Hanging Lights & Faucets

Construction continues on the dollhouse...  I'm jumping a little bit ahead into the decoration process, but I've made some 3D printed hanging light fixtures and a selection of kitchen faucets to pick through.  (All that computer design time has made for one quiet blogger!)



The chandelier designs are inspired by those tiered lights with wooden or glass beads.  I think the white polished plastic is a good material and fit for the style.  I made one extra large to go in the dining room and the medium sized one to fit in bedrooms.

I love decorating with glass in my miniature scenes and for this house, I'm thinking of using a  combination of wood, whites, and greens for my decor.  I made two decorative geometric shaped vases (shown in the centre) after picking up the 1:1 version for my home and loving it so much I scaled it down into mini! 

<The tall glass pieces are from the Little Dollhouse Company, and the smaller vases are from Miniatures.com (including the green tinted vases and the little white canisters), the white candles are by Handmade Miniatures by Alma. I made the orchids a while back for a bathroom project.>

If you are interested in how I assembled the lights, here is the process with the tools and materials I used.

I used thin jewellery chain and 4mm jump rings both from Michaels.

I found it was easier to open the jump rings with two sets of small pliers.

After attaching the jump rings and chain, I counted out the same number of links on each side before attaching them to one jump ring together.

I then connected these pieces to a ceiling plate I also had 3D printed.  (They aren't glued to the roof yet)

 My hope is to light these with a small LED in the future.  I think I can add an extra length of chain running down to the center and threading a small pico light through.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I've been prototyping miniature faucets/pot fillers as well.  I made some contemporary and some traditional designs to choose from and I've decided to go with the traditional sculpted body bridge faucet and matching potfiller (faucet shown top row second to the left and potfiller top row closest to the right).  I've added all these to my Shapeways shop, but I'm sort of thinking it would be fun to make a 1:12 faucet shop now?

In my quick display kitchen setting:

What's coming up next? I've already got my tiles laser cut for this dollhouse kitchen and I'm spray painting asap before we get snow on the ground.  The cabinet layout design is finished too and I'll be posting on my kitchen progress and design in the coming posts. 

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Before I go I wanted to give a little PSA about Shapeways.  They have raised their prices on very tiny items (like my faucets or vases).  It's not a lot, $2-4 dollars more in most cases.  Thankfully they've allowed shops with product already for sale before October 22 to keep their prices as is until after the holiday season.  (Whereas my vases are new and follow the new pricing structure)

So if you have some wishlist items from any of your favourite 3D mini shops I'd suggest placing your order in the next month or so before the prices rise!