CDHM.org

CDHM.org is Custom Dolls, Houses and Miniatures. This is a wonderful website that enables people like me to sell my upholstered miniature furniture without having my own website. They offer many, many different handmade miniatures for sale, quality miniatures. Marlene, the lady I have had many an e-mail conversation with about my inability to work a computer, is a wonderful person, so helpful and understanding. Without CDHM I wouldn't be selling my furniture. They only charge $5.00 a month to put 10 pictures up in a category, they set you up with the first contact with a client, after that it's your baby. It's been wonderful. They have many more things they offer their artisans once you become a member. Please go there and shop awhile. Kris

CDHM.org I-MAG

Hi guys,
I have something to tell you, CDHM has selected me for the artisan gallery in their i-mag for the month of December! I was really surprised and pleased. So tomorrow go over and see me and some of your furniture on display in the i-mag. Thanks to you for making this all possible, I really enjoy communicating with you through the blog and e-mails, making furniture for you and thinking up things for you to make!
Thanks, Kris

Floor Lamp for Joy

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

This is the floor lamp I was telling you about. I turned it on a drillpress using sandpaper and engraving cutters that are used with the Dremel.
I chucked up a 3/8" x 3/8" piece of basswood and turned it round using sandpaper. Then I used the Dremel engraving cutters to make the design.
It's not that hard to do. I have made porch railings using the Dremel and its WorkStation (drillpress) the same way. I like using the drillpress better, it doesn't wobble, the Dremel wobbles.

If any of you have a husband or dad that has a drillpress in their shop you could use it to make lamp bases, porch posts and more.

If you are interested on how to go about doing this, let me know and I will get a project together for you.

Talk to you later, Kris

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, I know it's a day early, but I'll be busy tomorrow as most of you will be, too. I'm staying home for Black Friday, so to those who are going out, good luck and keep a sense of humor about you, it helps. TTYL Kris

I have a question ???

I have had a request from a visitor to become a follower. You guys know I don't know what I am doing. Could someone post a comment on how you go about becoming a follower. She doesn't have any accounts on Yahoo or Google. Go slow, so I can learn, too. Thanks Kris

Inches vs. Centimeters

Hi Caterina, I will try to include centimeters on the projects from now on. I don't know why I don't do it now, the centimeters are on the the same ruler I use for inches.

For the large lamp shade measurements: 3.5 cm long; measuring inside the lines for the width of the top 11 mm; measuring inside the lines for the bottom width 19 mm; the glue line at the top of the shade is 4 to 5 mm down from the top.

I think the most important measurement is that the top of the shade be the same as the sides of the center.

The small shades I make are 2.5 cm tall. Have fun, Kris

More Shade

If you do the lamp shade, plan on making a few. You don't have to cover them with fabric, just make the shades and put them away for another project. That way you don't have to start from scratch. I works well if you are on an assembly line type of production for the shades. By the time you get done with one step on the last shade you can start the next step with the first shade. Kris

P.S.  I have been told by a follower to suggest using LEDs for your lights and this shade would be all right to use.  Thank You, Judy.

The Shade

Hi, just wanted to thank everyone for the nice comments. It really helps keep me going!!

I did cover the raw edge on the back of the shade. I folded a hem in the same fabric as the shade, as small as fold as I could, and pressed with an iron. Then I cut the fabric away from the larger piece, it helps to fold the hem if you are still working with a larger piece of fabric. I cut a narrow piece, then I folded a hem on the other side of this narrow strip and glued it on top of the raw edge on the shade. It looks like you've put a piece of fabric on top, but it's not a raw edge showing. My fabric was cut on the bias, I don't know if it needs to be on the bias, a piece cut on the straight grain could work just as well. Talk to you all later, Kris

Lamp Shade, Part 4

Part 4
Cut out another center and dry fit. You will have to trim this piece. I find it easier to trim a little on all sides to keep the shape even. Use a glue stick to glue the fabric to the center and trim off the extra fabric. Trim out the hole.
**A tip about using a glue stick. I use a glue stick a lot for upholstery. I found if you use a piece of glossy photo paper for your glue mat when running the glue stick over the card stock, and you will go past the edges of the card stock, the glue dries and you can use the piece of photo paper forever.**
Glue the fabric covered center into the top of the shade.

Trim around the bottom of the shade, evenly, a little less than an 1/8 of an inch. Snip into the corners of the scallops. glue the raw edges of the fabric to the inside of the shade.


At this point the shade is finished. You can glue Bunka to the top and bottom edges. Doll makers have lots of pretty trim to use, check some of them out on-line.




I am going to show you how I make fringe and I am going to glue that to the bottom of my shade.



Unravel an edge of your fabric. Pick an edge, sometimes the fabric's edges will have 2 different looking edges according to the warp and weft of the weave of the fabric. Even the colors of the threads may be different.








Unravel until you can pull 1 thread all across the edge.
















If you have a rotary cutter and ruler use them to straighten the edge. If you don't have those, use your sharpest scissors.

I unravel about a 1/4 inch; the choice is up to you.











Run a line of glue just above the unraveling. Let the glue dry.














Very carefully cut along the top of the line of glue.














Very carefully apply a line of glue, one scallop at a time, to the edge of the shade. Lay the glued edge of the fringe into the glue on the edge of the shade. Don't worry if your fringe breaks, just butt the edges and keep gluing.
**This fringe can be used on pillows, too. After your pillow is finished glue the fringe into the seam on the outside, tucking the fringe into the seam with tweezers.**








Depending on how your fabric reacted to the glue you may not need to add a trim to top of the fringe.











The green silk needed a trim to cover where the glue darkened the top edge of the fringe. The blue fabric looks like I added a ribbon to cover the edge, but I didn't.
I used 2 strands of embroidery floss for the twisted trim on the green shade. Twist the floss until it will twist back onto itself when folded in half.

As I said this is a large shade for a floor style lamp. My shades for a table lamp measure about an inch tall, that's 12 inches in full size.

When I finish Joy's lamp I will post a picture of it for you all to see. I have to turn the base and make her shade in white. I am going to try and make a little pompom trim, too. I don't know about that, yet. I will share if it's successful.

Have fun, expand on it, make it better, and just keep making minis!!! Kris

Lamp Shade, Part 3

Part 3











Cut your fabric on the bias. The bias has more stretch. We are going to cover the shade in one piece of fabric.
























Start with your shade in the middle of the triangle, on the wrong side of the fabric. Apply the glue to one pattern shape. Smear the glue out, leave no thick places of glue, a nice even and thin layer of glue. Smear the glue so that you think it is almost dry.













Press the fabric into the glue and smooth out the fabric.












Apply glue to the next pattern shape. Be careful not to get glue onto the fabric, but be sure to smear the glue right up to the fabric. Pull the fabric over and smooth it down onto the glue.
Go to the pattern shape on the other side of where you started and apply glue, smoothing it out until it is almost dry. Stretch and press the fabric onto the glue.








Now, you have 3 pattern shapes with fabric glued to them.














Keep alternating the shapes back and forth until you have 1 pattern shape left.















I want you to trim the fabric at the top and bottom of the shade, not the final trimming, just take some of the extra fabric off.














Trim off one side of the fabric to the middle of the last pattern shape and glue it down.

Trim off the other side to overlap the glued down end. Glue this last bit down. I know this is a raw edge and if you want to try to turn a hem in it before gluing, go ahead but my shade is going against a wall!





Trim the extra top fabric to the length of the top lip and glue down.


End of Part 3

Lamp Shade, Part 2

Part 2

Depending on how good my drawing was and how good your cutting was you might need to trim the center. Just slightly, don't change the shape of the center, let the shade relax around the center and come into shape.

Push the center into the shade up to the line. Don't use any glue yet. It's going to look like it's not going to fit, push it up and let the shade conform to the center.








After the shade has relaxed, (it takes a few minutes) and it is fitting, apply a line of glue to the underside of the center and shade. Let this dry.













You can make lamp bases out of just about anything. In the office I used a miniature vase and in Carl's Room I used a wood turning. The new beads that are out now can make some pretty lamp bases.












For the miniature vase in the office I filled in the top of the vase with a piece of wood cut into a circle to fit the hole in the top of the vase. I also cut a hole in the center of the piece of wood to fit a toothpick. I glued the wood circle into the top of the vase. The toothpick holds up the shade. I painted the wood circle and the toothpick gold.









Carl's Room, Carl is the Siamese cat. My daughter, Sam has a Siamese cat named Carl.













I trimmed out the shade with Bunka and added tassels to the wood base.

I am going to turn a base for this floor lamp. I use a drill press to turn on, not a lathe. I seem to be more comfortable with turning a piece vertically than horizontally. If this interests any of you I can show how this is done in another project.







Let the glue on your shade dry overnight or most of the day. After the glue has dried paint the shade with acrylic craft paint inside and out. Since we are using card stock, paint the inside and let dry and paint the outside and let dry, or vise-a-versa. Painting both sides at once tends to weaken the card stock and we don't want to lose our shade now.






When the inside and outside are really dry use sand paper, I used 180 to 220 grit, to sand the surface and get any glue bumps and ridges from edges that aren't butted. Generally smooth the surface. Paint again.











I used white; my shade is going to be white. I would paint my shade the color of the fabric I am going to use. Some shades are painted gold inside before you've covered the shade in your fabric.











I've covered this shade in silks, cottons and shiny polyesters. They all seem to work well. Test your glue out on the fabric. Some fabrics soak up more glue than others and leave a mark on the outside while other fabrics refuse to glue at all. I use Aleene's No-Sew Glue to glue the fabric to the shade. The glue stick is used a little later.


End of Part 2

November Project, Lamp Shade, Part 1

I have had a request for a floor lamp. It uses a shade that I make from poster board, so I thought I would make the shade for the November Blog Project. I am posting it in 4 parts. This shade is not for electricity. I think the paper and fabric would not be good to have getting hot with an electric bulb on.
I have given patterns, but given the nature of computers it's probably not going to copy for you in the size I'm using. Copy the pattern into a program that you'll be able to change its size. The size I'm using for the floor lamp is: 1 3/8 inch inch tall, 7/16 inch wide at the top and 3/4 inch wide at the bottom. There is also a line drawn 3/16 inch down from the top. This is the line for gluing the center to. This a large lamp shade. Once you have it in a program that you can adjust the size with you can make any size shade.
























I copied my pattern shapes into my old Print Shop 15 program and pasted a bunch to fit a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock. As I said before I usually make the lamp shade from poster board and when glued it is darn near indestructible. You have to trace the pattern shape seven times for the shade when poster board is used so I am using card stock here. Since the card stock can go through the printer it's easier to copy and print them out and then just cut the pattern shapes out. A note about the center, I made this from a 1 inch circle using a circle template. I carefully measured 7/16 inch around the circle 7 times and drew a straight line between the
marks I made on the circle. I copied these onto the card stock, too. Before I used it in the lamp shade I glued the center onto poster board, though. The center needs to be stiff; it is going to give shape to the shade.
After you've got your patterns printed out, cut out 7 pattern shapes and 1 center. Make sure the top of each pattern shape measures the same as each side of the center. To glue the card stock together use yellow wood glue, Elmer's Wood Glue or Titebond Original Wood Glue. We want the shade to be rigid when we are done, not flexible. I am using the yellow wood glue because it will grip and dry faster than the white glue.

When gluing the shade pattern shapes together make sure the line for the center will be in the inside of the finished shade.
The shade flares out at the bottom, pick up one pattern shape and gently rub your thumb over it to bend slightly, don't crease.












Apply the glue to both edges and while bending the pattern shapes butt the edges together and hold. I know this can get wonky, have patience, it does work. The yellow glue doesn't take long to grip, maybe a minute, it's not dry but it's stuck and can be put it down. Remember,butt the edges and don't overlap them.








Glue 2 pattern shapes together at a time; you will have 1 pattern shape left over, leave it for now.













Apply a line of glue to the inside seams.

Let these dry a bit, maybe an hour. I have let them dry overnight, the pairs draw together a bit and I have to spread them apart. This doesn't hurt them, it's just more work.









You should have 3 pairs and 1 left over shape. Glue 2 pairs together and glue the left over shape to the last pair. Apply a line of glue to the inside seams and let dry again.















Glue the 2 halves together at one seam, apply glue to the inside seam and let it dry.













When that seam is dry, glue the last seam together. Don't worry about the shape yet. When the center is pushed into the top the shape will change and relax around the center.












If you haven't glued the center onto a piece of poster board yet, do it now.
Depending on what you are going to use to hold up your shade with, punch a hole in the center of the center. Since I am going to use this for a floor lamp I am going to use a 1/8 inch hole punch to punch a hole. If you make a smaller shade for a table lamp you might want to use a 1/16 inch hole.






This is the end of part 1. I have to make supper for my family and will put in the rest of the parts tomorrow or late, late tonight. Kris

Super, Super, Super!! I did it. Thank you Caterina! Kris Still working on the November project, should be up by the 20th.

Caterina, you might want to send the information again. For some reason it took twice for the first message, it did reach me on the second time in spam. Nothing is showing up in spam or inbox. Send again, please, sorry. Kris

I have to thank Gemma for asking for the translator, I always try to read all of the comments and try to pick out words I think I understand, I saw favor and knew that meant the same thing in English. I went to Google and had her message translated for me. I am barely on the computer, I know almost next to nothing about computers so I really want to thank Caterina for her help in getting the translator on my blog and Gemma for asking the favor! I didn't know about it, it's always good to ask questions. Kris

Yes it does say it's turned off of Italian, can't have that! As soon as I get the e-mail I will put the new translator on. Thank you so much for your help. Kris

Going to try it out, got to have to be able to read it, too!! Kris

OH WOW!!!! This is so cool Thank You Caterina!!!

I GOT IT! I am going to try it.

Caterina, I am looking and nothing is in it yet. This would be so great if you could read the blog in your language. Kris

Caterina, which e-mail did you use, camceiling@frontiernet.net or kkcompas@yahoo.com I looked at both and I don't have an e-mail in them yet?

Translator?

Hello, I have a request to place a Google translator on the blog. I don't know how to do this, can someone help me out? I found a button for transliteration, but that's not what I want, it isn't for Spanish. Kris

Halloween Chair!

I know it's late but I thought I would show you this chair I made for a miniaturist for Halloween. She sent the fabric, after a long search and I covered a chair that I copied off a full size furniture site, it was called the "Vamp Chair". She sent some small skeletons for me to "make legs from". The minute I saw them I had the idea to make "Ball and Claw" feet from the hands. My daughter thought it a bit morbid, but it works. I experimented with her skeletons and found more at Michaels that were painted so I used those. I painted 4 small beads black to put into the bony hands.
I have figured out how to put a ruffle on a pillow that looks nice. I have been trying to do that for years. I will put it into a blog project soon if you are interested.
Starting work on the project for November, talk to you all soon, Kris

Hi Guys!

The 20th of the month is coming up, so I will be working on the next project for you all. I will need to coral one of my kids to help me with holding the camera. I think November has finally reached me here in south central Illinois! Been stoking the wood furnace. Talk to you soon, Kris