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

Absolutely NOT Miniatures......

Like I said...Thame Fair..absolutely lovely, but need time off to recover....


Iris reticulata

So.... for those of you who know me well, it'll be no surprise that I've grabbed two or three days in the garden between the rainy days this week. If you have no interest in gardening.... it's O.K .....you can skip all this and I'll get back to miniatures very soon, I promise!!


I. Kathleen Hodgkins

It's VERY soggy, but there's loads to be done - today I reduced a large hazel by about half ! Weilding hefty loppers or pruning and bushman saws is very therapeutic!! The lawn is full of hazel branches, but I shall use a lot of the twiggy stuff for staking plants and bring the catkins indoors to look spring-like in a vase with some forsythia.

The spring flowers are almost the best of the year I think, because they are the very first....the helebores are beginning to open, each one subtley different - quietly looking downwards so I have to scrabble about and lift their faces to see them properly. The early spring dwarf iris are the most striking;Iris reticulata, and I. Kathleen Hodgkins, which is my favourite.


Viburnum bodnantense

I could go on...but this is supposed to be a 'miniature' blog, so the last pic. is the flower that breaks the winter, on bare twig with wonderful almond scent - Viburnum bodnantense.

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and a tiny diversion...let me take the opportunity to warmly welcome new Followers who have joined us recently.

Thanks for looking.
Robin

Thame Fair...Some Thank-yous

We were looking forward to the Thame Dolls House Fair that was held on Saturday...and it was a lovely, lovely day!

Thanks, first and foremost to Felicity and Ron Holland who organized the fair for the first time - and what a great job they did too! They brought together over forty outstanding artisans from many varied areas of expertise and the smiling faces from 7.30am till after close at 4.00pm, showed how much their effort and hard work was appreciated by the standholders as well as the customers.

Thanks to the lovely customers who flooded through the halls and, especially in such difficult times supported us all, made kind and appreciative comments about our work and went home laden having spent out! We were astonished at how far many had travelled to come to the fair and told us all how highly it is regarded in the miniature world.

The Thame Dolls House Club, Market Town Miniaturists, put on a fabulous display of Seaside Stalls made by the members - as a newish member I confess my contribution was limited to painting a bit of the backdrop - and also raised funds for Breast Cancer Campaign with their now famous, Tombola. The Breast Cancer Campaign Sales Table groaned under the weight of contributions and the Raffle was wonderful. Frankly there isn't enough praise for the team that organized and ran both!!

On a personal note, it was lovely for us to catch up with old friends - both sides of the stand - and be inspired by the fantastic work around us on all sides. We have lots of work to do now to fill our gaps and new orders - 1/24th and 1/48th scales in particular- and we both appreciated the many kind comments.
For those of you who liked the 1/48th scale round Veryan cottage (pictured a blog or two ago).....it's gone down to the west country to a lovely new home...couldn't be nicer!

I did manage to treat myself to some treasures: beautiful snowdrops and primroses from Jan Southerton, windfall apples and blackberries in an 'old' enamel bowl from chum Margaret Cassidy of Mags-nificent Miniatures, a teeny weeny white knitted rabbit by another chum Marlene Cooper of Model Town Miniatures and the miniature version of Memories of Bygone Oxford Shops by Hazel Bleay (a club member) from Dateman Books. I also purchased a wonderful Shoebutton Bear - sadly as a present, not for me......but next time....

I'm going to treat myself to a couple of days in the garden when it stops raining, so the next pictures may well be flowers not miniatures!
Thanks for continuing to read or follow my blog.
Robin

1/48th Scale Update and Some Ponies

If you are reading some of the same blogs as me, you'll know over 40 individuals, are getting ready for The Thame Dolls House and Miniatures Fair on Saturday. Apart from last minute panic, we're looking forward to a super day.

So - I've painted these commercially produced 1/24th scale ponies to within an inch of their lives, trimmed off manes and tails and made them saddles and tack...if you're an expert on saddlery, please don't look too closely!! The lady rider is quite a robust character I think and I've decided the chap is a farmer.



Also in 1/24th scale, another little lady doing her shopping, but more 1940s style. The lovely little basket is by Mouse House Miniatures.



Finally I had to face upholstering the latest offerings from the 'furniture workshop'....another 1/48th challenge....phew!
I've included two pictures here of the 1/48th settee and two easy chairs, the second also shows one of our 1/24th chairs in the same style to give a better sense of scale. They will be on our stand on Saturday.
These haven't yet been included on the 1/48th Illustrated List (in the left hand column), but it has been updated and the new dolls pictured there are some that will also be on the stand.





I still need to finish off a couple of 1/24th rocking horses, then it really is sort out the chaos and start price labelling and packing. If you are visiting the Fair, do come and say hello.
Thanks for looking.
Robin

The Town Crier....and other dolls

I thought I might be forgiven for putting up a picture of my 1/12th Town Crier once again, as I was flattered that it is one of the photographs illustrating the official advertisements for The Thame Dolls House and Miniatures Fair to be held on Saturday 19th February.



It's only a week away now - so it's a busy, busy time for me, all the other standholders and of course Felicity and Ron Holland who are organizing the fair itself. Another person who will be really busy on the day, promoting the fair all over town, and at the Leisure Centre itself, as well drawing the winning raffle tickets, is our lovely Thame Town Crier himself - Anthony Church - who has become a big part of the proceedings over the years and a friend to many of us. You may have guessed that the 1/12th doll is based on Anthony himself.

I said I'd been busy - so these are four of the 1/24th scale characters that will be going to the fair. They're all very different: a rather dishevelled tudor man, a smart little policeman, a cheery old monk with his staff to help him along and bare feet pushed into leather sandals. The final chap is a scot - complete with bagpipes - and there are ladies coming along too in the following days.






For full details of the fair and the great line-up of exhibitors.....visit www.thamedollshousefair.co.uk
Thanks for looking.
Robin

We Go Borrowing....

Apart from the little people, we also make furniture for them...in this case for their 1/24th shop....which needs stocking with goods!



So apart from making the odd cabbage and loaf of bread and a few other 1/24th bits, necessary to accessorise our dolls, I know where to go for something special. For food I generally visit my chum Mags Cassidy of Mags-nificent Miniatures but this little shopkeeper really needed goods to sell, so first stop was another friend, Celia Thomas of KT Miniatures who has launched a new range of fantastic aged grocery goods and packaging in 1/24th scale alonside the 1/12th.
I borrowed some for this photo and I think you'll agree they look brilliant on the shelves and counter from our small range of shop items, although strictly speaking this little lady is rather too modern for the supplies, which are 1930s/40s.
Thanks Celia.




The errand boy is off to the villages with a basket of groceries.



We shall all be at The Thame Dolls House and Miniature Fair - do come and say 'hello' if you visit.
Thanks for looking.
Robin

Looking at Little Cottages......

Living in Cornwall for several years was really inspirational - and apart from the wonderful skies, moors and coast (and the clotted cream ......) - I fell in love with the cottages.

Principally a doll maker, I began to build 1/24th scale cottages, fitting them in between sculpting. It became something of a 'treat' for me as I created and continue to, just three or four each year depending how busy life is.

Veryan is a beautiful village, famous for its five round houses, built in the early nineteenth century by the Trist family of builders, apparently at the instigation of the local vicar, to provide work for the local men in hard-pressed times. They're white painted, all a little different, but each with an impressive Cross on the top of the pointed roof. The story goes that they are round so that the devil has nowhere to hide!

Inspired by these cottages I've just completed a little 1/48th scale one, and hope you'll enjoy seeing it. It will be on our stand at the Thame Dollshouse and Miniature Fair on 19th February.




Detail to show scale




The back of the cottage - with and without the removable roof




You'll see from the following pictures, that I've made other round houses - both are 1/24th scale. The white one is the most 'authentic', with traditional flint-bordered windows - one of the earliest ones and called 'Roundabout'. It was well before my digital camera, so the picture quality isn't great.
The other one, 'Blackberry Bottom' was commissioned for a family of mice, and has a blackberry bush growing around the back. The 1/24th scale houses all have open backs. Another day I'll put up pictures of ones that aren't round.






I must just say a quick 'Welcome' to new followers - sorry that I've not properly visited your blogs yet - and a special one to old friend Dave Williams of Harvington Miniatures, a great miniature painter (amongst other talents) who has just started a new blog - do take a look.

Thanks for looking.
Robin

Some more little 1/48th bits........

This is where I start looking at the calendar....and counting......

It can't have escaped your notice if you've been popping into this blog, that we have a stand at
The Thame Dollshouse and Miniature Fair....in 19 days time!!!
If it has escaped your notice, bear with me - it will be the only thing on my mind until then.



I have just finished these 1/48th scale chests and think they'll make a pretty addition to a bedroom or nursery. I'm most pleased with the little nursery chest painted in blue with the three little rabbits under the tree.....'challenging'. I've used this 'scene' before on the 1/24th furniture featured a blog or three ago - and this time the picture here is more or less actual size.
The trunks are approx. 3/4 inch long and 3/8 wide and high, hinged to open and will be on sale first at The Thame Fair.
Many pieces like these have multiple uses, and of course the flowery ones would make lovely jewellery or work boxes in a larger scaled setting.
There will be more new things shortly - I'll be back when they're ready!

Thanks for looking.
Robin