Sharing a love of Dolls House Miniatures - and making time for other creative crafts and the garden.

Monday, March 19, 2018

So I Got That Wrong!

Well the wintry weather hadn't finished with us and the snow came back - again we were luckier than many and only had a very pretty but not too deep fall.  The sun came out brilliantly, not only melting the snow but showing up dust and cobwebs indoors.  Time to get dusting......

One of the blackbirds that visits regularly was a little put out to find his food under a chilly blanket.


The day before the snow came down I popped out to pick a selection of helebore flowers - we have so many and as it's a deliciously promiscuous plant,  seedlings pop up everywhere and the flowers all vary just a bit. I love them, but if I pick them on the stem they always droop so I find this the best way to show them off. If anyone knows how to stop the droop in a vase, I'd love to know.


I've been displaying my little things on these type-setting trays for decades, long before I got hooked on miniatures. Back in the day....I learned to typeset when I worked in publishing, so they are quite special as well as fabulous display cases and I have several.  As I said, the sun shone and highlighted the dust, so I got out my soft old paintbrush and set to work before I dared take out the camera.
Click on the pics. to get bigger versions.


This one is in a narrow hallway so I had to perch on the stairs and squeeze the camera through the banisters to photograph it in its entirety.  On the top is an ancient little pottery cat, an old Corgie AA van, a couple of vintage pencil sharpeners and a rather nice antique enamelled match box cover - the hanging cord doesn't show as a rule thankfully.

I thought I'd give you a closer look at some of my little 'treasures'.  As you can see they aren't all true miniatures. I love buttons and small toys, old brooches and badges and the bits and pieces that remind me of special places or people. Then of course there's the 'quirky' that's just fun.

Nothing here is very ancient, except the tiny wooden toys and those gorgeous buttons - the poppy is my favourite.

The butterfly and dragonfly are old brooches, the buttons are miltary, except the black Civil Defence one and the stylish ones from 1930s. I have friends who can knit....and have collected Victoria Fasken's exquisite painted ware (bottom right) for many years.

Lots more vintage buttons, some reminders of happy years living in Cornwall and a very early attempt at making paper tulips in a rather lovely vase which is probably Elisabeth Causeret.  I love my little angel that cost me 50p and a teeny weeny picture of two of my sons. The red kite flying above the agate slab is an RSPB badge  - these wonderful birds fly over our garden every day and we never get tired of watching them.



Thanks for looking
Robin

4 comments:

Ilona said...

Hi Robin! Your type-setting trays are well filled with all kind of miniature treasures and miniatures, they are wonderful and being also precious memories for you, you have to cherish them. But....I would love to see you doing your morning gym, all because you wanted to reach with your photocamera the correct angle for taking a suitable picture hehehe ;O! I must say that your old paintbrush did excellent work, I couldn't see one trace of dust ;).

Regarding your hellebore question, I googled a bit on the internet and found a Dutch blog from a woman who wrote this in one of her post. She found a book written by Margery Fish in 1956. I quote:
"Margery (1892-1969) was an English gardener who started gardening only at the age of 45. She wrote a book, quite informative.
In my garden, if it is not freezing, are blooming beautiful black and white Helleborus orientalis. But when I put them in a vase, the stalks hang limply over the edge in no time. In her book I read the solution to this problem. Margery: "The secret is that you have to cut open the stems up to the first leaves. Then they will last a long time ".
I picked one stem to see if that was true and I cut the stem open with a knife. Then I put the flower in a vase and the miracle happened. The Helleborus was doing great and even the buttons open."
I don't know if it's helpful, but you never know ;)!
Stay warm, hugs, Ilona

Robin said...

Thanks Illona, you're treasure. Trust me you wouldn't want to see the gymnastics, but glad you're liking the collections.
I'm off to cut a hellebore to try and I'll let you know.
Margery Fish was a wonderful and influential gardener.
Rx

Ilona said...

You're welcome, Robin, and.....did it work?? Now I'm curious too ;)!
I was not known with Margery Fish, so again: I've self learned something new by an attempt in answering your question ;).
Have a nice evening. Hug, Ilona

Robin said...

Yay!! 24 hours later and so far, no sign of a droop!
Rx