nickys-thingys - Tumblr blog

[nickys-thingys]

The fantasy artist’s studio 🎨 Another mini scene done, featuring a little “in progress” painting— furniture and easel made from scratch with wood & glue, rug off Etsy, brick exteriors hand sculpted & painted, odds & ends a mix of handmade and modified from Micheal’s and a local antique mall. Process pics in a highlight on my IG.

[nickys-thingys]

(Miniature) couch restoration

I found this couch ( with a bunch of other things I didn't care about) for 2$ at a second hand store

Finding dollhouse miniatures is kind of rare around here so I grabbed it, I thought at worst it would be a cheap MDF off of AliExpress or something and I could repaint it, but once I scraped a bit of the paint off I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice wood finish!

There was at least 3 to 4 layers of paint through (⁠‘⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠’⁠) (white, gray, maybe white again and finally pink)

Out of curiosity I pried up the fabric which was obviously not the original, to find another unoriginal fabric and pried that up too and that was still not the original 🤣 matroshka doll of upholstery

After huffing 99% alcohol and paint brush cleaner for probably 5 or so hours I ended up with this

I left the back and seat of the couch rough as it would be covered in fabric anyway, it looks like that maybe at some point this got sanded in a few spots? I fixed it up by finally using my furniture repair markers as intended (mostly I don't think they had mini furniture in mind)

You can see on the left half where I tried different colours to see what would match best

Now new upholstery! I only had the original couch cushion seat so I decided to just redo the whole thing in silk of corse (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

I wanted it to look a little worn so I picked this really textured blueish green/cream dupini silk

From barbie would be embarrassed to have this in her house to Victorian centerpiece! Or well I would like to think so ;;;

[nickys-thingys]

holy shit is this gorgeous.

[nickys-thingys]

Shake Your Bon Bon cute set 🌸

[nickys-thingys]

My momma made a huge mistake

[nickys-thingys]

The thing about knitting is it’s much harder to fear the existential futility of all your actions while you’re doing it.

Like ok, sure, sometimes it’s hard to believe you’ve made any positive impact on the world. But it’s pretty easy to believe you’ve made a sock. Look at it. There it is. Put it on, now your foot’s warm.

Checkmate, nihilism.

[nickys-thingys]

Shoes i have made💗

always upcycling

[nickys-thingys]

So I think I forgot to post about it here but I'm knitting my own wedding dress.

Edit to add materials: I'm using suri silk alpaca (apparently I'm slightly allergic to mohair?), and glass beads for the silvery and pearl beads.

[nickys-thingys]

Draw badly. Write nonsensically. Embroider messily. Burn what you bake and cook. Get paint everywhere. Read half a book. Lose your mind for a bit. Plant things. Have faith in the process. Abandon 70 wood-carving projects. Get a kit and do some of it and never return to it. Get comfortable with sucking and losing motivation. Continue to create with reckless abandon.

[nickys-thingys]

[nickys-thingys]

Nina Simone's gorgeous white netted jumpsuit, performing in Newport, 1967. Photos in part by David Redfern/Getty and John Rudoff via Flickr.

[nickys-thingys]

Pros of working with black yarn: Mistakes are harder to spot

Cons of working with black yarn: Mistakes are harder to spot

[nickys-thingys]

[nickys-thingys]

Evening Dress

C. 1903

Jacques Doucet

[nickys-thingys]

The tartan duchess

Outfit rundown Jacket: second-hand Atelier Boz Dress: second-hand Juliette et Justine Underskirt/petticoat: second-hand Black Peace Now Shoes: old Hush Puppies Hat: vintage with added blue flowers High collar: second-hand Abilletage Brooches: vintage Gloves: vintage Earrings: Phantom Jewelry Rococo panniers: a gift from the designer of @british_wardrobe

[nickys-thingys]

Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, Comtesse Greffulhe (1860–1952) made this dress famous by posing in it for the photographer Nadar in 1896. The museum also possesses the photographs made at the time, in which the elegant countess opted for being photographed in back view so as to highlight the slimness of her waist: this close-fitting 'princess line' dress – there were no seams at waist level – and the sinuous lines of the lily plants accentuate the impression of tallness and slenderness.

One of the leading figures on the Paris social scene – not only for her rank and sovereign elegance, but also for her culture and intelligence – Comtesse Greffulhe was a significant source of inspiration for Marcel Proust, who used her as the model for the Duchesse de Guermantes in Remembrance of Things Past. She was also the cousin of Robert de Montesquiou, who drew on her for some of his poems, including a sonnet whose closing line Beau lis qui regardez avec vos pistils noirs ('Beautiful lilies gazing with your black pistils') doubtless refers to this dress. The bertha collar, whose original form was altered, certainly during its owner's lifetime, could be turned up to form bat's wings; a bat being Montesquiou's emblematic animal, making this a true dress-poem.

[nickys-thingys]

BTS the Afrovictorian ensemble: the day bodice

when last we left our intrepid heroine they were trying to figure out how they wanted to use the remaining fabrics to craft the jacket/daytime bodice.

Couple of strong options but I wasn't feeling either of them particularly. Time to go shopping.

Kidding, I enjoyed the trip. Here's the new candidates.

Okay, comparing the pieces of the new pattern to the completed dinner bodice seems like we don't strictly _need_ to do a mockup... Fuck it. We're cutting the final fabric.

Good start...

Sleeve fits...

Brave, if I do say so myself

Bonus: I needed a bigger bustle.

So that's another set of head to toe looks!