(Sandy O’Grady)
Shades of Sherlock
by Pam North

Sandy O’Grady, a northeastern Colorado miniature artist, has long been a fan of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and because that interest was shared by her daughter, Sandy decided to create a project that would focus on that theme to encourage her daughter develop a love of miniatures. “She didn’t ask for it, but I knew she would love it!” she explained. “I did a lot of research first, reading all the stories and novels about Sherlock again, this time making notes, and many items mentioned in his stories I have included in the Holmes apartment I created. I wanted to make it a challenge for viewers to find them, so I plan to post a list referencing the tale in which each item was mentioned. I never before had worked in the Victorian era, so I looked at photographs of full-size period rooms and shops to get a feeling for that period of history. I also searched for miniatures on line that were appropriate. After assembling most of the furnishings, I could envision the finished project, which I initially thought would fill a bookshelf, but the piece has grown into a three-story apartment building over four feet long and three feet high. I blame my daughter for that, as it was her idea to add the extra stories.” Sandy has named the creation Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, 221B Baker Street.
She started from scratch for the building, making it entirely herself. Most of the furnishings were bought from websites and catalogs. She modified some pieces to fit the scene, and a few she made, such as the bearskin rug in front of the fireplace, the bedding, and all the windows and window dressings. Materials used to make the piece included: plywood for the shell, mat board to line all the room walls and some of the exterior walls, wood flooring, wiring and light fixtures for all the lights and fireplaces, acrylic paints, wallpaper, wood trim, and doors. She elaborated, “I made the faux slate tiled roof from mat board cut into individual pieces. The bricks were cut from the flat parts of many paper egg cartons, and I used a chopper to cut thousands of them to a uniform size. The windows were from trim  found at a lumber store and basswood strips, and glass that I had cut to fit. The marble tiles on the bottom floor exterior were made from mat board, as were the paving stones on the sidewalk.” For the corner store, she modified a shop kit that she had bought years ago. She collected most of the furniture and other large objects like the fireplaces first, so she would know how large the rooms needed to be, and then she decided where to place the wiring for the light fixtures. Placement of doors and windows were planned as the walls were installed. A shell for the flat was cut from foam core to be sure everything would work, and when she was satisfied with the model, she cut a sheet of quarter-inch plywood to match. That thickness allowed the 3/8-inch thickness that the doors would need. Once the middle floor was built, she matched the dimensions for the other two floors. She made the windows and cut holes for them after the walls were up. “At my daughter’s suggestion, I added a false wall on the backside of the two top floors. A night light was attached to that wall to flood the windows with light on the backside of the building. The false wall was lined with brick wallpaper because buildings were close together in Victorian London, and that was what the view would have been. I needed the false wall to run up to the roof because I ran most of my wiring for the lights in the flat to the third floor, where I plugged the transformer into a power strip. I put the wiring for the lights in the shop on the bottom floor inside Mrs. Hudson’s apartment. Under-the-cabinet strips of LED kitchen lighting, found at a hardware store, were used for the flat itself, with the thin strips hidden along the front of the ceiling. They were too bright, so I painted them with a tan transparent enamel. The main illumination was under-the-counter kitchen cabinet lighting, because the individual miniature light fixtures did not produce enough light for the interior. I lined all the interior walls with mat board, and made all the roof tiles, exterior marble tiles, and the sidewalk pavers out of mat board. The bricks were made from gray paper egg cartons; their variegated gray color did not have to be painted, but I added several layers of clear water-based sealer to them. The staircase was hard to build because I was working it into a narrow space.”
Her favorite part about the piece is Sherlock’s desk and the corner of the room it occupies. “It was the first thing I finished, and the rest of the room evolved around it. The bearskin rug was fun to create, and also the bundles of old newspapers and everything in the bookcases, for which I used my computer and printer to miniaturize the printed items.”
Since Sandy made the piece for her daughter, she plans that it will be displayed for her enjoyment. “I’ll keep working on this building for years. There are so many things to add to it, like street signs and street lights, and perhaps a reference to the Baker Street Boys, with one of two of them lurking around the side of the building. I plan to ‘age’ the building to make it more realistic. I’d love to hear from other Sherlock fans who have comments and suggestions for objects to include in his flat.”
There’s more to come. “I also am working on a bicycle shop, and I’d like to do something for my three grandchildren.”

Contact information:
Email: pennywort@aol.com
Phone: (941) 224-5585
Address:  1754 Sunlight Drive, Longmont, CO 80504