Once Upon a Fold

I stumbled upon this very cool site celebrating all this paper and fold last night while looking for unusual dollhouses in Australia.

Once Upon a Fold

air vase

You have to click over. Justine from Sydney, Australia is its brainchild and a fellow paper-o-phile. (Did you read through my Peter Callesen post in 2006? Make sure you check out his amazing papercutting!)

I loved this dollhouse, the Lea:



What about this exquisite guitar folding model kit?



I am so tempted to get this architectural model kit.



But I got this instead: the popville book!



Even though I really really wanted this: reflection by Dutch artist Ingrid Siliakus.



But it's out of my budget... for now. It's gone into my wishlist though.

Justine's blog is well worth a read too! :)

What would your favourite shelter magazine do to a dollhouse?

Curbed National was launched in conjunction with Operation Dollhouse on 23 September 2010. Curbed sent out five identical dollhouses to editors-in-chief of Lonny, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful and Dwell.



Operation Dollhouse was such a success with each shelter magazine producing totally individual and creative responses!

Architectural Digest's creation:

House Beautiful's answer:

Lonny's inspired response:

Elle Decor's vignette:

Dwell's Editor in Chief Saw Grawe was overseas, but he still manages to impress!

How fun this must have been!!!

How I did it.

A few readers have asked me how I created those little things for Hannah's dollhouse. So I thought I'd reply with a post.



As you might know, Hannah is my daughter and she's about 3-and-a-half. So getting her the best dollhouse/miniature furniture often gets lost on little children and she often breaks them accidentally. So I didn't want to spend loads of them (do you know how much the good ones cost??). I also knew most furnishings could come straight from my craft supplies...



Must have tools:
Glue gun
Some glue paste
Double-sided tape

The transparent grandmummy buttons are great for glass bottles or pomander. Better if it's a thick transparent with some bevels and grooves. Just attached a pretty pink button on the top... and you have a pretty vintagey pomander.



I have plenty of Swarovski beads that I use for invitations or jewellery. I used them to make perfume bottles and shampoo bottles for Hannah's bedroom and bathroom. I love it when the sunlight hits it and it becomes so ... perfumery! :)



I also attached a plain green button one of my glass button and it's now a bathroom accessory.

I made the shower curtain from vintage ribbon :) Just hop to Spotlight or any craft store, and get stiff wide ribbon. I attached it to the rod by folding over a length and secured it with double-sided tape.



And because all of those cupboards and drawers open and close, I wanted to signal to my 3 year old that one in particular was for dresses so I attached some buttons to the fronts. Helped that I had handy some dress buttons!

So it's buttons and beads again in the kitchen. Like the pile of plates in the kitchen and the plates on the dining table.



I filled the green button plate with glue from the glue gun. With my beading tweezer, I put a selection of beads that emulated sushi and Japanese bits.

I made a pile of red buttons and placed it on Hannah's dresser... to be like a vase or some art sculpture. :)



For the clock, I just got a pretty flower button and drew the clock hands.

So... I guess I'm at the end of show-and-tell. The other bits... were scrapbooking papers for floors, walls...

Dollhouse within a book?

If you've followed my blog long enough, you'll have noticed I do like some very modern dollhouses. I discovered this... a laser cut project to cast your dream home in.. well... loads of paper!

Olafur Eliasson of Visions in Paper can laser cut (no doubt for a very pretty dollar) a negative space of your house... he did his in 85:1 scale for MOMA.

Via IaaC Blog. Pics from Kremo

.

A dollhouse and a Rose

Don't you just love the fun clothes Rose (played by actress Melanie Lynskey) of Two and a Half Men? I do. She's one of two people on screen who've inspired me to redo my look (or lack thereof!)

Anyway, I was watching Two and a Half Men (reruns) on TV last night while completing the ensemble for Hannah's 3rd birthday gift from me.



Months ago I bought an age-appropriate dollhouse (sans furniture) from Salvos and finally received the furniture I got off eBay via my in-laws.



I'm quite happy with the furniture pieces. They LOOK like the thing: a chair, table, lamp, sink etc... even got a cute shower stall! And they open and close... even the cute washing machine! (And they're PINK!)



The back of the dollhouse already had pre-pasted pictures of sink, fireplace etc... And clashed with the furniture pieces I got. So I replaced the back of the dollhouse with some scrapbooking paper from my vast collection with spray glue. I chose patterns that would allow the newly bought pieces to stand out... and tried to match the wallpaper with the rooms.



Will get to the front of the house when I can be real bothered!

But there's no food, no cutlery, no pretty extras... that are everything to a little girl. (And her mum.) So that was not good.

So I had to raid my craft cupboard for the extras... you know, beads, buttons, scrap cloths and a glue gun.

Plates from green buttons and platter from a large black one! Glued some beads onto the buttons to simulate rice, sushi, egg roe. Still thinking how to craft cups... Any ideas?



Also stuck on some of the new lace-tape on the lamp for embellishment. I also glued on a pink floral button for a clock and drew on some hands. Left some green button-plates on the sink (need to maintain reality, don't we!).

The material the came with the shower stall for shower curtains were flimsy, cheap sheer stuff... so I replaced it with some extra wide vintage ribbon.



Love my crystal pomander in the bathroom area? I got some more in the bedroom area. I made a few similarly simple boudoir pieces... again from buttons and a glue gun.



I put together the house and furniture placing...













I am well pleased. And Hannah is too :) Her plates look like real Japanese platters! :)

Abura's Japanese House: Casa de Ruth

After I posted his magnificent dollhouse creation just last week, José Carlos Mariño Veira from Abura wrote me a few days ago thanking me as well as to let in on his newest project, which is as astounding!

You know how I scanned images from my favourite children's book, Mouse by House by George Mendoza many moons ago?

When I first saw the pictures of José's latest dollhouse, I immediately remembered Lazy Cat's Japanese house!

Scanned from my own copy

I don't know if you will see similarities too... but there are very similar lines and look to Jose's latest work, not so much a dollhouse (like his previous project) but more a ... treasure in a (beautifully crafted) box.









Jose, who is behind Abura Dollhouses, makes them to order.

A Dollhouse Inspired: Barbie & Me

I can't afford my favourite dollhouse ever.

The Bozart Kaleidoscope House

Or the M112 Pod, my second favourite dollhouse, ever.

The M112 Pod, via Mini Modern

But I did pick up this Barbie dollhouse for Hannah for $8.50 at the local Salvos about a year or two ago. It's got almost no furniture left, stickers are in the wrong spot and the front door and fold out counter is missing. No Barbie doll either. (But the phone and microwave work...)



I didn't think I could make this into something designer-esque, although I have been dying to get my own modern dollhouse (adult only!).

But mazzie22 has shown me the error of my ways! I found her Flickr set this morning and am particular inspired by how she's changed hers.

Look, look look!









I'm so inspired. Watch this space as I steal this underused Barbie house to designer-esque it up!

Speaking of ultra inspiration to Barbie homes, check out Haute Doll's photographer Michael Williams a.k.a. mawphoto's EXCELLENT Jonathan Adler-esque Barbie home!















And of course, to celebrate Barbie's 50th Anniversary, he was invited to the Barbie House, designed and decorated by extraordinaire designer, Jonathan Adler! And here are photos of the Barbie house:


You can't see this here... but that sunburst mirror above the fireplace is made from Barbie dolls!


And those chandeliers are made from Barbie hair!

Barbie & Jonathan Adler photos by Michael Williams/Haute Doll Magazine