Lots of distractions

As soon as I had made the fireplace for my 1/24 scale house I became dissatisfied with it. I could have kicked myself for forgetting to add the 'wood' at the right time. So I have been looking for a box of suitable size to form the basis for another fireplace - remembering to add the wooden mantel at the right time this time - so far this box has eluded me.

I busied myself making a chair from a Petite Properties kit and started on the geraniums from etsy. These geraniums are important. 

All my life as a child there was a pot of geraniums ( red ones) on the window sill at my grandmothers - I still am transported back there every time I smell that geranium smell when I am potting up tubs at the back of my real house.

My little house as yet has no window sill - in fact the front of this house lifts off - but I intend to remedy that eventually.

This is the first time I have attempted a miniature flower kit - maybe 1/24 scale was not the way to go. I finished them but may tweak in the end. They are convincing enough from a distance.

The 'china' pot is a bit big - this will have to be tweaked!

I then got further distracted by deciding to slightly change the shade of pink in the kitchen of the Pink House. ( 1/12 scale) I used a Laura Ashley paint for this.

And then I came to a halt again.

You may have spotted some purchases but I'll get back to those.

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My 1:24 house

This is a little cottage by Julie Bennett whose houses I love.

I bought this one as it reminded me of the shape of my grandmother's house in the 1960's.

It has the same four windows in the front and a door in the middle - typical of many Northern Ireland farmhouses from the era. I am not sure when the real house was built but the family were certainly living in it in the 30's and 40's - perhaps even earlier.

I am going to digress a little - my first ever doll's house was what I now believe to be a Triang 50 brought home when I was about 7 - hiding behind my father's back. It was a constant disappointment to me as it didn't have enough rooms - I wanted all the rooms in our real house to be represented - and my Triang as far as I remember only had 2 rooms ! I don't remember much about the furniture - the only bits I remember liking was a red plastic garden set.

My Julie Bennett house has some of the same annoyances for me!

The four rooms ( and her house did have 4 rooms so that was okay) are not even sizes. They are connected by an arch - but that's not right either. There is no staircase.

Once I came to terms with it not being quite as I wanted it to be inside I decided I would try to replicate the essence of the house rather than the house as it was - indeed even my memory is probably hazy on some things.

I decided to start with the living room ( this is in my house on the left - in the real house it was on the right ) 

I chose this room as it was the larger of the downstairs rooms . It was certainly the room in the real farmhouse that figured most largely in my life.

The real house had, by the time I was a child in the early sixties, a 1940's fireplace. It was simply a living room. I know at some time there must have been cooking facilities in this room so instead of the 1940's fireplace I decided to make one at which cooking could take place.

 The family consisted of my grandfather and grandmother and their 5 children so I knew the cooking facilities in place in the 1960's could never have been the ones they used.

I remember going into many farmhouses in the 60's where there were similar fireplaces still in place.

In one in particular I visited there was a large fan bellows to help with the fire . It was operated with a large wheel to the side of the fireplace - I remember on one rare occasion being allowed to turn the wheel to fan the fire.

I used photos from various farmhouses in the North of Ireland as inspiration.

I constructed ( rather badly) the basic shape and indulged in my new love of poly filla.

The hearth is also made from card covered with poly filla , tiles marked out and then varnished- I added real coal dust and coffee(!) to give it that used look. ( this is the very cheapest coffee from the Bargain shop - fairly undrinkable - but at least I found a use for it.

The mantel was an after thought - it should have been added earlier in the construction. As I had no brown paint I used the coffee again to colour a mixture of glue and poly filla. 

It is only sitting in place with blue tack - I may revisit the idea once I become more proficient. It does look messy - but let's face it things

 were messy in those days and often home made.

I love the floors in Julie's houses but I may have to cover the lovely wooden floor as it is too fresh looking .I cannot recollect what was on the living room floor so I will have to consider this carefully.

The clothes airer is from a Petite Properties kit.

What I'm working on - subtitle - adventures with Poly Filla

Hello there

I have been working at my 1/24th Shepherds Hut kit I bought at Miniatura from Petite Properties

http://www.petite-properties.com/

This is a fairly ambitious project for me as I usually buy a completed house and work on little bits and pieces for it.

These kits are laser cut and are nicely packaged with very comprehensive instructions. I started to paint first as I knew I would need to do this before putting any part of it together.
At the moment I have everything painted except the wheels and steps. I chose a soft colour palette as I wanted a Shabby Chic look.

I had spoke to a member of their team and she was talking about using poly filler for some finishes so I thought I would try this - mistake - I didn't like it so at the moment I have come to a temporary halt because I am cutting coffee stirrers to make a wooden effect for the outside of the hut. I ended up buying a pack of coffee stirrers on ebay as I would have had to drink enormous amounts of coffee out to get them otherwise!

This is how things are looking.

 This picture shows the finished hut - without finishes

 The laser cut pieces smell smokey !  Not unpleasant despite us being non smoking .

 The black piece is a woodburning stove which is included as well as the bed, and a table for the hut

You can see what I mean about the finish - it just wasn't what I wanted. The stick cutting is going slowly - very slowly.

I have the shepherd's bed in place , the flooring is printed paper .I really need to work at a table for this project - so consequently I have been getting on slowly as I like to sit by the fire - May has been cold here.

Secondly the little 1/24th house from Julie Bennett. 

I have been at the poly filler again.

This is how I am making a fireplace. I plan a whole post on this house - but for now here is my second effort with the poly filler. I made the fireplace from thick board , afterwards I realised I needed a mantel so now I am trying to figure to how to add one out of a lolly stick and card.

Dolls house fair in Belfast

This is the first time a doll's house fair has been held in Belfast for 10 years I discovered after talking to Gail from MGM fairs who organised it. Although small  there were lots of lovely things to buy (too many). I made a list this time - promptly set off without it and still managed to buy a few things- some of which were on my list (thankfully) when I got home to find it on the bed.

The photographs firstly are of the fantastic work by ladies who crochet and knit ( which I don't being completely hand less).

My granddaughter has a blue jumper exactly like this one they had on display in miniature - except hers has a snowman instead of Santa ( knit by other grandma)

Sorry the quality is poor but I used my phone.

Here are my favourite purchases

from Merry Gourmet and Magpie Miniatures

have set them on the 1?24th table - not sure I will get away with the phone - probably 1:12

I am rubbish at scale.

The primroses don't look out of place though.

This is rest of my buys. I have to confess only the bucket was on the list.

Just nipping in

Hi just a few photographs as promised from Minatura in Birmingham in April.

This was the first Miniatures show I have been too  - it was so easy to access from the airport when I flew in from Belfast - I would definitely go again - despite the delay in the flight on the way back Sunday night.

I loved the work of the The Fiddler's Club.

All their little garden were completely handmade- so lovely and so talented.

I loved especially the little red trike in the last picture - very nostalgic for me.

Speech after long silence - and all that.

Well hello again,
It's been quite a year and a bit since I last posted. My little things have taken a back seat for quite a while during 2014. Lots of other things that were more important ( and rightly so)got in the way.
I eventually started fiddling with my little places again at the end of 2014 and really got it all back in the early months of 2015.

What have I been doing?

Well I'm still painting at white wood furniture which I have found relaxing

Here's my latest little desk.

I was lucky enough to get to my first Miniatures show at Miniaturia in Birmingham (60th birthday present from my elder daughter). It was a great experience

I was entranced by the work of the Fiddlers Club. I have yet to transfer pictures from phone to computer so will try to get round to posting these later.

I had a lovely day. Bought a few(!) bits and pieces including a 1/24 Shepherd's hut kit from Petite Properties. 
Really enjoying this scale. SO oops I bought a 1:24 cottage from Julie Bennett last week. I have managed to get it into the house without anyone noticing.

 Here it is sitting beside my Pink House to give an idea of the size. It has four rooms.  

Part of the roof lifts off and then the whole of the front lifts off. It is currently painted cream.

The little table you can just see in the left hand downstairs room was from a lot I got on ebay - the table looked small int he listing and when it arrived it was obviously 1:24 so I have a piece of furniture - yay.

My other recent arrival was a gift from my friend in England - a lovely little battery light which gives a lovely feel to the Boathouse.