The Moonstone is a Victorian mystery novel by Wilkie Collins. A huge Indian diamond whose weird radiance waxes and wanes with the moon is stolen from a young woman’s bedroom.
Spoiler: I’m going to give away bits of the plot in this thread. Victorian novels are rather tedious to read, so I doubt it’s on too many of your reading lists. Wikipedia has a nice summary.
I love Art Nouveau (even though it is later than the original setting of the novel), and had some lovely pieces to incorporate. I 3D printed the door, mirror frame, side tables, wainscot, and the small cabinet on the back wall. Since there is a strong India thread in the book, I used several decorative elements from there, too.
I won this bed in my mini show’s raffle last year, and wanted to use it for this year’s show. Our theme is “Books and Nooks”, so I picked a book that featured a bedroom!
This year’s show will be held at the Tucson Woman’s Club
6245 E. Bellevue St., Tucson, Arizona on October 29 & 30th, 2022.
I’ll be at the raffle table all day on Sunday, come say hi if you make it to the show!
Show & Sale - TMS - Tucson Miniature Society
The room is all mossy greens sparked with red and orange, but the night sky really just HAD to be blue. So I added a couple other blue elements to tie it in; this parrot, and a book on the bed.
The diamond was stored in her “Indian cabinet”. I designed and 3D printed this, with lots of finials and “carving”. It’s my current favorite piece of furniture. The stone in the crest is opalite, which looks like the semi-precious stone called moonstone. The diamond necklace has not yet been stolen; see it’s weird pinkish glow?
Top view; it’s in a case with clear front and top.
The rug started out as a piece of green velour. I was thrilled to discover that Sharpie markers colored it beautifully. Plot spoiler: one character in the book sleepwalks because he has been dosed with laudanum, which is made from opium poppies. Poppies were a popular design theme in Art Nouveau, maybe because everybody was using laudanum…
The wires sticking out of the floor will hold the bed frame in place. Since this is going to the show, pieces have to be fastened down securely. I used a lot of wire and glue, plus a little blutak and mini wax.
The bed drapery and comforter are all bits of recycled silk saris. The “wallpaper” is cotton quilting fabric.
I posted the wall with the fireplace several weeks ago, but here it is fully dressed.
An Indian goddess and some elephants. I have a lovely large elephant with gleaming gold trim that I was planning to incorporate, but it was made in Thailand, and doesn’t look Indian.
I painted the mirror with clear satin spray so it doesn’t reflect things like a viewer’s face or camera.
Everything was from stash. It’s nice to give it a chance to be seen!
