What fun!

I am on what most folk would consider the fun part at last - making bits and bobs and dressing the project.

I suppose I should really be struggling to get the doors on but I can fill in my time nicely with stuff like this:

Another great creation just for me from ELF - she is a life-saver.  This muddle of a photo is so you don't have to go through the whole process with me - everything I used is here.

• One kit cut to order plus two pages of instructions from Elf Miniatures
• Small jig to get right angles right-angled from Jane Harrop
• Clamps for, you guessed it, clamping from EBay (elastic bands will do)
• Two pieces of wood, cling film and other clamps (elastic bands will do) for taking any bends out of the thin pieces of wood when they are painted - when still damp, wrap in cling-film and put them between the planks and clamp together.
• My favourite (Country Cream) cream paint - Shades garden paint by Cuprinol - lovely colours, lovely finish beats acrylic every time if you can find the colour.
• Favourite acrylic gloss paint by Martha Stewart - black as black, one coat only, slight sheen.  I even used it on a cast iron cooker I made - great stuff
• Absolute favourite painting 'tool' a rub-down sponge thing from B & Q sold to smooth paintwork - great thing - takes out all your brush strokes and leaves silky smooth surface.
• My all time best ever glue!  I now use this for everything and I mean everything - it glues anything to anything including painted or stained stuff, dries clear and you can paint or stain over any residue.  I do windows with it, metal to wood, plastic to whatever etc etc etc.  it probably isn't supposed to do everything but truly it hasn't failed me yet.  It is deliberately slowish to set so if I don't want to clamp or hold a piece until it gets a grip I just slather it on and put it to one side and do something else for a couple of minutes.  It is then tacky-ready to grip its opponent nicely and I don't have to hang around.  It is called R/C Modellers Craft Glue by Deluxe Materials but I call it  rocket glue because it claims it can withstand impact on rockets taking off and landing.  Don't ask them for it by this name though 'cos they have a glue actually called that!

Mix them all together and we get this:

and, yes, the cupboard doors do slide

My next bit of construction was something to make Hepplewhite turn in his grave.  Not only did his furniture get miniaturised it then got turned in DIY kits.  To add insult to injury it ended up being painted green!

This is a House of Miniatures corner wash stand that I have had for a while and never found a home for.  I decided Vianne needed something up the corner by the sink for dishes.  Necessity being the mother of invention, she, like me, would paint an old piece of furniture to match the kitchen and make do for the time being.  So it became this:

Actually it is better than this, as that was a one-coat, last night's photo - today it had a coat of acrylic gloss and a bit of a rub down so is now as smooth as a baby's bottom.

In all the jobs I had in my working life I never managed to haunch or flaunch a chimney so apologies for the pretty rough job on these:  they are not as smooth as a baby's bottom.  I may have a go at smoothing them sometime but for now the pots are 'mortared' in place on top of the bricks and fillet.

I did this using the last of my B & Q ready to use filler - another all-purpose useful mini item.  I mixed in a little dab of black and dark green paint to try and make it look the right colour and then fiddled around trying to do a reasonable job.... mmmmmm?

If I was feeling a little knocked-back by these when I got up this morning this little gem revived my spirits.  

Postie delivered this lovely cooker from Country Contrast.

You might remember I have already bought a Warwick/Phoenix kit to do this myself but time is short and I have more pressing things to do (in RL as well as mini world) so I did a short-cut and sent for one of their wonderful ready done pieces.  Country Contrast are always in my top ten most wonderful products list and I always try to pick up a little something from their stall whenever I see them at a show just to remind me how great they are and to amass their lovely things over time.

and, yes, this door opens too!

As I said to its creator - this cooker has a special resonance for me as my mother had one (in speckly grey/blue) from the forties until 1994 when she moved to another home and we persuaded her to have a new cooker.  Her vitreous enamel coated cast iron old faithful was as immaculate as the day it was born and she was a great cook, so it was in continual use: not to mention it was our only source of heat in our kitchen so it even served as a 'gas fire'.  To coin a phrase - they don't make them like that any more - cooker or moms!

In the next couple of days I hope to get the opening doors and roof in place and dress a few pieces ready for the final 'dressing' and photographing.  Such an exciting stage of the build.