An addition to the kitchen

As I was placing lots of items in the kitchen I discovered that 'lots' was still not enough, so I had a good hard look to see what a complete kitchen would still need.  First I discovered the dishwashing mop, or rather lack thereof.  I remembered the one my mother used in her time so that was the start.  I happened to discover a workshop on it somewhere on a blog, but unfortunately I wiped my history and cannot remember who's blog it was.  If I remember I will mention it here later.

The hardest part was not drilling the tiny little hole, but trying to thread the 'twine' through which is needed to hang the mop on the hook.  Even my thinnest needle wouldn't go through, but I finally got it done.

Next I needed a little enamel rack to hang enamel spoons on.  You know: a ladle and one with little holes to scoop the foam of the surface of a liquid (don't know the name for it) and a kind of sauce ladle.  Anyway, I was quite happy with my first effort although it was a bit short.  When I tried it against the back wall I was disappointed, because it didn't stand out against the white wall.  No problem, I made another one.  This one shows complete with the set of ladles:

I am quite happy with the results, although the ladles were quite a job to make.  I am not good at cutting round shapes.  The rack was made after a picture I saw on Ebay.  The ladles I created after this workshop: http://minimarilo.punt.nl/?gr=791430  Marie Louise, if you ever read this: thank you for your handy workshop.

And after all that, the rack is now hanging, not on the wall, but on the side of the fireplace!  So I could have used the white one after all, but...  I leave it as it is.

Now I am making a few canisters and after that I will make an old fashioned sand-soap-and-soda rack.  I have made one before, but it resides in another kitchen.  I just have to stop borrowing and will have to make things twice or more if I want them.  Such a rack is also enamel and contains three little cups: one for each sand, soap and soda.  In the olden days used for cleaning and scouring in kitchens.

Now it's time again to welcome my new followers.  More every time I look.  I am humbled and very pleased that my blog seems to attract such interest.  Great! Thank you very much for visiting.

My latest followers are:

Judith at Cherry Croft

Dangerous Mezzo at The Tudor Medieval Jacobean Queen Anne Dollhouse Project

Hannelore Strehler-Baur at Meine Miniwelt 

Michelle at Michelle’s Mad World

Els de Kom

Mieke 

Christina

? at Encourage One another

I love your blogs, in particular Meine Miniwelt which deals with my favorites: toys!  However, there are other interesting blogs too.  I have visited all of them.  One I'll leave out, and the person concerned will know why.  I have visited her blog and left her a private message.  Els, welcome to you too.  I know you don't have a blog, but can't remember your website (it was on my pc which crashed).

My next blog will have a workshop on it.  I am preparing it right now and will add it when I have a moment.
Till then.

My dolls house - part 8

It's been a few weeks again, but I have been working on the house in the meantime, albeit with problems where I least expected them.  I am just not having a very good time, but hey, we'll persevere...  So what was the latest I did?  Ah yes, the curtains in the living room.  The kitchen was the next place that needed window dressing, so I set out to do something different there as well.  Not liking the pelmet one bit, especially in a kitchen, I thought of something else.  Shorter curtains and two window sills.  A narrow one for the top windows on which I hope to place some potted herbs in the future, and a wider one for the bottom windows with something I have always liked: geraniums and hyacinths!  So there you are:

I am not yet happy with the bottom one, because it's leaning forward. They were very difficult to attach to the wall as there is not much to hang on to.  I will have to think of something.  Looking at the picture I might add small strips of wood underneath, so it will look a bit better and then you won't see the window frames either (as if you would if you don't look at a photograph :-)....)  I like the look from the outside as well.  I will just have to hang the curtains straight:

Next step was to attach the 'corner stones' to the front walls.  They are just as crappy as the roof tiles, but I don't really care much as you'll know by now.  At least they give the plain walls a bit of a lift:

After the wet weather the walls have straightened again considerably. Unreal.  I may have to buy a humidifier to keep to house in order. LOL That wouldn't be enough anyway, because it's already starting to fall apart.  The narrow part with the front door has come off the hinges since I took this picture.  I should have realised that glueing the nails and the hinges first would have been a better option, because the door is too heavy with the stairs attached.

In the meantime I have decided to finish downstairs first and so I have put back the furniture that I have started with a long time ago:

All the furniture in the kitchen was painted white originally, but I didn't like the look, so started off with a few blue items to go with the walls.  As I don't like perfect matches all through the house I have put in a hutch with a different finish: Baltic pine (if I remember well) and added a light tan table top.  The sides of the table I have painted with folk art designs.  I have allowed some white in the kitchen, otherwise it would be too dark.  If you take a close look you'll see a few stains on the walls and the fireplace, but they will be covered up again.  They are from the blue tack with which I initially attached some items to the walls.  I will now either glue them or use wax.  I haven't made up my mind yet.  Glue might be too permanent.  And while you're having a close look you'll see all the dust on the surface of the furniture.  Yak, this dirty kitchen needs a good clean up first.

Although the house is mainly done in the Victorian style, I am not strictly sticking to it.  It's my fun and practice house, so I don't care if the styles are a miss-match here and there.

As you can see, the living room is more Victorian with its dark furniture, curtains and wall paper.  It will end up rather gloomy, but that is quite the essence of the Victorian period.  I have used the original fabric for the chairs and sofa and I must admit I rather like it.  The fabric is a bit too much like cotton, but the stripes go well with the other colours and brighten the room just that little bit.  I do need a rug on the floor though, because it looks quite austere the way it is now. I might also get some stuff to get rid of silverfish.  The nasty bug(ger)s have started eating the wallpaper in the living room.  They really are a nuisance in this damp climate.

This is the hallway.  Not much to tell about it as I have already visited this part of the house earlier on.  Next pictures show the living room and kitchen with their respective curtained walls:

And it's time again to welcome a few more followers.  I was surprised to notice that we have past the round number of 200 already.  I am really humbled to see that so many people seem to take an interest in what I am doing in my 'miniature life'.  I must be honest with you though, and tell you that I no longer offer give-aways.  I think it's a nice tradition for people who like it, just like the rewards, but I am no longer interested in either.  I just like to play with my minis when I have time (and that's not much) and tell you all about it, but I am afraid that's where it ends.  Of course I am not entering nor advertising give-aways either.  I hope you will understand and respect my view.  Then here's a list of new followers.  If I couldn't find a blog or a website I just show your name:

Kaya at Kaya – my doll’s world

Silke at Silke’s Miniatures

Allis.Kirkegaard at Allis Glade blog

Lidi Stroud at Intominis (Hi Lidi, I'm still in awe of your beautiful baskets!)

Tyla at Obscure Creations 

Minisonja

Amary at El Mini Rincon de Amary

I wish you all a warm welcome, thank you for following my blog and hope you will enjoy it, as I enjoyed visiting your blogs and/or websites.

Bye for now.

PS
Sonja has just given me her blog: Minisonja and of course I had a quick look.  Will need to go back though.  What a wonderful blog Sonja.  Your tutorials are great and I admire your Baby Shabby Chic Boutique very much.

Headache and miniatures don't mix

I had more time as usual of late and spent most of it working on my miniatures.  I had a piano to finish, made a piano stool and there was also this kit which I was working on.  Today it all came to a halt, because of a headache.  Hence this update of my blog.  Working on the computer is not so draining as concentrating on your work on the wood lathe.

My piano is finally finished.  I had a bit of a setback, but I can only blame myself.  As I mentioned before, my stain was rather old and I should have bought a new can. I would have done a much better job. Now I had to varnish my piano to make it look more presentable, but in reality it made it look worse.  To top it all of the rain has been pelting down here for three days in a row, so it was not quite the right sort of weather to paint or varnish anything.  Everything stayed sticky for a long time.  However, I am quite happy with the way my turning worked out.  I wanted to add some decorative turnings on either side.  Since my son had come and set up his wood lathe I tried my hand at it. The difficulty I was facing was that I needed two identical half shapes and was not game to put a turned piece through my sawing machine or scroll saw.  Fortunately my husband told me this trick: glue two pieces of wood together with wood glue and a piece of paper in between.  So I did and after a bit of practicing I ended up with these:

Remember the problem I had when my stain was too watery and the glue dissolved?  Well, in this case I used the dissolving glue to my advantage.  I turned the wood first and then threw the turnings in warm water.  This is the result.

A piano on its own doesn't look good, so I added a stool as well.  I need to practice turning a bit more for one of those old fashioned stools with a revolving seat, but a modern one will do for now:

The rounded edge of the seat is the toothpick that I showed you before, sanded back so I ended up with a half-round.  The seat has a cushion of very soft kangaroo leather and can be opened to store sheet music:

So, that's finished and now I will need to store both somewhere till I'll find a home for them.  The pictures were taken inside my flower shop.  They can stay there till I get a move on with the shop.

I've also finished the garden gloves and made a basket for them to be used in a garden.  I have made them suitably dirty, so they can't be sold in the shop. ;-)

I had two goes at the basket, because the first time around I made the strips too wide.  The second one looks better, but I used coloured varnish for a change and I don't know if I am happy with the result.  However, I have plenty of baskets, so it doesn't hurt to try something different for a change.

Well, that's it for the moment.  The school holidays are behind us now and the weeks will be busier from now on with all the classes and clubs that I attend, so I don't know how much I will be able to show you.  I do know that I still like to do more wood turning and I am currently looking at a chair with turned legs.  I'll keep you posted.

I have finally found some time to go and visit all the blogs of my new followers (insofar I could find one) and have enjoyed myself very much.  A warm welcome to all of you:

Ana Anselmo at MiniaturesForever

Deborah at Petit 

Mieke at Petit Victorian Rose 

Audra Pangle 

Karin Corbin at Karin Corbin Miniatures 

Myriam de Bruin at Millie Fleur 

Lea (Auteur du livre Le Grand Livre de la Maison Miniature) at Un jour a la campagne 

Johanna

Patrizia at Le Magie di Patty

Maragverdugo at Pequeneces

Cristina f

Jaz at Jazzi’s Minis

Silver Thistle at SilverThistles 

Sherry Raines 

-P- at Rotting Roof

More on the ironing board and a piano in progress

Another diversion.  I am all over the place right now.  Just the way I like it! Just doing things I feel like doing.  This time I have done some more work on my ironing board, because I don't like things to look brand new in miniature.  In real life it's quite different, I can tell you. :-)

As you can see, by now the ironing board has had some good use.  It shows the usual spot where the iron singes the fabric.  Instead of the required metal sheet that the workshop in the magazine required, I made wooden edging around the end bit and placed 'asbestos' in the space where the iron usually rests.  I know  asbestos is a dirty word nowadays, but that is what our mothers used in those times.  I have used a bit of old cardboard that I split through the centre.  It had just the required texture and with a dirty smudge it looks quite realistic. A few nails to keep the fabric in place, just like on my mother's ironing board, finishes it off nicely.  While I was at it I remembered that my mother had an additional small board for ironing sleeves, so I made one of those as well.  It looks different from the big ironing board, but that was intentional, because the little board has been re-covered and some small edging fabric has been put around it and fastened with a few nails.  As I said, I don't like pristine objects.  Real life isn't like that.

I am also working on a piano.  It's mainly finishing off a workshop that I had done during my holiday last year with Bert Aarts.  It's not quite finished yet, because I want to somehow decorate the top front with turned elements, but don't know exactly how to go about it yet.  So, the piano itself is finished, but I can't varnish until I have put on the additional decorations.

I have stained the piano in rosewood.  It's probably an unusual colour for a piano, but I liked it and we can take poetic licence, can't we?  The keyboard is only lying on top, to be glued in later. I will add some sheet music of course and now I am looking at the picture I think it calls for a piano stool as well.  Maybe I should take up some more wood turning, but might make a modern stool in the meantime.

Rest me to extend a warm welcome to my latest follower: Patrizia.  I noticed you are also building a flower shop.  It looks promising.  Have you seen mine at The Florist's?  Making miniature plants is another passion of mine.

Well, that's it for today.  It has just started to rain, so what better things to do than playing with my minis????

Bye for now

A diversion from my dollshouse story

I know I was telling you all about the dolls house I am building, but sometimes I take a break and do other things instead.  This time I have been trying out the new machines I bought earlier last year, during my overseas holiday.  I already had a disc sander and a table saw that I hadn't used much, but I wrote about it in the instalment: Getting Technical.  Back then I made a sliding table for my sawing machine.  I have also bought a thicknesser and it works a treat.  So I managed to lay my hands on some finely grained wood which I then put through my thicknesser to make it 2mm thick, the thickness I needed for my projects. 

My handy little machine in action

I wanted to make some wooden furniture and looked through my magazines for something that wouldn't be too hard to start with.  I found an old fashioned ironing board and a the very chair I would be able to use in my 50s house that I plan to build in the future.  It is a chair that converts to a little stepladder.  We used to have one like it when I grew up in the 50s and I have one right now, but a more luxury one which, in this case, is called a library chair.

The ironing board I changed a bit from the project in the magazine to make ik look more like the one my mother had.  The kitchen chair I had to make twice, because the first time I was 1 degree out with the hind legs.  That made them shorter, because they spread wider outwards, so I had to make the front leg shorter and also the back rest, because when you move it over to create the stepladder it sits on the floor.  Anyway, it was still usable, so I kept it, but made another one the correct way.

Since I wanted to use templates to get the degrees correct I decided to make a few kits to be used for a workshop at our miniature club.  All in all I had an enjoyable time and got to know my machines a bit better. :-)

The ironing board and two chairs, one of which is converted into a step ladder

Ironing board folded away

Both chairs together

The kitchen chair as a chair

The same chair as a step ladder

Sorry, I had published too soon (pressed the wrong button again!) and hadn't uploaded all my pictures yet.  Also I would like to welcome a number of new followers.  Unfortunately the list keeps coming up with different names all the time, so I am not too sure who the last newcomers were, but I wish you all a warm welcome and also a happy new year.

My dolls house - part 3

After I had finished the kitchen I started on the hallway.  Both on the ground floor and first floor there are supposed to be stairs, but when I'd put in the stairs to the first floor I regretted it straight away.  What use is an empty hallway behind the stairs if you can't see anything and next to them there wasn't much room.  I made the decision to change the layout of the house, well, sort of...  I made a door in the wall at the far end, suggesting that the house was bigger and the stairs would be at the back of the house.  Possible.  Ain't that right?

When I made the stairs, way before I started on the hallway, I did so under supervision of my little cat.  She's no longer alive and I miss her dearly.  She was such good company while I was working and never got in the way.  Mostly she was content just basking in the sun and watching the chickens outside. (BTW I have moved twice since and don't have the chickens anymore either.  The more is the pity...)

little Misty

So, I made the door with a kind of leadlight window, cut a hole in the wall, made a door frame and placed the door.  I reckon it looks good.  The walls I have covered with stained paddlepopsticks and the wall above that I have painted off-white with a bit of sand added to the paint.  This gives it a nice texture.  I'd done the same with the wall over the fire place in the kitchen and liked the effect very much.

At the time I didn't really know what to do with the floor, until I happened upon some black contact that looked a bit like marble.  I bought some white contact as well and cut out the tiles for the hallway.  It gives it an old fashioned look that I like.  The lamp, as well as the umbrella stand and a waste paper basket I have painted green (the lamp with glass paint, the others with acrylics) and stuck some gold stickers on for decoration.  Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the bin and umbrella stand, but if you take a look at the lamp you get the drift.

hallway

By the time I took this photo I had already made the doors on both sides as well.  In actual fact however, they were done after downstairs was finished.  I didn't want to leave the doors plain, so bought some strips of 0.5 mm thick (or should I say 'thin' ;-)) and glued these on.  In the future, with other dollshouses or roomboxes, I might be more adventurous and use the router to do some shaping.  For now I am happy enough with the strips.

Next was the living room and this one took me a long, long time, because I wanted a parquet floor.  I had a whole box with veneer, given to me by a friend some years before.  She'd also given me a cutter, so I sat there, day after day, cutting little strips of veneer.  I glued them all on cardboard (easier to just slide into a room) and gave them a coat with bees wax.  It looked super and still does.  It was a lot of work, but well worth it:

showing the difference between waxed and not waxed

Besides the wallpaper in the kitchen, which I liked, I never used any of the flooring or wallpapers that came with the house.  In the room I have used very dark paper, so very much liked in the stuffy and dark Victorian period.

The furniture for the living room I had already done, so I do have a cabinet with shelves, a lounge, a dining table and four chairs.  None of them done with any creativity on my part.  Since they were almost the first parts of furniture I made, I just followed the instructions.

This is roughly what I had, save for the guitar and other small stuff, which I made much later

Later I made the mantelpiece and a fire in the hearth.  The mantelpiece is partially faux marble.  It took a lot of time getting it right.  The fire is lit by way of a flickering light.  I bought the kit and soldered it with the help of my son. (Soldering is not my strongest side!)  Luckily I had some wallpaper left to cover the top half of the mantelpiece.  The old wallpaper had slightly faded, but I bet that by now I won't see the difference anymore. 

You can tell that by then I was becoming a bit more adventurous.  The basket for the fire I designed and made myself.  The front is part of a metal balcony railing, the end bits are toothpicks and the back just blackened cardboard with a finding bought at the egg decorators.  The 'coal' is painted cat litter!

And this is it for today.  The following update will probably be a small one and after that I will try and take pictures as I go, because between then and now I have hardly done a thing...

Rest me to welcome three more followers:

Adrie from the Netherlands at Adrie's Poppenhuizen, mindymax and rmartedal.  The last two don't seem to have a blog or website, so please, if you read this and you do have one let me know and I post it here.  Anyway, a warm welcome on my blog and I hope you'll enjoy the reading.

In the meantime I have also worked on my log this afternoon.  There were a number of items I had left out in the past, and probably a greater number from earlier this year, but that'll be done next week or so.  At least I am heading in the right direction. ;-)

See you all next time.

While waiting...

  
While waiting for the hinges to arrive (did you notice I didn't mention the word 'patiently'?) I decided I could finish another project that has been sitting on my desk for too long.

Remember I did a workshop with Ann High back in March at the Arnhem show?  Well if you don't, look back at this page: It's been a long time.  I showed you this picture amongst other photographs:

That was the beginning of my wood carving experience.  Now I have finally plucked up the courage to finish it, and after a lot more carving, detailing, glueing, staining and waxing, this is the result:

14th century chest

I am quite proud of the result and rightfully so I hope. ;-)  Now if anybody could point out to me where I can buy steamed pear I would be thrilled, because then I could do some more of this wonderful work.  I have really fallen for the carving.  Love it!!

And before I go I would also extend another warm welcome to Lady Jane, who's my latest follower.  Thanks to Rosamargarita I now know she has a blog: For the Love of Miniatures.  Go and check it out.

That's all for today folks.  See you next time.

Getting technical

I was going to make some more articles besides the bread and needed small pieces of wood and dowel.  As I still want to hang on to all my fingers, and the normal size push sticks won't do for this kind of work, I decided I wanted to make a sliding table for my table saw first.  Full size push sticks are too big for the small pieces I need and making them any smaller is no good, because they become as flimsy as match sticks.  In my files on my computer I had a copy of an article in an earlier dolls house magazine which described how to go about it.  It was distributed in our online miniature group a long time ago and I knew it would come in handy one day...  The instructions were very clear, hence easy to follow.

The following pictures show you what I am talking about:

I have marked the place where the saw blade appears through the front very clearly so that I won't put any fingers across that area

I also needed to mark the 'front' since the sliding parts fit only one way on the table saw

Here I am cutting a piece of dowel.  It's so much easier if you slide the table across instead of the pieces of wood you want to cut.

So, that out of the way I could get on with my job.  Again I needed the help from our online group, because I was in need of printies.  They had to be authentic and in Dutch as well.  We're a great group of friends, longstanding I might add, and help is always near.  I received the prints in no time and thus I could make "beschuiten" and "ontbijtkoek": two kinds of bakery items that almost every Dutch person has grown up with. 

The easiest way was to have the right size of wood and dowel to cover with the paper wrappers and this is what I produced:

"Ontbijtkoek" and "Beschuit"

The roll of rusks is of a smaller size then they are nowadays, because the delivery cart is from way back as well.  You don't see them on the streets any more, nor have we seen them for nearly fifty years if I remember well.  So, now my cart is full and all I am waiting for is the hinges to finish it all off.

The hinges is all I am waiting for now

In the comments on my last posting Rosamargarita reminded me of a trick that I had quite forgotten: to use clear wood glue and saw dust to fill and repair the little hole in the lid.  I have already thanked her and have tried to make the repairs.  I don't know for sure if it worked until I have re-varnished the lid, but will let you know how I went.

Then it's time to welcome a new follower yet again. :-)  This time it's someone I know very well: Wilma from the Netherlands and although she doesn't have a blog I do know she has a website: Wilmatuurtjes.  It's in Dutch only, but I am sure you won't need words when you see the pictures.  And of course a warm welcome to you too ,Wilma.

That's all for now.  I guess my next update will be when the hinges arrive.  I might have said that in my last posting, but that's all I am waiting for right now.  See you then.

M(B)aking bread

Did I make bread, or was it baking bread? :-)  I guess a bit of both.  It depends on how you look at it....

I did make some bread, although it had stopped raining ages ago.  Remember it was raining last time I placed an update and I was looking forward to get some work done?

I got done much, much more, but not all mini.  Life goes on, real life that is, and there's always things that get in the way.  However, I made some bread and bread rolls of different varieties:

Bread and bread rolls

Usually I work with Fimo or some other polymer clay to do this kind of work, but I didn't have the right colours.  So, instead I opened a packet of Crayola which I had had for ages, but never yet used.  It's an airdrying clay, but very light and it feels like foam.  It is quite easy to work with and for the bread it had a real nice texture.  It's white, so I had to get my paint out.  I'm quite happy with the result.

I then put on two grips and a sort of locking system on the lid:

Lock and grips

Oh oh, the picture shows my mistake big way!  I just started drilling a little hole for the nail when I realised I had my measurements wrong.  I can hardly see it normally, but the picture is too clear....  Will have to think about a solution, because this project is going into a competition and I don't want to spoil it with just one hole in the wrong place. :-(

Filled up with bread and bread rolls and even a cloth to cover the bread in the baskets

Nearly done now.  I am only waiting for some hinges that have to come all the way from the UK.  I needed three different sorts and I missed two of those.  So, it's putting the lid on with hinges and then I can also put hinges on the lid for the smaller box.  When that's done I can glue it against the big one and I'm done.  So, see you in about a week perhaps?

Then back to my followers.  Again I can welcome two people, one of whom has a fairly new blog, but one with lots and lots of pictures of her work, and of the other one I can detect a blog, but you're both very welcome as a follower:

Doortje from the Netherlands at rdoortjesminis and Carolina Leonardo. 

See you all next time. Bye for now.

Still working....

Not much new to show though, since I have been to the Dollshouse Club yesterday.  I can't do more spray painting, because it's raining, so I'll show you the pictures of the completed boxes and handle bar.  All I need to do now is wait for the correct hinges (I am short of one pair) and then I can finish off the wooden parts.  I am also thinking of buying new hinges for the smaller box.  I do have a pair that'll fit, but they are not the nice triangular hinges that are used for the original.  Well, in the end you'll find out what I have decided upon. :-)

Ready to be assembled

The 'stay' is not correctly placed, but tha's because I have not fixed any hinges yet

I guess the next step is making lots of bread and rusks before I can go back to my florist....

Since I welcomed a large number of new followers the other day (22 to be precise) I discovered two more.  So, a warm welcome to

Paky from Spain at Paquicheli's blog and Gleise, who doesn't appear to have one.  If you do, please let me know and I will tell the world. :-)

See you next time with a new update when the rain has stopped.

Nearly finished

Although we both have been working hard today, I haven't much to show for it.  It was repetitive work mostly for me: sanding, staining, sanding, painting, more sanding, more painting........pfff.....  However, I am happy with the results so far.

Hubbie has been working on the bike part of course.  More soldering for him, but his part is as good as finished.  I have spray-painted the parts and with a bit of luck we can start assembling tomorrow.

The first coat done, although you can't see much yet

Sanding in between coats of stain

One of the holders for the steering bar

The bike parts after a coat of spray paint

 I also would like to thank my followers for the nice comments.  Hobbying I do for myself, the blog is there to share with you about my hobby, so it's nice to see that people are interested.  I have noticed too that I have so many more followers than before I went on my three-month holiday.  I have to welcome you all together and do so today, because I lack the time to list so many in one go.  Of course I am interested in all your blogs too, but will go and have a look when I have a few spare moments.  I also have to wait till next month, because I have already reached my limit with my provider and all this is going to cost me...! :-(

So, a warm welcome to all my new followers and be assured I am interested in your blogs as well.  I will get to it, I promise. :-)

For now, that's it.  Tomorrow it's our monthly meeting day at the Brisbane Miniatures club and I have to prepare the workshop tonight.  I don't think I'll be able to work on the project, but you'll see me again soon enough (I hope)....

Bye for now.

A trip to New Zealand

It's been a while since my last update of October 17.  Back then I was preparing for my trip to New Zealand.  A special trip, because I was going to visit my friend and together we had planned to go to the biennial Dollshouse & Miniatures Convention in Albany, Auckland.  Dorothee picked me up at the airport and together we made our way to our motel in Albany on a busy Friday afternoon.  We dropped off Dorothee's exhibition item, met a few friends and enjoyed a quiet dinner and evening chatting the night away.

The next day we arrived well-prepared at the Convention, and with well-prepared I mean not with an empty purse. LOL  This year we didn't go as delegates, nor had we signed up for workshops, as there wasn't much we fancied doing and we wanted to spend our money on buying rather then on the registration for the Convention.  And this is my loot:

At the bottom you can just see some veneer, on top of that from left to right: a hanging lamp which works on a battery (handy for those roomboxes or vignettes that can't be connected to mains power), shutters and hooks (for my future shabby chic minis), terracotta pots with saucers in two sizes (for my florist) and underneath the veneer a packet of ten sheets of fuzzy paper.

At the bottom on the veneer: light bulbs, a few glass containers in various shapes and sizes, handy sticks in various grades for sanding, jewelry findings and a few fluorescent type of lights with holders.

At the top of the veneer: a punch, purple feathers, a few sets of glittering earrings (which were dirt cheap and I can use the parts for whatever takes my fancy), Venne yarn for knitting, and last but not least on top of the fuzzy paper a kit for an oil lamp.

It might not look like much, but as you all know, the price tag for miniatures is definitely not in miniature!! :-)  The main thing however, is the fun that you have in selecting everything and gloating over it all again when you get home....

I hadn't finished buying however, because during my stay we've been to some craft shops where I still discovered things that I could use, or indeed 'needed' to have:

I intend to make more flowers, so I have bought a few more punches.  Double sided tape was cheap in the $2 shop and some paper-covered wire.  For the dinosaurs I have something special in mind which I will show you when I get around to it.

Back to the convention, though.  Of course there were displays and after the AGM (I am a member of NZAME as well) we went on the moonlight walk.  This always is the best part of any convention as you get to see all the displays with their lights on in a darkened room.  I did take some pictures, but not of the moonlight walk.

As I don't have access to those pictures right now I will add them later.  I do have some more other pictures though, because I finally met up with Carolyn from Carolyn's Little Kitchen again.  She's such a lovely person.  While at the convention as a trader she even had a surprise for me.  I was dumbfounded and even more so when I opened the parcel:

Out came two sets of beautiful porcelain plates.  You may have seen them before on her site.  She makes them herself and you'll all know how she did it if you've read her tutorial.  However, I know I can't do it as well!!  Aren't they beautiful?  Thank you so much, Carolyn.

Of course I met more people that I knew, because I have been to the convention in Lower Hutt two years ago as well and to a Rik Pierce workshop two weeks before that convention.  It's so nice to meet everyone again, although there was little time to chat, because everyone is busy either with buying or selling. LOL

And to top it all off I also won something.  It never rains but it pours...  I automatically filled in a form when buying something at the Hathaway Cottage table and only half saw what it was for.  Hence my surprise when a few days later I received an email message from Donna Leddy to inform me that I had won the couch that they had on show.  In the meantime I have arrived home and the parcel had even arrived before me.  It didn't only contain the couch, but also a very handy, and sturdy (!) little container.  Thank you so much Donna!  I will find a good home for it.

Of course I stayed on with Dorothee for a week and a half more and we spent more time shopping (although no miniatures) and visiting friends of old.  I had a lovely time.  And best of all, what happens when you both have the same hobby?  Of course, we spent a lot of time hobbying together and were quite productive.

We made some cats to sit on a door frame.  I commented on Dorothee's real size cats and mentioned that I received one as a present from a miniature friend a long time ago.  This friend had done hers on the scroll saw, but since neither of us is very handy with it we decided to just cut them from thin card.  Dorothee searched the internet for a few appropriate images and off we went.  We had to cut the three times to get the correct thickness, but in the end they looked good enough and all we then needed to do is paint them black.

We also tried our hands at making tiles to fit in a shabby chic environment.  Although they are still a bit thick we were quite happy with the outcome.  We used paperclay and decals to make them.

I wanted to make a few things for my florist as well, so we made a few wreaths.  The results are quite different, as Dorothee's are more 'playful', but I like both styles.

The two wreaths at the top are done by me.  The one in the next picture was done by Dorothée.  The plant was also her work and both were her gifts to me.  Beautiful additions for my florist!  I bet you can see the difference in the wreaths.  Dorothée has clearly had more practice..... :-)

And last but not least, we've made a variety of baskets.  We were contemplating on doing something else when I spotted a beautiful basket, so Dorothée delved into her store of materials and out came the stuff we needed and we set upon copying it.  We were very happy with the results:

These are the two rectangular ones I did, and in the second picture above you can see a round one.  I still need to finalise the details, but so far so good...  I am sure I'll be making more of these.  Such satisfying results!  I might even put some tiles in one of the baskets and use it in my flower shop.  I should have a few tiles somewhere with flowers, so that might be appropriate to put in a corner somewhere.

So, what else can I say.  I had a great time with great friends and got to see the various cottages that the Katikati group built for the exhibition. They were marvellous and as always, much prettier in 'real life'!

To my surprise I discovered that I have a great number of new followers, not only since I posted my intention to do a draw for a Giveaway, but still more after the draw.  I am sure you'll all understand that I cannot welcome everyone personally when there are over forty (!) new people on the list, but will do so again the next time.  Be assured that I have had a look at all your blogs and I loved what I saw.  It's good to know that there are so many skilled and likeminded friends out there.  Welcome to you all!