Resolutions?

It's been a few weeks since my last post, just before Christmas to be precise.  I tried last week but whatever I did I couldn't upload any photos. First of all, a very happy new year to everyone!

One of my resolutions is to finish UFOs - Un Finished Objects, of which I have quite a few.  The first one is this pot of hydrangeas. I made the flowers a few years ago, but all the leaves were loose in a box, the usual fate of a UFO. The wooden vase is from a gentleman who came to our village summer fair a few years ago and among his wares were a few very nice miniatures.

Apart from trying to find more of my UFOs, I now have all the stuff to make the lamps for in the shop box. This is my first attempt at a lamp shade. It's made from brass wire, soldered and painted white. The idea is to  put a creamy silk fabric on it. Just not sure if it needs another one or two vertical supports...  All five lamps for the shop box will be 3V LEDs with a switch each connected to a battery pack with 2 AAA batteries.

The wall sconces at the back I've had for years and as I didn't like the plastic balls used as lamp shades I decided to take them apart. The one on the left I've antiqued with a 'green gold' paste to get rid of the very brassy look. I like it so the other one will go the same way. They have 12V lights for the dollshouse and I'm planning on a shade in the shape of a shell. I've no idea yet how to make that though. I'll try with paper.  On other blogs it all looks so easy! Maybe they just leave out all the time it takes to experiment?

Tonight is the first pottery class of the new year and who knows I might have something to post about tomorrow!

PS I'm still getting lots of errors even when just typing in this post, hope that's not a sign of blogger having more problems...

Merry Christmas to you all!

I haven't done much about miniatures, except for embroidering the oriental rug. Preparations for Christmas with my two boys and work are taking all of my time. Loving it though!  They are both here and so far the eldest has shaved off the beard (yes, that's right the beard). Should I say thank goodness or stay quiet about it? Now it's just a question of getting him to a hairdressers and feeding him properly for a few weeks...

Meanwhile here is an update on the oriental style rug.

The sides are half way and the first branch is complete. The update on the 10th every month on the Yahoo Petitpointers group is keeping me going with the background stitching. There's nothing like a deadline, even if it is self imposed.  I'm still more or less on track for 400 hours of stitching. I'm hoping to finish up to the half way mark by the next Petitpointers update, and who knows I might even do that, because we all have so much time over Christmas, now don't we...  :))

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for following my blog in 2012!

The ...... Antiques shop?

I've agreed with a miniatures friend that it won't be called the boxfile anymore. Actually, I was told Not Ever to call it that again, or else... I should start treating it as the upmarket, really?, antiques shop it will eventually be. It still needs a name, though. Maybe once I get going on the outside, the name will suddenly reveal itself. Come to think of it, I've never done a project inside first, but this one just doesn't want to tell me what it wants to be on the outside.

The outside is giving me headaches! I took some photographs of the little garden corner I made last year. I still have some of the brick stuff left, and could give the antiques shop brick walls, but I also want to make steps up to the door, as it opens outwards, and that means it needs a pavement in front of the shop. The steps could be stone with railings on either side and the pavement brick, just like the village High Street here.  Too much brick, maybe?

Wall detail with Freda's clematis

The inside is more or less decorated, now it's paintings, and some small items on a few shelves, books, linen in the cupboard and weird stuff in boxes on the floor to make it into more of an antiques shop and of course, lamps, candles and wall sconces to complete the inside.

The tulip vase looks quite at home in here. 

I've just realised that I have a pot of tulips in the garden corner that I could try out in the tulip vase. Got to run, I'm off to play...

Happy mini time,  Idske

Yeah, the tulip vase is fired!

Here it is, finally! I'm quite proud of my first major project!  I started this tulip vase back in May.

It's 12cm high (4.75"), more for a grand mansion than my Georgian townhouse, but that can't be helped and it will get a good place in my dollshouse. I'm planning another one, but probably with square pots, like the one I originally saw in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

I've also made some more tiles with a different type of clay, hoping to make them more uniform and easier to decorate. That's another project in progress.  It's a good thing to have several things on the go and at different stages in pottery, at least I'll be producing more to help fill up the kiln :).

Four of the other pots have also been fired ( all four in the photo of the boxfile below, one on the table and three on the floor). Several others went in with experimental glazes that haven't worked very well, these are going to be fired again. Two of those with a dark blue glaze, which somehow was pale grey-green and much too thin after the first firing. The other two are also blue and white.

All but the flat dish on the floor to the right, are mine!

I really like the two in the middle on the floor. They have a different glaze that is a bit whiter, if that makes sense. The Delft type glaze is ever so slightly yellow. All pots except for the Japanese one are earthenware.

Fabulously Small's give away

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http://fabulouslysmall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/yes-im-very-delighted-to-let-you-know.html

Monique's miniatures are just beautiful!

Thanks Ilona, I managed to get it just where I wanted it!                                                         ===>

On my own 'progress' the only news is that some of my pottery should be fired this Tuesday! Other than that I'm doing lots of embroidery (the oriental rug) and lots of 'research'. It's really just spending oodles of time on other blogs/websites, haha.

We had a lovely autumn day here, it was lovely and sunny for a walk near Mayfield in East Sussex!

Aren't they lovely barns, never seen anyone here, but there are a few horses..

Just a beautiful play of light on an old wall

Lots of mud before getting to the gate!

Hope to have some mini-stuff to talk about next time :)

Idske

Tulipvase progress

Finished decorating the tulipvase, all that's left to do is glazing and firing. I'll glaze it next week and then it's waiting for the kiln to be filled. As Yolande, the pottery teacher, is producing a lot for Christmas, I probably won't have wait too long.

And another pot was fired, I expected it to be olive green, but apparently I had the wrong glaze. As the blue and white is black when you paint it, glaze is mostly greyish, white with a hint of blue or green or just murky. I still like it!

The glaze has bubbled on the inside of this pot, which is about 1 inch diameter. Just trying to decide whether it is a plant pot or a pot for the kitchen....

Idske

Apeldoorn 2012!

I went to the Apeldoorn Show last Sunday. It was quite a last minute decision as I didn't arrive in the Netherlands until Saturday 6pm after a -thankfully- uneventful drive. It took quite some time to have a look at all on offer at the show. There were some stalls with seriously beautiful furniture, porcelain and glass, awe inspiring!  

A lovely potter, Cocky Wildschut was kind enough to talk to me about her porcelain techniques and give me some tips to take back to my class. I also bought this lovely blue and white dish from her! 

I didn't stop there, though..

The next item was the glass decanter, unfortunately I forgot the name of the maker. His glass was just beautiful and I had to keep in mind what I wanted for my house, because I could have really gone overboard and bought lots of glass.

In front of the boxfile, which really needs a new name, are all of my goodies from Apeldoorn. Lots of jewellery findings for making lamp shades, candle holders, picture frames and anything else I can think of for the boxfile shop, some 'linden' wood (lime wood?) and small clamps, as you can never have enough clamps when making miniature furniture! :)

The Apeldoorn October 2012 Show

Happy mini-time!  Idske