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Bentleys for Sale

Well, I've done it.  Bentleys is up for Sale on (UK) EBay as of today.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dolls-House-Shop-/321182623121?pt=UK_Dolls_House_Miniatures&hash=item4ac7f9e591

Farewell to Bentleys

I have just made a new album for Bentleys called Finished Project.

Have a look if you want to see how the rooms turned out.  There are a few things still needed such as blinds and drapes (!) which are a pretty big omission and then fiddly things like the odd painting or mirror.  Also I never did do the left hand window dressing - mea culpa.

It is no use trying to convince myself I will return to it and finish it off.  Once I have moved on to the next thing (currently Chocolat) the previous project is defunct for me.  Bentleys will actually be sold next summer to make way for the 2015 project - Starfish Cottage.  My RL house only has room for two houses at a time and Chocolat will have moved into Bentleys place when Starfish Cottage is wheeled in.  It happened this way with Wentworth Court and I find I am content to let them go.

It has been a process of discovering that I really love making an idea concrete and then I have no interest in continuing to collect things for it or 'playing' with the building.  I build a frozen moment in time and when that's pretty much there I seem to be done with it.  So, Bentleys will probably be partially stripped of its contents even before I leave this year as I can see one or two things that will move on to Chocolat.  Stupid buying two of something? 

It was the second dolls house I have done and I loved it all.  The research was fascinating and I discovered so many things I would have thought I couldn't do along the way.  No farewell is easy but many of them have to be done whether we like it or not.

Knitting! sort of

No, you must not laugh... this is my first attempt at 1/12th knitting.... and probably my last.

The big holes are not dropped stitches they are created by (accidentally) knitting below the stitch.  As it is nigh on impossible see the thing, that is hardly surprising.  I was working with size 19 needles and a single embroidery thread!

I began working with what was described as a beginner's garter stitch shawl pattern - full of PSSO and YON and M1... not that any of the knitting codes phase me as I am a fairly skilled knitsmith, BUT they have to be joking as far as this stuff goes for a beginner.  I had ten attempts as I wasn't going to be beaten and then... I was beaten.  

I scrapped that and did a basic cast on, enough to look wide enough, and proceeded to knit one row and on the next row decrease one stitch at each end of the row.  I repeated these two rows until I ran out of stitches. Now that's what I call a shawl for a beginner. By guess and by God it made a small shoulder shawl of sorts.  Right scale for its size and a good scale for the fabric texture.  

I might come back to it and put a fringe on.  It will probably be OK for what I want it for, which is to hang on a hook on the back of the kitchen door as daisy's shawl for nipping back and forth to next door (home). It will only be a bit of screwed up something or other, looking vaguely like a shawl.









Just so you feel sorry for me and see how I suffer for my art, this is what my poor finger looked like by the time I had finished.  Those nasty thin number 19 needles are lethally pointy.

Pictures in Minis - Benetleys - Made by me

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.

Dolls House and Miniature Scene... and me!

Now the Wentworth series has finished I thought I might let you know when the stuff I have written/am writing will appear in Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine.  None of these dates are cast in stone of course.  If you click on any names mentioned it should take you to more information.

I hope this list is useful in case there is one particular one you are interested in and you don't already subscribe to the magazine.  You can buy a single copy direct from DH&MS if you don't have a dolls house shop/bookstore to order from.  

That said, here comes some bald promotion for the magazine on my part:  I spoke to a couple of people at the Orlando show who are totally in love with the iPad version.  It means you get to carry loads of magazines around for quick reference (or a slow read) and are able to really zoom in on the details you want to look at.  It does mean you miss out on any freebies which get included with the magazine now and then, but you can still print out any free printies or patterns so you don't lose out on those.  Obviously you can also have a download to your computer and there's no postage to pay which is great for my American chums.

Smallsea Museum, Carmel

California Dreamin'

May (?) issue 
on sale o/a 21 March

Minuette Dollhouse Miniatures

Sarasota Show Review

May issue 
on sale o/a 21 March 

Quarter scale kitchen by Grandgirl Miniatures

Orlando Show Review

June issue 
on sale o/a 18 April

Quarter Source

The Quarter Source  
(Karen Benson)

August issue 
on sale o/a 20 June

Pick your own from Clara's Cuties

Clara's Cuties 
(Clara Lauderdale)

September issue 
on sale 25 July

JMG Engraving LLC

JMG Engraving LLC  
(Jon Gower)

October issue 
on sale 22 August

I cannot believe I don't have a single photo of John's work.  I know I couldn't get near his table during the show - there was such a level of interest in his stuff.  I have stolen this from his website.  Thank you Jon.  I think it is quarter scale.

Oen's Refuge

The Enchanted Woodland Faery Dollhouse Company  
(Melissa Chaple)


November issue 
on sale o/a 19 September

Chocolat

(under discussion) 
maybe good to start it in Lent 2014?  

All I have to do is actually build it and dress it during the summer at home.

Not the world's most exciting picture.... if only you could see the ones that reside in my head.

Under construction

Jeremy Paul Precision Replicas
(Jeremy Paul)

December 2013
on sale o/a 24 October

French Salon (Quarter scale)

Petworth Miniatures 
(Gayle Baillargeon)

February 2014 
on sale 19 December

I have a zillion more ideas bubbling under.............


[The o/a dates shown here are because I am not sure of them.  If it doesn't have o/a it means that Lucie gave me the on sale date, so I know those are correct]

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).