Natural history cabinet project

Do you know the curiosities table Kassandra has in the drawing room?  I wanted to do a natural history cabinet after seeing this magnificient piece of furniture from The Miniature Maker:

I fell in love!  But I wanted to make my own, so I searched for an empty, unfinished cabinet to use.  I finally got one from Beautifully Handmade on eBay:

As you can see, it is a very modern style, but the antique looking ones were out of my desired price range.  So, I started by staining it with a Scalecolor ink (I used the Inktense Chestnut shade), and let it dry.  I love how intense and soft the color of this shade is; and then I replaced the wood knobs by brass handles, to give it a more antique look:

Finished this, my favorite part started: assigning a theme to each drawer and designing them.  Originally I wanted to divide the drawers with wood slots as the original one has, but I finally decided that that would rest space for the collection, as the drawers are not that big, so I decided against it; and instead, I was content to line the drawers with textile-textured scrapbook paper:

Trying out the pattern

Lined drawers

Pattern for the big drawers

Final look

So awesome!  Now the real fun begins: the collections for the drawers!  I started with some minerals and gems.  Some I had around; some others were kindly donated by a co-worker.  I wanted to do just one drawer, but I ended up doing two because I liked so many of them I could not fit them all in just one.  I organized them, and then I started making little labels to identify each of them.  The labels come from Vectoria Designs, simply reduced to the minimum expression.  Even though once printed the lettering was not readable, I assure you each of them has the name of the specimen, a date, and whether or not they are donated and by whom.

Trying out the labels

Aren't they amazingly pretty?

Two done, four to go!  The next one had to be, of course, marine specimens!  I used real tiny shells, and I glued a faux pearl to one of them to simulate an oyster.

Spell under the sea!

The next one came as a surprise.  I was talking to another co-worker about this project, saying I wanted to try and find real fossils for one of the drawers, and she was so generous to offer to donate a real fossil she found in a trip when she was cursing her biology degree.  Naturally, I accepted immediately!  It was a little big for a 1:12 scale standard, but there are big size fossils too in real life:

It fitted just well enough!

See the label attached to the back of the drawer?

On to the next one.  This time, butterflies!  I found a very pretty butterfly classification chart, and searched for suitable pictures of each one that I liked.  Then I made the labels with the common name, the scientific name, and the distribution of each species.  It was a challenge to cut and glue each one!  I even added little antennae using the bristles of a toothbrush, which I painted black:

And, there is one drawer left!  This one is going to have a collection of bird eggs.  But, since I have to sculpt and paint each egg by hand, I still haven't started with them, since it is going to be time consuming.  But I wanted to share what I have thus far.  

More pictures when I finish the last drawer!

A miniature Historia Naturalis collection

My boss' husband is an avid collector of rocks, shells and other natural specimens. He is a biologist, and teaches in a high school.  One day hubby and I were invited onto their house, and he showed us some specimens of his collection.  I told my boss that I wanted to make for him a miniature shell collection, but that thought was forgotten for a long time.

Now that we are about to relocate again (it is a long story, and for another post), I am making all the miniatures that I promised people I woud do.  And I made his yesterday evening:

The label says "Found at Virginia Beach. West Atlantic Ocean"

Actually, I bought the shells at a Michael's craft store when I was living in Virginia. In a way they come from Virginia, right?

I brought it today to work to give to my boss so she could give it to him.  She says he is going to be awed, but not as much as their little girl, who is only 6 but already loves dollhouses.  I can't wait for her to tell me about his reaction!

This afternoon I am making a chocolates box for Cris' sister (the same Cris that gifted me the fabulous miniature hat, hat stand and hat box).  Pictures of that tomorrow!

Kassandra's Victorian hobbies

One of the things that I admire most about Kassandra is that her mind is always open to learn or explore new things.  Or sometimes, to rekindle some old interest of her and give it an space in her life again.

One of the things that has called my attention is that the console she keeps in the parlor is constantly changing in decorations.  What started simply as a piece of forniture to decorate, now is a cabinet of curiosities - or, as she calls it, a table of curiosities:

I asked her what a cabinet of curiosities was, and she explained that they were collection of objects that did not have their categorical boundaries defined when they were found.  Now we would place them in natural history, geology, archeology, relics, antiquities... The people who could afford to buy them and store them, made them into collections that were the precursors of modern museums.  They would put them into cabinets to show their friends, and they were a kind of stentation and status symbol.

She has been acquiring some objects that she displays proudly in her table:

The two domes with taxonomy items, as well as the bats and butterflies posters, the bat in the shadow box and the paperweights come from Easy Print and Cut; Kassandra says the lady that makes them, Ana, is very talented and oh so lovely.  The paperweights feature flowers and an Ammonites fossil.

The shadow box with the strange skeletons comes from Ever After Miniatures.  The dollhouse she made herself with a kit from Miniaturas M y E, and the tiny furniture is from SDK Miniatures.

The two shadow boxes with strange animals' fossils also come from Ever After Miniatures; and remember the papyrus collection she got and the Anubis statue?  She says she is wating for an Egyptian mural to be delivered to her; I can't wait to see it.

She also confided in me that she has recently acquired an stereoscope and it is due to arrive soon. Where  does she find all these things I do not know...