mini Stephen's desk

[nid_dabeille]

I made Stephen's desk for his dispensary! I made it from a kit (the House of Miniatures Chippendale slant front desk, the closest match I could find to what he has in the movie - did anyone else ever notice what his desk looks like in the movie, apart from me?) but I distressed and messed it up to be appropriate for life on a ship, a life being covered with bottles of chemicals and dead specimens, and life with slovenly Stephen.  (I think he dissects that fish directly on the desk top.  I bet he eats garlicked bread right off of the same surface.  Probably at the same time!)


Bigger pictures below...

This was it before I distressed it, along with his broken old Windsor chair.  (And I didn't bother to varnish it, as I would have normally.  I didn't bother to stain it very evenly, either, knowing I would be distressing it a lot.)  And by the way, fellow miniaturists, I bought several small sample packs of stain at Lowes for just 35 cents or so, and one was the perfect amount to do this whole desk.  I reckon one or two packets would be good for a single piece of furniture or the floor for one room, and there were many different colors and styles available!





And here it is after distressing.  I decided that at some point, Stephen had spilled his ink pot on the right side, and there are also blobs of candle wax and various other spills and stains that have happened to it in its messy life.  I still intend to add handles on the sides for carrying it, as soon as I find the right type.  And I think it will look nice scattered with books, his magnifying glass, a candle, his spectacles and pocket watch.



The picture above is more accurate in color and tone and subtlety, but the one below makes the stains more visible.



(Here's what it looked like in the movie.  Jack's actually looks very similar, but I don't think I'll make him a matching one.  Too bad, Jack.)


(And that roundy curvy support thing on the wall on the right - what are those things called?  And are they regularly spaced throughout the ship, and are they always oriented ... athwartships? *looks around covertly to see if everyone is impressed with her nautical jargon*  I wonder if I need some in my boxes.  )

Meanwhile, I'm feeling a bit terrified to start actually painting/staining/arranging the roomboxes themselves. I made a checkered floor cloth for Jack, but I still can't decide how to arrange anything. I want to put at least some of the stern windows in the cabin, but I don't know where - on the back? On the side? The roombox isn't big enough to do the whole cabin. Maybe half a cabin. But which half? The aft half or the starboard half? (I haven't even considered the larboard half. I don't know why. Maybe the larboard side just doesn't get as much coverage in the movie so I'm not as used to it. Maybe it's because I'm left-handed and see things in a specific skewed way. OH! I THINK I KNOW WHY! BECAUSE STEPHEN SITS ON THE STARBOARD SIDE! That's why. I've spent so much time looking at him sitting there with his cello.)

Anyway, I think it's like some people apparently feel when confronted with a blank canvas or sheet of paper in art (though I never had that problem). I'm terrified to commit myself to the roomboxes themselves, terrified to start.  OVERWHELMED, HEELLLLLPPPP!  I shall fail!

In Stephen's dispensary/sickbay area, I think I'm going to have a divider between the two. But I'm not sure I'll have room. I wish I'd been more thoughtful when I bought the boxes. The guy just had a single size, and I didn't think much of it, except for getting him to lower the ceiling. I hope people won't look at it and think it's crazy ridiculous. I wish it was bigger.

I'm amazed at how my knowledge about ships has grown. I have a very full Stephenish understanding of the interior of ships now, especially movie!Surprise. And I think if I ever visit the Surprise, it will seem very familiar, like Paris was familiar the first time I visited, because I'd been poring over the map for so many years (marking the locations of events from Les Miserables.) Of course, I was still a complete foreigner, and I'll still be a complete lubber if I ever see the Surprise. Which I kind of doubt I ever will. Oh well.  But in the movie, I'm great about props now, and furnishings. 

linked at doll_houses .

Comments

[xarpiex.livejournal.com]

The stains look so convincing!
You do well at distressing miniatures :D

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's so much fun!

[sharpiefan.livejournal.com]

I believe the round curvy support thing is one of the ship's knees...

*attempts to show some seamanlike knowledge for Jack's sake*

And that looks fantastic! Go you!

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

So that is a ship's knee. I have often heard it spoken of.

Thanks!

[redhotlips.livejournal.com]

I get similarily terrified with filling a blank box. I found that if I place the furniture in it, and let it sit for a couple days, then it's not longer a blank box in my head, and that somehow gives me permission to play around with the stuff, with glue. :)

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one. Phew! With a regular dollhouse, things don't seem so permanent. I can rearrange furniture etc. But this is going to be so specific that it won't be so flexible. Aack! I just want to do it RIGHT, or the best possible way.

Thanks for the reassurance. :D

[newleaf31.livejournal.com]

Wow, your desk looks great. Congratulations on a wonderful unique piece! Jack will feel right at home. :) And thanks for the tip on the sample stains at Lowe's. I have my fingers crossed that maybe they'll have a sample of a green stain... I hate to buy a whole can of green stain just for the front side of Bag End's front door!

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I think they had a green sample at my store! There were a couple of different brands. But you could also probably just mix up some acrylic paint and thin it down with water to make it look stainy.

Thanks!

[zed-pm.livejournal.com]

WOW. That's absolutely wonderful! GREAT job. :D:D

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I'm glad you think so! Thanks!

[theshrub-eline.livejournal.com]

so cute :p you have to send me a photo when you have everything!!

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm sure I'll be posting pictures when it's done!

[shipotl.livejournal.com]

The desk looks amazing!

I'm afraid you wouldn't get much of an idea of what Stephen's cabin looked like from the HMS Rose. The picture you posted looks like some sort of set. I don't think they filmed any of the interior scenes on board the ship. The movie people changed the ship so much that it is hard to tell what it actually must have looked like.

It is hard to see what the whole thing looked like from this picture, but it will give you an idea of some of the props that were used in the movie.


I don't know if you noticed the unnaturally high gun port. We were told by one of the docents they removed one of the decks to make more head room. You can see where the original deck floor would have been in this picture, which is the right height for the cannon.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks for the pictures! Well, I'm making Stephen's dispensary, and from the floorplan (deckplan?) I've seen of the Rose-Surprise, he has a separate place to sleep, which is probably the one in your picture (maybe?) But the dispensary is way up, um, forward. ;p Next to the sick bay, and it's like his office (and his medicine hidey-hole.)

I wish I knew what was in that black tray with little compartments! I want it, in fact. Think of all the little miniature specimens I could store in it! (I also wish I could give that costume a hug. It's so huggable, that one. The short jacket front is so inviting to little arms that could slip around that waist.)

[martiw.livejournal.com]

You may be the first person I know to actually PUT TOGETHER a House of Miniatures kit, lol. I have a collection of unopened ones in my spare room. Good job!

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can highly recommend them now! The pieces were all lovely and smooth and fit very well together, and the hardware (little brass handles etc) was fine and detailed. The only negative thing about the kit was that it called for a pin vise to make holes for the little hardware. Why didn't they drill the holes before selling the kit? I was unable to find a pin vise anywhere in town, so I ended up doing my own unorthodox and complicated thing which worked fine anyway. But that's a weird and highly specific absolute-necessity-but-not-included-in-the-kit sort of tool.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

And psst... there's always miniswapsetc if you want to unload some of those spare kits... Or sell them! I'm on the market to buy some!

[nohea-pua.livejournal.com]

You are so freaking awesome! It looks great!

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Thanks for that emphatic reassurance! :D

[rosamundeb.livejournal.com]

I believe that curved thing goes athwart the starboard gimbrals... by and large. *G*

THANK YOU FOR MY NECKLACE!!!! It is indeed very hobbitty and also very beautiful!!!! I love it! I was so confused when I got the envelope because, as I said, my brother works in the town you live in and I thought "what the heck?". *G* It's very lovely and thank you for remembering!

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

*scribbles in notebook* ...athwart... the starboard... gimbrals. Thank you very much. o_o

YAY! I'm glad you got it! And glad you like it too!

Oh, your brother works here? Well if you're ever in town visiting him, look me up! ;D

[widgeon7.livejournal.com]

Dollhouses! I had a dream last night that my house was a dollhouse. There was one of those latches on it so the front could swing open. It was next to the front door. I was very upset that the hallway was too narrow, which was silly because the house was still sized for me to live in it. Whether it was a very large dollhouse or I was doll-sized I never found out.

Your furniture is amazing. The little rings on the desk! Awwwwww.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I was inspired by a part where it said his fine dressing case was covered in rings from the chaplain's cocoa (though I'm sure Killick cleaned it up before the varnish was ruined.)

What a fun dream! I always loved stories about mini people who either lived in dollhouses or like the Borrowers who took things from the real world to use at their scale. But there was one story I read where a house had actually been shrunk, and the girl thought it was just the most amazing dollhouse, but it was actually real - and then SHE got shrunk inside it.

[haraheart.livejournal.com]

I love the fact that you have cup rings on the desk - it just makes it all the more realistic rather than just general distressing.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hee, they were fun to make.

[tootsiemuppet.livejournal.com]

God, that looks so absolutely fantastic. I love those stain rings on it. That is so precisely what would happen to any piece of bautiful furniture if youlet Stephen near it or any length of time.

Amazing job, as usual.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased, yay!!! And do you like the big ink stain?

[ldhenson.livejournal.com]

That is amazing. I love the distressing, and the cup rings. As a fellow detail-obsessive (though not for dollhouses), I love reading your posts on this project. I've only ever seen sort of clunky, ready-made dollhouse furniture in craft stores, so it's wonderful to see how finely-finished these pieces are. Can't wait to see how it progresses, I'm sure you'll do great.

They have stain sample packs at Lowes? Why didn't I know this before I did my last decoupaged box? I hate working with anything with large warning labels, which is why I never picked up a can of stain, but I think I could handle small packets.

like Paris was familiar the first time I visited, because I'd been poring over the map for so many years (marking the locations of events from Les Miserables.)

So cool.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Aww, Enjolras... I think, back in the heyday of my youth, I loved Enjolras more than I love Stephen now. But it was a more awe-filled admiring adoration. I feel more at home with Stephen. I can squish him and squeal over him with less intimidation than with Enjolras.

Thanks! I'm so pleased you like my minis! If you're detail-obsessive, maybe you'd like doing miniatures too! Of course, with the stain as with many of the glues, there are warning labels, but it's more to do with common sense like don't BURN your paint-thinner-and-oil-soaked rags afterwards because they'll be very flamable, try not to breathe in a lot of the fumes (i.e. don't sniff the model glue to get high) You can get water-based stains and varnishes too, and they're easier to clean up, but I think they tend to raise the wood grain more so it's prickly, even if it was sanded silky smooth before you started. That always annoys me to no end.

What do you use for decoupage gloop? Show us pictures? :D

Ah Paris... have you been? I can't remember.

[sweetphaex.livejournal.com]

8D SO SCMAAAALL!

As for distressing and staining things (something I do a lot in my art practice), have you ever used Bitumen? (or as we said in higschool shopclass "Bitchewmen") (what they use on roads)

Disolved with turpentine it makes fantastic stains and you can layer to effect on woods and even paper.

I don't knot much about minatures but I do know a bit about ball jointed dolls and custom ones, am helping my friend dress one to look close to Horatio Hornblower as possible XD

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! No, I've never used bitumen. It's a resin, right? I know about it, and I've seen it in old oil paintings (usually causing paint to crack, I think) but I've never heard of using it for stain! Is it better than regular stain?

Aww, a Horatio doll! How big is he? I wanna see pictures!