Moldy Horror

I was playing with my Mansion, arranging the Lady's Bedroom furniture, and went off in search of a rug that I knew I had somewhere for the bedroom.  Most of my mansion's furniture is kept in sealed clear roomboxes so I can see what I have even though the mansion rooms they belong in aren't assembled or decorated yet.  A few months ago these boxes were moved from the dining room (my usual work area) to the basement (aka dark, dank spider hotel).  And while searching for the M.I.A. rug in these clear acrylic storage roomboxes on the basement shelves, I was horrified to discover that one box had an explosion of mold in it!

In the dimly lit basement I noticed the faint fuzz of mold on EVERYTHING in the box

Brought the clear box up to the kitchen for further investigation

I was devastated.  I've never experienced anything like this.  And I didn't know where to begin to clean it up.  All the pieces (except maybe the mirror) had mold on them: glass, wood, fabric!  And of course they were expensive Bespaq pieces.  I was sick to my stomach.  Following advice from friends and colleagues I cleaned the pieces with non-chlorine bleach.  I mean, heck, the miniatures were already ruined.  What else did I have to lose?

My supplies of brushes, towels, rags, and non-chlorine bleach in a cup

Process was simple: take the moldy piece.  Lightly wipe it off.  Gently scrub it with a toothbrush dipped in the Clorox (the non-chlorine "for brighter colors" version of Clorox).

A Bespaq piece I had embellished with a gold marker years ago. Mold was growing on the bottom, highlighting (maybe even creating?) the cracks in the wood finish.

Using a toothbrush to gently get the suds into all the nooks and crannies. Seriously, my dentist would flip if she knew what I do with those free toothbrushes they give me. LOL

In the future I think I will need to sand and restain the bottom area where the cracks are but I was so pleased the mold came off as easily as it did!

Luckily almost all of the pieces cleaned up well!

End Table

The mold is even growing on the spider webs or cotton ball remnants stuck between the legs and center post!

All clean!

Might even look better now than it did before the mold grew on it! LOL

Next came the nail-biters (the fabric pieces):

Most of the mold was on the wood pieces with just a small amount touching the fabrics.

Spots all over the arms and legs....

All cleaned up nicely!

Squeaky clean.

I was very worried about the sofa fabric as it had a big old spot front and (almost) center....

Sofa was hit hard by the mold for some reason...

Those mold spots on the fabric were not gonna be fun to deal with

Mold all in the details and carvings of the side

All cleaned!

Mold came off of fabric reasonably well!

Thanks to floral design and decent clean up job, I can barely tell where mold had been!

Sofa, all clean and ready to be admired again

Coffee table was covered in mold; looks like it was dipped in sugar crystals -- not sure why the area my finger swiped from months ago did not grow mold (circle marks are from glass vases that had been displayed on the table...

Cleaned up easily.

Ultimately, I did lose one piece (a chair) due to a moldy black spot I could NOT get out and the fabric faded from my vigorous scrubbing trying to get the spot out.

I circled the mold spots on the fabric as they do blend in with the fabric design

The dark dot under the arm rest was the big problem.

Spot is still faintly there but my scrubbing at it has faded the fabric around it

Stupid spot.

But if I decide that Mansion room absolutely needs two chairs, the furniture is still available for sale so I can get another brand new one and use this chair to reupholster in a coordinating fabric or in another scene!  What a relief!

And I wiped down the other 10 display boxes with the non-chlorine bleach even though they didn't show any signs of mold and I have returned them to the dining room table....just to be safe.  I can once again return to working on the actual Mansion structure now that this crisis has been dealt with.  With the Lady's bedroom being completed and the window openings being cut into the addition pieces, there will definitely be a more exciting blog update in a week or two!

Yellow Glenwood

Been working on this customer's house for a few months (in between other customer projects) and it's now finished!  This Real Good Toys Glenwood was originally brought to us for porch railing repair and roof shingling.  Customer added on porch painting, interior finishing, and window trim installation once work was underway.  Before and After photos:

Before: little lady looks nice

  

After: little lady looks stunning!

Please admire the bay roof: my shingle-lady (aka Mom) spent a lot of time and did a fantastic job on it!  Her patience for shingling far exceeds mine!

She matched up the shingles so nicely!

The interior needed to have walls glued in place, priming throughout, ceilings painted, wallpapers and floorings installed, and stairs finished.


Before: good bones!

After: All ready!

Before: Attic rooms

After: Attic Rooms

Before: Middle level

After: Middle level

Before: First floor

After: First floor

Before: Bay rooms

After: Bay rooms

Before: Getting ready to prime interior and porch

After: Getting ready to head home to it's owner

Customer will be in next week to pick it up and then I believe it is getting packed away for when granddaughter comes along...and so another beauty is passed on to the next generation!

Elephant in the room

So, years and years ago,  I bought this wonderful little elephant and two years ago I purchased this Indian couple to go with the elephant...

And I knew that eventually they would become a Hindu wedding scene.  But I needed the right fabric and other projects got in the way.  Until Monday when I decided to quickly finish up this little scene.

For those not familiar with North India, West India, and Pakistan weddings, the Baraat is the tradition by which the groom arrives at his wedding.  It is the start of the wedding celebration! There is singing, dancing, laughter, and for transporting the groom to the ceremony there is either a horse, elephant, or fancy car (in modern times as horses and elephants are harder to come by in some towns/cities).

I didn't want to make the whole Baraat procession because that would involve a lot of dolls to represent all the groom's family and friends, plus the musicians. Plus my bride already had her Bindi (the red dot on her forehead symbolizing a married woman's commitment to her husband and marriage). So I decided the ceremony was over, but the Baraat Elephant was still there for photos.

Created the seat first.  The groom (and in some cases, a younger brother/nephew) would sit in the seat as the procession moves thru the streets.  Using balsa wood I made the seat to sit on the lumpy elephant's back:

I covered it with fabric and started to make the draping for the elephant's back.

Glued some edging to the fabric



Glued it to the elephant's back and added gold bangles to tusks

Glued a second draping and the covered seat on top

Next up was the elephant's head dress...simple little diamond shaped fabric and a jewel sticker my friend found at an egg show and mailed to me.

Next they needed an umbrella to protect them from the bright sun glare...I used one of those paper drink umbrellas:

Start (well, I forgot to take a photo of the actual paper umbrella I used but this one is representative)

Removed the paper and spray painted it gold

Covered with fabric and some trim.

The underside fabric matches the seat chassis

So now it is all "done" (okay, it's not really done, it's just "now presentable" like the New York Roombox).  I just have to fuss with some minor landscaping.  But I'm pleased with my day of playing, er, I mean, working:

Umbrella in place

Presentable, seen from above

Presentable

Presentable under plexiglass

A bit hazy from the plexiglass it's under, but rough draft walkway for the elephant is planned and I've picked a few plants but the scene needs something more.  I'm toying around with some terraced landscaping behind the elephant (where tall tree is) but I am open to ideas/suggestions!  Especially to the right of the couple!  Thanks in advance!

(New York) Christmas in July

It's done!!! My New York Shop Windows Room Box is done!  Well, basically done; just needs some boxes under the Tiffany tree, and some more garland and "Merry Christmas" sign in the Teuscher window, and I still have to print out the Broadway posters for the frames (current ink cartridges are low so posters aren't printing out as nice as I'd like them -- have to wait until printer ink is changed)...Okay, so it still needs more work. But it's presentable now. ("It's presentable now" doesn't sound nearly as exciting or as dramatic as "It's done!".)

Last minute add-ons to the room boxes:  I added some reindeers to Tiffany's window.

Plastic buttons, but they weren't dazzling

Taped up antlers and sprayed white

Sprinkled this glitter stuff on them

Sparkle plenty now!

 

I like the simplicity of the window, but thinking 2 or 4 small Tiffany boxes need to be in this window too.

For those of you who noticed there are only two reindeer in the Tiffany window, but there had been three in the package: the third is hiding in another window.  It's like Waldo.  Have fun looking for him! LOL

And the Teuscher Chocolatier shop window needed something on the back wall...the original real life window has an over abundance of ornament garland on the back wall:

Real life window packed full of ornaments and garland

But all I had was a piece of garland that I fashioned into a skinny wreath.  It was looking weak.

So I added some greenery sprays and ornaments to it until it was properly over-the-top dripping with stuff.

A full wreath for the back wall, roughly 3" diameter

Teuscher side will still need some more garland on the back wall, hanging from the crown molding that is just out of view.  Two more packs of garland are on order and should arrive in mid-Sept.

So this project is "presentable now"!  Here's a video of it:

Or, if you'd prefer, photos of both the real life and the mini versions of New York shop windows decorated for the holidays...

Real Life Teuscher window

MINI VERSION.  Did you spot the third sparkly reindeer?

Real Life Tiffany window

MINI VERSION

Real life Bergdorf Goodman window that I fell in love with when my friend posted the pic she took of it while in NYC

Real life exterior of shop



MINI VERSION. The side that started it all

The final wall had no "real life" version; I was just looking for something "New York" and brick buildings and Broadway jumped to mind.

MINI VERSION. Still waiting on fresh printer ink to print these

Got this done just in time to claim it as "Christmas in July"!  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I do!