Just some purchases

As you know this is to document every tiddly bit of my project for me to warm my toes by in future years, so I do also note any purchases I make....

Last week I got some lovely fabrics from my absolutely favourite fabric lady,  Maria's Fabrics

I may have, at last solved the drapery issue!

At the start of this week I received delivery of a fabulous work light.  The lighting in this room is poor - north facing in the daylight and a poor ceiling light behind me casting shadows over anything I am working on in the evening.  This lamp has varying temperatures of light and various levels of brightness and it is well articulated to move in all sorts of directions, even the head swivels.

Tao Tronics dimmable eye protection LED lamp - huge range of prices if you go look for one.

Yesterday and today I received a long awaited order from Delph in two parts.

I left these three tinies on a card table to give a sense of the perfect scale....  hairspray, hand soap, nail polish.

Here is a little something I need to remember each day

Eight of these for the library.  I so want to punch little holes in little paper and fasten them in the rings inside.

Two phones - one for the Hive (basement workroom) and one for the library - my student lodger uses her mobile phone of course.

Twelve light switches - that will be fun (not) gluing those in place

Eleven wall sockets to finish off ones I already have here and there; ditto the above sentiment

A touch of Ikea for the apartment - bedroom? or replace the one I made in the sitting room?

Just a thought on this pandemic.  I was unpacking eighty (!!!) items of grocery today which had been delivered to me safely by Tesco (I have used the service for years) and was bemoaning the two 'swaps' and three 'not gots'.  I suddenly thought about my mother and realised how she would have thought all her Christmases had arrived together if she had been looking at what I had spread out before me.  At the beginning of the war in 1939 she was 23 years old with a new baby and her husband away, three years later mom lost her baby when she was just six weeks old.  She was bombed out three times losing her home each time.  By 1945 she had a new baby to take care of too.  During all this time and for even more years after the war she lived with rationing and had to figure out how to keep her family fed.

One adult per week:

• Bacon & Ham         4 oz
• Other meat            value of 1 shilling and 2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops)
• Butter                      2 oz
• Cheese                     2 oz
• Margarine              4 oz
• Cooking fat            4 oz
• Milk                       3 pints
• Sugar                    8 oz
• Preserves            1 lb every 2 months
• Tea                        2 oz
• Eggs                     1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg)
• Sweets                  12 oz every 4 weeks

I was peeved I didn't have the exact rice I wanted.  Really !!!! 

 We are just asked to stay in our (for most of us) nice comfy homes for a while and have stuff brought to our door, how dare we even whisper a complaint.

Please stay home and save lives.

Clare Bell light

I am not sure if this is a show-and-tell or I am still just looking for absolution.

I am not even starting with forgive me, I have sinned....  not with this one.  When I very first began with minis we used to snow-bird in Naples Florida and it had the most glorious mini shop called Nancy's.  (Sadly no more)  One of the very first things in that shop that I ever fell in love with was a collection of Clare Bell lights and the one I loved most was a five candle Georgian candelabra.  It was beyond my budget and, anyway, my project was a modern house so of no use whatsoever.  That did not stop me from visiting Nancy's over the years to drool over it.  I have even checked it out now and then, online, in the years since then.

So on my recent spree I thought I would leave it in the lap of the gods and see if I could find one - they are almost as rare as hens' teeth.  If I could, I would have it..... and the gods were smiling and here it is.

I need to straighten the candles a little and it will be brighter when using electricity rather than a battery

It came from the USA.  It was pricey, plus huge postage, plus the risk of paying customs duty on it over here.  Luckily all that worked out OK once I had stopped blubbing about the hole in my bank.

Then...... dramatic drum roll....... this is what I unwrapped.  Four very winky-wonky candles and the fifth had no bulb

Flip! hate the idea/cost of returning it to the states!!

You're British, Don't panic....  I lifted the light and this was underneath.  

No idea what the bit of wire is for

So, with just a bit of fiddling around with the two-wire-plug-in nightmare bulb and we were good to go.  Ahhh, woops, still a bit of a problem as my music room hadn't been expecting a floor standing Georgian candelabra and it would make even less sense in the other two traditional rooms.  I decided it could go in the precarious corner sort of behind the door.  The (invisible) doorstop prevents it being knocked and it would be brought into the centre of the room any time the  quartet sets up to play.  I would tell myself any story to validate this piece. 😊

Masters Miniatures

About three posts ago I confessed to having the equivalent of a shopping-at-a-show spree, but on line instead.  Since then my thinking has been....  

For a few years I was lucky enough to get to six or more shows a year, in the UK and the States.  Admittedly I did not spend lots of money each time, being on a somewhat restricted budget.  The shows in themselves were much of the pleasure and we always turned the trips into little mini breaks of a couple of days or so.  I can't get to shows any more so it seems OK to spend what I would have done there ..... plus a bit more as we aren't spending anything on travel, accommodation, meals etc;  so my initial order with Masters Miniatures became two.  I only owned one of their pieces which I bought as a bit of a treat some years ago.  The haul that follows is quite a bit beyond naughty.

That said, I think their prices are excellent for those of us who can't afford Beith, Escutcheon,Tarbena et al, all of whom are the stuff that dreams are made of.  Masters Miniatures make many fine pieces and it is lovely to have something which is that bit above the ordinary.

The box came this morning and I was truly like a kid with a new toy (or toys).  I promise you my photographs do not do them justice.  I have made them look a bit clunky and they are certainly not that.  They are dainty and their finish is excellent.  I am thrilled.

I ordered four, then two..... so yes, I have six of these.  The braid trim is a row of exquisitely teeny tassels.

This is a Canterbury and was originally designed to hold sheet music.  Perfect solution for my music room.

I have a nice House of Miniatures kit for a music stand which almost cost me what this cost but their finish is much nicer than I can achieve.  This one also has little three little brass bars in the centre, so sweet.

Same again, I have a similar HOM kit for about the same price as this but this has been made for me to just drop in place and, again, made so much better

There is a lovely inlaid top to my wine cooler

The actual finish on this wine cooler is so much better than this photograph shows.

It has perfect little hinges and even the inside is finished beautifully

My Regency square piano

I need to add a little colour over the indentation for the stick to support the lid.  

Complete with tiny castors so my little people can keep it against a wall when it's not 'in concert'

If you happen to be worrying about such dainty things arriving safely

Oh dear

In my last post I  left you in suspense as to what I might have ordered from Proops Brothers.........


As Violet Elizabeth would say, "I'll scream and scream until I am sick"

I know you are fed up hearing about the window saga but I really thought I had it sorted. I am struggling to cut up my gazillion strips of wood that I need to make the frames.  They are only one eighth of an inch square but absolutely solid.  Knives won't do it and the saw is slow and often splits the back of them - they are really too small to try to make a cut on the opposite side each time to help avoid this.

So, I ordered this .....

..... a little guillotine meant to cut strips of wood and plastic..... I watched the youtube and everything!  It chomped through strips of wood and bits of plastic but on my window frames it barely makes a dent. 

....... but well done to the company, not the slightest quibble about a post paid return/refund.  That is impressive these days.

Just so I leave you with a little up rather than down here is what I made whilst waiting for it to arrive.

Duncan Phyfe window seat circa 1810-1820

I am a great believer in placing something to the front and centre of each room and love the challenge of finding something appropriate but nothing that will prevent us looking into the room easily when we open the front of the house.  When I am making these little worlds I do imagine myself into the rooms to see if they actually work - can I walk round them easily?  is it a room my subjects could live with and have a life in?  with this in mind it would clearly be a nonsense to have a whole side of a room without anything there (our fourth wall).  Hence the challenge.  

This  seat will do the job nicely in my music room.

On a spree

I have finally reached the stage in life where I think going to shows is probably beyond me now, especially since moving to Scotland.  Any UK shows are something of a trek from here and the thought of long haul flights to the American shows (sadly) brings me out in a rash (not literally 😊)  I did fifteen years of trotting back and forth across the pond and the actual travelling seemed to get worse and worse in all kinds of ways.  I have crohns disease and part of my condition is chronic fatigue.  I need say no more.

So!  I decided on a little online spree in lieu of the Miniatura show at the NEC next month. I keep a little show notebook with samples of paint and fabric that I have used in Dalton and photos of my project in its current state, some measurements and, crucially, my shopping list.  Out it came and I was off.

My first stop was at  Jennifers of Walsall's stand.   Jennifer and Andy have always been my go-to place since I started this game for a myriad of things.  My lovely real wood flooring, for example, has always come from them.  

This time it was a quick run through their fabric section as I am still struggling to get something I like even though I have a shoe box crammed full of pieces.  The silk Brodnax fabric was £5.95 a piece not the £10.50 shown on the packs.  I haven't the slightest idea why I bought the very pretty blue piece - really - I don't have a speck of blue in the place. 

😱  

The plaid is a very pretty combination for the sitting room; the colours are spot on for the cherry pattern wallpaper but it is decidedly a bit 'modern' for everything else that is going on in that room; so............ I am still looking.

Fray Stay is a tad pricey but it is the one I really like so, hey it's only money.  I am not convinced that PVA, let down with water, does quite the same job.

You know what it's like when you stop by a stall, your eye lands on something not on your list:  happily for me, it works the same way when I am trawling the net.  I have loved the teeny Phoenix condiment set for many years so that went in my basket and I know I want a tray for sherry or whiskey decanter on one of my huntboards. The cruet is so dainty I had to set it up with tweezers.

Another stall I always check out is Little Trimmings.  They won't be at Miniatura this year and I am pretty sure they are running down their stock, so I grabbed - yes, you guessed it - more fabrics while I can.

Eeeehhh, the lime green stripe is truly lime green.  I was living in hopes it might not be - how mad is that. The next one up in denim and gold has the perfect pair of colours for the music room but it seems too casual for a formal room.  The tiny floral will be lovely for covering some chair seats (I hope).  The next grey and gold piece, right now,  is the best I have for the music room.  I need grey and/or gold or combination of.  Ideally I would like a pale grey and white striped silk...... if anyone knows of one, please, please direct me to it.  The top two cottons are for curtain lining and sheets and pillows for the student bed.

I have also visited Delph Miniatures and Masters Miniatures - as I would at the show and did a bit of buying from them and will share with you when those goodies arrive.

My final bit of ordering is with a company called Proops Brothers Limited - that should keep you guessing.

Bye for now - off to start making a sweet little window seat.  The windows themselves are on guilt-free 😇 hold until Proops Brothers deliver.

Bit of a breather

I currently have a lot of RL commitments to various things so I didn't want to get stuck into adding the many window frames which I've decided to do but, now I am back in the game, I find I am itching to get back to the house.  When I have some moments (in the evening) I am trawling the web for ideas and some occasional shopping.  I have also been through my stash in hopes of finding any very quick projects to crack off when I have the odd half hour here and there in the day to play.

Purchases

I was disappointed with my Jim Coates Trumau mirror from the States (for me an expensive buy).  The idea was to match the one I already have in the hall.  This is a completely different colour - I realise it is likely to be slightly different from a different batch of paint but this one is waaaayyy off.  I am very wary of having to repaint both of them to make them match as they are fairly complicated when it comes to a repaint.  Additionally the moulding seems to be bordering on 'crude' - its partner is nicely done, hence my original and subsequent investment.

For four years, now and then, I have been searching for a House of Miniatures Hunt-board to match the one I made back in 2017  One extremely kind mini contact sold me one of hers and the very same day that it was mailed I came across one in  Hobby's   Most annoyingly, it had probably been lurking there all the time I was looking elsewhere.  Being me, I decided on belt and braces and now have the two of them.  If I make a mess of making one I do have a fall back position.  This photo shows my 2017 make and one of the proposed ones.

I love, love, love this.  One of Elizabeth's super-dooper creations from Elf Miniatures.  I bet you are all looking and (a) wondering what the heck it is and (b) why is she so excited.  Well, it is a pan rack which I love in its own right but the plus for me is I had a single miserable looking open shelf (over the sink area) between my cupboards in my student's kitchen and I kept putting this and that object on it and each time deciding it was too boring to stay.  I actually risked being able to get this in the space but committed to it before its arrival by gently tugging out the offending shelf.  It is such an exact fit it will almost stay in place without glue.   I even have the set of pans to go on it.

The bundle beside the rack holds modern door handles - I will show you where they are going when I get to that task.

Mmmm, yet another disappointing expensive purchase.  I paid £30 plus postage for this as it was the exact mirror I wanted for a particular place.  When the desire for a Girondole mirror arose I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had seen one of them - years ago!  So I was pleased when I fell across one via Etsy.  I spent some time talking myself up into another extravagance but bit the bullet and off went my pounds and back came this broken and bent version of the Girondole mirror I craved.  I am leaving the 'repairs' for now and just hoping it will be OK after a bit of glue and gentle reshaping.  To add insult to injury I have, of course, since remembered that this very mirror is sold by Pheonix Model developments in a (very easy) kit form and I could have had that for £12.60 with less postage and the same amount of assembly (of not bent pieces) plus a little paint.

I also bought some silk fabric for curtains  to match a Brodnax wallpaper which turned out to be absolutely not a match and managed to look like someone had been smoking in the house for the last thirty years.  My sitting room wallpaper is an almost white background to pale pink cherry blossom and pale green leaves.  The silk arrived with a cream/beigy background and very undefined pattern of flowers and branches.  Most decidedly not the vendor's fault, just a rubbish product.  I am hoping some of it might make cushions as my chairs are a cream silk.  Again, fair warning if you are using Brodnax wallpaper.

This fabric shown below is from Les Chinoiseries and is a perfect match for their wallpaper.  I also got a lovely little free bonus included which unfortunately I can't use as this fabric is for the library and I only have one chair int there which doesn't need a cushion.  There is printed fabric for four different pattern cushions with plain matching backs.  It is a nice weight cotton and will work well.  If anyone can use them please let me know and I am happy to post them to you.

Mini makes

My first little make was a great kit by Jane Harrop.  A shopping basket.  One of the things I love about Jane's meticulous work is her spot-on scale and this was no exception.  There are gorgeous baskets out there in mini world at a price but the budget end of basketry that I have found is a bit clunky.  I have made some quarter scale baskets using a fine hessian and they looked good but I hadn't attempted anything for 1/12ths.

This is a simple matter of weaving some beautifully cut paper strips presented in a way to help you manage them accurately and easily.  I honestly loved doing it and considered mass production on this one.  The kit had extras in case of any mishaps and easily made two lovely baskets.  I love them and wish I could think of reasons for having more.  Don't be put off by the idea of them being 'just paper'.

By now I was on a roll - what else would be quick to do - a kit from The Craft pack Company

First things first I needed to find all my other Christmas decorations to see what I might want to put with what.  This entailed clearing out the bogey hole under the stairs in Dalton House.

You can't see the poor light fitting in real life as you can't get your head through the doorway; unlike the camera.  Mental note - when fitting a light in a deep, dark cupboard make sure it has some oomph!  This is a bogey hole I would decidedly not go in.

The decorations were duly made and packed away with the other Christmas stuff.  I decided the bogey hole would only have a ton of Christmas decorations in it.  This is a big house and it needs a Christmas decoration cupboard.😏

In clearing out the (now) Christmas cupboard other things were unearthed.  

Ah, those blessed chairs.  I made them from a couple of House of Miniatures kits and their first incarnation was a mahogany finish which I thought looked poor.  They hung around for a good long while and then acquired what was to be a shabby chic cream finish.  Decidedly shabby and not at all chic.  I was going to just add them to someone's parcel of goodies but am too ashamed of their awfulness.

How about I paint them gold for the music room?

Done.... and they looked even more dreadful - completely patchy all over and another thick gloopy layer of paint.  Perhaps I would I like them better the next day?

New day and the dried paint still looked dreadful; out came the Super Hero of my kit....

Wonderful, wonderful gold leaf Krylon pen went on like silk and covered every blemish.  The 'ugly' now is the gazillion layers of paint, which is never a good look.  Why oh why didn't the god of minis give me that fabulous solution when they were bare wood?

Not content with almost bringing four scabby chairs back into the world with some paint, it was time to find fabric for the seats.  One huge box of fabrics later and the only one I liked for the chairs was already on four chairs in the dining room.  That's OK I was thinking of recovering those any way.

It was not so OK when I discovered that whoever had made them had used heaven knows what glue and a gallon of it.  I pulled and prised and tore it off the chair and then discovered I would have to cut most of it away to remove the stiff unyielding glue covered pieces. I was left with only a few threads to roll over the edges of my gold chair seats.  It is a very close call and I haven't done all four yet but I am now sort of committed.  I have also dislodged a chair leg in the process so far.

Apologies for the hideous finish but, after such a hellish birth, they have become the screaming baby that I love.  They can be 'got away with' as they are only glimpsed in amongst the other furniture.