Fiction and Song Inspire Two New Characters

Recently I was commissioned to make two very special ladies in 1/24th scale! One is a fictional lady from books and the other inspired, and is remembered, in a well-known song. 
Meet 'Miss Clare' and Molly Malone...............I loved creating both.

Dora Saint wrote a whole series of evocative books about a fictional rural village, its school, community and general 'goings on'.  'Miss Clare' is the much loved retired school teacher - who when I was making her -  brought back memories of Miss Tibbetts my first teacher. She looked very much like this - and gave us all a love of reading, starting with the Beacon Readers and Old Lob's Farm!

'Miss Clare' now belongs to Shirley Edgar who was a pioneer of the 1/24th scale in this country, so I know she has a lovely home.  In fact Shirley has been kind enough to share her photographs of  'Miss Clare' welcoming us to her beautiful cottage and giving us a wave from the garden bench.  Many thanks Shirley.

Molly Malone probably needs no introduction as she's the tragic Dublin girl in the song which is also known as 'Cockles and Mussels'.  I wasn't sure until I Googled whether she was 'real' or not - she is and there's a wonderful statue commemorating her in the city.

Celia and I are enjoying working on the prototype finishing touches for 'DOWN THE LITTLE OLD HERB GARDEN PATH WORKSHOP' which is on 27th September at Bicester Avenue Garden Centre - Just Off Junction 9 of M40. As usual my workspace is a muddle.....

But there are muddles..... and then there are productive muddles....

If you'd like to come along and enjoy a really friendly, fun and productive miniature day creating your own unique little herb garden just go to our NOSTALGIA IN MINIATURE WORKSHOPS website for all the details and pictures of past workshops - STILL A FEW PLACES.

Celia  (who is KT Miniatures when wearing her other hat) and I have worked on many projects together over the years and the WW1 project for Dolls House and Miniature Scene Magazine is  our latest 'in print' - so the workshops are a natural combining of our complementary but different skills and talents which we're happy to share with others who want to create something entirely original at their own pace.

Thank you for looking
Robin

Everything Changes....and Moves On

'Nothing stays the same...'. We hear this all the time and of course it's true. This year we've been reminded of a number of important commemorations - WW1 and D-Day for instance - but there are lots smaller local markers of time moving on.

Out and about last week I took this photo of a beautiful windmill that's being restored.  I've been waiting for ages until the sails were on and I could get a picture of it with the towers of Didcot Power Station in the background.  The first tower is to be demolished soon and it's always been part of my local landscape  - just seems like an interesting juxtaposition.

It's not really on a hill - I was perching precariously on a grass verge

This telephone box (and the post box) in a place I know very well, do kind of flag up the fact that everyone now has a telephone....and all the visitors to the pretty village feeding the ducks on the pond, have a mobile phone in their pocket.

Out of the shed, where it's been languishing for a few years, came this old typesetting tray.  Back in the dark ages when I first started work in publishing I took a Pre-tech Printing Course and learnt the rudiments of typesetting by hand - absolutely fascinating - so I love these trays.  Actually lino-type (told you it was the dark ages*) was still in use and filmsetting was the NEW thing! A new fangled computer filled a vast room!

Anyway this will be used to display miniatures when I've cleaned it up...which won't be a quick job.

Thank you for looking.
Robin
P.S * mid 1960s

Little People Full of Character

More tiny 1/48th scale people have reached their new homes so I can now show you my pictures of the last ones.
As it's Wimbledon and I really love watching the tennis on T.V., I had a cunning plan to work on my miniatures while watching.......not all cunning plans are successful....


You might guess that 'working' while watching hasn't worked so I've rushed about like a demented hen before lunchtime when play begins trying to get miniatures, shopping, gardening etc. done so that I can catch some of the matches.

It's a good job Wimbledon wasn't on when I was trying to create these tiny characters......

The weather has been lovely so it's been a joy to get out into the garden really early in the mornings for some essential cutting back and weeding - mostly dragging out yards and yards of cleavers and bindweed - and I cut a huge bunch of flowers and leaves to bring indoors this morning. As you know by now I can't resist squeezing a few plants into my blog.......

I was given a super present of this wooden hanger for terracotta pots earlier in the year.  It's a really simple design, so effective and stunning now the pots are brimful of lobelia and violas and looks fantastic hung up on our old shed.

Just a few weeks ago I bought a couple of Spider Lily (Hymenocallis) bulbs half price at a Garden Centre and shoved them into a pot more in hope than expectation.  I've tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to grow these before so imagine my surprise and delight when one burst into flower a day or two ago. It looks amazing next to the Bergamot, also in a pot, waiting for the 'right' spot in the garden to emerge from the undergrowth.

Thank you for looking.
Robin