Before leaving France last month, I added wood panels to the medieval hall. They were designed by Arjen Spinhoven, who created them for this room. It gives the room more warmth and authenticity, I think. What do you think ..read more

 Last month, I decided to recreate a French bistrot. In my mind, it was a small local café, like thousands we had in France. Most of them have disappeared today. Before the 70's, almost every street had one bistrot or more. Workers would go there before work for a glass of wine. At lunch time, neighbours and friends would gather for an "apéritif", and later people would come for a "café noir" we call espresso today. Amazone didn't exist then... There was one opposite the house where I grew up. I can remember its odor, even 60 years later. That bistrot was also a small grocery store.  ..read more

 Hello everyone, I've just realized I haven't posted anything for months. Is that another Post-Covid effects? I noticed that the number of posts of miniaturists has dropped enormously.  Have people lost interests in blogs and prefer Instagram with shorter posts and more pictures. May I ask you something? If you read my post, could you please send me a "I still follow your blog" message in the comment section? That will allow me to decide whether I stop or continue posting on ajarnpatrick.blogspot.com. Do you remember the medieval cuisine? Then, I added the main hall and the bedroom ..read more

 I built a shop called the "herboristerie", a pharmacy selling mostly plants and remedies. Here are some photos: It was fun to fill all the cabinets with small glass containers ..read more

 Here is a new creation: the medieval kitchen. I have in mind to create a medieval building inspired from a real one in my hometown called l'Hotel de La Croix Blanche, here is a photo: I have started with the rooms on the ground floor.  On the right is a kitchen, on the left is a large room to welcome visitors. I will build the building when I have made the rooms. Each room is like a box. So in the kitchen, I started with a big fireplace then added a stone sink on the left. Both floors are covered with  clay tiles (made by Henry Bart in France),   weathered to make them ..read more

 Ageing a building or a room is one the most difficult exercise I know. If you cut a piece of wood too short, you can always cut another one. But once the pigments have reached the wall, they'll stay.... Number2, you have to work quickly. Layers of acrylics dry fast. Yesterday, I started with the fireplace. I had a good photo on my computer. The smoke had stained the mantel of the fireplace... Here we go.... I use large brush, little color, a lot of water and a sponge. The rest is luck. As I work alone, I can't make a video but I'll try one day. Today, I will do the hearth. The fir ..read more

 Hello everyone and thank you for your kind comments. Now the box is complete, I need to prepare the walls. For the "stone" effect, I use a tool to "etch" the lines on the surface First, I measured real stones. They are usually 33cm. high and the length varies between 60 and 20 cm.  So the stones will be 2.75 cm. high. I first draw lines with a pencil, then I start "etching" the horizontal lines, then the vertical ones, making sure their sizes vary. I use the same technique for my roofs. So it can take hours...for one roof only. And you have to keep focused..... Then, I will do ..read more

Le salon de l'Hotel Mame Hello everyone, I don't know if anyone read yesterday's post as no one left comments. The roombox I'm planning to build starts to look like what I had in mind but first, let me show you tools that you may need soon. Christmas is coming so.... The table saw allows you to cut pieces of wood, straight or at angles. The maximum thickness is 1cm. It cuts straight and also at angles. But you can only cut small pieces of wood, not entire walls. Don't push small pieces of wood with your finger, it cuts everything, including fingers. Then, you will need a small driller ..read more

 Building a roombox       Hello and welcome to my blog. I don't have the ambition to write a book about dollhouse making. I don't have that talent. But just to share withyou the tools and techniques I used to build a roombox, a shop or a dollhouse in 1/12. When I started, I had never imagined I could build anything like that. It took me time to get better and maybe, my blog will allow some of you to enjoy building something by yourself. I am French, I live in Thailand, I am a teacher and I'm planning to retire soon.So forgive me for the mistakes I will make, English is n ..read more

 Time flies.... I wrote my last post in 2020... I haven't been sleeping like Sleeping Beauty for a year but I haven't built anything worth posting. As you may remember, I was diagnosed with a cancer in 2019, I stayed in France for the treatment which was successful. We are lucky to have amazing doctors and great hospitals. Most people realize that, like me, when they live abroad. Meanwhile, I built carriages and made harnesses. See my last post.... In 2020, another scanner showed some new tumors, so back to France again.  Luckily, they were benign... Then Covid started and I couldn't ..read more