It All Starts Here

Sometimes our ideas flow from an existing kit to bash, a house style to scratch (aka custom) build, or from an interesting doll who needs a place to live. Our settings are always modern-day (ca. 2001 when we started this hobby). We try to create things that will make people smile and feel good.

We think that if we had to build the same house twice, we literally could not do it! Fortunately, we have very unique little people who have definite opinions and so far, no one has wanted a house “like so-and-so” has.

We work as a family unit: my wonderful husband, my beautiful sister, and I. We don't always agree as to the direction of the build, but I think that we end up with a better dollhouse because of all our grumblings -- and we do have a lot of fun!

The Purpose of this Blog

We needed a place for all we wanted to say about the background of the build and the nuts and bolts of the design and build process. Thus this blog.

All our dolls' homes have families living in them and a story is built around their personalities and lifestyles. This story is an integral part of our building process. We would like to share these stories -- actually, the little people insist upon it!

Many of our houses are located in Fredericksburg, Virginia because that is my sister's favorite place.

Also, we have started a Rouges' Gallery with photos of our little people and information about the dolls.

If you would like to start with the dollhouse that "started it all", it is the Original Rowbottom Manse; if you would like to see the scratch-built Georgian that our first build gave us the confidence (or fool-hardiness) to do, it is Sunnybrook Farm.

Let the stories begin!

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~~Rouges' Gallery~~

--Constantly under construction since I am forever adding more Little People!--

This is a photo album of all our little people. There will be discriptions of the doll type and maker, and the material for the clothing.

Since our First Family was Rebecca and Derek Rowbottom and children, we will start with them. Thereafter, photos still will be added by family, but probably in arbitrary order.

``````Rebecca and Derek Rowbottom and children```````

The parents and two children, Antony and Victoria, are quality vinyl dolls made by the Petite Dreams company (this is the same company that made the quality "Original Rowbottom Manse" and many rooms of furniture). They are a Victorian family. The dolls have complete vinyl bodies with jointed legs, arms, and head. The females have "hair" while the males have well-detailed molded hair. The clothes were removable--which was good since we wanted to change the clothes to fit the season: summer, midseason, Christmas. Rebecca's hair was to long for our liking, and we could easily cut it shorter. To make changing clothes less of a bother, we bought a number of sets. The house and the original dolls were bought from Target. Every so often, Petite Dreams items are for sale on eBay and I am amazed at the non-Target prices.

Sometimes we could use the manufacturer's clothes with a little modification, after all, our little people are modern and not Victorian. Some of the clothes for the seasons had to be handmade. The real problem that we had was the fact that the manufacturer gave Rebecca high black boots! This took careful sanding on her lower legs to remove the black color and boot design. Eventually, this was accomplished on the two dolls that needed short clothes.

Victoria, Antony, and Derek had painted shoes but no socks. This was easily fixed with paint.

Jeremy
Young son Jeremy is a porcelain custom doll from Elaine's Petite People dressed in the proper type of casual clothing. 

All except Jeremy have three "changes" of clothing: two casual and one formal.

Spring - Derek, Antony, Rebecca, Victoria.
All fine cottons except a very thin suede for
Derek's jacket


Summer-Derek, Antony, Rebecca, Victoria. All fine cottons,

Christmas-Derek, Antony, Rebecca, Victoria. Derek and Victoria as from Petite Dreams; Rebecca a soft filmy fabric, Antony thin felt jacket and pants.

``````The Johnson and Richards families (related by marriage)``````
It is very easy to find Caucasian families, but not as easy to find various "ethnic" groups.

My original find was a vinyl brown-skin-tone family (I don't remember the manufacturer), quite inexpensive but with charm. They are the Johnsons: Coralee and Edward (Ted) Johnson and daughter Betsey. Since I like to have my little people in seasonal dress, I bought two more sets. I redressed all of them. One thing "nice" about thses vinyl sets is that the body is continuous which allows for putting them in any style of dress.

CoraLee, formal (& rewigged)
I had a difficult getting Coralee's hair under control--only one doll worked out. I decided to be brave and cut off the hair (it is pushed into the scalp in discrete clumps). I coated the head with Aileene's Tacky and then rewigged her with black viscose. This worked very well, much to my surprise and relief. I intend to do the daughter's hair also. Ted has flocked hair.

Since then, I have slowly found delightful porcelian dolls in my price range. I like to look for kits so that I can personalize them.


CoraLee, beach (original hair)
 
Ted, beach

Ted, casual
 

Ted, formal


Bess Richards (Coralee's mother), formal
  Coralee's mother Elizabeth (Bess) Richards is a one-of-a-kind beautiful porcelain creation from Elaine's Petite People. She is in a gown so she only comes to Christmas parties.

Benjamin Richards (CoraLee's father), casual
Her husband Benjamin is is from one of the German manufacturers (Caco ?). My sister found him in her local dollhouse shop. He is in a somewhat casual dress and only comes to Christmas parties with his wife.

CoraLee's brother Evan is a porcelain kit from MiniKitz and created by Sandy Calderon. I dressed him in casual clothes.

Ted has a mother (MayBelle) and now I am looking for a father. MayBelle is a porcelain kit from MiniKitz and created by Sandy Calderon. She is dressed casually. I tried to put some strands of grey in her hair. It was trickier to do that I thought.
Evan Richards (Coralee's brother), casual


MayBelle Johnson (Ted's mother), casual

2 comments:

  1. They are a great-looking family. I like their changes of clothing. Good work!

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  2. I just love your little people. They are good friends to have.

    Hugs,
    Becky

    ReplyDelete