Z is for Zither

The presents unwrapped, the eggnog is done, and the yule log still burns merrily. Ah, what lovely Christmas has past. And, now on December the 26th, it is time to get busy again and think about all the pretty things I'd like to make in the coming year. But, first, it was time to finish the little zither today, and finish it I did. Displayed by my own Marie Terese, the little zither, if you recall, was made for the same doll who is being turned into Annabelle from Tasha Tudor's darling poetic story of a French Fashion doll who has everything she needs A to Z. I would like to imagine Annabelle spending many a comforting winter day playing lovely tunes on this wee zither.

When I look back on the process of creating this instrument, I have to admit that it was quite the challenge to miniaturize such an elaborate and complicated instrument. For one thing, there were all the angles and curves to consider, but also all the many strings a real zither has. Thirty to forty-five I've read, but just today when I had to admit (which was difficult) that I'd not enough room for thirty, I read that there is a zither which only has 25 strings. The most important thing to remember about miniatures is that they are most often an illusion of the real thing. With 1:12 scale, drawers may not open, water is not in flower vases, and stairs may lead to a ceiling in a doll house. However, I try my very best to make my creations as real as possible.

Presenting: the zither! I had to work up the nerve today to drill the holes for the tuning pegs, but the thing that took the most patience in finishing the piece, was the stringing. The musical strings are actually wound around the pegs as a real instrument would be, and the frets on the side bar are there, however hand painted in gold leaf. Only 3 3/4" in length, Annabelle will now have the finest zither in town.

And, what is in store for 2011? It is time to begin a focus on the 18" Daisy doll's toys and accessories. Wooden circus pull toys in the Schoenhut style, and a larger carousel (like the Becassine one) with circus animals just for starters!

Should I not post before the new year, Wishing you all a very magical New Year, propersous in every way imaginable.

Love,

Miss E. Mouse

"Unto you a child is born!"

The rain comes down and skies remain gray. The leaves slowly, very slowly begin their final descent to the earth. Winter where I live is soggy and soft. The rich soil soaks up the rain and when a storm comes, the creeks fill and rush from pond to pond keeping the geese happy and winter bulbs full of promise.

Since the weather keeps me indoors, I just finished this lovely little creche for Bleuette. It is made from mahogany, oak bark and moss. The inspiration was a creche that the company Fontanini made some years ago. The little porcelain nativity figurines came all the way from France. My favorites are the little animals - the lamb, the camel, the donkey and cow. So tiny, so sweet!

And, what did Miss E. Mouse get for Christmas? Well, a new home! Not so much a home, but a little retreat for when I need to mouse away to rest and read. Thank you for popping in to take a look at my new etrennes, and thank you for enjoying my work. If you have a moment, I'd enjoy hearing from you in the comments section. I hope you're enjoying the holiday season, and for this little mouse, a few Christmas television shows are on my agenda.

Love,

Miss E. Mouse

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff...

...Like bingle balls, and Whofoo fluff! No one sings Christmas like the Whos down in Whoville. Memories of watching this darling Dr. Suess cartoon when I was little bring back such bright times. Well, it is a bright time, and despite the cold, rainy day, my little paws are dancing around the tree as I've just finished my 2010 Becassine Toy of the Year. I cannot begin to tell you how difficult a task this was for me! Of course I'd had the 1" Becassine wood cuts painted and ready to mount since, well, November 7th, but when I went out to drill the holes in the little top and turn platform, the drill press was broken! Alas! Tools. Where is a mouse without her tools? So I trotted down to the local Home Depot and bought another one, then quickly went to work again. However, measuring little disks to find an exact center, measuring tiny areas where to drill the hole for the ribbon ties, and getting this thing all put together to function properly was quite the challenge.

As it turns out (that's a pun, hee-hee) it took a couple of tries and lots of wasted silk ribbon. The silk was too fine and hooks onto the pole no matter how much you sand to smooth it. But, I didn't give up. I never do. I found a different kind of 1/16" ribbon to use and in a sweep of looping it all together, it finally came to be! Yay!

You twist the platform around the pole then let it go. As it winds down, back up again, and winds back down, it spins the figures like a top! So cute. I often wonder if I'll ever run out of ideas for these toys and then something comes along and goes off like a light in my furry little head.

And, what am I working on now? Why a zither! The zither is an ancient instrument going back as far or beyond 433BC. It is played very much like a dulcimer, laid across your lap. And, why a zither? Well, the 10" French Fashion doll, Marie Terese, made by Alice Leverette, is being made into Annabelle, from the story A is For Annabelle, by Tasha Tudor. In this story, set in poetry, Annabelle has all the items a French Fashion doll should have A-Z. And, Z is for Zither. So yes, it will be a tiny one.

While I've bent wood on my own before, I may be looking into a wood bending tool soon. Micro-Mark has a miniature one and it bends the wood through a heated device much like an old fashioned washing machine clothes wringer. Indeed! I think the larger ones are used a bit differently, but for my purposes, a miniature one would come in handy. I have, my friend, Martha Nichols, and her wood working husband to thank for this information.

And, so we are on to yet another dear and wonderful project. The holiday season is upon us so trim up tree with Christmas stuff...then run out to get some more!

Love,
Miss E. Mouse

A Christmas Maypole

Is it already November? And, the 7th at that! Well this little mouse gathers no moss and with that, I'm rolling along. Ah! I finished the wee Pipos Kitty Trunk and she is with her little 7" mama and happy owner. I really love the way this came out, more so because in the course of finishing it, I found out that the artist who commissioned it, paints flowers. So, I added the little framed flower painting to the inside of the trunk to make it a wee painter's studio. A pink dress, a teeny pallette and brush, a wee wood framed canvas, and an easel that folds down completed this precious little set.

And now with Christmas upon us shortly, I am once again inspired by my muse, the French cartoon character, Becassine. As you may have noticed, I wear the Becassine costume proudly. It is around this time of year that I begin to ponder what cute little etrennes I might come up with to tickle the fancies of prospective patrons out there. While awaiting an appointment, I was playing with this darling little wooden, kitty "Maypole", for lack of a better description. You'd wind it up at the top, and the platform of kitties would go spinning down. I then thought, What would it look like in miniature with wee Becassines going around it? And, so I began to cut out the little Becassine figures, sand them, and paint them. They are 1 1/8" tall and painted all around. I fastened them onto straight pins at the bottom so that I could fit them into an old sanding block to dry in stages. No less than three coats of each color decorate the little wood figures. These were cut in 1/8" basswood, gessoed, sanded, then painted. At present, I am exhausted from finishing the paintwork on them, but had to share the work in progress. My guess is that the finished Maypole will be about 3 1/2" tall, a toy for the French doll, Bleuette.

Another folk toy I am considering is a Becassine jumping jack of wood. The kind with the strings you pull down so the legs and arms pop up! This, and several peg wooden paper dolls are being made, and it occurs to me that none may sell as prospectives are holding tight to their dolly dollars. I have often thought in slow times that I would simply stop creating these wonderful little heirlooms, but then inspiration hits, and I am back working my little paws in wood and paint again.

My friend in The Netherlands was celebrating Sinterklaas this past weekend, and then gets to celebrate the fun of Santa Claus for the rest of the year. We American mice must wait until after our Thanksgiving to begin. Well, some do. I like to have my tree up, undecorated a bit before Thanksgiving, and decorate it the day after. This rainy weather surely puts us in the mood for a little holiday cheer. A warm fire burns in the fireplace, the snow has begun to gather up in mountains, and I'll be busy with my muse for the next month or so.

Warmest wishes as the holidays approach!

Love,
Miss E. Mouse

A Pink Dress for Miss Kit E.

"And what do you think Miss Kit E?", I asked our little princess. Having just finished her wee, pink dress, she turned this way and that, jumped on top of her trunk, purred, and said it was very pretty.

I'm seriously having to question my mouse brain as to whether or not I'll be able to do this tiny work much longer! I know I always say this and then once again launch into something equally tiny and difficut. sigh Such is the challenge. I've been doing this a long, long time, but it never gets any easier, I promise you that. And, then there was that tail to design the dress around! Well, she was a sweet and mannerly little model. It is a very serious thing when a mouse plays with a cat, no matter how tiny she is.

But, look!! The trunk is done, the back side illustration has been painted, Miss Kit E. is dressed, and its on to the little details. Should I put a handle on top of the trunk so the Pipos kitty doll can carry it with her? I think so. And, Miss Kit E. needs a few toys to play with as well. The goal is a finished trunk set by the end of the month.

Time to rest my eyes and paws, and enjoy this very rainy weekend. I hear there is snow falling in the mountains!

Love,
Miss E. Mouse

A Tail of Halloween

Okay, so I didn't use Hartung! But, can you believe the sweetness and fun of Mainzer's cats? It took me a very long time to make a decision on what images to use for the little kitty's trunk. As I browsed over and over again, the postcards on ebay, I was simply struck by the wonderful imagination and spunk these two artist's possessed. At great expense, I won and purchased three vintage Mainzer postcards. This one of a Halloween street fair couldn't be resisted! Just look a the little cat in the Dutch costume! I have always loved things Dutch. I think it stems from a pin my auntie gave me when I was a little mouse. It was an enameled pin of a little Dutch girl and boy. I used to look at it for hours thinking about their costumes and where they lived, what Holland was like. So for Halloween, I am sharing this darling postcard by Mainzer, printed in Switzerland. If you have a few minutes, do take a look on ebay and see what these artists came up with.

Kitty now has one half of her trunk painted. I think its always fun to see a work in progress, but its also fun to have a look at the materials and studio where the piece is being created. My work in acrylics hails from a background in oils and a love of watercolor. Acrylic is not the easiest medium to work with since it dries so quickly and builds up a texture. Yet, many layers of thin, watercolor from acrylic can produce the nicest effect on a tiny trunk.

In the front of the trunk, I've painted a little kitty girl handing a freshly picked rose to a mama kitty in a yellow striped apron. This vignette was inspired by one of Mainzer's postcards. The garden displayed kitties pruning, hoeing, planting vegetables, and one silly cat watering another by mistake. In all of Hartung's and Mainzer's paintings, there is always a calamity or two occuring. As I continue to work on this little trunk, it is the sweetness that I am pulling from the pictures to create a kitty child's plaything.

In all honesty, the ginger cat and tabby fur was very difficult to render. The mind plays tricks on you and you have to concentrate on shape and color, rather than what you know the thing to be. Also when painting this small, an artist has to be careful not to overcrowd the scene, yet include enough to tell a story and create a pleasant presentation.

The entire trunk is being painted with this one brush you see in the photo. It is a Windsor Newton Sceptre 0000, synthetic sable. Even at that, I've removed several bristles to give it a finer point. Little pools of watery acrylic have dried on the wax pallette showing the colors, some mixed, used to paint the front of the trunk. It is my dream that one day someone will value my tools and scrap pallettes as much as the finished work. sigh!

Happy Autumn, Happy Halloween! And, back to work for me.

Love,

Miss E. Mouse

Pussy cat, Pussy Cat, Where have you been?

Kittens, kittens everywhere...and, what's a mouse to do? Well, it shouldn't surprise anyone that this little mouse loves cats, and they love her. I just received a fun and exciting little commission to make a tiny cat doll in a painted trunk for a 7" Pipos cat doll. The Pipos is a ball jointed doll, and these little cat dolls are so sweet. You can see a photo of one on my table below. For the past few days I've been sculpting away trying to come up with the purfect size for the little kitty girl to play with. The first attempt resulted in a little cat doll about 2 1/4" and I just wasn't happy with her. I felt that the tiny cat doll should be a more hand held size, rather than a baby doll size. And so, it was back to the drawing board. I finally came up with a tiny one about 1 7/8" tall.

One of the challenges here was baking the Fimo clay without burning it in the oven. Little toys and items I've made in the past were set on a foil lined baking pan, and undoubtedly, each time, the bottoms, where they met with the pan, would burn. Surely you could sand this off, but it was never quite right. So this time, and with the first doll, I experimented a bit. I found a small glass jar with a small opening, and threaded a needle through the holes that I'd used to string the limbs and laid it across the opening of the jar so that the pieces would dangle, or be suspended inside. Voila! It worked. Timing is also terribly important as you don't want to overbake the little pieces. So timed periods of 15 to 5 minutes would continue until the little body parts were hard.

This is such a sweet project because I've wanted to do something like this for several years now. A friend of mine who works in porcelain once gave me some little porcelain people cats that were assembled on pipe cleaner bodies. I hunted and hunted for them, and the post card book of Hartung illustrations (that I would used to paint the illustrations on the trunk), and nowhere could I find them! In retrospect, I think they would have been too large to use, as they were doll house sized dolls. Still, it would have been fun to see them again. I'm certain they are hiding somewhere, but I'm just as happy that I had the opportunity to sculpt the purfect size for the little cat doll.

Now that she is painted, she will be dressed. A little upright doll trunk will be made and then hand-painted will the illustrations I intended. Its not for me to name her...or is it? I'm sure the little Pipos doll will want to give her a name herself. But, then again, she is taking on a certain pursonality.

Next, I'm off to the miniature table saw to begin the trunk! Stay tuned...

Love,
Miss E. Mouse