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