CORRECTION July 27, 2015 ....A. THEDE made this embroidery frame.

CORRECTION.... This piece was made by A. THEDE.


Long ago at a miniature show in Chicago I discovered furniture by Roger Gutheil. He made beautiful things. Not exactly in my budget at that time but I managed to buy two pieces from him. The drop leaf Queen Anne dining room table in the back ground is his.

I also bought this embroidery frame. It is a really wonderful little piece, everything on it is adjustable just like it is on the 1: 1 piece it was copied from. I had no idea at that time I would be doing any embroidery work myself one day.

I am hoping I will be able to work out a trade with a lovely lady that does beautiful petit point. It will be a work in progress that I will have to stitch on the frame when it arrives. There only needs to be a small amount of work on the canvas. I say canvas but it in miniature it will be worked in # 60 count silk gauze.

I don't think Roger is still making furniture. I have Googled his name and found some of his work still being sold. The prices now are much higher then they were when I bought these pieces.

whodathunkit

Some other sorts of things are arriving now for the house. I never would have thought a sink could be beautiful but I think this Belfast one is from Sussex Crafts. I really didn't realize the quality of their work intil I opened the parcel. http://www.sussexcrafts.com/ My photo doesn't show how nice their water taps are. I am really fussy about good hardware!!! The drain pipe and stopper fit perfectly into the hole in the sink too! I won't be using the brackets for the sink since in am going to build a cabinet but they may be useful for something else.

Take Two

Have you ever tried to make a wig for someone's head that is smaller than a pencil eraser? lol Thanks to Patty's tips, I managed it. http://patty-petit-orphelin.blogspot.com/ This time I gave the doll bangs to hide that rather unfortunate, odd hump in her forehead (you may call bangs fringe where you live).

I liked the idea of dressing her in silk ribbon because it doesn't need a hem. The silk is thinner than paper. The YLI silk ribbons I have are all white and off white. So I knew I would have to go back to the refrigerator to hunt for dyes. I didn't have any raspberries this week but I had blueberries! I tried to dye her skirt a bit darker then her blouse.

The last thing I did was her hair/. I wrapped her dressed body in aluminum foil so I wouldn't get hair and glue all over her dress. Now I see that holding her too tight didn't do her skirt much good. ARGH! I will try to fix it by wetting it again with hair spray tomorrow, maybe I can fix it.

There won't be a "Take Three"!!!

From now on if I post something that is going to be deleted I will say so at the very beginning of my post. That is a promise. I apologize to everyone. (blush)

I love all of your contributions to my blog. Thank you for all the time you spend here.

The Light Blues

I still have a few more of the darker blue pieces of Stokesay Ware I want to collect. I have a list I am working on. I will almost be sad when I have finished this part of my collection. I get such a thrill when a new piece arrives.

Today two pieces of the light blue china came. They are so beautiful, pictures don't do them justice!!! The pitcher is so fine. Meaning light and thin walled. There is a dish with a hole in it sitting on the top of the slop bucket serving like a funnel. Partially meant to cover the contents from view I assume. ;-)

I find the idea of re-purposing antiquated antiques fun to do in my own home. Since I will have a few modern facilities in my doll house, I am not sure what new use the slop bucket will be put to.

Cardboard, Paper, Scissors

I had to do some shopping today at Target. It is one of those stores that has everything! Going up and down the aisles suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks. There were these tiny shadowboxes with a hinged door and a magnet closure. They were less than an inch deep. I put two in my basket and continued shopping wondering what in the world I was going to do with them.

When I got home out came the cardboard, paper, scissors and glue. I covered everything in the inside of the box with one of my favorite papers. Then cut cardboard shelves to fit inside the box and covered those with the same paper.

It is so nice not to have all the Stokesay Ware packed away in little boxes. I can have this on my desk for inspiration, safe from dust, loss and curious paws. =^..^=

If you would like to watch a video of Stokesay Ware being made you can see it here. http://www.dollshousefestival.com/video/stokesay-ware.html

The Humble Beginnings Of Metalwork.

This is a piece I started a while ago in miniature, it is in 1: 12 scale. It is going to be an exact copy of the beautiful antique lanterns (street lights) that grace my neighborhood (Chickasaw Gardens). They have a sentimental meaning to me for reasons in that will become clear in the last part of this post. The photo at the top is the real one in my garden.

A few days ago Karin posted a picture of a gorgeous French iron lantern on her blog. http://karincorbin.blogspot.com/2010/08/architectural-images-from-normandy.html I was going to email these pictures to her but then I thought I would share them with you all.

Most people never see the humble beginnings of a piece of metal work. It is always looks ugly until the very last day when it is either polished or has been given a patina.

This piece is being fabricated out of several different metals I happened to have on hand. They were in scale to the parts I needed to make the faux iron work. It really doesn't matter what metals are used to make it. The piece will be oxidized black eventually. The top to the lantern (that has the light in it) I turned on a lathe into a bell shape. The faceted the sides of the turned piece were filed into an octagon. As you can imagine that is a lot of filing to get that shape! lol I have to carve the Chickasaw Indian's head out of wax and cast that element of the piece.

The real ones in my neighborhood were in a awful state when I moved here. They were broken and missing so many parts. None of them worked anymore. I found one for sale through a blacksmith friend of mine. It had been sold many years ago away from my neighborhood. I bought it and restored it myself. When the the association saw it in my garden they asked me to help them with all the others. They had tried for years but couldn't find anyone that could do the work. I am happy to say they have all been finished now by Robinson Iron. http://www.robinsoniron.com/

Keys

Please click on photo for a closer look.
Aren't they wonderful! There are tiny teeth in the keys. I first bought these when I was in Chicago but they disappeared along with all the other things that were stolen. I had to go digging through several websites on the Tom Bishop Show dealer list to figure out who I got them from. They came in today's mail from Italy.

Today I fiddled around with making different sets on key rings. For this one I used brass wire, cream leather and a Dersden die cut flower. I am sending them to Linda for her new project.

http://www.pimini.it/eng/index_eng.htm