A little progress.

I finally got a round to painting & staining the Form Group pieces the other day.  I painted the pieces for the base (base, 4 legs & leg supports) in black, & stained the pieces for the table top & seat.

Next step, gluing everything together, varnishing, then onto making cushions for the seat.

Some photos of the mock-ups in the living room. Both a 2 + 3 section combination (first photograph), or a 2 + 4 section combination (2nd photograph) seem to work well in this room.

Later this week I should be receiving V&A Pattern - The Fifties by Sue Prichard, which I'm very much looking forward to, I've also been looking at the 1940's & 50's wallpaper in the V&A's online archives recently for ideas & inspiration for the Gothenburg (+ I'm just a sucker for textile & surface design).

Links to some favourites in the V&A's archives:

Aagaard Anderson - Diana Armfield - Preben Dahlstrom - Lucienne Day - Jacqueline Groag - Roger Nicholson - Folke Sundberg - Shinkichi Tajiri - Mary White

Form Group in 1:16, Part 4

No progress yesterday, but I did take a photo of where I'm up to (with some Re-Ment miniatures).

All the pieces for a 2 section Form Group are cut & sanded.  I'll probably re-check the measurements on all the pieces again before I glue them.

I'm not sure what glue I already have or what will be best to use.  I made some kitchen, etc, counter tops for some Ikea Lillabo furniture from basswood a few years ago, & whatever glue I used worked well, I just wish I could remember what exactly I used.

Also, the Mame family will be expanding (again).  Two more will be travelling from Japan soon upping the number to 19. At least they have 3 dollhouses to inhabit now.

Form Group in 1:16, Part 3

I finished the mock-ups for the 3 & 4 section pieces this morning.  I made extra seats & cushions too (not pictured) so I could try out different combinations.

I still haven't made a cabinet section, I should try putting one of those together soon.

left - 2 section (with chair + seat cushion), back - 4 section (2 table tops + 2 chairs), right - 3 section (2 chairs + seat cushion).

I made a quick pattern for a seat cushion a couple of days ago & threw one together. It looks very scrappy (I didn't iron the fabric & stitched it, poorly, by hand) but I just wanted to get an idea of how it'd look.

I stuffed it with 2 layers of felt, though 1 layer might work better. I can't get to my sewing machine at the moment, but once I can i'll try making the 3 different sized cushions (back & base of chair, + seat cushion), do them properly, then see how they turn out. I think starching the fabric might help too.

I couldn't resist taking a photo with my Angie Lewin "Plants & Places" book (a birthday present from my friend) behind it to function as a wall with oversized wallpaper.  Miniature Angie Lewin prints, wallpaper &/or textiles (as well as miniature Mary White textiles) for my Gothenburg house would be so lovely, ah for a shrinking ray or Pym particles!

Form Group in 1:16, Part 2

My second mock-up of Form Group. I've reduced the back cushion & support in height & I think the proportions are looking better now.  I've also slightly adjusted the position of the legs. 

This time I used cut down matchsticks for the legs of the frame. I've glued them to the frame base, but (just for the mock-up) added thin strips of masking tape to join each side of the leg to the frame base to give added strength.  

I still haven't figured out how to construct the frame base, other than just glueing the legs directly on.  Done that way I think the legs would easily break off the base, & it would be tricky to glue them on at a clean right angle.

There must be a better way of doing it.  I might have had an idea this morning, it's something i'd have to actually test out in basswood though.  

I've had to rethink the cushions, adding a fabric cover to the polystyrene cushions will make them too bulky & I don't think there's any way of doing that as well as I'd like.  

The alternative is to make fabric cushions in 3 sizes (stool, seat base & seat back) constructed like pillow covers - with an opening in the center of the back, which I could insert squares of felt into to pad them out a bit.  I'm not sure how well this would work yet, I'll have to make some patterns & put some together, then see how it looks.  

For picture 3 I temporarily attached some Osnaburg fabric to the cushions to see how it looked, as this is what I'm considering making some test cushions from.  I wanted something to emulate the lovely slub tweed that has been used to reupholster this Form Group seating at Elephant & Monkey.

Form Group in 1:16, Part 1

Some photos of my first mock-up (in card, polystyrene & masking tape) of Form Group in 1:16 scale.

Mock-up #1 is supposed to be a 2 section piece (equivalent to the 4'8" frame) with a seat + table top.  It still needs some work - the back cushion needs to be reduced in height slightly, both the seat & back cushions need reducing by a millimetre or 2 to allow for the fabric cover, & the legs need a lot of work - currently they're too thick + i might make a slight adjustment on their position.

On the 4'8" frame, the legs are positioned about 1/6th of the width in on either side, on the 7' (3 section) & 9'4" (4 section) frames the legs are positioned differently, half way under the sections either side, with 2 extra legs at the centre of the 9'4 frame. Without having any Form Group seating to measure from, I've roughly judged the positions of the legs for the 1:16 version of the 4'8" frame, but I might have to go back to photos &  do some measuring to try & get the correct position for the legs.  

Next I'm going to work on a mock-up of a 3 section frame rather than re-do the 2 section, & see if I can get the back cushion & legs right (or better) 2nd time around.