once upon a time ...

... a girl wanted to build a dollshouse. I've had been interested in miniatures quite some time and had made a 1 or 2 (not very good) items, but due to circumstances never really started. In 2006 I did design a house that I plan to make one day:

it's going to be a big house with a little different way of viewing the rooms than ususal. And I'll be making as much by myself as I think is possible and getting a realistic as possible result as well.

not being able to built this house in the foreseeable future, I decided to start with something small and simple: an antique/oldstuff store: The Oldtique Store. The concept of such a store is not very original I know, but I really like(d) the idea, want to make it and then originality is of minor importance. But like most I think of it couldn't stay simple or small....
soon I decided I wanted the store to have an airy feel to it, that threw 'small' out the window instantly. And it really couldn't do without a little storage-area and where would the store-owner make her tea and coffee, or do some administrative work? And it wouldn't be very realistic without a toilet to go to, now would it? Although I'm putting all that in a rather undeep space - as undeep as realisticly possible - behind the store, it still adds cm's. Then I thought of a (wide) sidewalk at the front and also an alley at the side with a side-entrance into the storagespace. Mmmm.. soon, my simple plan for a straightforward-small-store to start my miniaturehobby with, turned out in a not at all small and somewhat different project than I started out with. But a really nice project I think, I'm really curious if I can realise my ideas the way I have them in my head.

The first thing I want to show you is not made by me (which is what I like to do the most), but a cash-register I've been modifying a bit, also lot's of fun. It's a great Bodo Hennig register, but being shiny silver I had to do some work to make it an old register that you would find in an antiquestore (for example make the flat swirls rounded with gold embossingpowder & a heattool, then with goldpaint and other colours to give it an old and dusted look). Not really knowing if it would turn out the way I invisioned I can say I'm really happy with the result! (I see that I forgot the side of the drawer..)

before

After

I made a cashdrawer with wood and thin black plastic from a 'vleeswaren'tray (a thin 'plate' on which supermarkets put their thin sliced meat for sandwiches) and thin metal wire (from sandwichbagclose-thingies). I made the drawer with a rounded front so it's still possible to take it out, like a real one. There are no coins yet, although I do have an idea of how to make those, but that's for later..