My Dollhouse May Soon Be Condemned for Structural Problems

New direction for
the capiz chandelier

Hi!  There is going to be a slow-down in the rate of posts since I returned to work this week.  Mini making is taking a backseat, but it was fun being able to "play" all day while it lasted.  Teaching is such an all-consuming profession; it leaves little time or energy for any other thing. 

I switched gears on the dining room lamp yet again, not in the design, but in the process by which I am achieving the design.  Rather than stringing the disks together, which is not working out with glue, and doesn't hang right with the same stringing technique that the full-scale world uses - it seems that miniscule circles made of plastic don't have enough weight to pull the string taught - I am fusing the disks together.  I provided a sneak peak, above.  Like most other projects, it is tedious, and time-consuming.  And I don't quite know how it will turn out.  In a way, it's exciting.  Oh, and the "one milk cap full of hole punch confetti" comment on my last post?  More like, fifteen half-pink milk container fulls and one serious case of carpal tunnel.  According to my calculations (WARNING: math ahead!!!), if I have a square pendant, with 3 strands of six circles on the inside, and 5 strands of three disks on the outside, that would mean I would need to punch:

• 6 x 3 x 4 (six disks long, by three strands per side, by four sides) =    72
• 3 x 5 x 4 (three disks long, by five strands per side, by four sides) =  60

Which means I need to punch 72 + 60 disks or 132 punches.  YeOuch!

My shade

Also, I finished one window covering for the master bedroom.  The drapery hardware is a plastic coffee stirrer with two star beads as finials, and the fabric is a free swatch from the Shade Store.  Shhhhh!  That is our secret, the Shade Store thing, kay?  I fabric glued the cut swatch to the straw.  Voila.

My Arco lamp had its neck
broken

Second floor collapsing onto
kitchen.

Another mini task taking up my time is fixing up what I've already completed.  One step forward, two steps back.  This is a toy, and it is being played with, and it is sustaining damage.  My Arco lamp proved to be "unsuitable for play".  The floor above the kitchen caved in.  I want the dollhouse to be a pristine, museum quality piece; my daughter wants it to be "well loved".  I'm trying to strike the same balance in my own home.  For those of you keeping score, Tootie Pie is winning.