More pottery

I really haven't forgotten about posting, but sometimes life gets in the way and other things take over for a while. Nothing unpleasant, but there just wasn't any time left for minis. Weeeell, except for a visit to the show in Apeldoorn, where I bought some tools. A milling/drilling machine and a 'preeg' set from Tine Krijnen for tooling/decorating leather for books or a leather inset in a desk. I'm still experimenting and will post if and when I have something to show you!

In the meantime I have had a very productive run of making more pots!
This is what it looked like when I left the pottery class and I can tell you I was really pleased with the results, even though it doesn't look like much yet.

That still looks pretty messy, and as I filled the moulds again just before I left, these pots had to stay in the mould overnight.  After some serious cleaning up I now have these ready for the bisque firing.

With all the bits of clay coming off the moulds I made a few more plates, but they aren't out of the mould just yet.  The open bowl was originally the same as the one on the right of it, but on the edge of the pot it was too thin, and so I have the makings of a fruit bowl as well as the vase!  I'm still trying to decide whether to stay with blue and white or experiment a bit with other colours...

Happy mini-time!
Idske

Congratulations!

I never thought I'd have 61 entries (many twice for putting it on their own blog). Thank you for participating!

And the winner is Josje!

Please send me your details to idskeh @ gmail.com, so I can put the tiles in the post to you.

Thank you all for following my blog and entering the draw for the giveaway!

It won't be very long before I have another draw, either for one year on Blogger or for reaching 100 followers!

Happy mini-time,   Idske

Thank you Jonquil!

A few weeks ago I won Latchkey and Jonquil's giveaway and when I came back from visiting family in the Netherlands, I found a package in the post with a lovely card of a peony, my favourite flower and a little box with the cushion!  I will now have to make a new settee as the only one I have is my very first attempt at furniture making from about 20 years ago. It's in the banner photo above, but it's also a bit scruffy and that just isn't good enough!

Isn't it absolutely perfect?

Thank you Jonquil, it's just as beautiful as I imagined! Idske

PS: Tomorrow at 4pm my son will make the draw for my tiles giveaway, so you still have 

about 24 hours to enter your name! 

! GIVEAWAY !

I've been working on these tiles for about 2 months and finally after 3 firings I have enough of them! 

I had meant to do this when I passed the 50 followers about a month ago. 

So a bit late, but I hope you don't mind... 

They are earthenware tiles with under glaze hand painted decoration,

 after Dutch 17th century tiles.  

First there was a square of 9 tiles, but I think this will be easier to make into something!

Here are 15 tiles for one of you !

Rules: be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post.

If you put it on your side bar you will have 2 chances to win!

The draw is on 14th April 2013!

Good luck,  Idske

More tiles and my 'work space'

Is the blue better than in the previous post?

The tiles for the kitchen are all fired now and I really like them!  I've made another 10 or so of the corner tiles, just to have the choice of the best ones, as some of these are slightly too big. How much of a perfectionist will I allow myself to be?

Just to give an idea of the size 

I've also put some around the 2 flower baskets. Not quite sure what to do with these...

On several other blogs I've seen some fabulous work spaces. Mine is in the dining room and most of my supplies are in my grandmother's cupboard.  I like to work from a board that was originally meant to hold the wood lathe. It nice and heavy and doesn't move around with a cloth or place mat under it.  It could still be used for that, if only I could bring myself to tidy it all up.:))  The entire board fits under the cupboard and there is a small cupboard in the corner for the box shop.  I don't want to use power tools here so they have to stay in the kitchen, which isn't ideal as it's quite a task getting them out of their boxes and set up properly.

Although the dining room isn't a bad work space, I would love a room where I can have everything set up ready to use, including the table saw, scroll saw and lathe, space for glueing, drying, houses, roomboxes and anything else I could possibly think of!

Lola likes to sit in the middle of the table watching me just like this!
She's a seal point with blue eyes and has a very definite opinion on everything

Happy mini-time!

Pots and more from the kiln

The pottery class was lovely!  Lots of things were fired and I actually like them enough to consider them for the dollshouse. The lighting isn't great because it is definitely blue and white, not the almost black and yellow in the photos. I'll try again during the day, I was just too excited with the results, so this will have to do.

These tiles are for the kitchen, it's turning into a rather Dutch kitchen in my Georgian house, but I'll just have to invent a story to fit how that happened :)). I've made more of the corner tiles, which may be fired soon too. Another 3 on either side and the 4 missing ones in the middle and half a dozen extra, so I'll have a bit of choice!

All the finished items put together!

The dish is just about 2.5cm in diameter (1")

and the vase, which weighs just 2 grams is 2.5cm  (1") high and 3cm (1.25") diameter and the best one I've made so far!

I've also made a few flower basket tiles, but they don't have a home yet. 

Happy mini-time!

Idske

Oriental style rug update

Welcome to my new followers, thank you for taking an interest in my attempts at making miniatures!

Sorry I haven't posted for a few weeks, I've had the flu and have not been up to much of anything other than embroidering the rug. It's going much better than I expected and I won't need 400 hours, thankfully. I'm up to about 180 hours. It's very difficult to keep track of the exact amount of time, when you're also doing other things, such as cooking or watching TV. :))   Most of the rest I've still got to do is the background, which is quite boring, but you can also get on with it without having to look at the pattern all the time.

It's on 32 count joblean type fabric, in 225 rows of 185 cross stitches, which makes it just over 15x19cm (6x7.5 inches). This equates to a Real Life rug of about 180 x 230 cm (72x90 inches). Not huge, but that also means it won't cover up the pretty parquet flooring already in the room.  BTW I decided to change the colour of the walls (currently green) to either cream or a very very pale blue. That will make the panels with the cranes stand out much better. I posted about the crane paper in September 2012 and no I haven't made the panels yet.  Things will suddenly come together though, I'm sure-ish.

Happy mini-time!