Chippendale Armchairs
Armchair set, finally ready!
In 2018, an exhibition of Thomas Chippendale’s furniture was held in Leeds (I hope I haven’t bored you yet by mentioning this name here and there). Every exhibition usually comes with its own catalog. And I usually buy these. So, in this catalog, there was a wonderful screen that I had already managed to make and sell, and there was also a wonderful armchair with tapestry upholstery. I searched the internet, found a few more not-so-great photos, and decided to tackle a set of two armchairs.
For those who missed it and haven’t read previous posts, let me remind you that this is already the third pair of armchairs. The first two ended up in the trash: the first for its carving and design, the second for its clumsy gilding.
With the current armchairs, everything seems to be fine. I really like the gilding now, the upholstery didn’t cause trouble, and the casters were relatively easy to make, although I did manage to break several 0.5mm drill bits. But these are just part of the process, and I really need to get to the lathe more often and make something else.
And, perhaps, in the next post, I will talk about some nuances of embroidery at this scale.
Anglo-Japanese Style Nightstand
This was one of the most interesting projects recently – a nightstand, a companion piece to my long-standing project, a bed in the Aesthetic Movement and Anglo-Japanese style. Generally, the style that the Herter Brothers developed in 19th-century New York. In one of my videos about this project, I already talked a bit about this style. And in the next video, I talked in more detail about the finished project.
So, for my client I decided to make a small series in this style, there aren’t many original pieces, but all of them are beautiful in their own way. A cabinet and an ottoman are in the plans for now.
The nightstand has many notable details: carving on the legs (black hornbeam, by the way), marquetry on the side panels and the table drawer, a working lock in the cabinet, casters with rubber rims. The original top was made of marble, but I made it from a very durable type of plaster.
The most difficult stage in the work, oddly enough, was assembly. I changed the order of operations and redid it several times. My favorite part was making the lock and key, the lock thickness is about 0.7 mm, I didn’t increase the thickness so that, first, it would be easier to install, and second, to stay more or less in scale. The casters are standard, except I added rubber rims, grooves were made in the brass casters themselves for them. It seems like a small detail, but it looks less ordinary.
The prototype nightstand is in the New York MET museum
Finished! The sofa.
IT’S FINALLY DONE! 🪑✨ Meet my newly finished sofa.
I didn’t want to leave the original design — so I changed the proportions completely. Less depth, shorter length. I wanted it to feel lighter, smaller, but still nice and cozy. 
The weaving of the seat took FOREVER.My eyes are tired, but I loved every second of it! Look at that texture! I love the feeling of the finest silk texture.
Now? Deep breath. And then… on to the next project. Because I already have too many ideas floating around. 😅 Tell me — would you dare to weave a whole seat by yourself? 🙌👇
Caned Armchairs
I’ve finally finished this set — two armchairs and a sofa, and my heart is so full. 
I first created these pieces several years ago for my very first show in the US, and now I’ve brought them back to life with a slightly new design. It feels so special to revisit them.
Let me start with the armchairs. They’re just as graceful as before, with caned seats woven from the most delicate silk — and sadly, this silk is no longer in production, which makes them even more precious to me.
This time, I painted the furniture with acrylic. For the original set, I used oil. A small shift, but it changed the whole feeling of the pieces.
I’m truly so happy with how they turned out. Next time, I’ll share the sofa — can’t wait for you to see it. 
It’s been a long time…
It’s been two years since my last post here. This year was full of events. Events that were so unbelievable, that I couldn’t get back to my workshop again. All my thoughts, concerns shifted to a real life, my family. Through all these years I was making posts in other social media platforms, it seemed at the time that it would be always like that. I’d go to the shows in April-May, then IGMA school, maybe another show in autumn, or even exam to pass. Anyway, most of my plans don’t matter anymore.
But I still make miniatures and intend to do so in the future.
I’d love to show some of my miniature projects that were finished quite some time ago, but weren’t shown here in my blog.
Let’s start with these two Italian footstools, you can find a process of making them in one of my videos on my Youtube channel.
The first painted lacquer cabinet, that was made for PIMA awards at Kensington Dollshouse Festival, the second one was made later.
Another Italian project, and armchair, quite complex carving, lots of gold and oil painting.
One of my favorite and one of the smallest projects:
Another favorite, lots of details, that I thought I’d never be able to achieve.
Another Italian piece, this time in scagliola technique. I’m really proud that I was able to make it in miniature.
A French side table, made for IGMA school auction.
There’s so much more to show. Till the next time!
A drafting table.
As I wrote many times I hate working with metal, but this is the only thing that interests me now. Funny enough, I love brass casting, maybe because the only thing I have to do is model making.
Anyway, one day I notice those wonderful vintage drafting tables and architect’s tables and fall in love with them. It’s a very unconventional item, not many people want them in their dollhouses, but it was a chance for me to try metal construction. It became so easy for me planning a piece for woodworking purposes that I thought metal would be something similar for me. Oh boy, I was wrong, big time.
The table I made is simple, but there are couple of things that maybe not so easy to make – gears for height adjustment, table top angle adjustment. The parts are quite big, so you cannot just solder them together (and of course I thought I could when I was making a 3d model).
Here are casted pieces
Chippendale Firescreen
After pretty successful experience with higher count petit point, I decided that I can make another screen, but this time on 90 count silk gauze. I found this screen in a book dedicated to Thomas Chippendale 300th anniversary of birth. It’s pretty tall 169.5cm high, the screen itself is pretty large too.
I should also say that the original screen is fully made of wood, in my version a pole and a finial are made of brass. The finial was traditional too, but I made a parrot 🙂
The screen is stitched on a 90 count silk gauze, with Chinese silk floss.
French Firescreen, the second version.
I don’t really understand how I missed that one on my blog, I took it to IGMA school last year and haven’t posted about it! This screen is a bit different, it has a higher count silk gauze (86) and different design, besides the frame has a different finish.
A bit of a process:
Adams Style Table.
It’s done!
The carved elements were gilted, the rest of the table is painted with acrylic gouache. Later during Chicago show I was lucky to speak to Robert Dawson, who suggested that inner parts of the table, a vase and the flowers were made of bronze. So I decided to make a new version of this table. With the real marble table top and cast bronze parts. But it’ll be a different color. I think that both table and marble top will be beige.
Adams style table
I’m a fan of on of the books on European furniture, almost every piece there is on my to-do list. This table happened to be the first one I actually made.
A bit of process below, I made several carved elements, all of them gone to my “virtual” trash bin. I wanted the carving to be more expressive.
