The second video is about the books on marquetry that I have in my collection. Lots of books in English, Roubo books, for example. And several really good books in Russian, mostly exhibition catalogues.

Let’s start with these two Italian footstools, you can find a process of making them in one of my videos on my Youtube channel.

The first painted lacquer cabinet, that was made for PIMA awards at Kensington Dollshouse Festival, the second one was made later.

Another Italian project, and armchair, quite complex carving, lots of gold and oil painting.

One of my favorite and one of the smallest projects:

Another favorite, lots of details, that I thought I’d never be able to achieve.

Another Italian piece, this time in scagliola technique. I’m really proud that I was able to make it in miniature.

A French side table, made for IGMA school auction.

There’s so much more to show. Till the next time!

Получила! Для тех кто не совсем в курсе – есть такая международная организация, которая объединяет миниатюристов по всему миру, называется IGMA – International Guild of Miniature Artisans, в гильдию можно вступить любому (однако нужно платить ежегодный взнос), а можно еще получить статус Artisan (еще выше Fellow), который подтверждает высокое качество ваших работ. Статус дается тем, кто отправил свои работы на рассмотрение и получил положительное решение гильдии. Каковы преимущества у тех, кто получил статус артизана? Можно преподавать в гильдийской школе, участвовать в гильдийском шоу, которое проводится каждый год в сентябре, ну и приятный бонус для ваших клиентов. Правда, преподавать я пока не планирую, да и гильдийское шоу мне неудобно по времени, но это уже совсем другая история.

Выше пять предметов, которые я отправляла на экзамен. Отправка, нужно сказать, дело весьма хлопотное. Из сопроводительных документов нужно было предоставить анкету, которую можно скачать на сайте гильдии. Я также приложила небольшую книжечку о пяти предметах, которые я сделала с фото и описанием процесса работы.

Начну с самого любимого предмета, пуф, для которого я вышила по своему дизайну обивку (это шелковая канва 56 каунта и Глориана Тюдор шелк). Деревянная часть – айвори, новая для меня порода. Прекрасна для миниатюры, ужасно дорогая. Довольно сложно резать правда из-за того, что очень-очень светлая, нужно определенное освещение.

Второй предмет – американский стул. Второй в полусобранном состоянии, будет готов ближе к Чикаго. Он уже сделан из груши. Обивка – шелк.

Третий предмет – Hepplewhite sideboard, вот даже не знаю как перевести, буфет в стиле Хэпплуайт? С виду очень прост, но, чтобы геометрические инкрустации смотрелись идеально, пришлось потратить много времени и сил.

Фурнитура делалась специально для буфета, овальные ручки – литье из латуни.

Самый интересный для меня предмет – настольный мольберт, итальянский, с массивной резьбой. Полка регулируется. Тоже резался из айвори, на мелких деталях очень прилично себя ведет дерево.

Ну и последний – столик для чайника в стиле Чиппендейл. Тоже из айвори. Для столика уже в процессе был и чайник (в латуни и серебре), но решила не отправлять, чтобы не смущать никого, ведь я отправляла работы на категорию “Мебель”.

Вот такие предметы, на работу ушло три месяца. Вроде немного для пяти предметов, особенно с таким количеством резьбы и мелких деталей. Но это только начало, впереди шоу в Чикаго в апреле и, возможно, в Кенсингтоне в мае, так что расслабиться не получится!

Here are casted pieces

All the parts needed cleaning and fitting. The most important was fitting, because during casting process the part shrinks a bit.
Overall, it wasn’t an easy project, I don’t think I’ll make another table like this again, I mean this model, because I found several modeling mistakes during assembling, which I had to fix.

Some of the parts are turned on a lathe. So, even if you do brass casting, still there’s huge amount of hand work.

The last part – brass blackening.

Here you can see a technical drawing of the table on the table:

Despite all the difficulties I had to face, I won’t stop. I have a piece I’m pretty excited about. It’ll be a lot of work, metalwork!

I should also say that the original screen is fully made of wood, in my version a pole and a finial are made of brass. The finial was traditional too, but I made a parrot

The screen is stitched on a 90 count silk gauze, with Chinese silk floss.

The base of the screen is made of pearwood. The finial initially was pretty simple:

Then it became a parrot (my own model brass casted)

It took me 7 months to stitch the screen, 1-2 hours a day, everyday. After finishing it, I said to myself that I’ll never make something like this ever again, but I guess it’s pretty obvious for me now, that I’ll be stitching another piece soon. And I know what it’s going to be!

A bit of a process:

The frame is made of pearwood, stained and finished with shellac.
Here how it looks now:

The lamp shades are covered with silk and decorated with 16/0 beads, I couldn’t find any smaller.

The lights are not working yet, they will be LED lights, but I also bought some traditional so maybe I’ll change them.

The carved elements were gilted, the rest of the table is painted with acrylic gouache. Later during Chicago show I was lucky to speak to Robert Dawson, who suggested that inner parts of the table, a vase and the flowers were made of bronze. So I decided to make a new version of this table. With the real marble table top and cast bronze parts. But it’ll be a different color. I think that both table and marble top will be beige.

Initial progress of making the legs.

I also realized that there was no chance to find any local craftsman who could cut marble or malachite for me, so I had to make my own “marble/malachite” out of epoxy resin. I made three table tops, the one on the left I liked the most.

The table is assembled and ready to be gilted and painted.

The bookcase is made of pearwood, but some carved elements are made of pearwood.

These two commodes are, of course, are done. They went to Tom Bishop Chicago International show, one of them came back to Moscow.

A little sketch while planning the pieces.

You can buy digital version or print here – 63th issue – http://www.dhminiatures.com/issues

I’ll be making two commodes. The first one is partially ready for assembling and making drawers.

Here are more photos of progress:

The silk for the chairs is quite heavy and hard to sew, so I had to glue it. I really like the result!

Внутри подушек есть мдф листы, поэтому получились кресла довольно тяжелыми.

New chapter, new skill for me – miniature needlepoint.

Actually, I’ve tried stitching pillows and such on a silk gauze, but I’ve never did anything specific for my furniture stuff. So several months ago I found this screen that inspired me to try to make my own needlepoint design and stitch it. The screen was stitched on 72 count silk gauze with Chinese silk and Piper’s silk. It took me about a month or so, meanwhile I did a 3d model and only now I started actually build it.
I also decided to make two screens, after I finished stitching the first one I changed a design a bit and color scheme too, so it’s not finished yet. It’s a bit finer – 86 count gauze and Chinese silk.

Both screens are made of pearwood, with this one I didn’t know which finish to choose, my Instagram followers, all of them, said I should leave it as it was, just bare wood, no paint, no gilding, and that’s what I did, light finish with Danish oil.
There was a lot of carving involved like these flowers, and this one is actually too big, I needed 1,5mm in diameter.

The thickness of a frame is only 3мм.

Just a frame :

It was quite easy to install hinges, the most important thing here is that they should be identical

After assembling the vitrine, I covered the wood with linen oil, then a bit of paint to give it an old look. Then – Danish oil. In couple days I’ll sand it and add another layer of oil.

I’ll be making another vitrine just like this one and hope to bring it to Chicago show in 2019, so if you’re interested in purchasing the vitrine, drop me a line.