Where have I been?

I cannot believe I haven't been in here since March; I had to keep checking that was so. 

Sadly it is time to pretty much leave the Bentleys blog and move on to Chocolat as the current one.  This is my third summer and Chocolat is my third project so any shared project ramblings really need to fit in that chronology.  As with Wentworth, my first summer's project (2011) I will no doubt pop in and out of here as I add bits and bobs to Bentleys to finish it off.  I still have quite a lot to do but, as I said the rest will have moved on to Chocolat and the summer of 2013.

These are things for Bentleys which I bought at Pudsey on the 13th April

You will have to scramble over to Chocolat and even My Quarter Life to see the rest of my purchases but this  little  shadow box will probably be stripped out and the contents used in the shop.  I hope to redo the box in another way.  Right now I am considering collecting foody/kitchen things and hanging it in my kitchen.  Not sure but there is no rush and for now I am just enjoying it perched on my work table.  This was the first of my Children in Need Purchase for the princely sum of a fiver - what a bargain.

Orlando Miniature Festival

Apologies for being off the radar for a while but we have back to back visitors through February and March, so I am snatching time where I can.  

Nice spacious room especially before the crowds arrive

It seems ages ago now (so much 1:1 life happening in between) since I went to the Molly Cromwell second Florida show of the season, this time held in Orlando.  Anyone considering these two shows and maybe thinking if you have done one you will have done both will be very pleasantly surprised.  Even if the vendor was at Sarasota most of their wares probably weren't.  These are people creating new stuff every minute, so the 'repeat' level is so very low, it would be hard to find.  Half of the room is filled with completely different people with more exciting stuff for the serious shopper to go at.  Again I used every minute of my two day shopping trip in the showrooms going round and round and discovering new bits and bobs on each tour.  There is so much to look at.

Jeremy Paul's breathtaking house

As before, the show is surrounded by really wonderful workshops.  They ran through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Monday.  Fabulous people making fabulous things.  I would have liked to do at least three of them.  One of these days .....

It is held in a large convention-type hotel, slap-bang centre of Orlando on International Drive; so if your stay is part of a long break in Orlando you can fit in a load of Orlando attractions too.  We took advantage of the great discounted rate for Molly's visitors and stayed in the International Palms Resort.  As before this made our life super-simple.

It was a lovely two days of soaking up the very best of mini-world.

Val Casson's stunning work

I was kind of 'working' too as I was writing a review of the show for DH&MS and scouting out people to write extended pieces on.  I now have three from Sarasota and four from Orlando to do.  Right now I have work going on through the rest of 2013 and into early 2014.  I love doing it, so I don't feel any kind of pressure or concerns. It is a real joy to be writing, which I love, and such a bonus to be writing about another passion - minis.  What could be better?  Even nicer it seems that everyone I meet is gracious and helpful. 

Grandgirl quarter scale

If you are a reader of Dolls House and Miniature scene magazine look out for these people as the articles appear and support them and shows like Molly's.  It is a real worry that another of my  passions - cyber world - is sort of taking over.  It is easier to trawl the web and order on line than travel to shops and shows.  Not only is that nothing like the hands-on experience of what there is to offer out there but so much more will disappear.  There are classes and groups all attached to the physical world of mini collectors which would disappear.  Creating our projects is pretty much a solitary occupation and it is great that there is a chance for some social camaraderie created by the shops and shows.  I also feel very strongly about supporting as many of the smaller shows as you can possibly get to.  I am sure there are many, many people like me who would love to visit the huge shows worldwide but can't afford the travel involved and, in the main, can't afford the very beautiful things that places like Chicago, Paris and Kensington offer. 

As with all these things I am sure you think that you - one person - can't make a difference but four thousand one-persons really does!!

Here are my purchases.  As you can see my 'snatch' supports my argument that it is still worth the trip even if you can't afford a lot of things.  The pleasure is in the doing of it.

All from one supplier.  I am sorry I can't locate his name as I am writing this during our third (!) Orlando visit this season. We are staying with our friends here for a week before they fly home.  My list of what I bought and from whom is back in Naples!  I will try to remember to come back into this post and do a rewrite in a week or so.  (footnote 1 March)  Thanks to Val Casson for letting me know it was from Dominick Manella.  Nice man and lovely old/antique eclectic bits and bobs.

I bought a small Lincoln desk for somewhere?  Pestle and mortar, small sterling silver kettle, sugar sifter and ewer; all probably destined for Chocolat.  Interestingly the sugar sifter was labelled as an English mufineer - ironic in that mufineer seems to be an American name for a sugar-sifter.

The four sticks at the top are very thin two-sided sticks of various grades of sandpaper for getting into those awkward little spaces.  For 15 cents each I thought they were a bargain.

The little palette knife might be useful for Fimo?

The yellow glue spreader has been on my hit list for ages.  We used them by the zillion in school but I haven't seen them any where.  The pointed end will always be useful.  Only a mini person could say that!  The other wooden handled thing is one of those double-ended ball bodger thingies.  I broke my other one, so have paid a bit more for this one in hopes it survives me!

These came from Trims and Things by Drucille Conrad.

You can meet the residents of Starfish cottage over on its blog if you want to.  I even have some bits for the new Quarter projects; their photos are on the quarter scale blog. Better still all my photos from the show are in my web albums (links for all these in the right hand column). 

The Sarasota Show

Last weekend I did my first overnighter dolls house show. The Sarasota Festival of Dollhouse Miniatures (19th and 20th January 2013)

Molly Cromwell's shows are certainly events.  They are actually usually spread over four days, as was this one.  There are some terrific classes on Friday and Monday and the show itself is over the weekend.   I am ruminating on signing up for a class next year; I have really been bitten by this mini bug.

The show is held in The Ramada Waterfront Hotel so it is more than convenient to stay there and flit from room to show.  Even better if you have non-mini folk with you - often known as 'husbands' - as they can do their own pootling around (bar and swimming pool) and you don't need to make complicated pick up/drop off arrangements with each other.  The hotel offers bed and breakfast and at a discounted rate if you are going to the show and it is a true discount. My other half is the very best at scouting discounts - he did his Expedia and Kayak et al mooching around and the Molly discount still came in at the lowest rate.  It is probably the best rate in Sarasota and right where you want to be.

This is a small show - under 50 stalls - but there are hours of interest to be had.  I have written a piece for DH&MS magazine (prob May issue) so I don't want to say the same things twice by writing it all again here.  I chose six of the best vendors to highlight which was no mean task.  There were at least a dozen absolutely outstanding artisans there.  The whole show is about stuff you can't just buy in a shop.  Ninety per cent or more is actually made by the people there, so each piece really is (pretty much) a one off; miss one and you have missed it.  

 If you opt for the General Admission on Sunday  ($7) there will still be tons of wonderful things to buy,  but if you are travelling a long way and staying overnight you should buy the great value weekend preview ticket ($18).  This is what I did this year as we had planned to stay over and build in other things that we wanted to do on the way up and down between Naples and Sarasota.  So rather than do a rushed mini shopping trip this is a way to have a really nice inexpensive weekend break with a dolls house show thrown in for good measure.

The preview ticket buys you what it says - Saturday preview/early sales, a pizza and sodas get together after the sale with a chance to meet each other and the vendors , prize draws and, of course you get to come back again Sunday for the 10am - 4 pm General Admission show.  Actually with the preview badge/ticket you get to go in at 9.30am!!  What a bargain.

Instead of showing you the vendors I chose for the magazine article I'll just share what I bought with you.  You can see all the show pictures in the Sarasota web album.

My first stop at a stall was the True2Scale couple.  

 It is hard to see from my photo of their stand in the web album all the lovely things they do as mostly they are packages like these.  Please go to their site and have a look around.  Here's what I bought from them.  

I have been wanting the pitcher and forsythia that they sell for ages and I still want to fit in their lovely Eiffel tower display stand in Chocolat - it might happen; but I managed to resist it for now. However  I didn't manage to resist the lovely dishes and decals, even though I have no idea where I can use them! The cake boxes will certainly have a home.  I intend to just manage with these few on top of the counter along with a stack of unassembled ones in the shop ready to be made up and filled with the best French (chocolate) patisserie for each customer. I chose their pretty white ones in hopes that my pretend flattened boxes look like a match.

I then trotted off to the stall I should have gone to first -  Ron's (Dollshouse Shop, Orlando) to trade four of my five Little Women for something else.  I had decided before the show I wanted a better pretty pleater.  I have just followed a curtain workshop with Hazel Dowd and had mentioned to her how I couldn't get on with these contraptions and I asked if it was worth binning it and buying a silicone (?), rubber (?) one I had seen and she agreed whole-heartedly.  She said she had had hers for a zillion years (she did actually state a number but I have forgotten) and they are great.  It looks better to me than wood, as it is flexible and less likely to cling on to the fabric fibres. Ron had kindly brought one along for me.  I added in these three cute cake stands and a five dollar bill and we were done and dusted.

I snagged a sweet little cash register for Bentleys.  I didn't really want want one in the shop as most of Ellen's business is done by ordering goods and then settling accounts as they go along, but she is branching out into selling bits and pieces like collars, hat and dress trims, perfume and gloves directly from the shop to the casual shopper and so she probably needs a cash register.  This was labelled as $15 but the trader let me have it for the same price as his two clunky, ugly ones which were $12.  It just needs a bit of judicious photocopying of old money signs to go in the display area. The cash drawer opens too.  I suppose I need to find out if Ellen's 1911 shop would have had one like this...... time to Google National Cash registers!

I had the usual 'I am weak for fabric' itch that got scratched a teeny bit on Saturday and Sunday.  Gulliver's Emporium has the nicest of stuff and for silly prices.  Sadly, a note on her stand said her business is closing and she was open to offers for her stock.  I wish, I wish.  It is the oddest thing, when given a basket full of lace trims the first piece I pick up - right out of the middle, under layers of other stuff is (probably) the most expensive.   Sooooo lovely - old, French,  silk lace, ecru-coloured trim.  I was a good girl and put it back.  Talk about champagne taste and beer pocket, it seems I also have an inbuilt champagne magnet.  Everything I bought was only a couple of dollars each - and less!!  I have to be firm with myself as I just seem to collect fabric and trims and do nothing with them.  I just covet them.  Her colours are lovely and her patterns perfectly scaled.  The fabrics are fine silk and cotton.  I have a lovely cotton lawn here.  She also had the last of some very fine silk velvet.  I averted my eyes.

I snagged a pair of shoes for $5.  I don't recall the name of the seller. Poor, poor photo - bad lighting and magnification too large.  They look very dainty in the flesh.  I actually stopped to look at the wonderful plants and flowers on the stall - made by the vendor's mother-in-law, she told me.  I wish I had picked up a card or noted her name so I could find her again.
[footnote 1 March:  They are from Clara's Cuties]

These are destined for Bentleys Salon.  I bought them for Vianne in Chocolat but then remembered that her daughter complained that she wasn't like everyone else's mother because she only ever wore red or coral shoes.  Chocolat's loss is Bentleys gain.

I bought this trio from a very kind gentleman, on Marie's Minis, who agreed to model them for me on his hands to show their scale (the photo ended up out of focus!).  They sell very nice floral items and fruit and veg and many related items.  There is an on-line link to contact them but not a shop on line.  Again things bought for one place will probably end up in another.  The bowl of nuts was for Chocolat; I then remembered it is set in Lent so seasonally they are more suitable for the October setting of Bentleys.  The hyacinth is for Chocolat to help pin down the timing.  The jug and bowl may just join my Little Women stock of Victoriana for an (as yet) undreampt of project.

From Feather Your Nest I got this little set for $34 which I thought was a good price as I had been looking at the stools in various places at around eight dollars plus.  It was absolutely bought for Chocolat as there is something like it in the movie BUT my Chocolaterie project may be in the throes of veering away from the original so this could end up in Starfish Cottage or maybe just kit-bashed for Chocolat.  I put a cup and saucer on it to give you a sense of scale.



And now for something completely different ...........

Shows for a lot of people are a great excuse for meeting old friends and making new ones with a shared interest.  For me, they are purely a shopping-for-goods-and-ideas expedition.  Those who know me know I will run a mile from any socialising - not out of snottiness I am just very nervy about meeting new people.  Shy seems such a feeble word - I would prefer to have a full blown phobia.  Any way I avoided reminding anyone I had met them before, didn't go to the pizza party and then, blow me down, ran straight into a lady who my neighbour had tried to 'set me up with'.   My dear friend next door here in Naples knew someone who knew someone who was into miniatures and she emailed my details through the grapevine to connect us.  Susan Werner and I went politely through the motions and let the 'hello' fade away.  At the show Susan spotted the accent and the name and introduced herself.  She was exceedingly nice as are most strangers when you get to know them!  Her work is very special.  I loved so many of her things.  She seems to be very capable in all kinds of media.  Needless to say I mostly craved her chocolates.  Her Etsy shop seems to be under construction but maybe her Blog - Tabitha Corsica  will let you find a way to contact her if you are interested in her work. Click on this picture to enlarge so you can see the excellent detail.

Seeing these chocolates did confirm what I begin to think is going to be a problem for me.  If properly in scale a chocolate is going to be something like 1/12th of an inch which is bordering on invisible.  Chocolat will take thousands of them to make any impact on the window and shop displays and will simply be a zillion tiny flecks when they are en masse.   I am veering towards making the shop a chocolaterie and a (chocolate cake) patisserie with a few seats for customers to eat a cake or drink a cup of hot chocolate.  This way the number of chocolates required gets reduced.  I really have to master the art of polymer clay next summer, like everything else in this business I have never done any.

So that's pretty much the tour round the show, spending all my pocket money with me.  

I seem to be in all sorts of organisational dilemmas right now which is very bad news for a pedantic control freak.  In this game I am often doing 'stuff' which affects more than one project - taking a trip to California, buying things at a show, writing for a magazine.  I am already having computer filing  traumas trying to put material away tidily.  There is an effect on my Blogs too.  For example, this show visit is written up here because, chronologically, I am working on Bentleys but some of the things I want to share cross over into other projects or just dollhousing generally.  I already have to divide my recording of the actual day between my Clavering Blog (my diary) and the mini Blogs and I am endlessly finding myself having to leave stuff out of Clavering because it is being written about somewhere else and vice versa.

When I was typing this post for example, I also had Clavering, Chocolat and Starfish Blogs open and have copied and pasted bits and pieces across to them.  I now understand why many mini bloggers just have the one blog and simply record what they are doing chronologically whether it is minis or not.  I decided against that because most folk following the diary would rather stick pins in their eyes than read about minis and mini followers couldn't care less what I was doing last month.  So, for those of you who are looking at all my mini blogs I am sorry there is so much (or too little!!) crossover.  It is the best I can do.   I am open to suggestions.

Goodies by default

If you read my other blogs you will know that I have had to give up on the Hillside project.  This means I have quite a few things which have been bought very particularly for Little Women - such as five little women.  If you want to see the latest stuff, they are in the Minis - All Projects album.  Link is in the right hand column.  There are a couple of things I am certain will find a home in Bentleys (maybe more when I get back and think about it).

Firstly there is the beautiful little throw and dressing table which I have already shown you in Hillside and then there is this exquisite trunk.

The little soft metal tag threaded through the trunk handle shows a price of fifty dollars, which isn't surprising as it is so beautifully made.  The hasps and lock and corners are perfectly in scale.  The decorations are just beautiful and the inside is lined with a removable tray.  Even the tiny hinges have been set in correctly.  I loved it when I saw it and it was described as being a chest by K. Hecrradel, which I googled but didn't find any information on.  The opening price was five dollars.  I placed my bid and won at the starting price, so with another five for postage I had snagged a beauty for just ten dollars.  I wish the person who sold it could take some comfort thinking that it has gone on to someone who loves it so much and will treasure it.

Bit dainty for the chaps?

I have been fussing around with finding a sofa for the shop that I like and which goes with the rest of the place.  I spotted this on EBay and got it for less than half of what two of them are currently selling for, so well-timed.

It is very dainty and the wicker work is very fine and I am thrilled.  I can't wait to get it home at Christmas and put it in Bentleys.

This is the place to park the chap who would be paying for your purchases back in 1911.

PMP Fair, 14th October, Pinewood Hotel.

On Sunday we went to a dolls house fair in Manchester (Handforth), which was a great location for us as it was only about forty minutes away.  

It was a fairly small fair, but all the stalls were good ones and there was something to look at on each of them.  Admittedly I only spent about an hour there: I am so picky now about what I do and don't want that I am not a good example of how much most people could get out of it.

I bought a handful of things and spent under a tenner in total.  It cost us more in petrol and the £2.80 a cup hotel coffee than I spent at the show.  Incidentally - for future reference - there was free tea and coffee at the fair.  As my other half reminded me - it isn't about balancing the books it is for the pleasure of  'mooching' around little things.  Also, I really like the few things I bought, so I came home a happy bunny.

I even managed to remember to get a business card with each purchase, so I would know what I bought from where.

I thought all these three from Matlock Miniatures were really finely made and fantastic value.  The stools were £1.50 each and the (milk) jug was £1.25.  The jug is already nestled nicely in Bentleys.  It is on my food cupboard's marble top and is covered with a crocheted (beaded) food cover.

The stools could be used in Bentleys but they are being saved for Chocolat or even Starfish.

This was a truly fortuitous find.  There weren't any stalls selling 'construction' stuff.   One or two had a few bits and pieces of trim.  Luckily one stall - Loverseeds - had a few pieces of wood.  

I had started making some boxes for the shop on Saturday and had run out of wood and was hoping I could get some at the fair.  Hey Presto, just what I wanted and at a good price (?).

These two pieces are 1/16th thick, 3''wide x 18''long.  I'll show you the boxes I made from them in my next post.

Another example of my magpie trait is my inability to resist ribbons and fabric.  I easily convince myself they will prove really useful.  We'll see.  

Why bother to wrestle your conscience when they come at these prices.  The ribbons were 3 bags for 50p and the bag of two kinds of fabric and lace and ribbon was £1.25.

These were from Pan Miniatures.

Last, but not least, I bought a really tiny magnifying glass.  They are usually way out of proportion, even allowing for people having large  magnifiers, so I was pleased to see this one for £1.49.

I didn't buy it broken, I managed to do that myself!  Using the micrometer bit of my brain I decided it was just a smidgen bent so I thought I'd just straighten it....  mmm....

Luckily - using a magnifying glass! - I super-glued it back together successfully and I will have a word with the residents of Starfish to treat it gently.

This came from Platts Mini Packages.  If you don't get to any fairs you may not know them.  They have literally thousands of all sorts of packages covering a wide span of history.  Certainly enough choice to go at for stocking a kitchen or a shop.  You can find them on-line.

EBay finds

I thought I would share some of my latest EBay snares with you.  I don't always remember to photograph them or share them.

The first one here shows an unfinished pedestal.  When I have buffed it up it will be used for display, like this, at the foot of the stairs (maybe?).  I actually bought it for one of my plants but the plant is a bit too large and top-heavy to look right on it.  I could make a smaller plant.  Two thoughts on it being at the foot of the stairs - it is seen as soon as you walk into the shop which is good, but it would be a pain for Ellen to have to move it any time she wanted to go upstairs.  It would be silly for her to have to go outside and round to the back to get up there.  The back entrance into the kitchen is really for Daisy and Tradesmen. 

I am pleased with the three dishes for 99p.  I needed an oval dish for the dresser shelf.  I have a paper one in place at the moment waiting for a replacement, so one of these will do nicely and the other two will find a home in this or another project.

The two bags of findings were a single purchase.  I think I am a magpie and just got caught by shiny things because I have no idea what to do with them... but they were a bargain!

My method with EBay is to lob my bid on many 99p starting prices of things I could use.  Sometimes, if there is no other interest, I get lucky.  Then there are occasions when I see something a bit more unusual that I want.  I work out my maximum bid and enter that and then never go back to it.  I either get a - sorry you were outbid note or occasionally it becomes mine.  My general rule is that the object and its postage shouldn't cost me any more than it would to buy from a show/shop.  This doesn't always work as a guide in the case of one-off pieces and I suppose in all honesty the only true guide then is how much I want it and am prepared to pay for it - an auctioneer's dream.

My little gems

Don't forget, you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

These are the little gems I bought from Miniatura yesterday for Bentleys.  There isn't a thing here that wasn't a good deal for one reason or another.

The three wooden kits are from Model Village Miniatures.  You can only get to see these ladies at shows - they don't have any on-line presence but they will give you a catalogue of their stuff and they will make anything you want.  Their prices are excellent.  As you can see every one of these is under three pounds.  It isn't worth buying the wood and bits of hardware needed, not to mention the trouble of cutting them out accurately when someone has done all this for you for that price.  They do sell made up pieces, not just kits.  They are in excellent scale and finely made.

The thirty shelf fillers for the kitchen (I think) came from Shepherd Miniatures.  They are little bargain bags of six items in a bag for a pound.  They do wonderfully for stacking on shelves with your better stuff in front of them.

There are two fenders for the salon and workroom fireplaces and a spark screen for the salon to prevent any mishaps with customers' clothes.  I also bought a hod of coal for the bedroom I think.

The handbag and gloves are beautifully made and are real leather and I got both for four pounds fifty.  Another trader was selling the hats and parasols and dresses etc at such silly prices I couldn't resist.  The hat and matching parasol and hat stand was about three pounds and she even split those away from a dress they were made to go with as I didn't want the dress!  The parasols were one pound seventy-five each.  The detail on the little pink reticule is astonishing and again only a few pennies for this.  She really is underselling her hard work and materials.

The plain white dishes were difficult to find.  Plain white is as rare as hen's teeth.  Indeed these were the only ones in the entire show and the plates came from one trader and the cups and saucers from another.  There's some little glass dishes for desserts and a bonny little pot for storing sugar.  These usually come at a high price but  think I paid about three pounds for this one.

The rest of the things are self-explanatory, I'll leave you to enjoy them.

Practical Stuff

Here's the 'boring' practical stuff I bought at Miniatura yesterday for Bentleys.

The big black object on the right is a magnifying glass on a stand with a few LED lights.  I hope it helps when I am doing fiddly little things like trying to thread chain onto jump rings!  It came from S & M Tools.  This is a really great seller if you are looking for anything in the way of tools for your hobby.  The best prices I have seen anywhere.  I also got the double ended 'dental' pick from them for just a pound.

The paper is some instructions for making green plants from masking tape - that should make interesting reading when I come to do it.  I want a couple of parlour palms or something large for the corner of the Salon and sitting room and they are very expensive to buy.  This came from The Miniature Garden Centre. This lady does flower making kits of every kind. The other thing she has which are just beautiful are many, many plants pots.  Whatever you want I am sure she will have it and, even better, you will be able to buy it mossy and aged if you like.

In the fabrics line I got some lace, some silk for curtains probably, some Hessian because I thought I might have a go at making baskets with it and some furniture foam.  There are five nice thin pieces of foam in this (black) pack.

Under the stuff on the left is a piece of mirror card.  It is lovely quality but I am a bit concerned about it being so thick - will I be able to cut it neatly and will it sit properly in the projects I want it for?

Last but not least I bought the next instalment of gravel for the roof.  I have two bags already which I discovered will only cover a postage stamp - well about five by five inches.  They cost me about four pounds off EBay after I'd paid the postage.  These lovely little bags were only fifty pence each.  I have two regrets here and I could kick myself about both of them as I still have only about a quarter of what I need to cover the roof of Bentleys.  Firstly, it was my last purchase and I had literally run out of cash;  I had one pound twenty-five left when I bought these so I could only get two.  I met my husband just outside the hall to go home and he said go back in and get some more (he'd give me some cash) and I was just too tired at four o'clock to bother.  The second and really silly thing is I don't know who I bought it from - aarrggh!

Finished the handbags

I finished the Valerie Claire handbags on Saturday.  

I put a very small pencil sharpener in the photo to give you some idea of scale.  The bags look excellent in real life.  The little odd gold bit doesn't show very well here.  It is a teeny finding that you can use a 'tiara' sort of element for someone's hair or maybe for a wedding veil.  I just added a crystal when I was doing the ones on the bags.  It will find a place for it in the shop somewhere.

I bought a few more Valerie Claire bits at Miniatura yesterday.  How do you resist?

Last three craft packs

 I have finished my other three Craftpack company's kits and here they are.

The little blouse is really sweet and not too difficult to do if you turn off your dressmaking brain.  I spent ages trying to set the sleeves in the armholes properly as if I was making a real garment.  The blouse is actually cut out and constructed very much like the real thing but you have add in 1/12th skills and forget what you do in 1/1 dressmaking.  This is all about gluing and draping to make it look as realistic as possible.  I shall return to it when I decide where it is going and do some more pushing and poking to get it to lie realistically either over or in the box.

 I promise you that the long white gloves look better in real life than they do here.  I would like to have added some buttons at the wrist but I don't have any very, very teeny no-whole white beads.  I might see if I can snare some at the NEC for a few pennies to finish them off.

 Sorry this is a bit out of focus - I tried to get in too close, obviously.  It is a nice small piece of shelf dressing that will come in handy somewhere.

I thought I would show you my 1/12th suede gloves against a navy suede glove of my own to give you an idea of the scale.  Pretty impressive, hey?

....... such fun.

Busy, busy, busy

Just so you don't think I have given up I thought I'd share today's delivery from The Craft pack Company with you.  Remember if you click on a picture it will enlarge it.  If you want a better look you'd have to do that this time as this photo isn't in a web album.

As you can probably see there are six little kits to make shop displays - all for twenty-seven pounds including postage.  I decided it was actually cheaper to do it this way.  I wanted to make a glove display for the window and needed six different coloured leathers/fabrics just for the gloves.  Some of the leathers were six pounds each, so just doing that display would have cost the price of all these displays.  

Another example is the little blouse.  I would have to buy more fabric and lace than I need; even the buttons and buckle (plus postage) are expensive and you end up with more than you want again.  It seems to make much more sense to buy from someone who makes lovely little kits and has split up all the quantities in just the right amounts ready for you to use.

I have made a start on the displays in the two shop rooms and the shop windows and will post some musings and pictures when I have got a little further along with it.  Meanwhile the sun shines and the garden calls.  Maybe tomorrow.......

York Dolls House and Miniatures Fair - 10th June 2012

I had a great time at York yesterday.  I went to this show last year pretty much as a newbie and it lasted me all day.  Having got a few shows under my belt and therefore being familiar with most of the stall holders who do the rounds it is much more like a shopping trip rather than a kid in a sweet shop.

I was very good and bought the essentials I had gone for from my usual suppliers - Jennifer's of Walsall and J & A Supplies.  I also got two fireplaces from Hearth and Home, so that's everything I need to get on with the build...... or so I thought.  Today I discovered that six of my newels for the staircases are not the same at the other two.  Sadly it is the two which are correct and the six which I don't like.  I am a bit cross about it because I was there at 9.30am for the pre-show early-bird let-in, so there were no crowds and he was newly set up and I picked all eight from the same section on his stall.  Lesson learned - don't assume a stall holder has their stock neatly sorted.  It would cost me more to send them back to get them replaced than it would to hide them in a drawer, so they don't annoy me, and go out and buy some replacements locally.

The other minor hold up is fuelled by desire!  I got the two fireplaces I needed, as I said, but I saw a lovely Art Nouveau one on the Sussex Crafts stall which I hankered after.  It comes in at nearly twice the price of the ones I bought.  As of this morning I have succumbed and have decided to order it.  I won't have a fireplace too many because I was debating whether to have one in the Salon or not.  Seems like there will be one there after all.

All that was done in an hour and I dumped the shopping on my husband/chauffeur who stuffed it in the car for me so I could wander round unencumbered for a mooch.  He then went off for a walk in the sunshine (!) and being a pudding magnet he managed to discover a Sicilian restaurant with 22 flavours of ice cream (his favourite food) so everyone was happy.

I spent the next couple of hours trying to decide what little item to treat myself to.  This turned out to be eight more purchases.  

I got a nicely detailed music stand and an unusual little stack of drawers (a sewing cabinet) from someone who was new to me.  I forgot to register her name.  It might have been Alison Davies.  I wish I'd looked properly.  I will certainly try and find her again at future shows as she had some great things and at very good prices.


I also replaced my hunchback midget kitchen dresser with a finished piece from the same lady.  To explain about its predecessor; when I thought I was going to use the Honeychurch I was collecting small pieces of furniture because the rooms were so tiny and I bought an unfinished dresser for the kitchen.  Weeks later when I stood it against a wall I saw that it had a curved back and it looked dreadful.  Small and hunch-backed. Strike two! I had a bit of a look round for a replacement but even the unfinished (nice looking) ones were coming in around ten pounds plus, so I was comfortable with paying £15 for this nicely done one.  I like the drawer handles and the cup hooks.

I fell completely in love with Artforge - check out his site for the most beautiful pieces of work.  Simon is a goldsmith and creates minutely detailed pieces in bronze and silver.  I treated myself to a little letter rack (under a fiver) to remind myself of his lovely work, none of which I will ever be able to buy or have the sort of house to warrant such expensive pieces.  They are really serious collectors' items and museum pieces.  Yet another thing this hobby brings me - the chance to see such works of art... and yes, it is art... it transcends even the best craft work by a mile.

If you want to see my ten (sorry nine! I lost one) ten pence bargains from the charity stall, the put it together yourself single-bust mannequin, bucket and carpet beater, go and have a look at my web album - Bentleys Purchases.

We left at 12.30 and drove over to Beningborough Hall (NT) for lunch and a sunny stroll.  I don't recommend any of the shows for their food if you can avoid it.  

Thrilled to bits

I am so thrilled with these two (well four actually) rugs I had to share them with you.

When I did Wentworth I had a nightmare trying to find suitable rugs.  They needed to be the right period, go with the rest of the décor, look realistic and not cost an arm and a leg.  This was a pretty tall order and I wasted a good deal of money buying ones I hated and then had to to try sell on; and we all know how that works out!  I even bought one which was quite pricey and I chose to send it back.  The seller was fine about it but it cost me two lots of postage and no result.

The only rugs I ever bought and liked were from a seller on E-Bay.  They are in the bathroom of the Wentworth.  I remembered her when I started to think about the rugs for this project.  I had bought a Brodnax (sp?) one for the Salon which I am lukewarm about.  The fabric is OK but the print is dark and vague.  I started to hunt up other Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, William Morris rugs with no success.  As usual if I found one it didn't fit  the criteria I mentioned earlier.  As I said none of them compared favourably to the two little bathroom ones I'd had from Sylvia-Rose (EBay name).  I sent her a message to say if I found decent images could she print a couple for me to size.  Instantly she replied it would be fine and a seven by nine inch would cost £6.99.  How brilliant is that.  I banged off six photos and said which two I would like.  Within two days they were here and they are lovely.  As always my photographs do not do them full justice.  The colours are so much better in reality.  The fabric is a felty stuff but has a very fine surface finish - just enough fuzz to give it a good rug texture.  They are a perfect thickness and have a sort of weight about them in situ.  They sit properly on the floor - looking just right.  Further down the line when I have money and time to be 'collecting' things rather than 'doing' the project I will be back to her for more lovely rugs made to order.  

You can find her on EBay through Sylvia-Rose rugs and she can be contacted via mb_trading_@hotmail.com.  She also does wall-hangings and cushions.

[Incidentally the small rugs are no-charge bonus rugs which she sent me because 'there was room left on the fabric']

New toy

I keep meaning to show you my new (ish) toy.  It is an 80 piece rotary tool set I bought in the States for $10.  Seriously.  I haven't a clue what to do with any of the bits and bobs in it and the book isn't a great help.  I've trawled the web for Dremel/Rotary tool kit information but I haven't come up with a comprehensive - this tool does this - type article/video.  Meanwhile for ten dollars what the heck I'll get some use out of it.  The first planned job is drilling holes through the ceilings for the lights.  This shop kit has grooves pre-cut but they haven't put a hole through.  I presume this is so you can decide precisely where you'd like your light.  That, of course, leaves people like me making a thousand decisions and none of them actually being carried out.  I dithered about with a few bits of furniture before gluing the floors in place but still couldn't come to any conclusions.  I hope this toy is the answer.  I can actually get the thing vertically in the space available after the build and make a hole when I know what I want.....  if I ever do know what I want.  I have actually bought two lights for the attic rooms and now think they look too big in situ.  I have to come to a decision about those pretty soon as they will need grooves in the roof and they definitely need doing before the roof is stuck down and the tiles go on!  Tomorrow is another day...........

Paint and Pudsey

The build has overrun the house again.  So much for my workroom.  I am far too worried about having MDF in the shed so I decided to play safe and do the construction in the house.  This means the kitchen is under siege again and the sitting room takes the post painting recuperation pieces.  Both these pictures only show part of the areas which are infected with Bentley's.

As you can see I primed the large carcass pieces front and back with a thin rollered coat of B & Q's Value range emulsion.  Fingers crossed this was the way to go.

I started with the piece top left of the photo. You might be able to see how patchy this is.  I was using a brush so I could leave an edge all round (worrying about gluing it together).  Absolutely hopeless.  It is thin and patchy and all over the place and I still couldn't work out where I should leave an edge; so I gleefully gave up, whipped out my lovely soup ladle(!) and proceeded to use a small roller.  It was all done in under an hour.  This was Thursday.





Saturday we went to Pudsey.

It is about an hour's drive from where we live so a good one to go to in that it is the first I can do when we get back and it is near to home.  It was a particularly useful one for me too.  I ordered a stack of stuff from Jennifer's of Walsall for pick up.  We also arranged to meet the purchaser of Le Tout Paris and hand it on.  It was actually sad to see the little sweetie go but we really do NOT have room for three houses.  We are currently trying to work out what to do with two.

I think Pudsey is a good enough show.  Not everything can be on the scale of Miniatura and their ilk and there is enough there to keep me occupied from 10.30am until 2.00 pm (with half an hour for lunch). 

I managed to get everything on my shopping list such as floors, wallpaper, trims and other  practical stuff so that I can crack on with the build.  I did pick up a few bits and pieces that weren't exactly essential but were nice and at the right price.  The trouble with any show is that it increases my discontent with my champagne taste and beer pocket.  People like Sally Meekins (pottery) and Danny Shotton (knives and tools and more) who not only make exactly to scale with precisely the right thickness materials but also create beautiful pieces in themselves.  They would be very special collectors pieces in 1:1 world.  If you don't know their work - check it out.

As an example Danny Shotton's companion set was £34.50 and to die for.... my little companion set was £4.50.  I rest my case.  I bought a decanter and two glasses for sherry (to go on the sideboard).  I don't want to go to the trouble and expense of buying the magic water stuff and colouring to go in the decanter so it will contain actual sherry.  Not sure how that will work out(?)  Again a real sherry decanter and sherry size glasses cost an arm and a leg.  My Ellen is making do with stuff as she isn't especially interested in making a lovely home above a shop.  She is beginning to think about all kinds of future ambitions such as her own fashion house, not just the shop and perhaps a house/proper home of her own.

Back to reality and on Sunday I went paint shopping for the colours. 

Before this I had to denib all the sides ready for their second coat.  Easy peasy and very satisfying  I did the second coat of white on the ceilings before going out for the paint and was feeling very pleased with myself.  Did you like 'denib'?  I even get to learn new words doing this.  If you don't already know it just means use fine sandpaper to rub off the bits which get raised by the paint.

As for the trip to Homebase... What a nightmare!  I had already chosen a whole raft of Farrow and Ball colours which were just perfect but I could only get their sample pots in Estate Emulsion which is a 2% sheen - a flat a matt as can be - it is sort of chalky looking.  This is great for interior walls as it nicely replicates tinted distemper, but makes it useless for other things.  The sample pots are £4  each and then I would have to buy a silk acrylic varnish and a gloss one to change their finish.  I ended up compromising where I could and bought some Farrow and Ball sample pots and a couple of other makes.  


I painted the front pieces with a mortar colour to go under the versi brick slips.  These have come up fine.  I am thinking about putting splodges of other colours on here and there to dirty up the mortar so it isn't just one shade coming through between the bricks.  My real house is only about six years old and none of the mortar on that is one uniform colour.

These are the quoins!  I mixed one teaspoon sand with four teaspoons of paint to give it a rough stone finish.  I got my sand from a dollar shop in the States from the flower arranging section.  It is very fine white stuff.

I am truly unhappy about the quoins.  As you can see there are four strips; these go down the front of the building.  I can't find any images of buildings with this sort of finish.  I searched and searched through Georgian and Victorian neo-Georgian and there's nothing  like it anywhere.  I never intended to use them even when I first chose the kit BUT on close inspection of the construction I don't think I can avoid it.  Firstly if they are left out, the lining up of various other elements becomes difficult.  Worse there is a visible gap, four of them actually, where they run through the bay window 'roofs'.  Leaving them out would mean remaking a couple of difficult pieces which I know I can't do.  The third problem seems even more intractable; one of them acts as an overlap to conceal the join where the two front pieces meet.  I think it might look strange without this trim.  Hey ho, so much for reality and accurate historical research.

I also did the first coat of paint on the sides and back of the carcass using a roller and smooth masonry paint.  It was an appallingly patchy finish. This paint is a tad more gloopy than normal emulsion but it had been commended to me for the job (via a magazine article) as ideal.  I lived in hope of a better finish by using a brush for the second coat.  Another caution if you are considering this paint - it has a pungent smell and you could do with some open windows in the room where you are using it.  The other reason for buying it was that it seemed to be the ONLY paint which came anywhere near to brick red - strangely enough it is called Brick Red!  I had got a pretty good match to my (future) bricks from - you guessed it - Farrow and Ball in a £20 size can.  This Homebase sample pot cost £2.59 and I still have about a third left, so it seemed like a no-brainer.

And so to Monday.....

These are the three brick red pieces with their second brushed coat.  They are certainly a long way from perfect but probably tolerable after all they are the sliced through brick sides of a terrace.  I hope so any way.

 Mmmmmm.... now I am really worried about painting the rooms inside when the house is built.  Obviously I can only use a brush in there and these are the sort of results I look as though I am producing.  Doesn't matter on the under-the-slates roof paint shown here, but clearly it will look awful on the shop wall and the landing walls.

I am pinning my hopes on the fact I did these with a brush that's about forty years old (!!!) and couldn't be described as great .  Maybe if I buy a good quality small fine hair brush I can get a better finish. I am also thinking I might let the paint down a little and do two thin coats.  Any opinions welcome.

As someone who has never done any decorating in real life, never mind one twelfth, I am in virgin territory here and not doing at all well.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be starting the gluing it all together nightmare.  Wish me luck.