No stitching whatsoever in this post. I’ve been a little distracted recently by this beautiful vintage Sid Cooke Georgian shop kit. This is purely for my own amusement, by the way. In a past life I made one-twelfth scale miniatures and it’s been fun to reconnect with my younger self, though I notice my eyesight isn’t quite as good as it was then.
The kit is basically a box with a hinged front, about 12″ wide, 9″ deep and 9″ tall.
The front is almost finished, apart from a bit more weathering on the stucco (paint, glue, and a little sand).
The columns and step are made from wood, sanded and painted to look like old stone.
The shop door that comes with the kit is a little chunky to be properly in scale, but I think there’s no harm in having an extra-thick shop door. I guess that makes it more secure for the tiny owner. It’s glazed with perspex and the letterbox opens.
I’ve opted for a modern-day shop selling vintage items because I still have some tiny treasures from when I had a larger doll’s house a few years ago. I’ll probably paint some of the furniture to make it a bit more contemporary.
The benefit of ‘vintage’ is that you can make pretty much anything from any era and it will all sit quite happily together.
The interior is about ready to be filled. I made a false wall for the back, with a back door and a set of recessed shelves (all made from foam core and mountboard) to stop it looking so ‘boxy’. The glazing in the back door is graph paper with a layer of tracing paper on top to make it look like frosted safety glass. The door handle is a bit of thick armature wire. I would wire lights if it were a larger house, but just for this little box I’m using a couple of LED battery lights. The coving and skirting board come as lengths that you can cut to size.
I’ll make a shop counter to sit alongside the shelving at the back. The shelves are mostly full of shop paperwork, lever arch files, and a couple of ornaments.
It’s a lot of fun. The problem is that now I’ve started it, I have to finish it to the point where I can sit the whole thing on a shelf, and then I can make the contents in stages whenever I have a spare hour or two. I only have one work surface in my (real-life) room, and while this is all spread out (along with paint, brushes, wood glue, saw, sandpaper, etc) there isn’t space to get on with anything else. That’s my excuse, anyway.
They say a change is as good as a rest, right?
Normal services to be resumed soon. Ish.
