Once Upon a Time *Picture Thread* by Fremdfirma

TALK STORY

Once Upon a Time *Picture Thread*

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 11:07
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:01 AM

Once Upon A Time...

There was a new room mate, who became a new boyfriend, who became a significant other, who found a broken, abandoned, forgotten wreck of a dollhouse kit left in the corner of a closet by a previous roomie.

And the SO looked upon the poor, forlorn thing, and said "everything deserves a second chance".

And so, with no instructions, broken and missing pieces, and little idea of how to construct such a thing, he set about making a miracle happen.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:01 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:03 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And this miracle began to take a shape, and a form, and the man wondered, what shall I do, with such a thing, once it is complete ?

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:04 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:06 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And now enter a girl, a young girl, trapped in a cycle of oppression from elders who mostly never understood her, with few role models and fewer happy memories...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:07 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:08 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And so, the man thought to himself - "everyone deserves ONE thoroughly happy memory of childhood, a cherished memory to cling to as a bulwark in ill times, a shining light to hold against the darkness of life"...

And the miracle, became a purpose.
And it grew, and it grew.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:10 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:11 AM

FREMDFIRMA

More and more than a dollhouse it became, it began to evolve, almost of it's own, into a childs dream, a faery castle worthy of imaginations reign...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:12 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:14 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And the man thought to himself - "an heirloom with it be, to be played with by children, no ornament for a dusty shelf, but for children and children of those children", and he rolled it down the steps, and repaired, and reinforced, and repaired, until it could take such a beating as to be worthy, for no mere ordinary castle could withstand the rigors of a childs imagination...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:15 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:16 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And life intruded, and things fell behind, and christmas came and went, and on a childs faith and merciful patience, no detail was left unattended, for some things can not be rushed...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:17 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:19 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And a child made requests, and they were attended to, and so there was Elvis...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:19 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:20 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And wood panelling, and a copy of The Last Supper...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:20 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:21 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And even yes, the ceiling of the sistine chapel in the bedroom...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:22 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:24 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And the felines were consulted, and gave their approval...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:24 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:25 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And then, being complete, the miracle was delivered, and a child who had little of such things now had a legacy and a memory to treasure for all of her days...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:25 AM

FREMDFIRMA

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:27 AM

FREMDFIRMA

And while not necessarily happily ever after, the child was, at the very least happier-ever-after.

/ THE END.

-Frem

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:45 AM

COZEN

Though I'm somewhat hesitant to break the consistency of the posts, I'm still inclined to say: beautiful story.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:46 AM

SISTER

Lovely, sweet story and pictures..thank you for sharing them with us.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:56 AM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

Yes - cat approval is very important.

Awesome doll house; those Elvis and Last Supper things seem like they were hard to make/find (and if I'm wrong, no one has to know).

"A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:16 AM

MSG

having assembled a doll house once for my baby sis...all I can say is WOW!!!!!
oh and cute cute cats

"I'm not all that interested in the mental health of people who want to kill me. "- Leroy Jethro Gibbs

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Thursday, July 19, 2007 12:35 AM

MAGDALENA

"No power in the 'verse can stop me!"

Oh thank you so much for sharing that story! I have held a fascination for them since I lived in England in 1995, and I would so love to work on a labour of love like this... since I am neither in a financial or physical position to do so at this point in my life I found such delight and shared the little girls joy in reading this story - thank you again! You are a person after my own heart!

Mwaaah - Magda x x x

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.myspace.com/lady_magdalena
http:/www.crazypurplewombat.blogspot.com

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Thursday, July 19, 2007 4:03 AM

FREMDFIRMA

You'd be surprised Magdalena...

When I found that thing it was in pretty rough shape, no instructions whatever, broken and missing pieces, and someone had started it and done a terrible, terrible job of it, then abandoned it, and I wasn't in such primo physical shape myself, mind you.
(in case you don't hang around RWED, basically I have a lot of extensive damage from a near fatal accident)

And having just moved and saw the end of a rather disastrous relationship, finances were pretty tight on my end at the time.

I found wood glue to be inefficient, messy, and not flexible enough to stand shaking and impact, so that whole shebang is put together with lowtemp hot-glue out of the cheapest, crummiest little gluegun you could ever imagine, but the lowtemp stuff held up solid while still having enough flex to really take a pounding and you've got a short bit to adjust pieces before it cures, and it works pretty quick, speeding the process up significantly.

For most of the trim work I actually used a steak knife from the kitchen, and anything heavier was done with a broken off hacksaw blade I keep in my wallet for mechanical emergencies.

That pretty wallpaper is actually leftover christmas giftwrap, applied with a 50/50 mix of ordinary elmers glue and tapwater, and the "carpet" was from a roll of heaven knows what in the clearance bargain bin of a local fabric shop.
(strangely tho, it looks and feels WAY more like actual carpet than the crummy felt stuff some people use.)

All of the paint was from a box being thrown out of a friends attic, and was all water base rather than oil, no stinky mess, no paint thinner yuckiness, and while used well, there were only 3 colors used (save for the attic yellow, from a tin of watercolor donated by the girl cause she wanted her attic that color).

The windows were a bit off, as many of the parts were warped by humidity and such, and painting them would have made them not work, so those went in bare frame, which actually looked nice, and they did open and close after a little work with my girls nailfile on the slideways.

The roof was a little tricky at first with no instructions, so I dunno if that's how it's supposed to be done, but there seemed to be a certain logic to it, and every tile is hand placed with a shot of hotglue holding it on - lol, you'd need a chisel to knock those suckers off, which is just how I wanted it.

I forget where I got the ladies, but it was definately a bargain bin somewhere, as was the little lamp and the brooms, and the furniture was all hand built out of leftover scraps from the kit itself... if there ain't pieces left over, you ain't done it right, yes ?

I'm fairly sure the little attic/loft wasn't in the original plans, but it was the kids suggestion and it was fair easy enough to do, so it got done, and the "drywall" in there is actually a cut piece of leftover posterboard the kid offered for supplies, held in place by 50/50 elmers and water.
(you know, if I ever put real world wallpaper up, imma be tempted, that stuff works real well.)

Elvis and The Last Supper were punchouts from the window centers, and a friend scaled them down on her PC and run them off her printer, and I just cut them out and 50/50'd em on there, and hung them with a bit of twine I unravelled down to threads.

Sistine Chapel bedroom ceiling was done the same way, because of scaling issues we decided to leave a little border around it, and it was fairly large, so in order to avoid wrinkling and distortion I 50/50'd it to the last bit of posterboard and then 50/50'd THAT to the ceiling.

The felidae are, from left to right.

Kallista-Ree Sjare Khallinenda, resident crime lord, escape artist, and the foulest mouthed cat you'll EVER meet, you know not know the words, but her meaning is always clear.

Ghoster Pootie-Pie, living proof that not all cats are graceful, and my answering machine when we had the old office type phone, if it rang, she'd knock it off the hook and meow into it, oh the fun that was for the telemarketers.

Puppy Critter, the cat who thinks she's a dog, I was actually watching her close and twitching, cause she likes to chew stuff, and has evil little teeth, she'll punch through cigar tubes with em.

And that's only half the pack, you've not seen Lexington Demonica Voltaire, Squirmy-Worm or Miss Mollymeerkat-Kitty, yet.
(I can just hear the begging.. we'll see, they'd have to hold STILL first, argh)

But anyhow, that whole thing was done on a string budget, seriously, I know it don't look it, but it was.

Jo-Ann Fabrics occasionally carries dirt-cheap kits, although less involved ones, if you wanted something nice without a lotta fluff or as much difficulty, and as a bonus, THOSE even come with instructions..

The Ironic part is that I looked this up on the net, as best I could figure, I think that might have originally been a Duracraft San Franciscan SF-557, which kinda wigs me cause now that the company is defunct it seems to be a horridly expensive collectors item, and especially popular with folks who take it wayyyy too seriously up to and including putting lighting and stuff into to em to make 4 and 5 figure value shelf ornaments.

I am anything but dissappointed though, cause a shelf ornament isn't what I was goin for, and I bet if you rolled one of those 4/5 figure jobbies down the steps all you'd have is pieces - you could THROW this one down the steps and not hurt the thing, it's tremendously overbuilt cause it's meant to be PLAYED with.

I mean, why else build a dollhouse ?

-Frem

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:30 AM

CHRISISALL

Oh, this SO needs a bump.
I somehow missed this in 2007, Frem.
Love it.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009 11:07 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh, well, upon re-reading, I did mention more cat photos, so here they are then.

Squirmy-Wormy

Miss Molly Meerkat-Kitty

You're outta luck on Lexi though, she hid under the bed cause the camera flash spooked her, and she's none too fond of me, being jealous and protective and all that, of my ex.

I can give you some of the neighborhood cats which come out when I am walkin rounds though.

This is Nitwit

Some folks call him hitler-kitty cause of his markings, but he's a real sweetheart, I worry cause he doesn't seem to have a sense of how dangerous it can be to hang out in the middle of the street though.

This is Ginger

She's sweet to me, but tempermental and will scratch at everyone else, apparently including her owner.

And this is Noobie

She has this monster fluffy tail as big as she is, it's kinda cute.

Her and Ginger are in an escalating turf dispute over the east side of the complex, and on occasion that can get a bit loud, which last time led to much amusement to a certain resident.

Ginger"Rowwwrrrr!"
Noobie"REEOWWrrrr!"
Me"OH put a SOCK in it you two!"
*crickets*
...
...
Cue/ Resident giggling.

-F

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