A Not Particularly Christmassy Christmas Post!

Hello there. Sorry I haven't posted anything in ages, as usual, life seems to be going at such a fast pace I hardly find time to do anything. I had hoped to do a condensed Christmas Countdown this year, but even that failed to materialise, and now with barely a week left to go until the BIG DAY 

I felt it would be a shame not to get something on my blog, even if it wasn't particularly Christmassy!

Back in September, I went on a short break away to Yorkshire, staying at a castle gate house just outside the city of York. I would love to show you some photos of the inside of Fairfax House, a georgian house set up with period rooms, but photos were not allowed inside, which is understandable, but is also a pity as they are well worth seeing!

I did, however, get some good photos from the York Castle Museum, just a stone's throw away from Fairfax House. The museum has various room settings, a Victorian street scene and household appliances through the ages. The photo above is a typical Victorian parlour of a middle-class family, there is also another shot of the room with its fireplace below.

It's the sort of room Scrooge's nephew might have had in A Christmas Carol. (shoehorning in a little bit of Christmas there!!) Victorians loved to fill there homes with clutter and bold, fussy patterns. 

This is an example of a more working-class family cottage, more likely in the country than in a city. It looks fairly cosy, but would probably have been little more than one room for a whole family to live in.

Here is the other view of this room.

A view of a 17th century room. Lots of dark carved oak and panelling was typical of interiors during the 17th century, though things did change during the latter part of the century, as you might well see in some planned new posts in the New Year!

Here is a view out onto the Victorian street scene below.

A mid-18th century parlour. 

Do you see the dolls' house in this room?

Here's another view which I hope shows the dolls' house a little better.

Oh! must have posted this picture out of sequence! we've gone back a century here! The 17th century room again!

A 1930's living room set up for a birthday party

It's the sort of look I was trying to get in the parlour at the Swan Inn, though this is more typical of a suburban semi. Notice the TV? This family must have been fairly well off. TVs were quite a novelty in the 1930's, with limited amounts of programming available

a 1930's kitchen.

Again, this would have been fairly middle-class, with all the latest labour-saving appliances, the electric iron was plugged into the lightbulb fitting!

Some older ways to cook food! An open fire with a clock work turn spit, and chimney cranes to hold the pans, and griddle.

This fire is much smaller and comes with a bread oven, hot coals would be put inside the bread oven, then when the oven was hot enough, all the coals would be raked out before the bread was cooked. 

This 1980's kitchen is very similar to the one I remember from the house I grew up in. It does seem strange to see this in a museum!! (makes me feel old!!)

Wash day! All that would be needed, though it took all day to do!!

early carpet sweepers and pump vacuum cleaners.

An early fridge. This would have been a very expensive luxury when it was new!

A victorian range cooker.

a Victorian pantry.

A Victorian carpenter's shop from the city street scene, a large part of the job was making coffins!

A shop on the Victorian street scene. 

Seems to be selling all manor of household goods.

The street urchin's view!! ;o)

Dolls' house furniture for sale inside the toy shop. Looks like we managed to avoid the Christmas rush!

some other 21st century time travelers, anyone seen the Tardis?

the Grocer's shop window. York was home to several famous confectionary and chocolate makers, including Rowntree's and Terry's

A candle maker's work shop, I think they were known as chandlers.

The home of a poor family living in the city.

Some of the other city residents or should that be rodents?!!

York Castle Museum is filled with wonderful things and well worth a visit, particularly if you have an interest in social history or are doing some research on particular periods of domestic life. 

So, not perhaps a particularly Christmassy post, as I said, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I do hope to catch up with my comments soon, but I have been keeping an eye on all your blogs and enjoying them.

What HAVE I been up to?

 OK! it is now officially the end of summer! British Summer Time has ended, and we are back to long, cold, dark evenings. The last time I wrote anything on this blog was way back in August! If you were to ask me what I have been up to during that post and this, I am not sure I would be able to give a reasonable explanation! I've been away on a little holiday at the end of September, and been to visit a few friends and family in that time, but miniatures have been put a little on the back burner.
I think, in part, it's because I wasn't able to go the the Miniatura show in September, and won't be able to go the Kensington Christmas Show at the end of November either; it has sort of blunted my enthusiasm a little.  Not that I have been entirely inactive on the miniature front...

In my last post I mentioned some miniature projects that needed to be done before I moved on to other things. I have done a few of these, some not worth noting on the blog, but I have made some plants to go outside the pub, a project that has been waiting for a long time.  I decided that some lavender would look good either side of the porch entrance to the pub.

I took some simple things I had in my miniature stash, including some modelers grit, which was left over from my Miniature Garden Centre Wisteria kit. 

I cut some florist wire into short lengths, and some green 'tinsel' I bought last Christmas from Kristin Baybar's shop (though have seen it available elsewhere since), which was also cut into short lengths.

I then used the same principle to make lavender flower heads as were used on the wisteria kit, only kept a lot smaller (I think mine are actually a little too big to be accurate 1-12th scale, but don't think it really matters too much). this was done by dipping the wire into a drop of Tacky Glue then coating the glue covered tips of the wire into modelers grit.

I then had to think about the colour! English lavender tends to look a bit grey, both the foliage and the flowers, however, a visit to the garden centre showed that there were several varieties of lavender, some with greener foliage and purple flowers, and that is what I opted for. I painted the flowers with two shades of lilac paint, first a light colour all over, then a darker one which I just dabbed on, and was quite pleased with the results.

I filled a flower tub with some Das air drying clay then arranged the flower stems, trying to make them look like they were growing 'naturally'. Then I pushed in the green foliage, again bending and shaping it to look like it was growing 'naturally'.

The final touch, still needing to be done is to add some 'soil' to the top of the Das clay. I bought some modeling material from the miniature garden centre, which is brown and passes for soil, but it occurred to me afterwards that the contents of a cheap tea bag might do the trick just as well!

Here is a view with both tubs finished (except for the 'soil') sitting outside of The Swan, and which seem to work very well with the wisteria, which gave me the idea of making lavender in the first place!

A closer view of one of the finished tubs.

and here are the two, either side of the porch.

I've also started to make a sign for The Swan, to hand on the metal bracket I purchased a long time ago. This meant painting two sides of a piece of wood with two painting more or less identical. No easy task for me!! I drew what I wanted first of all to give me an outline to follow, I decided it would be easier to paint directly onto a piece of wood.

I then used oil paints, thinned with turpentine spirit, to create a swan swimming on the water. I am no great artist and found working in a small scale even harder, but was fairy happy with the result of the first swan. The second swan is now finished, and is not quite the same as the first one, but looks reasonably OK (sorry I don't have a picture of it). I know the bull rushes are not very good, but will mostly be hidden by the frame that will be used to surround each picture before the sign is finally hung in place outside The Swan Inn.

I will do my best to catch up with all your recent blog posts, but it takes ages for them to download onto my vintage Mac these days, which is partly why I have been so neglectful. I do hope you will forgive me!! 

A Spark of Inspiration! A Sweet Surprise and Some New Minifigures

I feel that I have been rather neglectful of my miniatures and my blog this year. A major project at work and redecoration at home have taken some of my spare time, but I really don't think there has been enough progress on the miniature front. Now that autumn will soon be spreading its russet mantel across the country, I feel it's time to settle down and crack on with things.

I have not done much at all to the 1:24th scale house project I started late last year, it's still in pieces and unpainted MDF! Truth is, I haven't felt very inspired by it, though I do intend to finish it, I just haven't had a passion to get on with it!

The pub still lacks a swinging sign and I need to make some plants for the front too. Of course the dreaded curtains have still to be done in the Georgian House too, though this should be much easier to do thanks to John of Merriman Park, who has given me his Pretty Pleater.

So, there's plenty to be getting on with. But wait!! What is this? A spark of inspiration? 

Yes! whilst rummaging in my local Oxfam I found a little soft toy, a dressed frog, or rather toad. Mr Toad, no less!!! And where does Mr Toad live?

Toad Hall!!!!

So, when I have got on with a few jobs I need to do, I will have a go at making my new friend a miniature Toad Hall. EH Shepard illustrated one of the Wind in The Willows books (the smaller of the two in the top photograph) there is a small illustration of Toad Hall, looking like a rambling old ancestral home. I want to recreate something akin to this, but pared down to capture the essence without taking up too much space. I'm thinking of a Great Hall, Minstrel's gallery, huge fire place, armour, ancestral portraits, a smaller parlour with a masculine edge, a bedroom and some other rooms, a jacobean staircase and much more besides. 

I have plenty of bits of furniture which have been removed from the Georgian House over the past few years, which I can put to use in Toad Hall (this includes, for those sharp eyed readers, the large chair that was in His Lordships bedroom!!)

I also happen to have some other pieces that were earmarked for a secret project I was going to do in January.  

You can see that it didn't get very far! I was going to create a gothic style room box for David as a surprise gift, and bought a few things to use in the project. 

However, in passing one day, David mentioned that he wasn't keen on room boxes, so the project got shelved without him even knowing about it! It had wondered what to do with the pieces I had bought already, but realised that they would be perfect for an Edwardian period home, so these miniatures will also find a place in Toad Hall!

Without getting too carried away, I have started collecting ideas that I might be able to use and recreate in miniature; there are postcards, books, cards and so on, I have even begun looking for miniature frog ornaments which might come in useful in the project!!!

I will let you know more when I have some more idea of the final look I want. I will also keep you updated in other little things that I have been doing on my other dolls houses.

And now for the Sweet Surprise in the title of this post. Yesterday, after an extremely long day at work, I arrived home to find a parcel waiting for me on the dining room table. I looked at it and wondered what it was, who had sent it? 'It's from Ilona', said David. How did he know? and how did Ilona get my address? I opened the package and read the pretty card that was enclosed; David and Ilona had been talking it seemed!! Inside the package were some beautiful miniature peonies, so delicate and wonderfully detailed! 

They looked perfect in the vases I had on the dressing table of the Georgian bedroom, I had to split the flowers between the two vases as the vase necks were so narrow that wouldn't fit into just one, but I think they look better in both vases anyway!

Thank you Ilona, for a beautiful gift and a wonderful surprise, yet again, I am amazed at the kindness shown by my Blogland friends!! 

I also received some miniature perfume bottles, which Jenny from The Swan Inn insisted on having!!

Whilst out shopping today I found these new Lego Minifigures. I knew that they were being launched soon, but thought it wasn't until September! Being a huge Lego Head, I spent quite a while squeezing the packets to try and find all the figures I liked best, though the box was almost empty!

You can see that I still managed to get quite a few!! My favourite is this traditional British Bobby (I'm a sucker for a man in uniform!! if only they still looked like this!!) complete with truncheon! 

I also love the Gingerbread Man and the Christmas Elf (who will go nicely with the Father Christmas Minifigure I get last year). I never collect the full set of each series of Minifigures, I prefer to just try and find the ones I like most. I've done quite well with this set already, but there are still one or two I would like, so I will be back to squeeze and poke the little packets again very soon! LOL!

The Artist of Oz

Last week a very special parcel arrived from the other side of the world (two in fact, but that is a whole other story!). Inside the parcel, carefully packed, were a host of heavenly gifts from Australia, sent by the angelic Fi apassionforminatures.blogspot.com 

David has already posted about his special little gift from Fi on his own blog. I also received a lovely painting in miniature. A picturesque landscape full of amazing detail. in a delightful golden frame!

Once I had had time to take in the detail of the painting, and imagine all the hard work that went into it, I had to find somewhere special to hang it! Fi suggested that it was not quite right for an eighteenth century home, and might look good in the pub, but I was certain that it would look perfect in the Georgian house. I tried it in various rooms, resting on a chair, for want of an easel! 

But the painting wasn't the only thing Fi had made for me! There was also this perfect pineapple, sent with a collection of other pineapple related gifts for the Big Pineapple. The miniature pineapple, or Little Pineapple, has been placed in the hall in a grand comport to welcome guests to the Georgian House. 

And I also felt that the landscape painting looked perfect in the hall as well, where everyone who came to the house would see it!

Here is another shot of the two gifts together, the pineapple does look a bit lonely in its great big stand doesn't it!!

In putting Fi's lovely landscape in the hall, I was left with a stray Stubbs horse (always a problem!!). However, I soon found a new home for it in His Lordship's attic bedroom; it also meant I was able to replace the dull old painting that was there originally!

His Lordship seems quite fond of race horses and paintings of them, there is also a horsey painting above his dressing table. I'm not too sure about the chair in this room; a recent addition. It looked OK in the shop, but seems massive in this tiny room. I'm also not entirely happy with the colour of the wood. Still, it was a bargain, the shop was selling off its remaining Bespaq stock, and there were one or two other things I snapped up.

So, I would like to thank Fi for her lovely thoughtful gifts and show her that they have settled into their new home very well! Over the past couple of years I have been sent some amazing gifts and prizes from generous people all over the world, and I would like to take this chance to thank them once again, I have been touched by the kindness and generosity of my friends in Blogland!

xxxx Andy xxxx

Back from the Real World!!

Hello everyone!! Sorry to have been so quiet for so many weeks, but I have been flat out with things to do in the real world that the miniatures and blog land have taken a back seat. One of my tasks has been to redecorate my bedroom, which took a lot longer than I thought it would, but is now (almost) complete!! 

Above is a photo of the rather scruffy piece of furniture I purchased recently for ebay. The picture really does it too much justice!! It was in a real state when we got it home (the top of the chest of drawers fell of as we were carrying it!!). However, there was something about its size, shape and nice cabriole legs that appealed to me - it had potential!!

So, after days of sanding and cleaning it up, priming and painting it, giving it some new handles and installing it in my bedroom, it now looks quite unlike its old self and is quite at home now. My own version of shabby chic, without too much shabby!!

And here is the chest of drawers in its new home!!

I also need to say an overdue thank you to some of my blogging friends. Irene from Small and Stately

sent me a wonderful miniature spurtle, use for stirring porridge, along with its life-sized counterpart, when I won here blog give-away recently. She also sent me some Edinburgh Rock, which brought back some wonderful memories of my Scots grandparents. I have gobbled all the rock up now, hence why it doesn't feature in the picture!!

The miniature spurtle has been beautifully made and will be found a very good miniature home. Thank you Irene!

John from Merriman Park also deserves my thanks for very kindly sending me his very own Pretty Pleater!! Yes, Pretty Pleater herself! I will, once I have fully regained my mini-head, get to work with the Pretty Pleater and make some curtains for my dolls house. No excuses anymore!!

There are several other mini projects I am thinking about too!

I promise to try and catch up with all your recent posts, sorry I haven't made many comments recently, I am sure I will be back in full swing very soon. 

Andy xxx

A Few More Miniatures... And Some Sewing!!!!!

OK, so we're not talking the 'Great British Sewing Bee' here, but the very fact I picked up a needle and thread is a minor miracle! I am not a good seamstress, it doesn't come naturally to me at all, The few stitches I had to do for this pelmet were quite a trial, the thread got caught up often, got itself into a tangle I couldn't undo, and was generally a rather ham-fisted affair! The sewing is a practice, I intend to do more, and hope to get better at it too! I have quite a few sewing projects coming up soon. 

Anyway, the pelmet and shelf I built are for the pub kitchen, to go above the window above the sink. 

I bought a few other miniatures whilst at Kensington recently, destined for the pub kitchen. These include a copy of Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book, a copper jug and bottle of Zebo grate polish. 

Mrs Beeton's book was a hugely popular collection of recipes, household tips and social advice. It was first published in 1861. Isabella Beeton was 21 when she began work on the book, and sadly died only a few years later aged 28. The book is still published today. we still have David's mother's copy given as a wedding present in the 1950s!

So, when I saw this miniature copy, complete with illustrations and just about legible recipes, I snapped it up! 

This miniature book is made by Et Cetera and comes complete with a hand written miniature recipe for marmalade tucked inside!!!

Here is the shelf and pelmet in position above the sink. I found a few other items to join the jug and Zebo polish on the shelf, some jars I purchased at a local dolls house show a few months ago. 

And here it is with everything back in place. I think it brings some much needed colour to this room, as the grey is a bit cold looking. It also provides some useful space to display a few of my miniatures too   (the kitchen table was getting far too full up with things!!)

So, what will I be sewing next!!? I wonder! ;o)