In the News: Japanese Man Crafts Dollhouses from Broken Acoustic Guitars

I love recycling, upcycling, repurposing and reusing things that have outlived their useful lifespan. I'm always squirreling something away in my stash that I think I might be able to use one day and Goodwill is one of my regular haunts. You might recall that the witch house is being constructed using an old oak tissue box cover from the 80s that I picked up at Goodwill. I've also used a lot of scraps of various materials that have been lying around.

When this article about a Japanese man who creates dollhouses from broken acoustic guitars showed up in my RSS feed reader today, I thought "hey that's cool!" and thought I'd share. These should be called room boxes or dioramas, though... but I won't quibble... I just like that he is using something that would otherwise be discarded.

You can read the whole article and take a look at the pictures of his completed work here.
I really like the sewing room and the traditional Japanese toy store. Which do you like best?

In the News: Dream Leads to a New Miniatures Store

Here's a neat article from "The Review" in East Liverpool, Ohio. Three sisters have opened a miniatures shop in East Liverpool after one of them dreamed (literally) that the three of them owned and operated one together. Interesting how one person can dream something, mention that to others, and it plants a seed that grows into something real... LOVE that.

Read the article here.

Fairy Gardens: Part 3

An article about fairy gardens ran in The Oregonian (one of the local newspapers here) a couple of weeks ago. My mom clipped it out and mailed it to me. What a nice thing to have come through the mail slot! Much better than bills or junk mail!

Here's a link to the article on The Oregonian's website.

In the News: Cello ace chooses life in miniature

David Edwards, once a cellist for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra gave up his music career in 1983 to become a full-time miniatures artisan. Interesting article from the Belfast Telegraph across the pond:
Cello ace chooses life in miniature - Offbeat, Breaking News - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

I did a bit of research and found this profile about Mr. Edwards. Oh how I'd love to see his work in person...

And here is a link to his blog, David Edwards Miniatures, which features some fabulous photos of his work along side the full-size item he's replicated in miniature. Be sure to also click on the "My Work" link and see his work table!

More fairy gardens...

Came across another article about the fairy gardens at the Signal Mountain Nursery in Chattanooga, this one from the Knoxville News.

The article outlines a step-by-step process for creating your own fairy garden and includes some great pictures!

(I feel a new project brewing...)

In the news...

A couple of mini-related items popped up in my news feed over the past couple of days...

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
"Fairy gardens bring whimsy, imagination to landscape"
Fun!

From Ohio's Dayton Daily News:
"46 literary clues live in a storybook dollhouse"
I would love to see pictures of this and try to identify all of the clues to the books!