New Pattern - Dollhouse Miniature Chinese Rug

Last week I didn't have any time to work on my Antique Kazak rug in 1/12th scale, but I completed a couple of little commissions that I will show later, and a new Needlepoint pattern for a Dollhouse Miniature rug has been designed.

Let me introduce you Chinese Rug.

There are 181 x 205 stitches

This rug can be stitched on 22 count canvas, 35, 40, 47-49 count silk gauze

If you use 22 count canvas the finished rug will measure 8.23" x 9.32"
(20,90 x 23,96 cm). This size of the rug also will be suitable for 1/6th scale dolls.

If you chose 35 count silk gauze the finished rug will measure 5.17" x 5.86"
(13,14 x 14,88 cm)

If you chose 40 count silk gauze the finished rug will measure 4.53" x 5.13"
(11,49 x 13,02 cm)

If you chose 49 count silk gauze the finished rug will measure 3.69" x 4.18"
(9,38 x 10,36 cm)

If you need to minimize the size of the rug to fit your setting, please,let me know.

The price for Needlepoint pattern "Dollhouse Miniature Chinese Rug" is $15.00.

If you are interested to purchase it, please, contact me privately at scarletsails@live.com

Black Rose is a Symbol of Sadness, Red Rose is a Symbol of Love - Part 2

"Colors speak all languages", Joseph Addison says.

What Black and Red colors speak to you about?

My favorite color among of all is BLACK.

Black color signifies almost everything for me: logic, passion (yap! even passion!), depth, magic, secrets, life, beauty, death, fear, endless adventure, hidden knowledge, fullness, etc...

This is exactly what my new creation represents. I dressed a mannequin in red and black dress for my future scene "Black Rose is a Symbol of Sadness, Red Rose is a Symbol of Love".

First I made an underskirt

Then a skirt and a bodice

Sleeves, little trims here and there...

After the dress was done, I pinned it and sprayed with hair spray.

Done...

...You've got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that's real...

More coming...

Antique Kazak Rug in 1/12th scale - Week 10

The work on Antique Kazak rug in 1/12th scale is progressing.

As you can see, I worked in "coloring" the horns and finished outlining the inner border

I decided to upload a couple of pictures of the process made last week for you to see the difference in the progress. You probably think - not significant. I must admit it is a time consuming process, especially when you have a lack of time. I use 12"-14" thread for stitching. It takes me this amount of thread and 15-20 minutes (believe it or not!) to "color" each horn. Now let's do some math, to finish filling up 10 horns will take approx. 5 hours per a day. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of luxury. Last Sunday I finished 11 horns and it took me 4 hours and 25 minutes total:

After that, on Monday and Tuesday I worked on the inner borders:

and finally on the 10/10/12 I was ready to finish that outlining:

See you next Sunday!

Natalia

Черная Роза - Эмблема Печали, Красная Роза - Эмблема Любви, Part 1

Легенда о Чёрной Розе

Киммерийская Роза - изысканный запах и цвет,
Переливы рассвета в пелёнах зелёного крепа...
Восторгались красой: и король, и мудрец, и поэт,
И на шёлк лепестков в умилении плакало небо...

В жаркий полдень Пчела прилетала нектара испить,
Шмель красавице-Розе о чём-то жужжал баритоном,
Златокудрое Солнце, раскинув тончайшую бить,
Вышивало узор на тугих, нераскрытых бутонах.

Но однажды случилось: влюбилась Она в Мотылька.
Трепетало и пело от чувства цветочное сердце.
Без желанного дни превращались для Розы в века,
А роскошная клумба вдруг стала тюрьмой страстотерпиц.

Ей бы с Ним... в облака... избежать начертанье Судьбы,
С Ним со шпилей церквей любоваться вишнёвым закатом,
"Вальс цветов" танцевать… и, защитные сбросив шипы,
Прислониться к Нему, увлекать, опьянять ароматом...

Хоть и знала Она: поднебесье бескрылых не ждёт!
Без корней и земли лепестки потускнеют от жажды,
И свободным падением станет свободный полёт, -
За безумство страстей рассчитаться придётся однажды.

Мотылёк прилетал, - исчезали сомнение, страх...
Ей казалось, весь мир наполнялся малиновым звоном.
Как же он целовал... как он лапкой шалил в лепестках...
Как тычинки ласкал, укрываясь парчовым хитоном..!

Только видно злой Рок не читал о любви мадригал...
Ветер, к Розе ревнуя, замыслил недоброе дело:
Подлетел к Мотыльку, красоту его дивную смял,
А влюблённая Роза от горя за миг почернела.

Чёрной Розе с тех пор по ночам не поют соловьи,
Никому из живущих на праздник её не вручали.
А была ведь она совершенством, эмблемой любви,
Да вот ревность её превратила в эмблему печали...........
(Алина Вельдж )

It is sad, but I am not planning to translate you this wonderful poem. I hope your translators will do a decent job with it and you will get the sense of the poem.

This is a story of my roombox I am working right now and I called it "Черная роза - эмблема печали, красная роза - эмблема любви" that is translated in English as "A black rose is a symbol of sadness, red rose is a symbol of love".

For the scene I needed black roses and 1 red rose. I asked my friend from a big mini world, Jeannette Buchholz from Garden of Miniatures if she could make them.

http://gardenofminiatures.blogspot.com/

Jeannette agreed and in a short period of time (!!!) made me this beautiful bouquet of black roses with the black petals (picture of the black petals will be uploaded later) and the single red rose.

Aren't they amazing?

I tried to take the close-up pictures to depict the depth of the black petals' color. I hope, you can see that Jeannette did a very great job executing the shadow of burgundy on the black petals!

This single red rose is another masterpiece. Don't forget to click on the picture to see all details.

Jeannette also made these little black petals and send me an adorable mini book full of the images of her magnificent flowers.

I am more than happy with the quality and all details!

Jeannette, thank you very much!

Natalia,
going to sleep, tired but happy

New Needlepoint Pattern Area Rug for 22 count Canvas

I've been asked to design the dollhouse miniature area rugs for stitching on 22 canvas.
I must admit it appeared that designing for 22 count is more challenging than for 40-49 count. The reason is that I have to simplify a lot for 22 count canvas.

Anyway, here is a new needlepoint pattern for your dollhouse, can be stitched on 22, 32, 35 count canvas. It measures 5" x 7" if stitched on 22 count. You can use 40 count as well if you need a little rug that measures 2,5" x 3". It is an easy to stitch and not complicated design. You also can change the colors.

If you are interested to purchase this pattern, please, contact me personally at scarletsails@live.com.

Good night,

Natalia

Antique Kazak Rug in 1/12th scale - Week 9

I can't believe another week has passed by...

I had time to stitch only today and am sure that if I stitch that amount of time that I devoted today, I would have finished the borders months ago. For now it is what it is.

As you can see I started "color" the horns in the main border.

I would like to stress the importance of symbolism in Kazak carpets. In carpet design, symbols can be broken down into those hoped to bestow good fortunes onto a household and those intended to protect it from bad ones. The ram's horn motif (that I use in this design) is by far the most popular Kazak motif (khoshkhar muiz) in all its variations - single, double, cross-shaped or broken and considered life bringing symbol of prosperity. The ram’s horn symbolizes manhood, male fertility, strength and bravery.

Next week I will tell you more about the Kazak rugs.

Have a creative Sunday!

Natalia

First Attempt in Sculpting a Male Doll in 1/12th scale

Back to SMARTFLIX.COM.

I know that there are a lot of tutorials out there in the Internet how to sculpt a doll in 1/12th scale. There are also books, classes and many other sources.

Since I've stumbled upon www.smartflix.com, I decided to rent a DVD "Sculpting Miniature Dolls" in 1/12th scale in Polymer clay by Evelyn Lenz Flook in spite of the fact that it has only 3 stars. When I got the DVD I understood why it was rated only 3 stars - the promised pattern was missing. Probably somebody expropriated it and SmartFlix service forgot to replace the pattern. So, if you decide to rent this DVD, call them, be sure, they won't forget to put FREE pattern as listed in the description.

The basic information given in this DVD was simple and useful for me, taking to the consideration that I've never sculptured dolls in my life. I think, now I am ready for more serious work in sculpting a doll. I mean it: MORE SERIOUS! but later about it...

Evelyn Lenz Flook shows the sculpting techniques on making a male doll. When I started the project, I didn't have any idea what "kind of man" I wanted to make. The idea of a character was born as soon as I started working on his head and face.

I made an armature

and attached and formed a head

After that I draw lines on the face indicating where the eyes, nose and mouth will be sculptured

I attached a small piece of clay and shaped a nose

I wanted him to have a mustache and made them from a polymer clay

Since I have no idea (yet) how to paint a doll's face, I decided to use already made eyes

The most fun I got from working on his ears:

The head is done. Oh, don't tell me he is not handsome. We say in Russia "Мужчина должен быть чуть симпатичнее обезьяны", and it is not an offence, it is a compliment, because not the appearance makes a man man, but his actions.

After that I worked on his torso and arms, later I added boots.

I will finish his body, paint his face and dress. I will show you my gentleman when he is ready to shine!

Have a great and productive weekend!

Natalia

SMARTFLIX.COM

If you didn't know yet, there is a website WWW.SMARTFLIX.COM. This website, just like Netflex.com, for instance, contains a huge number of DVD's available for you. The difference is that all DVD's on SmarFlix.com are educational. It depends on what you want to learn, wood turning or weaving, knife making or sculpturing, etc... The website contains more than 6,771 how-to-DVD's. If you are interested in Dollhouse miniatures, guess what, they have it too. Start with the Home page. On the left-hand side bar you can see Titles. Go to ARTS and CRAFTS

A new page will be opened and you will see ARTS and CRAFTS SUBCATEGORIES. Find DOLLS AND MINIATURES,

and voila! you are in the miniatures' world and can chose whatever subject you are interested in.

I am not sure about the International shipping, check it up, please.

Now PROS and CONS:

No doubts, it is a great place where you can find a DVD of your interest and learn new skills. To rent 1 DVD costs you $9.99 unless it is a set of 2-3 DVDs (from $16.99 to $19.99). They sent you your DVD and you can keep it for 10 days (for $9.99). Of course, you can keep as long as you want but for each additional week you have to pay additional $4.99.

My advice: don't rent too many DVDs at one time. The reason is, as I've said already, the rented DVD is sent to you to enjoy for 10 days. If you live, like me, on the West of the country, the DVD will arrive in 2-3 days. It will take the same 2-3 days to ship it back, it means that you have only 4-6 days to watch and use this DVD. In my opinion, it is not too much time, at least for me.

There is another option, you can sign up for what is called "SmartFlix University" in a specific category, for example, Polymer Clay. In this case each month they will ship you 3 DVDs in Polymer Clay and you can keep them for a month. When you are done with these 3 DVDs, you can send them back, but new 3 DVDs you will get only next month. All this pleasure is for monthly payment of $19.99.

The University is comfortable to use only when you are interested in the whole subject, like, for instance, I picked up Sculpting. I am also interested in Scroll Sawing but I am not going to sign up for the whole Wood Working University just because I don't need the rest of the information they offer. Makes sense, true?

I hope you liked this information. If you've heard about this site and rented the DVDs before, I would like to hear your opinion and thoughts of your experience.

Have fun,

Natalia

Antique Kazak Rug in 1/12th scale - Week 8

I was able to work on my rug only last 3 days and didn't progress to much, but at least almost finished with the right side of the outer border and started to form the third layer of borders of the rug in the middle.

Just a reminder: I am using 49 count silk gauze and Gloriana overdyed silk.

I would love to finish this rug at the end of October. Ha-ha-ha - Napoleon's plans!

have a great week,
Natalia