At the beginning of the pandemic, like so many of us, I was stuck home and needed to keep my hands and mind busy. Although I have many creative outlets, painting, jewelry design, etc. It was making miniatures that really helped me forget about the stress and worry and just fall into the zone where hours pass like minutes.
What initially started as a small project (see what I did there? LOL) just grew and grew and after 12 – 18 months I ended up with my almost finished masterpiece taking up a chunk of my family room
The whole house is scratch built. I started with some plywood and some scribbles on paper. I built it room by room without a clear idea of what the finished house would look like. This make it up as I go approach drives my husband mad – he likes plans and detailed parts lists – just not my style 
I learned a lot as I went, through sheer trial and error. Spent a lot of time researching online and using Pinterest to create mood boards for inspiration. As an avid traveller I had lots of wonderful inspiration from trips I had taken in the past and tons of photos
Mistakes were made, I am sure there are very few truly straight walls… Hence the name La Masion Tordue means “The crooked House” in French But I loved every minute of it and have learned a lot in the process.
The whole place is constructed of plywood and 4 ply mat-board. Card stock continues to be my favorite medium. I also used beads, wire, resin, acetate, fabric and paper.
I had such a fantastic response when I shared photos to some miniature groups on facebook and a couple people suggested a dedicated site for project galleries, tutorials, kits and a shop.
An old colleague also did an interview for his new online publication Great Love Sound.
So here I am, planning to retroactively blog about this project and turn some of the projects into tutorials and kits for other mini lovers out there. Complete with detailed instructions and detailed part lists just like my husband likes LOL
I never intended to repeat this one off folly, but as the pandemic continues to drag on I missed my mini projects, so I have started a new project. An Art Nouveau Dollhouse which you can follow along with here
I will be blogging my progress as I go for the new project and I have been asked to share tutorials and do custom work for other mini collectors. Hope you join me to see how it turns out.
XOXO Shelley
