Filling Up The Little Shelves

I very nearly ditched a 1/24th,  not very exciting, glass-fronted set of shelving that I'd painted up a long time ago - couldn't decide if it should be an armoire or a bookcase.  Neither really appealed, but I dithered and shoved it in a box...as you do.

When I was working on the last 1/12th dresser I realised I probably had enough tiny pieces to actually make something of the discarded shelving after all instead of leaving it in a box and dither some more.

I'm sure you can spot more of Elisabeth Causeret's wonderful pottery and the little aqua painted kettle at the bottom is the exquisite work of Vicky Fasken.  I was happy with the little glass plate at the top which I painted with 'roses'.
Back in the day I'd hoard old watch glasses which are the perfect size and I enjoyed painting them, so it was fun to do that again.
Lots of different beads - so versatile for miniaturists - and some of my own polymer clay teapots, together with hoarded 'odds'n sods' soon filled the shelves and made something out of not very much.

Last Saturday I visited The Thame Fair, now in its 13th year and under new ownership. After 11 years behind one of the trader's stand it makes a change to be able to browse and treat myself.  I bought a gorgeous orchid from Jan Southerton (The Flower Lady) and met up with chums, but have to admit to being disappointed that there were far fewer of the finest artisan miniaturists that we had expected, and had seen in previous years. What a shame.

I'll take a photo of Jan's orchid for the next blog but meanwhile 'exotic' Kohleria is blooming its socks off in the conservatory.  This is another of those wonderful plants that are pretty boring until they burst into fabulous flower.  I love it.

Thanks for looking
Robin

The Surprising World of Plants

I know from comments on my own blog and catching up with many of yours, that I'm not alone in being mad on plants!
It struck me when I was making miniature versions, that plants really can surprise us - often in the beauty of an individual flower that appears from the most modest or mundane looking bunch of leaves, or the weirdest floral offering imaginable.


I took a look at my own conservatory....far too wet to be poking about outside at the moment......and realised that my first surprising plant was in flower. Billbergia Nutans (or its offspring) has been in our family for so long that we call it 'Bill'.  'Bill' is a bromeliad and for about 11 1/2 months of the years a pretty boring clump of spikey green leaves that thankfully thrives on neglect. But once a year it bursts into mad and exhuberant flower - striped in navy blue, pink and bright green with long anthas that shed bright pollen everywhere.

And along comes the snapdragon.  As far as I was concerned snapdragons were a favourite cottage garden plant that grew just about anywhere and boasted a huge variety of colours.  Then years ago a friend gave me seeds of a climbing snapdragon.
It is the same family but is more accurately a Maurandia. She can out-climb just about anything and is currently doing her best to choke the Strelitzia (2nd and 3rd flowers now out and two more to come) and take over the conservatory.  Not frost hardy I shall have to disentagle her take her outside with her support for the summer.
By then big fat seed capsules will have sprayed seeds everywhere and there will be lots of seedlings nestling in other pots. Some will be planted outside to climb away for the summer.

This somewhat ordinary pot of fern seedlings is surprising because when I repotted several orchids last autumn some of the old and decomposing bark towards the bottom of the translucent plant pots appeared to be growing juvenile ferns. Very odd, especially as I'd assumed the commercial orchid compost - i.e. the bark - was sterilised.  Anyway, long story short, I potted up some bits of the bark and they're growing away very happily.  They look like native ferns to me so hopefully can be moved to the garden in the spring.

If you've been popping in for a few weeks you'll have see my miniature greenhouse - the structure of which was made by my very clever husband using a brass and glass terrarium purchased back in the day from a charity shop as pattern/inspiration. I was going to give it to a charity shop, but hesitated - I am a hoarder!!

I knew that even a small plant in there would soon outstrip its confines but an airplant might not. I last had one as a teenager and finally covered in dust my mother consigned it to the bin.  I suppose I never realised then that the poor thing did at least need a little water now and again.
Anyway a visit to a local garden centre having a sale provided, for next to nothing, just what I needed. And of course I have bits old wood and fungus (all sterilised) lurking about so I had just the bits to mount it on.  Apart from the fact that it is really difficult to photograph because the backing is a mirror - it works brilliantly.

And finally....yes this is a shadow.

I was given a super Christmas present of orchids and promised to send a picture as they flowered. Took the photo as the light was fading and my husband spotted this fabulous shadow on the wall............a little bird ( I like to think it's a robin) appears to be sitting in the branches. Magic.

However, perhaps the most surprising plants of all are the incredible  miniatures that our finest artisans create using nothing more than paper, polymer clay and wires. I am in awe of you all.

Thanks for looking
Robin

A Brand New Workshop - With The Emphasis on Vintage!

A couple of years ago Celia Thomas and I closed the doors on our final workshop after a number of very happy and successful years.....finally I opted for a 'graceful' retirement.  But I'm delighted to be able to tell you all that under her own KT Miniatures banner she's going it alone and has just announced her first workshop. Fantastic news!

As many of you know, as well as being an immensely talented maker of items that have that much loved vintage look, she is also a highly respected expert in vintage and antique dollshouses and miniatures and very experienced in the restoration of both.  It is this very popular vintage emphasis that will be the unique focus of her workshops and I'm sure will have wide appeal as she shares her knowledge and tricks of the trade using very ordinary and readily available materials.

Numbers at each workshop will be limited so if you might be interested don't delay as I know bookings are already being made. It's a great venue, and I know it will be a friendly and productive day, working at your own pace whether you are a novice or more experienced.


THE EARLY 1900s GERMAN STYLE KITCHEN WORKSHOP
Celia is offering two options of workshop kits...

Option 1 : Early 1900s German Style Kitchen Workshop -   Main Room Box With Furniture & Accessories Kit @ £105.00
Are you an antique and vintage dolls house collector who has been wanting an antique German kitchen but unable to find one at an affordable price? Well, at this workshop for just a fraction of the cost of a genuine antique one, you can make your own. Or are you a miniaturist seeking a workshop where you can create a miniature room setting that is just that little bit different? If so, then this first workshop option that contains the kitchen room box plus the furniture & accessories kit, may be perfect for you.

Option 2: Early 1900s German Style Kitchen Workshop - Furniture & Accessories Kit Only (No Main Room Box) @ £89.00
Are you an antique and vintage dolls house collector with an empty dolls house kitchen that needs furnishing? Or are you are a miniaturist who has run out of room for any more large projects and would prefer to just make the furniture and accessories for your own display or project. If the answer is yes, then this second workshop option may be ideal for you.

There are two dates, either Saturday April 21st or Saturday May 19th and the workshop is being held in the Conference Room at Bicester Avenue Garden Centre just off junction 9 of the M40.

If you hop over to her blog - ktminiatures.blogspot.co.uk you'll see lots more details and pictures too.

It's so exciting to watching a project develop from beginning to end.....think I'll have to pop along and hand out the paint and glue just so that I can see....

Thanks for looking
Robin

Getting Back to Miniatures

So without too much enthusiasm I thought I might as well slap a few layers of paint on the basic 1/12th scale white-wood dresser, dig about in my boxes of treasures and concentrate on vintage/antique pieces where I could. It was better than tackling the pile of ironing ......

And what do you know....I was enjoying myself.  Before the second layer of paint was on the dresser I was rooting around and rediscovering pieces that had been displayed 'temporarily' elsewhere or actually acquired because I'd imagined them on an old dark and distressed shelf one day. Top of the list was this lovely vintage but damaged clock and the elderly wooden plate from my friend Celia at KT Miniatures, and the old gent and his wife which I painted decades ago, a perfect miniature reproduction of the china pair that sat on my Granny's mantlepiece.

There is a sprinkling of Elisabeth Causeret, and the full size Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Staffordshire) on the top shelf were once in the family home.  Victoria Fasken's glorious blue bowl picks up the colour from the 'plate' behind - actually a vintage enamelled brooch. Some items have been with me for a time like the Staffordshires and the stoneware jars at the bottom, and sadly although I can't recall all the makers' name I will always appreciate their artistry.  On that very bottom shelf an old handmade pewter pendant, made by an aunt, doubles as a tray and the wonderful set of pans was made for me by a lovely craftsman many, many years ago after he retired as an engineer on the Great Western Railway.

 

If I have a favourite item it's probably the 1900s bentwood Scandinavian style storage box, (that, and the clock started me off) purchased at an antique's fair, I've never seen anything quite like it  before.

Now all I have to do is find a home for the dresser...... I think the perfect place is next to one I finished last year and the late C19th dresser which contains a wonderful selection of antique glass.  I expect it was played with by the girls in the (1920s) photo alongside and probably originally belonged to their mother and aunts......

.......and fill in the gaps on other displays where I have taken pieces for the vintage dresser. Oh, and I've found a 1/24th scale set of glass-fronted shelves........that had already been painted.....

Thanks for looking
Robin

A New Year.....thinking of what comes next.

I don't know about you, but I don't do New Year Resolutions....far too depressing when they're broken almost immediately.  I have a kind of  'might do' list and a 'really should do' list....I'll just see how that goes then....

I would like to wish each and everyone of you a very Happy 2018 and hope all your 'might do' and 'should do' lists come to pass.

 Our Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) burst into flower in time for the New Year and I'm really thrilled that there are five more buds coming along. Believe it or not it is around thirty years old, grown from a seed by my lovely Mum - until the autumn it was one of a pair, but our conservatory isn't made of elastic so that has gone to a new home.  I hope they have five buds too.


Looking around I'm reminded how many of my plants, or their offspring came from her and friends. Nice!


Top of my list after Christmas is MARMALADE.  This is an ancient family ritual originally vested in my Mum and before her, no doubt, her Mum. Now of course it is my turn and Granny's Marmalade needs to be made in sufficient quantity to supply family and special friends (and us) with a few jars 'in case'. Off and on it lasts about a week, the house smells lovely and I have an annual meltdown about having enough jars ......and I pop a few Seville oranges in the freezer in case we run out later in the year.

 So now I'm revisiting my 'might do' miniature list and looking at a 1/12th basic whitewood dresser I've had for ages and thinking it would make a nice old dark 'vintage' piece to display some of my vintage/antique odds and bits. Like all collectors I have lots of treasures squirrelled away and not a lot of room to display them.  Then again when I see Elisabeth Causeret's stand I just can't resist...Still thinking - I'll let you know.

Thanks for looking
Robin

Happy Christmas

In wishing you  a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I hope that the next year will bring you all the things that you wish for yourselves and those you love.

Many of us will be thinking of those who are no longer with us, so there's always a moment or two of reflection I guess.

It is also time for a huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to pop in to my blog over the last year, and the kind and encouraging comments. I've loved reading all your blogs, even if I don't always leave a comment, and really think it's a very special blogging community that encourages, inspires and values each and every one .  Thank you.

Thank you for looking.
Robin xx

Let it snow...let it snow....let it snow...

It snowed overnight so today it looks like a proper winter!!  I don't have to leave my snug home or travel on our snowbound roads so I can enjoy the beautiful transformation  - lucky me.

Somehow a winter without a decent snowfall leaves me feeling somewhat cheated so I'm very happy to see it.  I totally appreciate that if you are living in North America, for instance, where three or four inches is a mere trifle and you manage easily with feet of snow on a regular basis and nothing stops working, you may be having a chuckle....

Our sons grew up at the foot of the Wiltshire Downs and the hills and valleys were their winter playground, along with all their friends.  Of course the biggest bonus was when the school bus couldn't make it down into the village, sometimes for days, and they had an extended winter holiday. At the foot of the hill, our house was always full of steaming wet gloves and boots, hot chocolate and toast and a back yard full of assorted sledges.  Happy days.

Indoctrinated by their fathers from an early age, the grandchildren are equally excited by any chance of playing in the snow. A very large (over 6ft) grandson bounded through the door this morning asking 'Have you taken photos yet Granny?' ( how well he knows me).....before racing through the virgin snow in our back garden to make snow angels.  He did also kindly dig out my poor owl that had toppled into a 'drift'.

Kholeria

Chirita

In the conservatory a couple of my favourite plants are blooming beautifully - a Chirita and a Kholeria both distant relatives of African Violets and very easy to grow.

Thanks for looking
Robin

The Little Greenhouse Is Finished

Now that all the plants have been shoehorned in and fixed down I can call the little greenhouse complete.

I had intended to permanently fix the structure to the back wall - I've changed my mind on that idea so that it can easily be removed to see the detail of the plants on the shelves.  I've just got to sort out the fixing, but at least for now a couple of pieces of velcro at the apex of the roof work just fine.

Click on the pics. for bigger versions.

It was a bit of a problem squeezing in the main plants and a few pots etc. so that it looked 'lived in'. Not much room to waggle as my aunt would say......

Finally I got some in from the front, and some in from the back.

Anyway, they're in.

This is just a reminder of the back wall - then everything in place.

Finished. It's approx. 9" high, 6" wide and 4" deep.

Thank you for looking
Robin

The Strelitzia...and finally filling the shelves...

Challenging and fun are the two words that spring to mind regarding my plantathon for the tiny greenhouse.
The Strelizia - the fabulous Bird of Paradise plant has been to say the least, challenging!!

 Herewith the Bird of Paradise, which is in its third incarnation and been repainted twice, cut down and dragged out of its very lovely but too small pot and another crafted out of card to accommodate it! The huge and very upright plant has rather glaucous leaves and I promise the actual miniature has rather better colour than the photograph suggests.....weirdly, apart from the central vein the others are prominant  on the front of the leaves not the back as with most plants.
I was backwards and forward studying the real one until I nearly drove myself mad!
Together with the cheese plant, it and a few others will stand in the main body of the greenhouse if I can fit them in - soon.

I spent many, many happy days crafting the variety of smaller plants for the three shelves on the back wall and I'm quite pleased with the crowded result and not worried that they're not perfect.  There are a few which probably don't feature in any plant catalogue - call it artist's licence!

In the end there are only a couple that I haven't made from scratch: the lovely pink cyclamen is a kit from The Miniature Garden Centre and the super pink geranium is by The Flower Lady. The tumbling ivies took my entire stock of natural 'leaf' scatter which was all dyed then varnished when in position, and where I did use a paper punch I only had a choice of two, so a lot of pieces were hand cut or 'created' from bits of natural material. Some of the leaves are scanned and scaled down from real ones and the Iron Cross Begonia was a useful printie find that I played about with.

Pots are cheapies, my own recipe air dry clay and odds and sods:there's an antique brass perfume bottle lid, a small brass cartridge as well as a toggle from a someone's sweat shirt and an old bead.

Yes, I admit I do still work in a muddle!

I've really appreciated the encouraging comments so hope you'll enjoy installment.  Next step is to get the plants in position on the floor in front of the wall......hmmm!

Thanks for looking
Robin

Working on New Plants for the Greenhouse

It's been a real struggle this week to concentrate on basic housekeeping jobs - who wants to iron and hoover when there are miniature plants just crying out to be created?? In an effort to find exactly the right piece of saved dried plant material, I was forced to empty and thus reorganise a BIG cupboard.....so I did actually move out, move on and dump some bits and pieces and felt quite smug.

The rather weird seed heads pictured came from a flowering plant I grew a few years  in the garden - the trouble is I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Does anyone out there recognise it? It wouldn't have been anything rare or exotic.
I've kept three or four because they fascinated me and finally found a use for one as a rather interesting mossy support for the Cheese Plant I've just made for the greenhouse.  I need a couple of large plants in the place to balance the heavily planted shelves on the back wall.

I had to rely on memory and Internet images for the cheese plant, but fortunately I have a Clivia, just flowering, so I could study that before embarking on what I hope is a passable miniature. The tiny buds are dried plant material but the flowers and leaves - as in most of my plants- are paper.

I've been working on enough different plants to fill three shelves on the back wall and apart from some titivating I'm almost there. 'Titivating'!! I love that word - reminds me of my elderly aunts titivating their summer hats with new ribbons.
My second large plant, a Strelitzia, is proving to be VERY challenging, despite the fact that I have one three feet away from me I study every day!

More next time, hopefully.
Thanks for looking
Robin