A display added

 

When I was looking through some old magazines I came upon cut outs for packets of seed.  Instantly I knew I wanted to add this to my shop.  I did some searching on the internet for ideas and found something I liked.  I set upon designing it, including the name of the company, which I also copied from the internet.  I don't worry about copying as I am not selling, so it should be alright. I used matboard offcuts and paper.

Back again after 7 years...

 I have ome back to my miniatures again after a very long absence, and I am starting to enjoy it again. I am currently working on all the unfinished projects.  There are plenty. :-)  My Witch's Cottage is one, and then there is my bigger dollshouse and, of course, the Florist. The Witch's Cottage (if you are interested) is nearly finished. The Florist has my main interest at the moment.

In 20214 I finished the baskets for the upstairs workbench. Since then I have added a few more items.  Well, since then as in this week! ;-)

Towel, soap and container on the wall added

bucket, dust brush and broom added.
The big container with the tissue needs some more work done.

Items added to the workbench, like pruners, garden gloves,
a basket with twine, a mug and the flowers needed
to create a huge bouquet in the big vase on the floor

A garden gnome for the shop.  Happy that you can only
see the imperfections when you look at the picture.... ;-)

A display bench in the making.  Colours kept in line with the upstairs funiture.

The display bench in place, next to a basket cabinet I made years ago

I also made a few crates to lift the plants somewhat higher
and make room for extra 'for sale' items in the shop. 
The basket contains seasonal catalogues for plants and seeds.

The display bench in place with some of the plants I have made. 
The tiles in the oblong basket are 'real' tiles, decorated with decals. 
The gnome is hanging about waiting for its rightful place in the shop.

An overview of the shop nearing its finished stage.

A wall-mounted earthenware pot with plants

Street view.  The plant on the right needs a clearer picture. 
It's a Xanthorrhoea or 'grass tree', native to Australia.

The street has a name and the shop a house number.
Pepermuntlaantje translates into: Peppermint Lane.

A few night shots:

Baskets

Just a quick update to show that I am still alive and kicking!

From time to time I try to go back to my hobby, but I am still not always in the right frame of mind after the loss of my husband.  However, something is pulling me in the right direction... :-)

After a bit of work on my dollshouse I wanted to go back to my florist and do some work on the upstairs floor.  The workbench needed a few drawers or something to hold tools and stuff, so I decided to go for baskets.

As the walls, and therefore the workbench, are not square it takes a bit of extra work, but in reality it is not too difficult.  The baskets I am making of balsa (bottom) and paper (woven part).  It is a very simple procedure albeit time consuming, but that's miniatures for you.

I haven't finished the work yet, but wanted to show a few pictures of what I am doing at present.  The blue basket on the bench is a finished product that I made some time ago. It's also made of paper.

An update will follow when I have finished the baskets.  Till then.

The rest of the kits

Indeed I had more time to make flowers.  I had brought three kits with me and discovered a little plastic bag with a waterlilies workshop, so I have been able to keep myself busy.  After the hollyhocks followed a pink hibiscus, an orchid (Phalaenopsis) and the waterlilies.  I also made a cyclamen, but that was done with some material that my friend still had lying around.  The waterlilies aren't finished yet, so hence no picture.

pink hibiscus

cyclamen

phalaenopsis

That's all for the moment.  You'll see more when I feel like it again... (plenty of kits to go)

More flowers

On holiday in New Zealand and staying with a friend who also has miniatures for a hobby, I couldn't help but make some more flowers for either my florist or to just plant in a garden one day.  I'd packed some kits in my suitcase and the weather appeared to be just right for some indoor fun: it's been raining on and off!

We both have a series of kit sets for plant/flower making and we both happened to have hollyhocks.  So, a picture to show the results:

I do have a few more kits at hand, but don't know how we will be going timewise.  You'll find out when I update my blog again. ;-)

Tragic events

At the beginning of this year, on the 23rd of January to be precise, the title of my post was: Back on deck.  Well, that didn't last long, because just then my husband passed away under tragic circumstances and of course, I was devastated.  Miniatures did no longer appear on my horizon for a long time, other than preparing and tutoring workshops at our Brisbane dollshouse club.  I felt obliged, because I was, and still am, workshop convenor.

In a way that was good, because it kept me going and it kept me interested to a degree.  At the moment I am still battling depression because of what happened, but I have finally taken the step to get back to my miniatures.  It will keep me distracted and that is what I need.

Since back then I was working on the Florist I decided I will keep going with that for a while.  It's a bit difficult at times, because I needed to finish and place the stairs and they were made for me by my husband...  I guess these things will happen from time to time (as they happen in other areas as well), so on with it and get them painted.  I am not sure I will leave the white parts as they are, but I can ponder about it.  In the meantime there are other objects that I can concentrate on.

The stairs, painted white and green

The original plan was to have this fantastic bouquet of flowers in the window as a show piece for the shop.  Well, that will no longer be possible, because over time something unfortunate happened with the bouquet.  As you know, most of the flowers we miniaturists make are worked on florist wire: metal.  For some reason or other, it may be the 'clay' in which they were stuck, the wire had started to rust through and broke off.  So, after a while all my flowers were lying on the ground....  The only solution I can see at the moment is to gather all the flowers and the big vase and put them in the 'work area' where somebody is arranging a beautiful bouquet!

The bouquet as it was

The bouquet 'being arranged'

I wanted to start something new too, so I made a blackboard to advertise the flowers outside the shop.  As this is a shop with a lot of Dutch flowers and a Dutch feel about it, I have decided that, yes, it has an English name, but...... I want it to be a flower shop somewhere in the Netherlands. ;-)

The blackboard reads:

This week's specials

Tulips

Irises

Daffodils

€4.50/bunch

Parrot tulips

€5.00

So close to Christmas with all the goings on of break-up parties etc. I don't know if I will have a lot of time to consistently work, but I aim to do so.  So, hopefully, see you soon again.  In the meantime I will think of what I will add next...

Back on deck

First of all a Happy New Year to all.  As you can see, I am back on deck and couldn't wait to get going again, so I was looking for something 'easy' to do.  I still have a load of kits lying around.  It's so handy for when your creative juices aren't flowing yet....  :-)

However, I can forget about 'easy', because this chair was not as easy as I thought it would be.  When searching through my container with all the kits I came across this, quite modern, chair and I could picture it in my contemporary shop.  The chair is actually a set of four, with four different animals as a back rest, but I only had this one, so I figured it would fit nicely in the shop, which consists of odds and ends anyway.

It was a lot of work, quite fiddly, but I am happy with the result and it got me back into miniatures again.  The animal had to be cut out with the scroll saw and the legs and back rest are connected with wooden 'pins', so I had to drill holes in the tops of the legs and the dowels.  Not an easy task.  The legs went alright, the dowel protested heavily, but the parts that didn't go too neatly have been covered up by the upholstery!

The upholstery is by way of woven ribbon in two colours.  It was something I had always wanted to do, so that worked out well.  And here's the chair:

It probably looks a bit too clean and new, but so does the rest upstairs.  A bit further down the track I may do something about it, but not just yet.

No idea what comes next.  I will ponder over that and you will find out when I post another update.  See you then.