So welcome to the new blog!
Sadly, this one is not hosted on a French site, but...on a more positive note...this one is not hosted on a French site!
A couple of weekends ago, we took a trip to a miniature store that just happens to be fairly near to where I work (dangerous!) and got a rough idea of what things look like in person. C agreed that the items they had that were smaller than the 1:24 scale looked kind of molded and undetailed. I was, however, very good and spent no money...mostly, I think, because C took my wallet before we entered :D
So far, besides research, my accomplishments include revamping this blog, and getting the plans for the main hall sketched out on my Handy Dandy Notebook (tm). C and I were discussing the platform on which the house will rest. Originally I was planning on simply putting each wing on a folding table but in order to accomodate the electronics and the possibility of a slide-out wine cellar/ torture dungeon I think I'm going to entertain the idea of building a custom enclosed base that will break down and be able to be shipped along with the house itself.
My ambitiousness knows no bounds. We'll just have to see if my talents and motivations keep up.
Also, for my blog on general life rather than just the dollhouse build, please feel free to follow the link. I take no responsibility for anything. That's just how I roll.
http://threadhang.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Originally posted Oct. 3 2011
So despite my adamancy that I was fed up with floor-plan software and that I intended instead to hand-draw my own plans, I came across yet another architect/designer program I decided to try.
After an hour working with it, I discovered two things. One...it was easier to use than the previous ones I had tried. And two...it still made me want to tear my hair out in frustration. Even flipping between the video tutorial and the actual program was unhelpful, and in the end I managed to draw a box. Scaled in millimeters.
I guess I'm back to hand drawing :)
The scope of what I'm planning tends to overwhelm so I'm doing my best to just take one step at a time. I find that at every idle moment of my day I start thinking about the dollhouse, about logistics and decor and tools until it all jumbles together. And for some odd reason, I keep hearing a voice (further proof I need some medication of some sort).
The voice belongs to Crispin Glover...or rather, George McFly from the Back to the Future movies. In the first movie, when Marty returns to the brand new present where his father is confident rather than a greasy, whiny little geek, George opens a box of his newly published book and as he hands it to Marty he says, "When you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."
That's what keeps running through my head, especially when I get frustrated with the plans or start becoming overwhelmed with logistics. So, one step at a time.
I did find a local dollhouse/miniature store fairly nearby. They even offer some classes. I will be going on Saturday to check them out and see what's what :)
So despite my adamancy that I was fed up with floor-plan software and that I intended instead to hand-draw my own plans, I came across yet another architect/designer program I decided to try.
After an hour working with it, I discovered two things. One...it was easier to use than the previous ones I had tried. And two...it still made me want to tear my hair out in frustration. Even flipping between the video tutorial and the actual program was unhelpful, and in the end I managed to draw a box. Scaled in millimeters.
I guess I'm back to hand drawing :)
The scope of what I'm planning tends to overwhelm so I'm doing my best to just take one step at a time. I find that at every idle moment of my day I start thinking about the dollhouse, about logistics and decor and tools until it all jumbles together. And for some odd reason, I keep hearing a voice (further proof I need some medication of some sort).
The voice belongs to Crispin Glover...or rather, George McFly from the Back to the Future movies. In the first movie, when Marty returns to the brand new present where his father is confident rather than a greasy, whiny little geek, George opens a box of his newly published book and as he hands it to Marty he says, "When you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."
That's what keeps running through my head, especially when I get frustrated with the plans or start becoming overwhelmed with logistics. So, one step at a time.
I did find a local dollhouse/miniature store fairly nearby. They even offer some classes. I will be going on Saturday to check them out and see what's what :)
Originally posted Oct. 1 2011
Years ago, when I was about eight years old, I began to have recurring dreams about a castle. And this was not your typical eight year old's idea of a castle either...a closer description would be a blend of castle and extremely huge old english manor-house. Over the years the dreams have occurred with such clarity and regularity that details of the structure down to furnishings and decorations of each room are as familiar to me as my own home...which, if you think about it, probably sends a great big neon warning sign that I need medication of some sort.
More medication-worthy is that the dreams are, more often than not, filled with malevolence and suspenseful tension. On occassion, when you take in elements like the Doll in the Library or the Maze Floors, they are downright nightmarish. This gave rise to a rather corpulent 'haunted house story' that at the moment is being pared down from an absolutely ghastly three thousand pages to a far more managable size.
Friends have prodded me to see if I can't find the castle, to see if it's real, to find out if my dreams are some weird past-life experience. I don't believe in reincarnation (though I do admit there is far more to the universe than my feeble little mind can comprehend) but that hasn't stopped me from occassionally going on 'castle searches'. I have often found castles and old manor houses that come very close to to the one of my dreams...but none quite hit it. One has the right structure but only has two floors instead of five, and one wing instead of three. One has the gothic sweeping roof-line but there is no grand circular library or shining observatory dome to dominate the scene. My particular castle seems to have the crematory torture-basement of Chillingham, the broad 'Adams Family' roof of Apley, and the modern appointments of Buckingham (electricity, plumbing, etc).
So far, while shots of certain angles or appointed rooms of various medieval structures might give me the chills, no single structure has presented itself that fits exactly.
So recently I was talking with my best friend C (who has more patience than Solomon when it comes to my insanities) about wanting to find a good architectural 3D program I could use to recreate the full castle exactly. Unfortunately, I lamented, the ones I had so far found that would suit my purposes were all in a monetary range that literally made my wallet curl up and scream in pain.
So, in her undying wisdom, C turns to me and says 'Why don't you make it a dollhouse instead, then?'
And the floodgates were opened.
I have never ever built a dollhouse before, but I was wise enough to know that to recreate the entire castle in dollhouse form would be a massive undertaking that would literally take years of painstaking work. Over the course of a day or two I went from 'no, that's not possible' to 'well, let's see what it would take', and all the way over into the realm of 'I might actually be able to do this'. I've always been fascinated with dollhouses and miniatures though it's always been something of a passing fancy. I'll ooh and ahh over the houses I see in toy shops or specialty shops or at the fair, but I never actually considered making anything myself. I'm not a wood-worker, not a craftsman. My hobbies lean more toward photography, writing, and making pew pew noises at bright shinies on my X-Box and less toward hammering, sanding, sewing, and craftwork.
But a seed has been planted, and I find myself becoming more and more determined to at least TRY. And so here we are.
Years ago, when I first wrote (in collaberation with a few others) the book on this castle, I drew out specific floor plans for the others so they wouldn't get lost. The floor plans were rough sketches only, a general idea, nothing detailed and hardly to scale (the Triangle Lounge on my original sketch is nearly the size of the Entry Hall when in reality, it's little more than a third of the size). And unfortunately, I have lost most of the floors in various computer shuffles. Not that it really matters since the whole castle is still in my head.
I tried finding a good program on the computer that I could use to lay out the floor plan and generate a blue print, but got frustrated with every one of them, and so a couple of days ago I decided to go the old fashioned route and bought a pad of graph paper and a ruler. The next few days/weeks will be taken up with hand-drawing every floor, every wing of the castle to make my own blueprint, with size calculations to reduce it to 1:24 scale. For those of you who don't know, 1:12 means one inch represents twelve inches, whereas 1:24 or 1/2 scale is one inch for every twenty four inches, or half an inch per foot.
I decided on 1:24 as a compromise. I wanted to do 1:12 as there is a far greater selection of items and materials available in this scale, yet if I do then at the end I'll be lucky if the finished castle even fits into my garage. And anything smaller than 1:24 lost detail I was adamant about keeping as well as offered far less of a choice in decor. 1:24 will still yeild an incredibly enormous finished structure but not one that is completely unmanagable, and will retain as much of the level of detail as possible.
I also plan to make the whole structure electrified, which is another challenge.
Yes, I am crazy. I have no experience and yet I am determined to make the Godfather of all Dollhouses, one that will make the heavens themselves open up and the angels pour forth...ok, maybe not that, but even so. It's kind of like setting forth to make a sixteen tier wedding cake with sugar flowers, gems, lacework and fondant when you've never so much as toasted a pop-tart. So I fully expect pointing and laughing to happen at one point or another.
As I progress, I will be posting pictures (remember the 'photography' portion of my hobbies?) and I will be putting up the blueprints of certain rooms as well as artists' conceptions. The idea is to create an entire log of my progress from the very start to the finish...though that finish may well be twenty years down the road. Right now, getting the plans in order is the only step I can undertake. I am facing two surgeries within the next six months, one fairly major, so I will not be able to begin on any solid construction until after I have recovered from them. Right now the workplace of choice is our garage, which also needs to go through some extensive reorginization in order to provide the room...not in the least because it also doubles as C's photography studio.
As planning stages tend to be boring there may not be much in the way of interesting updates here for the next six months or so. I will share some ideas and interesting thoughts I have, however, as they come up. For now, keep your fingers crossed because although it's likely I'll trip and fall flat on my face, I'm determined to give this a try.
Years ago, when I was about eight years old, I began to have recurring dreams about a castle. And this was not your typical eight year old's idea of a castle either...a closer description would be a blend of castle and extremely huge old english manor-house. Over the years the dreams have occurred with such clarity and regularity that details of the structure down to furnishings and decorations of each room are as familiar to me as my own home...which, if you think about it, probably sends a great big neon warning sign that I need medication of some sort.
More medication-worthy is that the dreams are, more often than not, filled with malevolence and suspenseful tension. On occassion, when you take in elements like the Doll in the Library or the Maze Floors, they are downright nightmarish. This gave rise to a rather corpulent 'haunted house story' that at the moment is being pared down from an absolutely ghastly three thousand pages to a far more managable size.
Friends have prodded me to see if I can't find the castle, to see if it's real, to find out if my dreams are some weird past-life experience. I don't believe in reincarnation (though I do admit there is far more to the universe than my feeble little mind can comprehend) but that hasn't stopped me from occassionally going on 'castle searches'. I have often found castles and old manor houses that come very close to to the one of my dreams...but none quite hit it. One has the right structure but only has two floors instead of five, and one wing instead of three. One has the gothic sweeping roof-line but there is no grand circular library or shining observatory dome to dominate the scene. My particular castle seems to have the crematory torture-basement of Chillingham, the broad 'Adams Family' roof of Apley, and the modern appointments of Buckingham (electricity, plumbing, etc).
So far, while shots of certain angles or appointed rooms of various medieval structures might give me the chills, no single structure has presented itself that fits exactly.
So recently I was talking with my best friend C (who has more patience than Solomon when it comes to my insanities) about wanting to find a good architectural 3D program I could use to recreate the full castle exactly. Unfortunately, I lamented, the ones I had so far found that would suit my purposes were all in a monetary range that literally made my wallet curl up and scream in pain.
So, in her undying wisdom, C turns to me and says 'Why don't you make it a dollhouse instead, then?'
And the floodgates were opened.
I have never ever built a dollhouse before, but I was wise enough to know that to recreate the entire castle in dollhouse form would be a massive undertaking that would literally take years of painstaking work. Over the course of a day or two I went from 'no, that's not possible' to 'well, let's see what it would take', and all the way over into the realm of 'I might actually be able to do this'. I've always been fascinated with dollhouses and miniatures though it's always been something of a passing fancy. I'll ooh and ahh over the houses I see in toy shops or specialty shops or at the fair, but I never actually considered making anything myself. I'm not a wood-worker, not a craftsman. My hobbies lean more toward photography, writing, and making pew pew noises at bright shinies on my X-Box and less toward hammering, sanding, sewing, and craftwork.
But a seed has been planted, and I find myself becoming more and more determined to at least TRY. And so here we are.
Years ago, when I first wrote (in collaberation with a few others) the book on this castle, I drew out specific floor plans for the others so they wouldn't get lost. The floor plans were rough sketches only, a general idea, nothing detailed and hardly to scale (the Triangle Lounge on my original sketch is nearly the size of the Entry Hall when in reality, it's little more than a third of the size). And unfortunately, I have lost most of the floors in various computer shuffles. Not that it really matters since the whole castle is still in my head.
I tried finding a good program on the computer that I could use to lay out the floor plan and generate a blue print, but got frustrated with every one of them, and so a couple of days ago I decided to go the old fashioned route and bought a pad of graph paper and a ruler. The next few days/weeks will be taken up with hand-drawing every floor, every wing of the castle to make my own blueprint, with size calculations to reduce it to 1:24 scale. For those of you who don't know, 1:12 means one inch represents twelve inches, whereas 1:24 or 1/2 scale is one inch for every twenty four inches, or half an inch per foot.
I decided on 1:24 as a compromise. I wanted to do 1:12 as there is a far greater selection of items and materials available in this scale, yet if I do then at the end I'll be lucky if the finished castle even fits into my garage. And anything smaller than 1:24 lost detail I was adamant about keeping as well as offered far less of a choice in decor. 1:24 will still yeild an incredibly enormous finished structure but not one that is completely unmanagable, and will retain as much of the level of detail as possible.
I also plan to make the whole structure electrified, which is another challenge.
Yes, I am crazy. I have no experience and yet I am determined to make the Godfather of all Dollhouses, one that will make the heavens themselves open up and the angels pour forth...ok, maybe not that, but even so. It's kind of like setting forth to make a sixteen tier wedding cake with sugar flowers, gems, lacework and fondant when you've never so much as toasted a pop-tart. So I fully expect pointing and laughing to happen at one point or another.
As I progress, I will be posting pictures (remember the 'photography' portion of my hobbies?) and I will be putting up the blueprints of certain rooms as well as artists' conceptions. The idea is to create an entire log of my progress from the very start to the finish...though that finish may well be twenty years down the road. Right now, getting the plans in order is the only step I can undertake. I am facing two surgeries within the next six months, one fairly major, so I will not be able to begin on any solid construction until after I have recovered from them. Right now the workplace of choice is our garage, which also needs to go through some extensive reorginization in order to provide the room...not in the least because it also doubles as C's photography studio.
As planning stages tend to be boring there may not be much in the way of interesting updates here for the next six months or so. I will share some ideas and interesting thoughts I have, however, as they come up. For now, keep your fingers crossed because although it's likely I'll trip and fall flat on my face, I'm determined to give this a try.
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