The Beginning of Building A 'Barbietown'....

I've been absent a bit, but one reason is because I've been busy getting any dolly building I have out of the way- this evening and Friday, and Saturday of the beginning of the month are always hectic for me with my charity work I do at the beginning of the month. I have started YET another building project- otherwise known as 'Building Barbietown' for want of a better description!  My intention was to build a street of two shops or a park, and have long been inspired by Em'lia Couture's flicker set of building her staircase, shop and park near her dollhouse. My dollhouse too has not front setting, is just open, and this greatly appealed to me. Though I do not think I can create as much as she does, I am hoping to make a nice little street scene.....Here are the pictures of my progress so far yesterday on what will be a cafe or bakery...

As you can tell, the 1:6 scale construction crew has moved in with their tools, paintbuckets and general mini mayhem. The structure is made of two thicknesses of foamcore- the sides are thin foamcore the front is 1/2 inch thick. Cafe window is a $2 5 x7 picture frame from Dollar General and the door is a Houseworks Playscale crossbuck door, and windows are dollhouse components. Steps are wood, which have not yet been finished. I used two contractor floor tiles for .69 cents each to create the walkway and floor inside the cafe/bakery....Here it is shown with the front 'mudded' with joint compound to give it a stucco finish....I basically did all of this in one day and it was mostly testing to see if the foamcore will hold up. I like working with the 1./2 inch foamcore because it is stronger and can take more texture building.

These are the progress photos after the 'bones' of the structure were built. I used my tallest FR Homme for scale comparison, I love the houseworks crossbuck door, but it needs added height to give the illusion it will fit the FR and Silkstone dolls, and not just shorty Barbie. I used the steps to do this.
Right now, it is still a work in progress, as the front and side will look aged, with crumbling plaster, exposed brick, like the dollhouse, in a small provincial town.

This is an overall view of the room with the dioramas and the one sixth scale dollhouse to the left. The street of shops will be a 'set' designed to hide the drawer handles on the chest of drawers that the McDonald's sits on....and possibly come out further with bistro tables, sidewalk, maybe an alley in between the next shop set- see the foamcore to the right?lol. I have an idea to have an alley right there, which will look really cool. The sets hide the drawers on the chest of drawers...trees, freen felt for grass will be added. I hope you enjoy watching me build 'barbietown'....LOL...
~Lisa