Christmas Room Box

They're finished! I only took a picture of one, since all three are the same.

The dollhouse under the tree is 1:1728 scale (one twelfth of one hundred forty fourth scale.) It's not furnished - I have to draw the line somewhere!

Christmas Room Box

The three Christmas rooms are well under way. The room is a Victorian style parlor. The big, empty space is where the Christmas tree will go.

The gold leafed frame and the still unpainted liner are on the right.

The box will be mounted behind the frame and liner. Because it is smaller than the frame, the finished piece sits at an angle, which makes it easier to see inside.

The Christmas tree begins with a plain little brush tree. I cover it with snips of unraveled Bunka (a Japanese embroidery floss) to give it a softer, more pleasing apearance. I'll decorate it with micro bead ornaments and add tiny rhinestones to give the effect of lights.

Room Boxes

My new project is three Christmas room boxes. I've made this one before, but these will be a bit different because it's no fun to make the same thing over and over!

So far, I've gold leafed the frames and built the boxes. I'll be finishing the interiors today.

Pictures this weekend.

Finished "Tree House"

This piece took a lot of time and thought to complete.

A big decision was whether to add leaves; and if so, what size to use. I finally settled on life size leaves, because the branches and acorns are
real. I tried a number of sizes, and settled on leaves that are about 2 1/2" long, including the stems.

The leaves are "silk". I removed the hideous plastic veins they came with, and replaced them with delicate wire, which both looked more natural and allowed me to shape the leaves as I wished.

The landscape is early fall, when most things are still green, and the leaves are just beginning to turn.

I originally intended to call this "Aloft", but thought "Tree House" was really more appropriate, especially since I had already used "Aloft" for another piece.