What I'm doing

I started this blog with one idea in mind: to chronicle my progress building my first dollhouse - which also happens to be the dollhouse of my dreams.  And what would that be?  A Queen Anne filled with just a touch of fantasy.  The steampunk genre is growing more mainstream these days in fiction, movies and real life, and I love the idea of marrying Victorian aesthetics with steam power and weird science to create a minature fantasy world - after all, what is a dollhouse if not a fantasy?  So why not dive into the rabbit hole and see how far it goes? 

Also, I'll say it now before it becomes much more obvious: I don't do anything the easy way.  While I am new to dollhouses, I'm not new to the fine arts, so I'm just going for it.  I might have a thing or two to learn, but I'm not too worried about whether the outcome will be as glorious as I imagine it to be.  :)

I likely never would have given a dollhouse more than a passing thought if not for my grandmother, who passed away last year with a half-completed Victorian farmhouse sitting on a mahogany side table in her guest bedroom.  It had been a private dream of hers to have a dollhouse, but by the time she could afford one she didn't have the mobility to work on it.  She'd always wanted me to help her finish it, but I lived on the other side of the country and our visits were always too brief.  When she passed the dollhouse went to another family member, so I decided I would build my own, and in the building of it remember a woman who lived out of her time and who gave me a childhood I will always treasure.  For a lady who was always so proper, she never ceased encouraging me to forge my own path in life.

I'm very thankful for the friends who've given me advice, and for all the mini enthusiasts at the Greenleaf miniature forums for their expertise and amazing miniature work.  Please join me as I work on this project!