Saying It with Flowers....

I can see that other bloggers are finding it hard to stay inside and at the workbench in this glorious weather.... .....so like them I drift off into the garden...pull up a few weeds...have a little sit and just admire the wonderful flowers coming out now. I have so enjoyed the superb pictures on other blogs - thank you all.

My camera isn't usually far away and I have had to resist the tempation to fill this Easter-time blog with nothing but lots of photos of glorious flowers and plants.

Fabulous vibrant Oriental Poppy



Beautiful Bluebells - I so wish these were the native Bluebells, but they're the Spanish Bluebells, which lovely as they are, hybridize with the natives in our woodlands...not good. I shall try and pick off all the flowers as they die and before they set seed. A good excuse for picking a huge bunch now and bringing them in for Easter - they have a delicate perfume too.



No, you can see these aren't real!! All this gardening lately, in full size and miniature, inspired me to fill a couple of old stone planters with geraniums. I must do some more - such fun, and a mini-change from doll making.



A cheeky 1/24th scale mechanic did manage to fight his way off the order pad at last and has now headed off to repair a motorbike somewhere in Devon!!

Wishing you all lovely days ahead!
Robin

Another Peep Over the Little Garden Fence.......

For those of you who are followers of this blog, you will have already seen that I am running a workshop for the very first time in partnership with Celia Thomas of KT Miniatures. We only started advertising it 2 weeks ago and have already filled nearly all twenty spaces!

The workshop is taking place on Sunday June 26th here in Thame, Oxfordshire at the Thame Guide HQ. We have just 4 more spaces now currently available (at the time of posting this) so do get in touch asap if you wish to join us for an afternoon of creativity!

Above is a picture of the 1/24th garden...and if I can make the sliding box work...here are some more!

If you sign up for our workshop you will have the opportunity to make this scene in either 1/12th or 1/24th scale. We will be using a combination of natural & synthetic materials along with various techniques/skills to create an overall nostalgic and old fashioned garden.The finished item can be used to butt up against an existing dolls house or stand alone. In fact we are already planning the second workshop project to take place in September (hopefully). This second project will complement the little garden scene and also be used with an existing dolls house or would be able to stand alone..... but more about that another day!

Meanwhile, if you would like further information about how to book for one of the last few remaining spaces, then please click on the following link to see the official page:

http://www.ktminiatures.com/workshop.html

NB. Special notice for any UK dolls house clubs

If your club would like to spend an afternoon in July, making the little garden project from our Over The Little Garden Fence Workshop, then please get in touch with either me or Celia. We would consider running an additional workshop on a Sunday afternoon in July, as long as there are 10 people or more - if your club wished to block book.

Meanwhile - we have noticed that many UK dolls house clubs contact information on the internet as a general rule, is old and no longer applicable. Information doesn't appear to have been updated over a number of years in some cases. So, if someone from any UK dolls house club would like to forward their info to either me Celia, then we will set up a general list with up-to- date dolls house club info at a glance that everyone can share. Often local clubs running exhibitions or small/charity fairs seek to contact the folk within their area as well as makers ...and it is often difficult to keep up with changes.

Thanks for looking - Happy Easter!!

Getting back to the little ones.........

Like everyone else, I'm sure...I've been busy. The garden calls very loudly, especially in this lovely weather - so I've done a bit....and gone back to the work-bench.....



This 1/24th family are a version of 1950s Railway Children......well sort of.....'Dad' works on the railways, and this is a special nostalgic commission.



The children here are also 1/24th scale - but little'uns!



Still in the 1/24th scale - these ladies are just about to stop off for a cuppa, and possibly a scone, before they go shopping........

As you can see, I've been working in the smaller scale for a few weeks (although 1/12th characters are shouting from the sidelines 'make me!!'). For those of you who read my blog and are waiting for 1/48th characters........they're on the list, I promise!

....... but Easter is coming so I've sneaked in a picture of one of the loveliest spring flowers in my garden - The Dogs Tooth Violet.



Have a lovely Easter everyone - and once again - thanks for looking.
Robin

Take a Look Over the Little Garden Fence.....

Today we've managed to get our photographs taken....so here's the little old garden.....

These pictures are of the 1/12th garden that will be created at the workshop Celia and I are running in June. There is the choice to make a 1/24th version , which will be very similar. It should be fun and a opportunity to learn some new skills in friendly company.






We've worked together in the past and it's always a very enjoyable experience and we hope the workshop will be just that too, and that folks go away eager to build on the day and create even more themselves. There are lots more pictures which are on the website, along with all the relevant details for the workshop itself. Places are limited, so if you are tempted please don't leave it too late. The link for pictures and details comes straight after the 'ad'!!



For full details of the workshop and a Booking form click here:

www.ktminiatures.com/workshop.html

Thanks for looking.....
Robin

Over the Little Garden Fence Workshop - A New Joint Venture for COOMBE CRAFTS

Coombe Crafts in Partnership with KTMiniatures


ONLY A LIMITED AMOUNT OF PLACES - BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT

Please click here for more info: http://www.ktminiatures.com/workshop.html

The New Kids on the Blog and Magical Snakes Heads

I seem to be in a children phase - so here they are in both 1/12th and 1/24th scale.



This brother and sister will be joining their grandparents - who were sculpted last year. It's always slightly daunting to work from photographs of real people, and while I don't offer 'portrait' sculpts, the idea is to catch the 'essence' and general characteristics. These dolls are in 1/12th scale.


This little Victorian miss is in 1/24th scale and will eventually be part of an outdoor scene I believe.

Congratulations to Celia Thomas of KT Miniatures who has topped 100 Followers on her blog - she has a fab. giveaway of some her lovely vintage books. Do take a look and while you're there, her website is a trip back in time - pure nostalgia!!

And in my garden (sorry can't resist it) I'm thrilled that the Snakes Head Fritillaries are beginning to naturalise in my wild patch!! They're just coming out and are beautiful. If you're in the south, a very special place around this time of year is North Meadow, Cricklade, Wiltshire, which I think I'm right, has the largest population of wild fritillaries in this country - acres of this magical wild flower in ancient water meadows. I took this photograph there a couple of years ago.



Thank you for looking.
Robin

A Visit to Spring Miniatura

Having been spoiled for choice over which wonderful miniature artisans to visit first on Sunday I thought I'd put up a photograph of..... flowers......



.... my beautiful hellebore flowers float on a terracotta pan of water.....makes a change from a miniature! The pretty little blue flower is the exquisite spring-flowering Hepatica.

This visit is always a treat for me...so I treated myself to a sweet little Shoebutton Bear, and a tiny toy 'Anne of Green Gables' from Sally Reader Miniatures. This was the first time I'd seen Sally Reader's lovely toys and I wanted them all!

As a doll maker I tend to gravitate towards other doll makers - so many super makers to choose from - but I love Julie Campbell's (Bellabelle) dolls so much and she just has even more exciting and beautiful dolls each time I see her. I'm sure she will be a huge hit in Chicago next month.

I so enjoyed catching up with old friends and colleagues at the show, also (almost literally) bumping into some of my lovely customers - leaving Model Village Miniatures with bags of their superb miniature furniture, kits and toys and some Coombe Crafts 1/24th characters that had been spending the weekend on their stand. Their range of furniture and kits gets bigger all the time. While they don't have a website, they can be contacted on 01926 817183 and have a very comprehensive catalogue.

I was delighted to get a guided tour around the beautifully authentic Herdwick Landscape cottages in 1/24th scale - the workmanship and detail is superb - and yes, we share customers too, and I met some more there!
I hear so much about these lovely cottages but have never actually been able to get up close and inside before - now I can picture where so many of my little people 'live'!

To the many brilliant artists and artisans - Thank you!

Robin

Blokes on the Blog!

It seems only fair, having featured the 1/24th ladies on the last blog, to give the blokes an outing.


Well, as you can see I'm still working in a muddle; it was a last minute thought to give the errand boy a basket instead of his usual bike. He's 1/24th scale.



I was so pleased to have an order from my chums at Model Village Miniatures for a group of 1/24th characters to accompany their fabulous furniture and furniture kits at Miniatura this weekend. So, their shop fittings will have a little shopkeeper and a customer to bring them to life and there will be a chap in the pub, not to mention a gardener checking out the gardening range.
Of course they also have a full range of their brilliant, easy-to-make and reasonably priced kits in 1/12th scale as well and I believe there will be some super new things for the kitchens. Last time we met I bought one of their beautiful teeny-weeny knitted white rabbits and there are other gorgeous toys.....and wish I'd bought a lovely comfy, shabby chinz sofa in 1/24th scale.
If you're visiting the show do take a look at their stand which is K6

Mags Cassidy - Mags-nificent Miniatures is well known for her splendid range of authentic, researched period food and her basins of windfall apples and blackberries are becoming legendary .....I've sent along Fag Ash Lil' to make sure her wartime kitchen is cleared up properly and check out the laden tables.
Mags is on H12

Very best wishes to everyone exhibiting this weekend - I look forward to visiting.
Robin



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Here Come the Girls........

Actually, first of all...here comes a dragon!



I was pottering in my garden, camera in hand, and thought my old terracotta dragon who's now about 30 years old with moss growing over his head and a frost-damaged tail, made an interesting picture. He isn't much more than 1/12th scale and was made by a wonderful Oxfordshire studio potter...he lives in this beautifully overgrown miniature garden in a large ceramic bowl.

When I first discovered Fimo *&@~ years ago, I made dragons and mermaids sitting on interesting rocks or in shells - then I moved from tradional Apple-head dolls (which I made in a very questionable 1/12th scale, now I look back), to sculpting my dolls in polymer clay and the mystical creatures were abandoned! I love looking at everyone else's now!

So...here come the (rather old) girls....again in 1/24th scale.

They have got a few chaps to go with them and they'll be along another day.





I'd like to welcome the new Followers - thank you so much for your interest. I try and look at everyone's blogs and do enjoy them all, even if I don't always leave a comment.
Robin

Back to the Workbench.....Sculpting Again

It's probably as well that the rain has come and kept on...and on..and on. The workbench as well as the garden needs attention.

After a massive clear up - so that I could at least see my workspace and find my clay and tools - I'm back to scuplting 1/24th characters as I have quite a list to complete. In the meantime I thought I'd show you three very different pieces that have been made recently.


I quite often make 1/12th gardeners but I found a nice trowel at a fair last year and used these lovely tulips which I've had for ages and were made by a maker (sorry, forgotten just who) in Cornwall. I added a little paint to the petals and muddied up the pot - makes a change from cauliflowers. And...I worked out how to make an oval on my 'puter at last!




I was ridiculously pleased to complete this little 1/24th scale feathered hen and her fluffy chicks scratching about in the grass. I shall add it to my exceedingly short repertoire of feathered and furry creatures - the real experts in this field have nothing to fear! They've now flown the U.K. to live in Europe in one of our 1/24th vegetable gardens.




The 1/24th rocking horse takes both of us to complete - I get to do the 'pretty bits' - as I don't have the first idea about constructing either the wooden horse or the rocking (it does) mechanism. I'm happy with a bit of sandpaper and paint brush, although it is slightly strange to be squirting a horse with hairspray!!



THIS little bird is a tiny Long-tailed Tit that spent the whole afternoon bobbing about in our silver birch just outside the window. Eventually I crept out with the camera and managed to catch a picture of the little thing, all fluffed up against the biting wind - it is so small, with a tail as long as the body. I thought I'd share the magic.

Thanks for looking.
Robin