Onwards and upwards......

Having finally got my tardy butt in gear I've been cracking on apace with work on La Mignonette.

Lots of little things have been done, including interior door knobs, ceiling coving etc, as well as some decorative flourishes on the exterior, primarily some advertising boards.....

Initially, after designing the layouts, I printed them onto acetate to give a glazed appearance. This worked fine but I wanted to frame the boards and my carefully mitred wooden strips refused point blank to stick to the acetate.  Also they were a bit too shiny and I didn't like the way the light reflected off them.

So, back to the drawing board and Plan B.

I rummaged through my stock of card and found a matte card which was a few shades lighter than the colour of the shop fronts.  How lucky was that?!  Once printed and framed, the boards look perfect either side of the upstairs windows.

I also made a Doll's Hospital sign for above the door......

 

I'm toying with the idea of window boxes under the two first floor windows but can't make up my mind......

On the inside, I've given the upstairs wall cabinets a light wash of paint and used some leftover wallpaper to decorate the base of the fronts.  I've also replaced the removable perspex shelves with wooden ones.  There will be decorative wooden strips down the fronts of the units but I can't fit them until I've decided on the final placements of the shelves.

Tomorrow I'll move onto the ground floor shop area and decide on the layout of the painted display cabinets.

Then I can concentrate on stocking the shop and filling the dollmaker's workroom.

Which reminds me... I haven't yet introduced my incredibly patient dollmaker, Mademoiselle Emilie....

 Emilie's story will be unveiled as the project unfolds..... 

Emilie was made specially for this project by the lovely Julie Campbell, who responded to my request with her characteristic skill at transforming wishes into reality.  Even Emilie's hands are perfectly sculpted to carry out her delicate dollmaking work.

She will oversee the fitting out of her workroom with all the tools of her trade, from dollmaking paraphernalia, through to fabrics and ribbons, wigs and clothing.  I will be making as many of the workroom accessories as possible, but I also have a box of lovely things which I've been collecting with this project in mind and it will be lovely to finally unpack them and put them in place.