Quarter Scale Kit Assembly Techniques

   
It always amazes people how easy it is to do quarter scale kits.
Every show there is always someone who looks at my kits and says "oh I love them but I can't work that small."
Then the next year they come back and say "My friend convinced me that I have to try one."
And then the next show they are there with a list saying " I'm hooked!! This much easier than I thought and it all fits in such a small area." 
I feel like the Quarter Pusher . 'Psst  want to buy a kit?" LOL
 But the fact remains it is easy to do quarter scale. Sometimes, surprisingly easy.

One of the best tools are tweezers. You can hold kit parts, dip them in glue and position the parts all in the same move. You can set your chair in place and move it around with tweezers and then you can add a tiny throw cushion on the chair with the tweezers. Try doing that with 1/12!

Staining the kit pieces is very simple too. Use a touch up stain pen. Most hardware stores now carry marking pens with stain that match their larger cans. Or you can use an alcohol based coloured marker if you would like a blue chair or a faded green cabinet. The all the pens will let the grain of the wood show through. If the kit  pieces are in a panel then stain the entire panel of pieces before you take separate them. Much easier. remember to do both sides.
 If you are painting the piece then do that after it is assembled as the paint is less likely to warp the wood if it is glued together.

 Paint brushes don't have to be 10/0 to paint something quarter scale but they do help sometimes. Another standby is a round toothpick. Once the base coat is on you can add an amazing number of designs with the pointed end of a toothpick dipped in paint. Dots, of course, but also tiny commas and fine lines. Those 3 things can be combined to add gold decorations, flowers, scrolls and almost  any other detail you can imagine.

Most pieces are held in the panel with tiny uncut tabs. Use a sharp craft knife to cut the tab. Press with the knife on the tab and it should POP. If it doesn't turn the piece over and press again.
Don't try to slide the knife along the tab to cut it. That can slip and cut into the piece or tear the wood.

My #1 rule is use wood glue on wood.  You can add a touch of tacky to help it hold quickly but please don't use tacky to build furniture. I know a lot of people say the opposite but Tacky is meant to stay flexible. Chair legs that bend away from the seat won't hold up your little people and are very frustrating to the carpenter.
I have found a new glue called wood glue MAX that works like a tacky glue and sets solidly.

For upholstery, tacky works just fine. The tackier the better. I love The Ultimate by Crafter's Pick. Unfortunately it is getting harder to find but well worth the search. It also works well for holding the furniture in the room. Just a dot on one or two chair legs will hold it in place on the carpet or flooring.

As far as fabric goes, always use natural fabric. No polyester or anything wrinkle free. That is meant to stay flat and is horrible to try to glue on anything small. Cotton or silk will let you drape it and glue with a lot less fighting.

Paper fabric is rather fun to do too. Try this; Print a quilt on regular paper with your printer. Cut it out and then roll it up as if you were making a spit ball. Remember them. I know you 'never' did that is school but I'm sure you saw one once. Un roll your spit ball' and then crumple it up again. Do it a coupe of times until the paper is soft and a but limp. Don't go too far or the printing will wear off. Now you have a nice soft quilt that can be draped and folded to lay over the end of a chair or bed and will have the soft look of fabric.





That's it for now. if you need any help with a technique send me an email and I will try to help.
There is a complete list of my kits  in a pdf file on th lft of the home page on m website.
                                               www.petworthminiatures.com
and the photo gallery there also has photos of rooms and settings with lots of decorating ideas.



Wandlyn Way Part 1

  I love the Harry Potter movies and Diagon Alley is such a great set. I wanted to do one in quarter scale but it had to be my own so...the Wandlyn Way was born.

The Story of the Wandlyn Way

According to legend the Wandlyn Way was developed by Percival Penrose.

Percival Penrose descended from a long line of wizards in England but he wanted to see more of the world. In 1820 he immigrated to North America and after living in a log cabin for several months he decided that roughing it in the bush was not for him. He purchased a property in a small courtyard in the market area of the new Bytown and built an inn that reminded him of home. The Hole in the Wall was a Tudor styled building and attracted mainly lumberjacks and stonemasons at first but slowly word of his roots spread and those with a magical aptitude started patronizing the pub. As the wizard population increased in this new land he realized that they needed the same special items that had been available in England. Being a shrewd entrepreneur he established the Wandlyn Way in a hidden alley behind his Inn. The

Way quickly became the meeting place for all wizards and the mundane lumber jacks that frequented his pub never noticed the more colourful patrons who slipped out to the outhouse in the back alley and eventually returned laden with miscellaneous mysterious packages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hedge Witch

#1 Wandlyn Way.

Herbalia Gardner~ proprietor

 

A hedge witch from Shropshire opened the first shop in 1825. Geraldine Gardiner delighted in discovering new herbs and fungi in the vast surrounding forests. She had also brought with her seeds and cuttings from many of the plants that had grown in the garden back in England. The shop is now run by her great great great granddaughter Herbalia and continues to supply a wondrous selection of plants and garden necessities.

     

 

Leaden Gold Alchemist & Apothecary

The ‘Great’ Leaden Gold prop.

Est. 1828

  Once customers starting wandering into the tiny alley behind the Hole in the Wall, it became clear that there was need for magical supplies and one man appeared from nowhere to fill the need. He introduced himself as the “Great” Leaden Gold, ‘world renowned purveyor of superior sorcery supplies’. No one had ever heard of him but anyone new to town was a welcome diversion.

   His servant was seen late at night unloading heavy sacks from his wagon and it was rumoured that they were actually sacks and sacks of gold coins. Leaden hired the skilled stone masons that were working on the Rideau Canal to build him a fine stone building. He was most definite that the building be strong and able to withstand earthquakes or other strong forces. As soon as it was finished, a steady stream of wagons, caravans and the occasional handcart started appearing in front of the building. Interesting packages and barrels were trundled inside. The shop opened in time for the summer solstice with a wide variety of rare and fascinating chemicals and ingredients for all manner of potions and spells.
   The proprietor perched on a high stool behind the counter and wrote orders into a large red ledger book while his servant ran back and forth and climbed up and down measuring quantities and wrapping packages which he carefully piled on the long counter. Gold gracefully presented the wrapped packages to his customers and gently dropped each payment into a large metal box.
  The first day of business, the line of customers snaked out the door and down the alley. Even the lumberjacks in the bar were amazed at the number of people who immediately headed out to the outhouse behind the pub with barely a nod at those sitting at the pub tables. They soon put it down to a bad case of food poisoning and the cook house next door saw a disturbing drop in their sales for several days.
   By the end of that first day, the shelves were nearly bare and the Leaden Gold Alchemist and Apothecary Shop was an established part of the Wandlyn Way.
   The Great Gold, himself, stood only 4 feet tall but he still aspired to a more impressive appearance. His towering gold hat increased his height to nearly seven feet and a multitude of bells and charms hung on every part of his robes. The noise generated as he jangled and jingled down the alley caught everyone’s attention and they stood aside to see what was causing the commotion. The Great Gold trotted importantly down the open middle of the street bowing and nodding to those lining the Way as if it was his due.  He completely missed the grins and giggles that followed his progress.
   His hulking manservant was truly seven feet tall and usually followed stoically behind the tiny man gathering up any bells or doodads that dropped from the jingling robes and lugging an assortment of bags boxes and barrels for the shop.
Although no one had ever found even one person who had heard of ’The Great Gold’, the wizards of Bytown and the surrounding hills enthusiastically welcomed the amusing little man. They flocked to his shop to purchase their magical supplies, such as dragons blood and toad warts, and they delighted in the strange and wonderful machines he invented in his workshop. The fact that none of them did anything useful did not reduce the pure pleasure of discussing ‘crazy little Gold’s’ latest invention around a pub table during the long winter nights.  The occasional booming explosion or dish that rattled off the shelf only added to the entertainment as far as the community was concerned.
   The lumberjacks put the noise and vibration down to trees falling or work on the canal.  
The shop has changed hands over the years and no longer is owned by the Gold family. In fact Gold himself disappeared not long after the shop opened. His caravan was last seen racing down the valley with his manservant running desperately after it. There were hints that the gold coins used to pay the stonemasons who built the shop and the suppliers who filled it had slowly turned into dull lumps of lead but no one would admit to having been caught in such a scam and only a few strange grey metal souvenirs circulated through the community and eventually found their way into tackle boxes   

 

Wands & Incantations

TobiasBartholomew prop.

Est. 1828

The castle like edifice of Leaden Gold ~ Alchemist simply cried out for a tower and Tobias Bartholomew soon proposed to add just that adornment. The great houses of parliament boasted such towers and it was easy to convince the stone masons to add a similar smaller structure in the Wandlyn Way.  Tobias thought it was an appropriate shape for a shop that specialized in wands.  The forest that supplied some of the Hedge Witch’s newest botanical experiments also provided an unending variety of wood for creating wands that were particularly attuned to this new wizard world. Strong oak, supple birch, traditional rowan and the new sugar maple as well as heart pine and black walnut all found their way into his workshop where they were transformed into unique wands ready to claim their one soul mate. Tobias was a tiny man himself but he wielded a sturdy oak wand nearly his own size. When he began to carve a wand his talented hands were as delicate as a butterfly and coaxed fine intricate designs from the wood.  Unicorns were plentiful in the wild woods but newer animals also contributed magical cores for the wands. Often the totems of a Native Shaman would appear in the workroom and regally offer a hair, feather or a whisker before vanishing. Mountain cougar, Artic Fox, Black Bear and Eagle slipped into the workroom and offered a unique bond for special wands.  Tobias welcomed them all with a smile. The great polar bear did cause a bit of consternation as he tried to manoeuver in the small shop but he was still very welcome. Inevitably these unexpected additions to the inventory would be just the one required by the next customer and so the magic of the Old World melded into that of this strange new land.

To be continued.........