The Thomas Studio #4

The roof is attached. I have added the rafters, non-working flourette lights, and the radiator and shelf from the 1:12 scale original. I will be adding some more interior details specific to my client, so the finished interior will be a bit different from the Thomas' version.

 

 

The roof exterior is metal, but I am going to do that later.

Next: the front window.

The Thomas Studio #2

I've finished building the side and back walls and have amost finished the interior walls and floor.

 

The walls are 1/64" birch plywood; the battens are .010 x .020 strip styrene. Because the grain of the plywood is on the large side for my scale, I painted the walls with acrylic craft paint rather than using the famous Thomas "Bug Juice." The weathering is done with watercolor pencil - wet or dry, depending on how dense I want the color to be.  The doorknob and the exterior shelves won't be put on until later so I won't knock them off when I'm working. Here is the left exterior:

 

 

And here is the other side.  The pieces on the plastic lid at the upper left of the picture are the legs and top of a shelf that will go next to the door on the inside.

 

 

 

Next: the roof.

 

 

 

 

A New Project

A customer has asked me to make a 1:144 version of Noel and Pat Thomas' "Rooftop Artist's Studio". (Pictures are propped up in the back) It's going to be a fun - and challenging - project.

The original 1:12 version is quite small - the studio is only a foot across on a base that's 19.5" wide. This makes the 1:144 version very small indeed! That's the base befind the ruler in the center of the picture.

Luckily, the customer took the class from the Thomases, and has been able to provide me with the instruction sheets and samples of the materials used. This will be a big help in making my version match the original as closely as possible, although of course I will have to use different materials in the smaller scale.

I plan to start with the building itself, and then move on to the front window. 

Guild School Class 2013

I will be teaching this colorful artist's studio at the IGMA Guild School this year.

The studio is a fun project, and will offer the opportunity to learn many tecniques for adding interesting details to 1:144 scale projects, including furniture and landscaping.

There are still a couple of openings in my class. I would love to see you there!
Here's a link for more information: http://www.igma.org/guild_school/index.html

P.S. If you have never been to the Guild School, be warned - it is absolutely addictive!

Christmas Eve

The magic of Christmas and walnut houses just seem to go together! This cozy cottage is all decorated and ready for a visit from St. Nicholas.

It's for sale on my web site : www.nellcorkin.com, and I'm offering free shipping for this item until Christmas.

Parget Cottage, 1623

It was so enjoyable making the Pargeted House, I just had to make another one. This one is smaller, but has the same kind of elaborate plaster decoration. The door and windows would be "improvements" done in later centuries.

The interior has cozy cottage furnishings and a sleeping cat on a hassock made by Sylvia Mobley.

Class for Chicago International 2013

In talking to people at shows, I've found that there seems to be a great deal of interest in "how-to" classes for finishing 1:144th scale interiors. With this in mind, I'm offering this class at Chicago International 2013.

It should be an enjoyable project for anyone, whether you have experience with 1:144 scale or not. Students will learn a variety of methods for creating and finishing furniture, including modifying cast resin pieces and scratch building from found materials, as well as painting and marbleizing techniques.

It should be up on the show website soon: http://www.bishopshow.com/chiinfo.htm