Miniature architect

We had a compulsory careers evening at my school when I was in Std 9 (Grade 11) but because I was only interested in becoming a journalist, I refused to go to hear what any of the other professions were all about.

It was a very conservative school, and a very long time ago, so the choice of professions deemed suitable for a woman was not very large. It was suggested that we could become nurses (not doctors) and secretaries (not CEOs). I seem to remember that being a legal secretary was ok too. Or a veterinary assistant.

(Apropros of that, I saw a wonderful billboard in San Francisco last year: Be the CEO your parents hoped you would marry. Sadly the pic I took of it at night was a blurry mess and I didn't go back down that street before we left.)

My singlemindedness, coupled with the lack of choice and a conviction that I couldn't draw, meant that I never considered architecture as a possibility. Maybe it is because I have been a journalist and writer for so long that I am beginning to hanker after alternatives, but if I had my time over, I think architecture would be at the top of my list. (Or maybe second... after journalist).

Maybe that is why I am enjoying the dollshouse project so much. This past weekend was spent planning rooms and colour schemes, and learning what needs to be done in what order.


Greg helped me choose the colour for the outside walls - such fun to be able to buy a 250ml sample pot of paint and have enough to paint the whole house! I bought the paint from Paintsmiths in Sandown because they always give me such great discounts. The first time Greg and I went there, he was in a particularly bad mood, and I suspect the manager put me on the discount list out of sympathy. #TheresAlwaysASilverLining :)



 I'm collecting anything that looks like it might be able to be something else entirely.

And I'm gathering a selection of tools. The wire in the this pic is going to be used to form the skeletons of the dolls (adults between 12 and 15cm tall).



























I liberated some coffee stirrers from the take away window at On the Rocks and bought two different sizes of popsicle sticks at PNA. I've started sawing the rounded ends off. I discovered that using the little hacksaw is way too much like hard work, so I rigged the jigsaw up on the kitchen counter (note careful placement of the dustbin to catch the sawdust and bits of wood).

I think I'm going to have to ask for Greg's help for the rest of them though because my RSI flared up after using the jigsaw for long enough to cut 15 sticks to act as window frames.

I also found some teeny bottles at the nursery which will work well in the lab and made a typewriter out of a paper template (a journalist after all) but it was a sad disappointment and was consigned to the bin.




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