NAME Window Shopping and Decoupaged Palace Chest

A few years back, NAME (National Association of Miniature Enthusists if you haven't heard of it) had a NAME Day project called Window Shopping.  It was a small display with lots of shelves to display a grouping of minis like they were in a shop window.  Ingenious! 

NAME Window Shopping Prototype from Gazette July 2015

I LOVED seeing all the examples of this project sent in by Gazette readers and was so jealous of their lovely displays.  Hats and wood-turned vases, and every kind of subject.  When my club did our orders, I selected a kit in walnut from Tom Walden.  It was beautiful! But then I had a problem – the lovely walnut was so dark that many items were just lost against it.  I didn’t want to paint it.  So I decided to display light colored things – PINK!

So I gathered together my most favorite pink minis and tried to come up with a pleasing arrangement.  They looked great against the dark walnut.  (Scroll down to the end for the artisans of the minis I put in my display.)  I used shaped brackets for the wall shelves instead of the simpler column provided and I didn't use the platform that came with the kit because I needed some height to display the chest and painting on top.

 

The Decoupaged Chest

In case you didn’t recognize it (if you are not a Baby Boomer!) the pink toile chest is just the Petite Princess Palace Chest with wallpaper applied to the drawers.  Petite Princess items are actually a little smaller than 1:12 scale but I still think they can work in 1:12 miniature scenes.  What I like about this chest is 1) the faux marble top and 2) the serpentine drawer fronts.  Those serpentine drawer fronts would be SOOOooo hard to reproduce in miniature!  But disguised plastic can look great!

I accented some of the edges and the pulls with acrylic gold paint.  When I had my drawer front pattern made (with markings for where to punch holes for the knobs) I just cut them from wallpaper so the design continued down the front so the drawers matched up.

After gluing the wallpaper on using Crafter’s Pick Ultimate glue, I let it all dry then antiqued it with a faint wash of Burnt Umber acrylic watered down and just brushed over here and there.  Then I finished with a water based acrylic varnish.

Here is another one I did in green (below).  On this one I filed down the top two pulls and instead, put a tassel in the center of the top drawer.

If you have the opportunity to find one of these Window Shopping kits, snap it up!  Sometimes the kit cutters (see recent NAME Gazette) have leftover kits.  I loved this project because it was small, not intimidating to complete, viewable up close, could be protected using a piece of glass and wall hung!  It checks all the boxes for mini displays!  Its a great way to display minis with painted details where they can be viewed up close!  In a dollhouse, these details, like painted dishes, tatting and pins in a pincushion would be almost invisible.

If you are not a NAME member, I highly recommend joining!  NAME is a wonderful organization dedicated to the education and support of the miniatures hobby.  Every year there is a "NAME Day" project and they are all very nice.

See below for the artisans of the minis I displayed in my Window Shopping display:

Clockwise from top of chest: (right click photo to open larger)

Painting - Josephine Meyer
Staffordshire dogs -  Metal Minis (painted by myself)
Rose glass candlesticks - Phil Grenyer
Urn jar - Jean Tag
pink lotus flowers in white bonsai dish - Small Time Operators
Tea cup, with pink flowers - unknown artist
pink lotus bowl - Deborah McKnight
pink, green lotus plate - Amanda Skinner
Cat Doll (on pillow by myself) - Ethel Hicks
Painted coffee set - Amanda Skinner
Framed tatted doily - Julie Felzien
shoes - Doll's Cobbler
Stool with petit point - Bespaq with Petit Point designed by Lucy Iducovich
hydrangea - Laura Crain
Bowl, oval scalloped bowl - unknown artist
Painting - Josephine Meyer
Porcelain pin cushion - Patty Caster (kit)

 That's all for this month.  Thanks for visiting!