Nostalgia In The Kitchen...with Cake!

Wearing my Nostalgia in Miniature hat....let me tell you about last Sunday afternoon. I could say it was all about a lovely squashy jam and cream sponge cake, but really it was about a re-arranged and very mini-workshop in Celia's kitchen!!

As many of you will know, my partner in crime in Nostalgia in Miniature, Celia Thomas, had a less than wonderful summer getting herself fixed by our NHS so we had to rearrange planned workshops.  We have lovely participants who have been with us since the first one, so when it was clear that two ladies just couldn't make the rearranged date for The Little Vintage Hall - The Other Room workshop we wanted to come up with a solution. Our solution was a workshop for two in Celia's kitchen and what a super time we had.

Here's the cake that Jenny brought.....well, what was left at the end!

Don't they look serious as they're concentrating on their room boxes...this coming Sunday, with the full complement of particpants, will be just as much fun and produce some terrific projects I'm sure.  I'm afraid it will be back to coffee and biscuits though!  We'll bring you pictures from that one soon.

Coming up - very exciting and lots of fun - is our workshop on November 24th, an all day workshop here in Thame with a bit of a Christmassy flavour - When Father Papered The Parlour....The Week Before Christmas. It's inspired by the old Edwardian music hall song and promises to be another very different and fun workshop with a completely original room box at the end of the day.

The prototypes in both 1/12th and 1/24th scale, feature hand-printed wall paper, a wonderful fireplace with a tiled hearth, based on an original tile - not to mention all the things Father needs to paper his parlour and the decorations and cards Mother is desperate to put up.

If you are tempted to give yourself an early Christmas present and would like to come, we can accomodate
another 4 but do go to our website for all the details and a downloadable booking form.

And finally - I really feel a fanfare is in order, because Celia has created a brilliant little video of this project, with the song too! This and more pictures are on our Blog - please do visit.
Thanks for looking.
Robin

Squirrels And Other Distractions....

Every now and again a few pleasant distractions go a long way.......

It was almost the last of my favourite car boot sales of the season before winter rains really set in .......
I fell in love with this late Victorian Carlton ware tea pot stand. It has a badly damaged corner but was cheap as chips and I love the Oriental Poppy design.

Three years ago at vast expense I bought a miniature water lily for my tiny new garden pond - actually it's so tiny it's more of an elegant puddle, but boasts plants, wiggley water bugs, frogs and toads and I love it!!
Three years I've been waiting for this exquisite flower!!! Despite the rain ever since it opened I keep going to just look. Magic!!

And here's the squirrel.  He (or maybe she) is a Bournemouth squirrel - one of many who gave us loads of pleasure last week as we watched them happily burying nuts under the trees, and five minutes later, having
chased about a bit, promptly dug them up. Must be a new new game!!
Had planned a paddle in the sea...... but it rained.

And after the distractions, still working in a muddle..... I really don't do 'pretty' as you know but an old friend twisted my arm, so just for her, a 1/24th scale  bride and groom. I think she was hoping for Princess Catherine,  Duchess of Cambridge - Oh well, never mind!
I'm not quite sure how the bartender fits into the scene but all three are on their way to U.S.A.

Still hoping it might stop raining soon....thanks for looking.
Robin

Grandparents In 1/16th Scale For A Change

In the last couple of weeks I've been sculpting in 1/12th, 1/16th and 1/24th scale....very confusing and not to be recommended as a rule!

Some of you who read my blog know that I'm somewhat behind when it comes to commissions.....and I'm truly sorry...real life has been a bit full-on lately. This is why I've been mixing my scales, something I try and avoid when I'm sculpting characters. On the whole the little people have been O.K. I think, although somehow I seem to have two left hands in 1/12th scale and three right hands in 1/16th scale sitting in a box on the workbench! I've just started on 1/24th scale so shall be extra careful with the hands.

Vintage dolls houses are quite different in scale to the modern ones and usually need 1/16th scale dolls to inhabit them, which is where I come in - not everyone can find, or likes the appropriate vintage dolls.
Grandpa doesn't really have two wives, I promise, it just happened that two lovely ladies had spotted a Granny in 1/12th scale on my website and both asked for a similar doll in 1/16th scale. I hope you can see that although they are similar, because they are individually sculpted without the use of a mold, the faces aren't exactly the same. Grandpa is sitting on a cotton reel in an attempt to show scale - he's about 4 1/4 inches tall and the ladies are a little shorter.

I was given some lovely lilies and thought they looked brilliant in this whacky glove vase, alongside two of my favourite things which live on our revolving Edwardian bookcase. Bit of a mistake....I've never actually used the vase as a vase and it leaked and I didn't notice for days until I came to take this photo!
I now have to restore the top of my lovely bookcase so I'm not a happy bunny.
Incidentally if you're looking for a miniature version of the bookcase you can find it on our website.

Hoping it might stop raining soon....thanks for looking.
Robin