Come on a tour of Bag End

 Maddie Chambers is amazing! 

At the time she made this replica of Bag End, she was caring for her twin 1 year old boys and taking a class in college. Part of the class was a module called ‘the importance of play’ and she had to make a toy to hand in at the end of the term. Now you would think that Maddie would have gone for something simple considering how busy her life already was, but no. She took the high road and recreated Bag End from the tiny flowers to the pantry filled with food that every hobbit loves.

In Maddie's own words "Lots of people have asked me how long it took to create – I have little twin boys who I look after full time during the day (and sometimes throughout the night!!) so I worked on it a couple of hours a night or during nap times in the day. I did work out once that if I had worked on it 9-5 with an hour for lunch it would have taken me 2-3 months!"

Following are photos of her work in progress as she calls it. To me it looks absolutely perfect as is!

The details she has included in the front yard, the flagstones were picked from her own backyard garden. The flowers were painstakingly cut and glued as were the leaves. The grass is added in varying shades and textures to emulate sun burnt grass next to the stones.

Here is Maddie sitting next to Bag End (top removed).

Seeing the sign Bilbo had put up on his front gate in the hopes that the Tooks wouldn't come and bother him made me laugh.

And here we are in the front entrance, looking at the chandelier that Gandalf hit as well as the rafter he ran into trying to avoid the chandelier. The detailing on the furnishings, lighting and clothing is amazing. Look at the set of keys hanging on the wall, the tiny candles, the wrought iron detailing of the door.

Opposite the entrance, a small shelf holds books, flowers and a statue of Gandalf riding Shawdowfax. See the wee jar of flowers below? I want to reach in and pick up one of the books to read it, they are amazingly realistic.

Through the entrance archway, you can see the fireplace in the living room complete with paintings of Bilbo's parents and a statue of Frodo & Sam to the left. 

And here we are in the living room where Bilbo wrote his book "There And Back Again". The maps and scrolls are all actual maps of Middle Earth printed on old parchment paper. 
The table strewn with remnants of a hasty meal as if someone had just walked away for a moment really makes you forget that this is a miniature reproduction.

 Here is a comparison between the movie and the miniature. Simply put, Wow!

 A closeup view of the statue of Sam & Frodo. Notice the parchments, the small trinket box. So much attention paid to details. Absolutely amazing!

No tour of Bag End would be complete without a peek in the kitchen and pantry. Maddie created every single food item from fimmo clay. I love the fireplace. I just want to sit at the table and enjoy an elevensies with Bilbo.

And here we get a rare treat, a peek into the Bag End pantry. Those apples, the cheese, the loaves of crusty bread and the pies! MmmMmmMmm...

I have to keep reminding myself that this is all fimmo. She made so much food that she had to put some in cupboards and drawers. Exactly what I would picture a hobbit pantry to look like.

Notice the leaded stained glass window? Handmade! You need a steady hand to accomplish this kind of detailing on a window. Actually this kind of detailing on anything of that size. Those wee bottles on the top shelf are made from beads. 

And what every good hobbit pantry holds; a nice barrel of longbottom leaf pipeweed!
Only the best of course.

Even the bathroom looks amazing. From the tiny oil lamp to the tiny towels made from terrycloth. Bottles made from beads and soap from Fimmo. I love the texture of the walls. They are exactly as I imagined.

The bathroom fireplace is made of stones collected from Maddie's backyard. I just love all the tiny jars, mortar and pestle, the beautiful details of the bathtub right down to the small metal soap holder hanging over the lip of the tub.

If you ever wondered what Bilbo's bedroom looked like, you can stop now. Simple, charming and filled with small trinkets and books. I especially love the small bed warmer standing next to the fireplace. 

A perfect souvenir that I would have expected Bilbo to bring home from his adventures. A pair of dwarven axes. The carpet is so pretty. Amazingly detailed for something so small.

This concludes our tour of Bag End. If you want to see more photos and how Maddie built this beautifully accented version of Bag End, you can go to her blog.

www.madshobbithole.wordpress.com/

If you reside in the UK or plan to travel there this fall, don't miss this!
Bag End will be on display at the Dolls House Emporium, Ripley, UK,  from September-December 2010.
 
Maddie is currently working on a miniature of The Prancing Pony. You can follow her  progress here. 

Images owned by Maddie Chambers and used without permission. All rights reserved by Maddie Chambers.

My journey into miniatures

I've always loved miniatures done in crochet and knitting. The movie Coraline really brought the making of miniatures to the foreground with the gorgeous sweaters hand made with tiny needles.

Since I do not have tiny needles like the ones seen in the video, I opted to do my first miniature using a 00 crochet hook. For "yarn" I used embroidery thread and depending what I was working on, I would use anywhere from 2 strands at a time to 8 strands. And since I couldn't even see the tip of the crochet hook I was using, I borrowed my husbands magnification lamp. Following are photos of my very first miniature I made of my own design.

OoOOoo look at the pretty little pannier with a tiny red heart top! 

And such a tiny one too!

I wonder what is in there!

Now who is this peeking out?

Well well well, look who came to play!

Just look at that tail! 

Don't you just love his pretty blue vest?
If little monkey is too warm, he can take his vest off.
Don't forget to tickle his wee belly button!

And he's no bigger than a thumb!

My little monkey in his pannier fits on a toonie!

I hope you enjoyed the photos of little monkey as much as I had making him. It took me 2 days from the construction of his pannier to adding the ball (button) to help stabilize him since I did not want to glue him to any kind of base.

And now little monkey has gone to live with mousie. I know he will be very happy there with all his new friends. Happy Birthday to my soulsister Samm!