Pixie Palace

 Normally, I like to create small things: half-scale miniatures, knitted socks, three inch embroideries, that sort of thing. But sometimes you gotta shake things up to keep it exciting, right? I guess that's what I was thinking when I made a 1:12 scale Pixie Palace for any wee folk living in the backyard. 

The Pixie Palace was constructed from many great things from Alpha Stamps, including two Octagon Room Boxes stacked on top one another for two floors of living space. It is about 17.5" tall and 15" wide - I'm pretty sure my last three projects could fit inside!

There's a cute rustic door (it does open!) and a planter box with trellis on the outside, and a few windows with mica tile panes sandwiched between. The outside is covered in lichen, climbing vines, foliage, and plants. 

On the first floor is a stone fireplace and dry sink. Upstairs is the bedroom with a cute bed and a bookshelf with drawers.

I covered a Narrow Victorian Fireplace with paperclay and tiny pebbles to make it look like a stone fireplace. The flooring is jumbo craft sticks cut to resemble tree rings. The color was nice, so I left them bare. More on that later.

There's a black metal pot hanging over the firewood, plus a bunch of tiny things on the mantel like a green jar, a half-scale crate of mushrooms, plants, a different bitty metal pot, and a bowl. I also see a wooden chair, dutch oven, wooden spoon, and...is that a cocktail umbrella in the background?

Here is the kitchen area, all ready for a quick bite to eat! There's a dry sink, hand pump, pail, and soap dish. Next to the sink is a fern stand used as a table, cheeses, a basket for fruit and sweets, wooden bucket, thimble planter for pink flowers, pumpkin pods, a metal dish of apples, and a barrel planter of grass.

Above the fern stand is a spice rack with a towel bar that's perfect for hanging plants, herbs, or even a sickle! An assortment of jars sit on the shelf: red jam, a mason jar, baby food jar, metal apothecary jar, and a fun creamer with flowers tucked inside. I crocheted a window valance and added a candle to a pop top "candleholder". 

I love the wee bed on the second floor! It's actually part of a bunk bed, so if a second pixie decides to move in, all I will need to do is add the top bunk and knit another blanket. 

In the corner is a pretty pitcher and basin set sitting on a spool, a square planter, a paper label, and a snippet of an advertisement. 

I used the Bookshelf with Drawers for storage but altered it a little with paperclay. Adding paperclay to a chipboard kit can totally transform a piece. Before covering the bookshelf with the clay, I painted it with gesso to make sure the clay would not warp the chipboard. I have done this with multiple chipboard pieces and have never had any issue, even when I wet the clay to shape it. Sometimes I also add a light layer of glue before slathering the piece with paperclay, but mostly on heavy things like the stone fireplace. The final layer is acrylic paint:

The flooring in the bedroom is the same as the first, jumbo craft sticks, and I've added thin strips of basswood along the floor and walls, just as before. There's a matching crocheted valance (I was going for a spiderweb-type curtain), another thimble planter with roses, a few wooden buckets, and bits and bobs crammed on the shelves. I also made a frame from some sticks, then hung the squirrel picture from a thumbtack. 

Minicus Moo is Chief Operating Officer and oversees all projects, especially ones involving itty bitty fragile miniatures or yarn. She has told me the doorway needs to be taller :/

The beginnings of Pixie Palace. I cut a window and doorway from the panels before gluing them in place. And you can see in that blurry photo above how I drew lines radiating from the center front of the room to the corners of the walls, then cut the jumbo craft sticks to size. They were glued down with regular Tacky Glue. 

Under all of that paint, moss, vines, lichen, and plants is the base of the Pixie Palace. Aluminum foil and 5 pounds of paperclay! I smooshed the foil together before hot gluing it to the stacked room boxes, then proceeded to cover the entire thing with clay. It took a few days to cover and a few to let it dry. You can see the windows and door were installed beforehand. I added a mica sheet to the back of the window frame, glued the window in place, and added a second window frame on the inside. If you do this, make sure you paint both sides of the frame since it is visible between the glass.

 

Oh look! Pixie Palace is let at last!

Thanks to all of you who have made it this far; you've come to the best part. The supply list! Instead of linking every bit of detail in the blog post (that would be silly), you can view all of it in one go by clicking RIGHT HERE. Cat not included.

Happy mini making!!!