a view from a slightly different angle showing accessories like plants and furniture added to the patio area.

No boring white walls! This is an outside space and I live in Southern California and the bulk of apartment buildings have one of mainly three types of colours on their stucco outsides (pink, peach-sand, and tan). I used Chase's colour printer and some of his giant stash of paper to make some fun wallpaper and fake Spanish tile in place of a flipper-style accent wall and white tile. I also used some of the components in different places (or not at all) and used fake leather to cover the little chair.

Two images side-by-side, showing different areas of the miniature patio in different lighting conditions. On the left, a slightly top-down view shows a worn leather chair next to a round side table that houses a candle and small plant in a bow, under a edge-worn wall shelf holding books and a wall planter with something leafy. Next to the chair is a sliding "glass" door, covered in sticky notes and an illegible quotation printed on what scale-wise is US letter-sized paper. On the right, the light is blue with twilight, contrasting against the cold clear light in the atrium. Viewed through the propped open window is a profusion of plants on a worn side table set against the wallpapered wall, under framed landscape photos.

I also did things like take sandpaper to the furniture and dry-brush grime on the wall to give the whole thing a lived-in feeling. Instead of the printables the kit came with I made little sticky notes and an inspirational quote to put on the windows and the pictures on the wall are from my photo printer. I also added some shiny and matte textures to the frame of the solarium (?) because aged stuff looks lived in, weather-worn and not always well repainted. Plus I made a window prop for the window. They wanted me to glue it open? No thanks! Like the door, it has metal tape hinges.

Chase helped with the wiring so the light is soldered to the battery switch not just twisted. Fancy and sturdy!! Anyway here are the "day" and "night" final shots.

A wider view of the partial dollhouse previously described, photographed on wrinkled orange and white striped fabric and angled to show the attributes from earlier detail images. The light evokes late afternoon golden hour in the southern US, with shadows thrown by the plants on the patio and most of the atrium in warm shadow

A wider view of the partial dollhouse previously described, this time the light evokes deep night, in a city area where there is always an ambient glow from streetlights. The light in the atrium is on, casting a clear and comparatively warm glow.

And here it is in comparison to the catalogue photo. Kits are really fun because they can teach you how to do things, for me that is being a little more impressionistic when making miniatures. But they can also be safe bases from which to play!

A side-by-side image of a catalogue image of the previously described dollhouse next to the "day" version of the dollhouse image above. The catalogue image has stark white walls, the interior wall of the atrium is a flat teal, and all the accessories are more profuse and look brighter and less worn, most particularly, the chair is fuzzy pink instead of worn leather.

Thanks as always to my supporters - the itchy brain that had me focusing on this kit has delayed some plans but as always I move stubbornly forward.

Crossposted with Patreon.

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