Happy New Year

When I went back to see where I was up to with this Blog I was astonished to see that I hadn't mentioned anything about making hats.

Somewhere around the beginning of December I had a go at making some hats for the house.  I don't intend to do a how-to-do-it piece as they turned out to be fairly simple.  Just a case of following the instructions.  My introduction to hat making was a kit I bought from Hazel Dowd.  As usual I recommend a good look around this site for loads of terrific stuff.  If you want to go the independent route and buy your own materials you could try this tutorial from another source. Cynthia Howe.  I know Hazel won't mind my pointing you in this direction as she commends it somewhere on her own site.  That said I would definitely recommend buying Hazel's kits.  You won't save anything by buying the stuff yourself unless you intend to make a huge number of hats.  You are often compelled to buy a yard of something which you might only need a few inches of and you have the task of selecting and mixing and matching the colours of the materials which isn't all that easy.  The methods for both the straw hats and the silk are simple you just need to work carefully and cleanly as usual to get a good finish.  The silk hat in the centre is especially nice, but I was thrilled with all three of them and I can't wait to make some more.  I know I say it every time but my camera work doesn't do them justice.  Until 3D photography comes on line we'll have to make do.

Unfortunately I won't be making anything more now until April.  We went back to the UK for Christmas and I took the opportunity to take a load of my doll's house stuff back home as it pretty much filled one large case.  I don't have any tools and glue (etc.) here now to do anything.

We have some friends staying with us for about six weeks (until the end of January) so I wouldn't be doing much now any way and then we have family visiting us in March which only leaves February clear to indulge my craving for 1/12th and I hope I can get a grip on that for a month.

None of this stopped me buying hat straw and ribbons and trims and a couple of feathers at the show I've just been to.  We decided to do an overnighter in Sarasota where I could go to a Molly Cromwell Dolls House Show.  It was OK and there was enough to keep me going for a morning.  I managed to spend $100 on a handful of things so I'm not quite sure how I managed that.  I hope to make sense of it when I get the chance to get them out and photograph them for my records and tot up the bills.  To be fair to me there was nothing there in the way of flooring and trims etc which is where I should be putting my money right now, so I couldn't be good and spend on necessary stuff if I'd wanted to.  I just bought a handful of things which appealed to me at the time.  I may have made a mistake with a bird cage and a hat stand.  I'll know better when I get them in place in the building when I get back home.  

What I am compiling which is already proving useful is a little photo album of stuff I've bought - so much easier than a list.  You know the sort of dollar shop flimsy plastic boasting book type thing.  As I am recording what I buy for this blog and other things it is easy to just print off a copy and slip it in the book so when I am at a show and think do I have a????....or I wonder what my ??..... looks like, I can check quite quickly.  Light to carry and easy to use.  so, when I get a chance to get the latest stuff out for its studio portrait I will share that with you.  Meanwhile if you want to see the pages of my shopping album so far just click the link. Shopping Album Photos