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

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Your game board and tangrams are so cute!!! What a brilliant idea! I never would have thought of doing something like that. I've considered making jigsaw puzzles before, out of those ready-cut blank puzzles you can buy at craft stores.

Stain is fun! Fumes really aren't bad. Maybe if you go to Lowes or somewhere like it, you can ask them for something not too smelly, and maybe they'll even open a can for you to catch a whiff. Plus, you can always just get water-based stain which isn't fumy at all (I think). It's just a little less lustrous, I think, and you have to do more sanding.

I was in love with book!Enjolras first, not having seen or heard the musical until after the book (on purpose - I've always been so totally spoiler-phobic!) I've never had a very in-depth fannish tour, but I have been to Javert's bridge (the closest I could tell from reading), the Luxembourg gardens, the sewers (there's a tour and museum!), Victor Hugo's house/museum, and the Musee' Carnavalet (Museum of the History of Paris) with my best friend, whose favorite book is also Les Miserables. It was wonderful. In the Carnavalet, we were so tired and slap-happy that at one point, we just sat and stared at a big painting of a revolt in Paris and picked out who the characters were - "That one must be Javert - he's wearing clothes like the students but he looks older and sneaky" and what they were saying to each other - "Hey, he's shooting the wrong way!" or "Will you get my water bottle out of my backpack?" We also sat in a cafe and saw road work being done outside, with little orange barriers set up, and said, "Look, they're building barricades! Ha ha, no one will get through this street now!"

[ldhenson.livejournal.com]

I've seen the cans of water-based stain, but they seemed to still have big warning labels, so it scared me off (this was before I read your posts). But if I got any they'd be the sort. Thanks for the heads-up about sanding.

Sounds like you and your friend had a ball in Paris. I'd love to go back sometime, now that I've matured some and can appreciate it even more. There's a tour of the sewers? Didn't know that. Which bridge did you peg as Javert's?

I saw the musical before reading the novel, but only because we'd done a medley of songs from it in our school choir the year before (I didn't understand what we were singing, but it made me curious), and our dorm was offering to subsidize our tickets. I fell in love with it on the spot. Bought the book later and spent a year just picking out scenes I recognized, then decided I had to read it properly after all and was immediately hooked. I love the musical (I've got four recordings), but the book even after all this time can still move me to tears.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I think the bridge we decided on was the Pont Notre Dame. I can't remember how we decided. It was because of the description of where he was walking, crossing at some corner near a park, walking next to whatever street, etc. etc. Of course, I never looked into the HISTORY of that bridge, and I know Paris went through major huge changes under Baron Haussmann in the 1860s, so I don't know.

I forgot to say, we also found Jean Valjean's grave (or rather, we picked one to be his) at the Pere Lachaise cemetery!