Long overdue update on the Italian project!

It's been months since I've shown you the progress on the Italian project. Even though I've met with the miniature club twice since February, and I've been working on it at home as well :')
So this is mainly a quick photo update, so I can move on to the next thing ;)

I finished the awning and then I could
finally put the front of the trattoria in place
(which wasn't as easy as it sounds ^^).

Next, the ballustrade got glued to
the mountain wall. Because of all
the tweaking on the front, it
didn't fit as well as when I made it.

So I filled the gap with a piece of card-
board that was left over from cutting the
door opening :)

I've made two table clothes and pinned the planter under the
window, just untill I've made flowers (a)

I've put together some bodyparts for
a waitress and got this wig from an-
other doll.

Started sewing the trousers.

Made an apron from the same fabric I used for
the awning. Then I made the bistro tables, so
now there's four bistro chairs on my to-do-list ;)

And of course a neat collar shirt :)

She's still a w.i.p. and need shoes, arms, a face
paint and a better fitting wig but I'm very happy
with the clothes! 

I've used this photo as a reference for the apron: click
This one for the bistro tables: click
For the shirt this tutorial by AkameruKawaii was very helpful: click

Crafting together (the Italian project) - February

Last month while crafting with Jolinda and Monique I'd made a planter for the Italian bistro, and when I got home I made this test model from paper for the awning.

So last week we  met again. Jolinda continued with the stone steps and Monique worked on her garden. For me it was time to figure out the awning for real :)
For the frame I got the inspiration from Miniature House, but I didn't want mine to be as neat as hers and there was no need for working blinds :)
I wanted something like this one below. Red and white striped fabric crossed my mind, especially since I want red and white checkered tablecloths, but in the end I choose a blackberry red fabric, which I intend to use for the waitress apron as well.

While at the craft club I cut the parts for the frame from Balsa (2,5 mm) but in hindside I should have just used card board, since I had to start at least four times over :') That was also why I didn't get much further that afternoon.
That evening at home I glued four skewers to the fabric with textile glue, a little wider than the test model indicated. One by one I attached the Balsa parts onto the skewers.

Then, when the glue had dried long enough, I put the four Balsa parts together with masking tape to see how it looked. At that point I didn't had a clue as to how I'd do the sides ;)

I like that the fabric isn't pulled tight on the frame. That's why I glued the skewers a bit wider in the beginning.

I put some masking tape on the overhanging fabric at the front and drew a scallop pattern. I cut them with sharp siccors and removed the tape.
The sides were just done with a bit of tweaking and adjusting, glueing it on the frame and cutting the exces :)

I liked the resulting sides of the awning.

I'd like to stain the Balsa frame, but then I have to replace to masting tape holding the parts together with something else.

I also want to put the name of the trattoria on the awning, but I need to figure out a way to do that first :')

Crafting together (the Italian project) - January

Yesterday we had a nice afternoon with the craft club while we each worked on our own project. Unfortunately Wil couldn't make it, but Jolinda worked - brick by brick - on the Greek stairs again, and Monique had made a new layout for the garden and painted a background.
I made a planter to hang under the window of the trattoria and after that I have punched leaves and petals, so I can make petunias for the planter :)
Back home I've stained the planter and tried to figure out how to make an awning.
First I made a test model from paper and then an inside frame from card board. The paper will be replaced at a later stage by fabric.
For now it's time to focus on the Hogsmeade cottage again ;)

Gisteren weer een gezellige knutselmiddag gehad, waarbij we ieder aan ons eigen project verder gingen. Wil was helaas verhinderd, maar Jolinda werkte - steentje voor steentje - verder aan haar Griekse trappen en Monique was met een nieuwe indeling voor een tuin begonnen en was de achtergrond aan het schilderen.
Zelf heb ik een plantenbak gemaakt om onder het raam van de trattoria te bevestigen en ben daarna nog een poosje bladeren en bloemblaadjes aan het ponsen geweest, zodat ik de bak met petunia's kan vullen :)
Thuis heb ik de plantenbak gebeitst en geprobeerd uit te vogelen hoe ik een luifel kan maken.
Eerst met papier een testmodel gemaakt en daarna van karton het binnenframe gemaakt. De papieren kap wordt in een later stadium door stof vervangen.
De komende weken schuif ik dit project weer even aan de kant en wil ik me weer op het Zweinstein huisje gaan focussen ;)

Starting a new (group) project

When we were about to finish our first group project, we'd talked about what we wanted to do next. Deciding on something all four of us like is obviously less easy than with just two persons, so we've agreed on doing an outdoor scene again, but each of us has chosen a different theme for it.
Jolinda is going something Greek, with lots of steps and pottery and the characteristic blue colours. You might want to follow her project on her own blog as well :)
Wil, as a big reggae fan, want to to a Jamaican beach scene, with a little shop with surfboards or something. Her theme is the reason I'd made her that Jamacain drum for her birthday swap.
Monique hasn't decided on a definite theme, but wants to make a garden on a flat surface, that she will be able to draw up to a dollhouse.

I liked Jolinda's idea very much, but I alway felt more for Italian scenery, and so that's what I've chosen :) My inspiration has come from photo's like the next ones, I've found on Pinterest.

 

Of course it wouldn't be very convenient to make the framework during one of our monthly meetings, so that's something we'll work on in our own home and during our own time ;)
I had this cardboard doll house on a shelf, only gathering dust because the scale is not one I'd prefer, so that's what I'd use.

   

I cut pieces away and added others, which I all taped together. The idea is (the exterior of) a little Italian bistro with a room/house above. A staircase going to a small gallery and maybe a roof garden terrace a the right, above an semi open space where I might make a little shop/market with Italian food. The focus will be on the outdoors though. On the tables with Italian food and the many, many plants and flowers and greenery, on the mountain top, the terrace, on the gallegy, in lots of planters and outside the bistro.
Oh my ;)

  

I glued strips of tin foil to the card board, using the same technique I've done earlier on the tree house (a)

 

Then I covered the tin foil with paper machè like Sharon Ojala's tutorial shows. 

  

Next I sat down, and took time to think about the front of the bistro and made a 'wall' from cardboard to see how that would fit.

  

After that I started painting everything. I mixed grey structure paint and bird sand with a variety of orange, yellow and white acrylic paint for the bistro/house side. Started dry brushing after the first layer had dried, mixing more white paint for every new layer. I like the effect it got from the extra structure due to the bird sand.

On the mountain side I mixed the grey structure paint and bird sand with brown acrylic paint, and added darker brown when I started dry brushing.

Of course I haven't forgotten about the cottage. As soon as the framework is done, and I can more easily continue with making smaller items during the monthly meeting, I'll put the mountain aside to focus on the cottage again ;)