Finished!

My mini Goreyosity Shop is now complete. I confess that it will be difficult to part with, but I hope it finds its way to someone who loves it as much as I do.

I still have some inventory items left, so I will determine shortly whether I have enough to make a second project.  Until then, thank you Bob, Devon, and Megan for your contributions (order determined by alphabet only).  And thank you to the Edward Gorey House and the Cultural Center of Cape Cod for the wonderful experience.   

Finishing Touches

Completing a miniature project is much like finishing a long, wonderful book that you don't want to end.  So for this reason, I found a few more spaces to fill and details to obsess over.

I realized with sudden urgency that I had to include this chicken portrait.  I took him from the Tempura Wok and Cookery book.

I also wanted to include this plush elephant that I found at the kickoff.  I decided to make him the shop keep:

And finally, I decided to include one of my early advertising charms. This one is from Little Brown Jug whisky, and appears to be from the 1920s.  I am donating this affectionately from one collector to another.

And now, the final blocking.

For Bob and Zilla: The Great A'Tuin

During the kickoff I found a great turtle doorknob that I wanted to somehow incorporate. I chose it out of loyalty to our pet tortoise Zilla.

And for Bob, I turned it into a Discworld tribute.  Terry Pratchett's Discworld is Bob's favorite book series, and features a flat world delicately supported by four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle. The turtle is called the Great A'Tuin, shown here (credit: Discworld site):

The hardest part was actually cleaning the turtle.  Megan removed most of the grime by soaking it in Sprite.  (Thank you, Megan!)

I found some small elephant beads from Etsy, and used one of the larger glass pebbles from the kickoff for the disc.

I glued everything together with epoxy.  Results are below!

Ball Display

 If you visit the Gorey House (and I suggest that you do), you will notice various assemblages of balls, stones, and marbles.  Examples are below.

So I was pleased but not surprised when I found a collection of marbles at the kickoff.  I grabbed a few, as well as some interestingly shaped napkin rings.

I made a small-scaled ball display which doubles as my own private tribute.  I left the marbles loose, so they are fully playable.

Natural Curiosities

Victorians were in love with natural history.  And given the age of my shop, I decided to incorporate some natural curiosities.

First I removed the shells from this lovely shell plant.  I positioned them outward to highlight their creatureness.

Then I made use of some of the glass pebbles.  I thought the yellow pebbles had an amber-like quality:

So I made them into amber specimen paperweights.  I shrunk down stock photos and printed them onto photo paper.  Then I glued the pebbles over the images as shown.

Results are below.  The bubbles from the superglue look a bit like amber bubbles.  (That's what I'm going with, anyway.)

Mini Spinning Tops

This one was almost too easy.  

Some of the beads were shaped very much like old-fashioned spinning tops.  Here is an example of a  19th century top from the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood:

And here are the beads from the necklace.  I left one of the beads its original pink, and painted the other one yellow for contrast.  We made a special trip to Home Depot tonight get the perfect sized screws.  (Thank you, Bob!)

Ready Made Objets

Some of the items from kickoff were interesting enough to use in their original or close to original form. My favorite was the corkscrew mouse/pig, but the olive bead was a close second.  I found the olive loose in the same box as the wooden necklaces.  I glued it to a small wood pedestal and Lego square to make a floor lamp.

I mounted the other pieces on the toy blocks and store shelves.

It's starting to take shape!  I especially like how the ceramic monkey looks with the Monkey Brand Black Tooth Powder poster.

First Blocking

I started arranging the pieces that I've made to date.  Results are below.

I used some of the toy blocks as furniture. One was the perfect size for a sales counter, and others made interesting pedestals.

I am happy with the progress, but I still have more to work with.  Up next: marbles, baubles, and odd-shaped beads!  

Last Tin: German Bread Box

The bread box  was a common accessory in 19th century miniature shops.  And lucky for me, one of the tins was the perfect bread box size and shape.

I could have left it as it was, but I decided to decorate it with this Edward Gorey illustration as a tribute.

Devon helped me affix the picture to the top of the tin.  (Thank you, Devon!)

I put an antique cake inside as a reward for anyone who is curious enough to open the tin. The cake is most likely German, circa 1890. Read here for more about Antique and Vintage Dollhouse Food. 

Third Tin: Mini Jigsaw Puzzle

I would be remiss if I did not use this pig.

I found him while cutting up the Tempura Wok and Cookery book for the Words and Sentences game.  I considered turning him into a Victorian era Sliced Animals set, but I decided to go with the less morbid picture puzzle.

I added light color and mounted onto cardboard for stability. 

Then I cut into pieces, and shrunk down a photo of the picture for the box cover.

Final results below.  I left the pieces loose, so it's fully operable.  It has 70 pieces total, but it's harder to solve than it looks!

Second Tin: Mini Word Game

I used the second smallest tin to make a word game.  I had originally thought Scrabble, but Scrabble was not invented until the 1930s, which was too new for my shop.  So I found a few anagram histories online, and settled on an 1877 version of  Words and Sentences by Milton Bradley. 

I cut out recipe titles from the Wok and Tempura Cookery book and glued them to a piece of carboard for stability.  The titles worked well because they were all in caps. 

Then I cut up the letters as shown.

I found clear pictures of the original box cover and instructions from BoardGameGeek and shrunk them down to size.

Results are below.  I left the letters and instructions loose, so it is technically playable - but it's short a few letters.  Perhaps a food-themed game?