1:48 scale table setting
Husmoderns 235 mönster or "The housewife's 235 designs" is a 1931 craft book in Swedish, that seems to be intended for (upper-class) housewifes who had plenty of time to spend hand painting menus, place cards, candle shades and candles for their dinner parties... There are also designs for embroidered table cloths, bed sheet, underwear, childrens' clothes, handkerchiefs, and cross stitch upholstery.
I found the chapter on table decorating particularly fascinating. The authoress provides detailed suggestions for 27 different table settings for various occasions. When a Swedish miniaturist group decided to work on table setting projects in spring 2006, I knew at once that I'd like to do some table setting from this book. Sometime in the future I'd like to do more of them.
Dinner table for businessmen
Here's my translation of the description in the book, or click to read the original Swedish text.
- White tablecloth.
- White napkins.
- Napkins folded as the "Boat", or the "Fleur de Lys".
- White and blue china.
- Swedish blue runner of silk fabric (japon or similar), edged with wide gold ribbon.
- Candlesticks of blue faiance.
- Yellow candles without shades.
- Dirigold flatware. (Dirigold was a gold-colored alloy.)
- Glasses in gold color.
- Flower bowls or vases in blue.
- Flowers in different colors.
- Place cards in blue and gold.
- Sprinkled here and there on the tablecloth, coins covered in gold or silver tinfoil, to give the impression of silver or gold coins, that allude to the businessmen's interests.
- If foreign guests are present, their countries' representatives should be honored with small flags standing on the table, e.g. a Danish flag, an American, a French, and so on, depending on which countries the different gentlemen represent.
The mini version
I based the table on a dining room design sketch by Atelier Martine, depicted in Authentic Art Deco interiors and furniture by Dover Publications. The plates are made from Fimo, using Lyn Latimer's instructions in LEN volume 2, issue 2. I got the flatware from some cast plastic sets I'd bought from J. Hermes years ago; I cut them apart and painted them gold. The flower bowls are bead cap type metal findings. I painted them dark blue and then drybrushed with a lighter shade.