Creative Woodworks & crafts 1997-08, страница 6

Tee's

Tcc Ridder's passion for crafts was highly apparent to her friends and family. Jeanne Ferrer, who grew up with the Ridder children, relates, "As a child I remember Mrs. Ridder was always, always doing needlepoint. Then she started with faux finishing, and then began making the miniatures."

Tee's children remember their mother spending up to 7 hours a day on her work. Jeanne recalls, "Iler sons would say she'd wake up at three in the morning and say, 'Oh, J. should have put that chair on the right side of the room,' and then she'd go downstairs in her nightgown to work on the rooms. And she'd never go back to bed."

Eric Ridder's love for the sport of hunting served as the inspiration for the Game Room.

The Craft

To organize her ideas, Mrs. Ridder would look at magazines, then glue in a scrapbook anything she thought might inspire her later. To make tiny "paintings" for the walls, Tee would cut pictures out of art books and catalogs, coat them with decoupage finish and frame them with wood moldings.

Tee's crafting specialty was faux or "painted" marble. Many of the rooms feature faux marble fireplaces and columns. Simple commercial furniture could be made more elaborate by adding gold-leafed jewelry findings that matched other ornamental trims in the room.

A "wicker" room features handcrafted white "wrought iron," which Tee made out of jewelry findings and half-round wood moldings. Tee painted the items with white acrylic paint, then fastened them to the wall with silicone adhesive. For a more plaster-like effect, a coat of gesso could be used.

For wallpaper, Tee sometimes used Venetian end papers, the beautiful pages of swirling color found on the first pages

of hardcover books. Tee also made tiny needlepoint rugs and chair covers, and little flowers fashioned from paper, seashells and bread dough.

To display her rooms. Tee would often build a round column or square stand that coordinated with the room. The stand could be a simple 6" x 6" with a flat base and a plywood top, or it could be fancier, with routed edges and grooved columns.

The Collectibles

When she began making the rooms, Tee made much of her own furniture, particularly for the kitchens. "She would buy run-of-the-mill stuff and fix it up," recalls Jeanne. "Then as she got more and more accomplished she got more into buying beautiful things like that writing desk."

Mrs. Ferrer showed us a miniature antique ladies writing desk with floral wood inlay, made by English artisan John Davenport. The desk features a balancing mechanism that allows it to swivel open. "You twist it open to write on it," Jeanne explains. "And see this secret compartment, that's where a lady would keep letters from her lover."

Mrs. Ridder acquired her fine collectibles on trips throughout the United States, Italy, England, and Africa. Museum curator Phyllis Tucker, a miniature artist herself, has arranged the rooms so each has a good sampling of miniature artisans and all kinds of work. The rooms feature furniture by artisans such as Emie Levy, John Hodgson, Geoffrey Wonnacol,

Tee Ridder was well known for her miniature country kitchen designs and

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Creative Woodworks & Crafts