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!

Paperclay workshop

I've done it!  On Saturday and Sunday we've finally done the workshop that I have been preparing for for so long and I must say, it was worth every minute I spent on the preparations.  I was nervous and had butterflies in my stomach, but in the end it was a fulfilling experience.  As you can tell from my witch's house, I love working with paper clay and it felt great to share this love with other people who now know how to use it to its full potential.  My younger son also came along and took care of part of the workshop.  We needed a flickering light for the fire place and he, the electronics wizz he is, had put a kit together for people to solder the parts and make their own flickering light.  I don't have all the photo's yet of this very pleasant weekend, but will show you here the few I have:

Saturday morning. We're all ready to get stuck into it.

Demonstrating how to score the floor boards.

No, that glass of wine isn't mine. :-) Like Rik I demonstrate parts of the workshop at each person's table in turn.

Checking if everything lines up.

The soldering class. The tutor is behind the camera. ;-)

This clever lady knew that stonemasons leave their mark in their work.

A room with space to move. (slightly bigger than the others')

As you can see, this weekend also was our 'Christmas in July' celebration. Here in Australia it's always very hot at Christmas time and for years now people have been celebrating a watered down version in July. For us the coldest time of the year, although up here in Queensland you can't even call a winter cold. Anyway, a good reason to have a nice Christmas dinner and presents. It was good fun. We always have a 'Secret Santa' after dinner. We all bring and receive a small present.

And who do you think received this cute little cradle??? Yes, my 36y old bachelor son! LOL Fortunately I received a beautiful 'silver' bottle opener in the shape of a dolphin, so we quietly swapped and are both happy.

"Santa" was also happy for a while. He gave out the parcels and received a hug and a kiss from every woman. He wasn't so happy anymore when the men got up to receive their parcels and wanted to bestow the same kind gesture on him!!!! :-)

After that we worked till late in the evening and most got up early on Sunday morning, eager to finish their work. We hardly stopped for lunch and morning- and afternoon tea, which was a shame, because the food, prepared by our hostess, was delicious. And then, finally, it was time for a last picture and our farewell BBQ.

The group proudly showing off the results of their hard work.

My 'Scrooge' workshop, as I call it, because my setting is going to be the abode of Scrooge (Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol) had an unexpected spin-off.  Did I think all the hard work was done??? Not quite.  Everybody liked the door, window and shutters so much (they were the resin casts for which I had been making the moulds a while ago), that they wanted to order extra sets, so I have presently gone back to casting. And dear son is getting some extra flickering light kits done and is soldering a few as well, because not everyone wanted, or had the time, to do the soldering themselves.  Never a dull moment in this household.......... ;-)  Mmmmm, should I start thinking about an Etsy shop?  What do you think???

See ya
Marion

Welcome friends

I shouldn't be surprised, but I am! I've just launched my new blog and already I have 8 followers. Welcome:

Margriet, Ira, Carmen, The Old Maid (sorry I don't know your real name), Sonia, Nuria, Lara and Nina. Good to see a few 'old' friends. ;-)

I promised some more pictures, so here goes:

I can't quite remember who made the floor from airdrying clay and had it shrink so much that the whole floor cracked. Well, look at my walls! Lucky for me I wanted to build an 'old' house. However, if I would have used the more expensive paperclay I would have been able to cover them up and smooth them, like I do with the openings between walls when the clay has shrunk and between floor and wall. Now I haven't bothered, because I like the cracks where they are. I have used the cheaper version of paperclay that is used for pottery. I have found that the more expensive paperclay seems to be more elastic and if money isn't a problem I most certainly prefer the good stuff.

A new blog

I've done it!!! I've finally created yet another blog.  It will mostly be about the bits and pieces of my hobby that don't fit in the topical blogs of my Witch's Cottage and The Florist's.  Nor about my ordinary life, because that's done mainly in Dutch in my blog Glaginye.  No, this blog is more or less about what it says in the title: the little things that fill my days.  Or in other words, just the minis I like to make, see, read about, hear about, etc.  Hope you'll enjoy following this blog too.

Now I can also show you the pictures of the project I have been working on for the last few weeks.  It was the reason why I haven't been working so much on the witch's cottage and the flower shop. It's an inside/outside scene done in Rik Pierce style with paperclay.  It's to be a weekend workshop, but until we actually do it I won't know if it works or not, because paperclay needs time to dry before you can paint it and in wintertime (that's when I am conducting this workshop) it will probably take even longer because of the cold.  But........ time will tell.

What everyone else is going to with the finished product I don't know, but mine is to be the workroom of a scrooge.  Not Ebenezer Scrooge's from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", but a scrooge nonetheless and his name is Mr. H. Penny (got it? ;-)) I was going to make a hanging sign with his name on it next to the door, but with the little roof added I ran out of space and the small beam is not wide enough to hang the sign on. Anyone with ideas, I am all ears. :-)

I haven't taken pictures from the beginning, so absorbed was I that I completely forgot, but here are the piccies of the (almost) end product:

Out on the street

The geraniums I have pinched from my florist's. The beautiful carriage light (close-up below) came from Carolyn's webshop.  Doesn't it look great, Carolyn?  It got a bit rusty, though, since I took the picture, so it fits the scenery!!! The streetsign and the housenumber I pinched from the internet and made them into real metal signs.  Also with the help of Carolyn, because I had trouble the way I was doing it at first.  There's always so much to learn and I still have a long, long way to go.......... However, there are also many good friends around, and I very much appreciate all their help.

The whole scene is done with a form of gaterboard (foamcore) and paperclay. The beams are only balsawood. So easy to work with and not at all heavy to 'lift' :-)

The originals of the door, window and shutters were made by my husband. What you see in the picture are resin casts. There will be no time to also make doors and windows, so this is an easy (albeit expensive) shortcut. It looks good though, and I am quite happy with the result.

I must admit, none of it has been researched and none of this might be authentic in combination, but I don't really care. The main thing is that I could throw a lot of techniques together for working with paperclay and if Tudor houses didn't have shutters, or the streetlight is from an other era, so what! We're going to have fun making it all over again.....

Close-up of the light and streetsign

The next picture is that of the inside of the house (naturally!). The floor is just MDF, scored and painted to look like wooden floorplanks. The fireplace is made up of left over gatorboard and balsawood.

My scrooge is not as bad as Ebenezer Scrooge. He wouldn't dream of having geraniums growing outside, nor would he have a fire going. My scrooge loves to warm his hands after counting numerous gold pieces....... And I am going to add a flickering light, because that looks so much better. I used to buy kits, but they're for 1:1 and contain a halogen light that I won't use anyway, and they are so expensive! So my son is going to make up a few kits that I can solder when I need them. The soldering is going to be part of the workshop as well.

Inside the room

Pictures always show your mistakes, don't they? I have to poke into the lock with a brush with black paint on it. The white Fimo is so obvious......

The fire in the fireplace is made up of a piece of red straw, covered with blackened sticks and pieces of red glass beads. That was such a good idea of Ira's from Merry Jingle, I had to try that out. Formerly I used a piece of red straw (to stick the light in, that I coloured red too, so as it not being too bright) and covered that with sticks and a bit of blackened catlitter. In another fireplace I used only a red straw (in T-shape) and covered it with black catlitter only. All look good, but different, although the addition of the pieces of red glass beads makes it a bit more special. Thanks Ira, for your excellent idea.

In my next update I will show you some piccies of the house in the dark, with lights on. I always like that. It's so very special when you see your roomboxes lit up at night. No roombox that I am going to make in the future is going to be without light.