Workroom? Hmmm...

My RL building project took considerably longer than expected (over 2 years, rather than the 3-5 months expected, I won't bore you with the details, but the house is now safe and sound and painted mostly) and I haven't really gotten back into miniatures, except for some embroidery and some small items with the dollshouse and miniatures club.  There are still some things to do, in particular the garden needs a lot of attention now that the weather is better, in the form of diggers, paving and recovering from builders ‘usage’.  The blue bags are a sign of that, although they have now gone and we are making progress. There are some nice plants in the border under the wisteria(photo from May19), they just need uh, uncovering/discovering?

There have also been some other reasons why I haven’t been here for such a long time. Both my boys came back to live here after uni, one with his girlfriend, so the workroom wasn't a high priority.  Life has been generally hectic. But, I have decided that I am retiring towards the end of 2019 and I should then have more time for hobbies...  

In the meantime I will be reacquainting myself with mini blogger land, and commenting, if I dare!

Idske

A quick update

Hello all!

A very brief post.  I'm about to start a RL building project with at the end of it a warm, light work room and a lot of other boring stuff like windows, a roof and insulated floors/walls....

This is a photo of the last lot of pots I've made. I will definitely continue making pottery once I have my work room. September hopefully...

Has anyone seen the miniature potter's wheel that Jon Almeda has developed?

http://almedapottery.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50

That should work even better than the full size wheel I have been working on, even if I have to get it to work on 240v...

Idske

For Drora!

Hello everyone and especially Drora!

I'm still around and hope to post some new pottery soon.  In the mean time I do read blogs and comment every now and then!

Drora posted about her visit to a care home.  What a wonderful thing to do!  Nowadays they make all sorts of gadgets to help stroke victims. My mum had a beautifully made bookstand that allowed for turning the pages with one hand.

Although I tried to describe the tray (something like it probably exists somewhere to buy too) that's not so easy in a box where you can only see 2 lines at a time and I promised Drora to do a little drawing. It's sort of a combination of a glueing jig and a bench hook.

It's really just a small board (6-12mm thickness) of about A4 size with 2,5x2,5cm batons glued onto it. Chunky batons is good as that makes it easier to handle with one hand. It shouldn't be higher than about 3.5-4cm to be comfortable under a less mobile hand. As long as the bottom baton is long enough to stop it from sliding away on the table it should work with a bit of practice. You put the side baton on the same side the paralysed hand so they can put this hand on top to hold their work down.

Who knows it might work for your ladies too, Drora!

A little table and a bit of sunshine!

It has been so dreary and grey here that a bit of sunshine through the window caught on this little table seemed the perfect opportunity for this short post.

This is the table project I taught at our dollshouse club afternoons in January and February. No time for photos as there was also the AGM in February.  I'm hoping that most will bring their tables in either in March or April, just for some photos. This one is french polished and it will get a few more layers on the table top, but otherwise it's finished.

This table is for one of our members who couldn't join us for this project! Sorry Anne W. you can't have my little bronze cat. It's too small really for 1/12th scale, but I love it anyway.  No doubt Anne will dress this up properly!

Idske

January Club class

A very long time ago (it seems to me) I agreed to do a class on veneering and stringing. I tried out several different tables. Some too ambitiously complicated or just to expensive to realise. I would have liked an opening hinged table with compartments, like a worktable my grandmother had. But in the end 2 club afternoons is just 4 to 5 hours!

In the Christmas holidays I cut all the parts and with some help from my eldest son we sorted everything into brown envelopes and then cut some spares (wish I'd thought of that as I cut the kits) and on the second Thursday in January 16 club members started their projects. A few will hopefully start next month. or I'll have some to make myself.

This is the prototype I made. I would have done tapered legs, but cutting 80 of those just seemed a bit too much at 4 or 5 cuts each. Just imagine how long that would take...

The legs are from an online shop and I got a discount because I needed them for a club class. I noticed he was based in a town near here, and as I had forgotten to order then earlier I emailed and thankfully he had them in stock. I suppose not many people ask for 20 packs of 4 table legs and want them next day. The gods were with me as the owner turned out to be a parent at my school and had run a class for our club a few year ago.  I received a neat package on Monday having order on the Sunday before the class. Still not sure how I failed to notice that the kits didn't include any table legs....

Parts

Here are some photos of the progress- eh mess? - we made in January.

I only took these photos about half way through and failed to notice that some left early, but by the end of the afternoon most had finished the centre veneers on the table top and the drawer front, the table body and the drawer and some were working on the stringing.

I'm sure some members will finish the table in February, some may need to finish off at home, or at the March meeting. I hope I'll do better with taking photos in February!

Idske

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a great 2015!

Just reminding everyone and myself what summer looks like around here!

I've not been here a lot lately, but that is because I'm running a 2 session class for our club and I've been busy putting kits together. I should get the table legs on Monday at school. It's a 1/12th scale side table with a drawer, veneered all the way round and inlayed with boxwood stringing.

Can you believe that I've spent all this time putting the kits together, sawing all the parts, sorting veneers, stringing, drawer knobs etc and I've only just realised that I hadn't ordered the table legs! Thankfully Bromley Craft Products had enough of them in stock at www.craft-products.com. He did a class for our club a few years ago.

I'll post some photos from our club afternoon,  assuming I have the time to take them....

Idske

New tulip vase!

Remember this?

It's now this:

It's still at the Almond Barn, just out of the kiln. Yolande took the pictures for me. It's about 10cm tall, the width about 2.5cm.

Hope you like it!

😀 

Idske

Hello all!

I've been away for too long, but then I've not had time.... correction, I've not taken the time to do any miniatures lately. But now I'm back!  I am working on a table with an opening top and lyre shaped legs to teach at our club early next year. I'll have to make about 20 kits. That should keep me busy for a while!

First things first, here are some photos of the Uckfield Dollshouse Club Show we held to raise funds for MacMillan Nurses. If I remember correctly we raised over £ 1000!

And here are a selection of my fellow club member's efforts. They are a very talented bunch!

And this was my contribution:

Enjoy your mini time!

Idske

Nearly there!

Just came back from a lovely afternoon with our club working on all of our exhibits!

This will be mine

Sorry for the weird angle, I only had one photo and most of the pots are back in their transportation boxes and setting it all up again will take some time.   I forgot to bring the tulip vase to the club afternoon, but it will go in for the exhibition on 12th July, not quite sure where but it's amazing how much fits in a space that is in part 7cm deep and in part only 14cm!

Just the electrics to finish and a lampshade for the blue and white bead-lamp on the left on the shelf. Oh, and a handrail on the steps and possibly some plants in front of the shop...

The new pots are all on the shelves on the left hand side in the shop.  The six pots I had decorated at home have turned out to be black, or rather gray and white. I'm not sure whether to be disappointed or not... But the glaze is very nice and crackled!

Hope you like it!

Idske

I'm on a roll

Just got back from pottery class. Everybody seemed to be having a great time and doing some of the best pots they had ever done, me included!

Six pots decorated at home before the class and another two that were bisque fired last week. Glazed them, which is a lot easier when they are stuck to these sticks with some glue dots... They should all be fired by next Tuesday!

There were also another three finished, with a penny to show the size.  These are earthenware pots. All the others I have on the go at the moment are made of porcelain.  I will have to put some extra shelving in the Old Pottery to display them all!

In the background a hint of the new tulip vase and another of version of the vase in the middle. I'm getting better at putting a rim on these little vases. Just compare the one in the foreground to the new one in the background...

Happy mini-time,  Idske

2 Shop Fronts

Admittedly, I got lots of advice on my previous post, not to redo the brickwork, but I suppose I had already sort of decided that it wasn't good enough. It didn't look like any of the pretty village shops we have around here. Even the brick pattern wasn't right...

I did take your advice and I really tried to colour the brickwork, a bit like stencilling with very little paint on the brush and this worked on the side of the box, but on the front some of the bricks came off. I glued some back on, but it just became a ridiculous job.

Then I remembered that I should have another box file lid, as the shop is made of 2 boxes to provide extra depth for some furniture. The door wasn't fixed in place yet and the window came away with very little effort. Decision made, I had to find the other lid.

You would think that something that big was easy to find, but not in the mess in my dining room. I had unpacked the cupboard with most of my mini supplies to move it away from the wall when this wall got soaking wet this winter and turned all mouldy. It's been drying out ever since the wall was repointed, with a dehumidifier on 24/7. One thing led to another and I ended up painting 2 of the walls, moving the cupboard back and sorting through almost all of my mini supplies. Of course, the box file lid was in one of the last boxes!

So over the last 4 days, this is the result of  about 10 hours of egg box brick making, glueing, painting and varnishing.

The sides are a bit red, but if it still bothers me next week, I'll do something about it, maybe...

And just to prove I now have 2 shop fronts:

Now I can concentrate on the very blue sign over the shop, which isn't what I had in mind, the handrail by the door and some more signs and a few flowerpots to finish off the outside. And then finishing off the inside and the lights. Nearly there!

All in all a very productive half term holiday!

Idske

Brickwork and pots

Hello all!

I'm sorry I'm taking so long between posts, life is getting in the way of miniatures at the moment. I have been trying to keep up with your blogs, though!  Always plenty of ideas to be found there!

Still, I have been working on The Old Pottery. The blue is a bit much, so I'll 'oldify' it a bit. I couldn't fit the previous name on the sign, so a fellow miniaturist at our club suggested this one. Nothing like being a bit pragmatic!



I decided to try out the egg carton brickwork and I like it much better than the brick paste on the front of the shop.  The brick paste looks more like a new build, than a really old shop...    The question is, can I remove the brick paste version without destroying the front, after all it's only cardboard. Also, I still have to make the railing on the steps and fix the lights, make some more table lamps and fit it all together...
Or, should I try colouring the shopfront like the paving?  If I do that, how is that done? Should I use pastels of can I use paint?  Do I need to seal it before using pastels or paint?  I just can't decide yet.

I'm also working on some more pots and a new tulip vase, all in porcelain. Had some disasters, such as a mould that I couldn't get the top of the vase out of, having to make several models of the base, too small or not level, they just didn't look right and of course knocking the almost finished vase over on the table. Before it's fired porcelain is very very fragile! The top was in pieces.

So I've just made another top and to be on the safe side, I also made another body and base. After all I might knock it over again!  In the mean time I have these 6 to decorate!

Hugs,    Idske

Preoccupied?

Definitely!   Although I have been working on more pottery and I like the result. Not yet decorated, but of the right proportions for 1/12th scale.

This is how I started a post about a week ago. I've got a new computer pad thing and it's lovely, very clear and takes great photos. BUT I can't seem to figure out how to add a photo from the camera. It offers all sorts, including those that are already on the blog!   Why would I want to do that....  Do I sound quite mad yet?  Time to phone a friend...

Success!  Had to add them to the album for the blog and then they show up, at the bottom of the list of course. Soooooo logical, isn't it....

These 3 pots are from moulds and they are my best ones so far.  I'm also working on a new tulip vase, but a very different one from the one I made last year. As soon as I've got something to show other than strange lumps of clay, I'll post again.

I was talking about being preoccupied. Once I started decorating my son's bedroom, painted the walls, put up my table and small bench for the table saw, milling machine and a few other bits and pieces, it didn't look like a usable bedroom anymore and since Marc will be back for Easter and a couple of months in the summer, that just wasn't good enough. So I decided to make him a quilt.

That is the top layer, the pattern is Ohio stars. Still lots to do, but I'm very pleased with it.  Maybe you are getting an idea of why the dolls house I built in 1992 still isn't completely decorated....

My garden is another distraction, spring has sprung and I cut some camellias to brighten up the coffee table. The flower is about 4-5 inches across!

Happy mini-time!

Idske

What else? more pots...

I've not had much time for miniatures except pottery. It works for me that I have a set time away from home, where I can concentrate on pottery only!
There are several new pots that might be good enough for a mould, and there are some more blue and white ones about to go in the kiln. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to take photos.

Except for these two! The bigger one is huge as 12th scale goes, about 2 inch high. They will shrink about 10-15% in the first firing.

And these in red and orange, they have been fired, but didn't come out as expected. A bit blotchy and thin in places so they will be refired with another layer of the glaze.

The lighter one will be very different when fired and the pink ones will be a warm red! I think that one of the most difficult parts of making tiny pottery is the glazing, it rarely turns out as expected. Still, I'm quite pleased with these!

Oh and I promise to take more photos!


Idske

Giveaway 15 December 2013

Sorry I couldn't make it any clearer

And the winner is: number 20 out of 51  which is Blanche!

Congratulations!   Blanche please send me your address on idskeh @ gmail.com.

Giveaway - Blue and white vase

It's been a while since I have posted and I've passed 100 followers! It's hard to tell with Google+ circles and all that... Thank you all so much for commenting, it's the best reward for blogging! 

I thought I'd get back in your good graces with a giveaway and it just had to be pottery. This vase is a fraction over an inch in diameter and a bit under an inch high. It's not perfect, with a bit of bleeding of the blue into the glaze, but it's hand made by me...

Blue and White Vase - giveaway 15 Dec 4pm

Rules as usual:

 

- leave a comment on this post;

- have another chance with a mention on your own blog;

- the winner to send me their address within a week or so of the deadline of 15 December 4pm in the UK.

Good luck!   Idske

Blue and White Pottery Shoppe and the Apeldoorn show

I'm slowly but surely making progress with the filing box project. It is now firmly a Blue and White Pottery Shoppe with a few items of furniture. Not a very original name, but who knows the right name will at some point show up... Still quite a bit of detail and pictures on the walls to add -or shelves for some more pottery- but the overall look is how I want it.

Last week I did my first ever course at the Apeldoorn show, well the day before. David Iriarte taught us the fine art of marbling, 'oldifying' a mirror, both as part of a trumeau, all in only 6 hours. All parts had been cut for us, but  Ingeborg Landers translated for us - Spanish to Dutch.

A trumeau was a hall table with a mirror underneath, so the ladies of the house could check their shoes and skirts before leaving the house. In very grand houses, they might be a shaped mirror, with a beautiful painting above it, but ours was a hall table, with a drawer for gloves.  The drawer will have a drawer pull eventually.   Of course, by now the mirrors all show signs of their age. It's quite amazing, what can be achieved with some paint and a toothbrush. Aiming and actually hitting around the edges was the real trick here...

Getting there after a few false starts...

 some of the finished trumeaus

Our table, never even noticed the chaos!
That's David on the right- somehow Ingeborg managed to stay out of all my photos!

My loot!

I already had the small table, the mirror and the rug, but everything else if from the show. You can really see the mirror under the table, reflecting the ginger jar and round vase. I just love the plate by Cocky Wildschut. It's of a sailing ship, called a schouw, like we used to have when I was a teenager.
The other pots are by Elizabeth Causeret, the candlesticks and urns in front of the mirror are by David Iriarte. I'm sorry I couldn't show them off any better.  The 4 wine glasses are by Leo Reijnders (I think). He was in a corner of the hall and demonstrating his skills. He made it look easy ...

Happy mini-time!

Idske

More pottery and a castle...

The summer is well and truly over. Autumn has arrived with pretty colours and dampness. Not a lot of proper rain, but it's trying...

It almost a month ago that I posted. I've just had such a busy summer with non-minis things, it was lovely. I love Autumn too as long as it doesn't rain all the time and so far we've been lucky.

Yesterday the pottery classes started again and lots of pots have been fired over the summer, all but one in blue and white. The bowls are 25mm in diameter (1"), smallest is about 8mm in diameter (1/3").

I've started another tulip vase, the idea is to have more tiers and square pots rather than the round ones of the previous tulip vase. Not quite sure where it's going yet, but the idea is there. I'll update as it develops.

The other project I'm working on is for our school. The reception class (4 year olds) were let loose on this very well made castle. It's about 80cmx80cm and 40cm high at the tip of the church roof.

Within about 4 weeks their play with knights, horses and swords has wreaked havoc with the battlements, the drawbridge, portcullis and main door. Some are old 'injuries'. The rescued bits have been re-glued, but there is still a lot missing. One tower now has new battlements.

Still to do is the front of the castle, the tower on the other side and some bigger bits on the taller towers. And of course the drawbridge, portcullis and main door.  The pointy roof on the first photo also needs something, to make it a bit safer for 4 year olds. And then it needs painting and I haven't found the right colour yet. I really have to hold back from making some improvements and keep in mind that it is a children's toy and it should all be as child-proof as possible.  It sits on my coffee table at the moment because it doesn't fit anywhere else, so I will try to finish it by next weekend - I want my coffee table back!

I've also been working on a better work space. I spend so much time trying to find things or setting up the power tools, that there isn't any time left to make anything! Not good, so in the holidays when he is back from uni, my youngest will have to share his bedroom with my tools and projects. He knows and says he doesn't mind, if I don't mind if he makes use of it too.. I've got the plan and a work table and 90cm high kitchen table to put the power tools on, but they are all still in bits. These are the table legs for the work table in the corner where the higher table will go.

You'll have to wait a bit for some photos as the project has ballooned a bit. I'm now also painting the walls and possibly replacing the carpet with laminate. Possibly, because that is quite a job with a very heavy bed and wardrobe still in the room. Neither fit through the door. I might just give up on that one, or wait until the boys are both here at Christmas.  

Happy mini-time,

Idske