Kensington Dollshouse Festival Part 2

The Monday after the dollshouse festival was a fun day in London. Mr. T2S and I headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum. With the museum map and a limited amount of spousal patience, I quickly devised a route through the museum that allowed us to see a small sampling of the extensive collection.

Several architectural models interested me, but I was attracted to this one because it is contained within a traveling box.

Architectural model of Pitt House; Sir George Gilbert Scott and W.B. Moffat; 1841.

I like the traveling box!

The ceramics exhibition was breathtaking! You may wish to click on the images to see the details.

Dish with peas; England, Staffordshire, about 1820; Minton's factory.
Bone china painted in enamels and gilded.

Vases with naturalistic flowers; England, Staffordshire, 1830-1840; Minton & Co.
Bone china painted in enamels and gilded.

Tile panel with vase of flowers; Delft, Netherlands, 1710-1750.

Also in the V&A museum, I found the same model of my first boombox in one of the display cases. Yikes, am I so old, that a purple, plastic boombox with mint green and peach "play" and "stop" buttons for the cassette tapes, is now a museum piece? 

This colorful diva of a stereo rocked my world with Madonna, Starship, and the Bangles.  Graphic via stereo2go.com

I quickly forgot about the 80s, as we headed to Covent Garden. It was a pleasant surprise to find a Ladurée shop! And even more pleasant that Hubby and our friend indulged me with a box of the scrumptious macaroons! The three of us stood in the square and moaned with pleasure as we sampled the flavors. Not a bad ending to our trip!

Kensington Dollshouse Festival - Part 1

I'm a little late in posting about our trip to Kensington Dollshouse Festival. However I want to share some photos of just a small portion of the fantastic work that we saw at the festival.

We had a short, but pleasant trip to London. It was our first time taking part in the Kensington Dollshouse Festival. We shared a table with Andrea Thieck, whom I think is one of the most stylistically diverse artisans I've met. Everything that she makes – from watering cans to LED lighted minerals – is a perfect replica of real life! And she is a delightful person as well.

Andrea Thieck

Of course, I did a bit of shopping between helping customers. How can one fight the urge to scoop up everything in sight, when it is all new and different?? Fortunately, I was able to control myself... ahem.. to a certain degree.

New items for the kitchen of the Tuscan Villa. 

Andrea thoughtfully found the bowl in the photo for my Tuscan Villa. It is by Sally Meekins. 

Every kitchen needs a few storage containers. The leather hanging bottle, wooden bucket and wooden storage container are by S & S Eismont.

The preserved tomatoes and onions and other glassware are from Country Treasures.

Not surprisingly, one of the busiest tables was Petite Properties. I fell for a lean-to greenhouse kit. It is going to be attached to my 1:48 flower shop. And then there was the impulse buy... a 1:144 Tulip Cottage kit. It was just too IRRESISTIBLY CUTE! 

1:144 Flower Pot Cottage Kit. Photo via petite-properties.com

I met Georgia Marfels from Germany. I can best describe her work as humorously dark and magical; it makes you want to look closely at every piece. The dissected frogs brought back memories from high school Biology class!

Georgia Marfels

One of the best parts of traveling to the festival was meeting artisans that I hadn't previously known about. One such person is David Provan. He makes incredibly detailed wood turnings and metal pieces; including this window hardware. He patiently explained how to install one of his door latches in my Tuscan Villa. 

Window hardware by David Provan.

Andrea introduced me to Jana from Germany. Her books are works of art. Pictured below is the Van Gogh's House pop-up book.

Janas Minibuecher. Photo via janas-minibuecher.de

More from London in the next post!

Kensington-Here We Come!

We are just about ready to leave for our first show in London. I'm excited! To commemorate the occasion (well...to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee...really) I thought it would be fun to do a little collaboration with Ruth Stewart. She made these delightful cakes and cupcakes. Do you see the tiny gemstones? Ruth has such a colorful and fresh approach to her work; I can't help but smile when I see her desserts!

If you will be attending Kensington Dolls House Festival, please stop by our table and take a look at Ruth's work!

The Texas Show and Our First Workshop

It was a weekend of firsts for Mr. T2S and me – our first trip to Texas, our first time teaching a workshop, and our first Texas BBQ! We enjoyed them all!! Everything in Texas seems to be a bit bigger, including the hospitality.

Our weekend began with teaching a workshop. Eight fun ladies signed up to create the vintage style Christmas hutch with glitter houses. We had a great time assembling the houses and electrifying them. And I'm not embarrassed to say that I learned a lot from our students!

 

Mr. T2S and I had just enough time to set up the table before the show preview. We enjoyed meeting new people and seeing the work of some of the top miniature artists. I even had a few moments to do a bit of shopping. I was happy to see Helen David. Since I was a young girl, I've admired her gorgeous flowers that are arranged so thoughtfully. A former florist, she pays special attention to the design and historical accuracy of the arrangements and the containers. I treated myself to the tiniest stem of lilies of the valley.

Lilies of the valley by Helen David

I also chose a basket of mushrooms from Autumn Leaf Studio. Even though Mr. T2S told me that some of the types of mushrooms are not appropriate for an Italian scene, I plan to use it in my Tuscan farmhouse anyway.

Mushrooms by Autumn Leaf Studio. Basket by Al Chandronnait.

Tomorrow we are off to London for the Kensington Dollshouse Festival. We will share a table in the ground floor hall with Andrea Thieck. If you will be at the fair, please stop by and say hello!

Sturbridge Workshop - Hurry!

It's been a rainy Saturday; perfect weather for packing up the workshop supplies for Texas Miniature Showcase. Mr. T2S and I are really looking forward to having a fun class with a few little surprises included. 

Speaking of workshops, Sturbridge is just around the corner. If you are interested in taking the vintage-inspired Christmas hutch with glitter houses (scroll down the workshop list), please don't delay in registering. There is a very limited amount of time to let me know if you are interested. Please contact me through my website. 

On another note, life after the Chicago show is finally getting back to normal. We spent the last couple of weeks frantically preparing for our late addition to the Chicago dealer list and now we are taking a little rest before Dallas. We enjoyed meeting so many people in Chicago and seeing the extraordinary talents of miniaturists from around the globe. It was a very exciting experience for us!

A Study in Bleue

I was feeling inspired by the giant forsythia bush in my garden. These will be part of a new collection of kits.

50 Miniature Spring Tutorials

If you would like to add a link to the list, please leave a comment. Your suggestions are always welcome!

1. Customizing a plastic sheep Paizley Pawz
2. Needle felted sheep about.com
3. Grass Steve via thewhistlepost.com
4. Stone wall Carol Jones via YouTube
5. Cold porcelain daffodils Diane Harfield via YouTube
6. Baskets from paper Alice Zinn
7. Wicker basket Miniatures & maisons de poupées
8. Oval basket about.com
9. Bunny-shaped wooden basket babsiluv
10. Hat straw basket Doll Artists' Workshop
11. Opened parasol Gisele's Miniature Creations
12. Easter Peddler's Cart Joann L. Swanson
13. Leeks Angie Scarr
14. Pansies Alice Buerkle
15. Roof thatching Earth and Tree
16. Hats Cynthia Howe
17. Straw hat Jean Day
18. Printable hat box Jean Day
19. Fantasy fairy wings Deb Wood via CDHM
20. Watering can 1inchscaleminisbykris
21. Coloring Easter eggs Mary Eccher
22. Baby in a christening gown Doll Artists' Workshop
23. Printables for baby Erika via Picasa
24. Duck or bunny slippers Doll Artists' Workshop
25. Chocolate bunnies about.com
26. Hat-shaped cake about.com
27. Easter cookies about.com
28. Ham cane and slices drn7ztfsj via YouTube
29. Scene inside of egg about.com
30. Chocolate Easter eggs about.com
31. Marshmallow Easter treats about.com
32. Easter cupcakes about.com
33. Easter lilies about.com
34. Vintage seed packets printable Jean Day
35. Chicks about.com
36. Easter egg tree MsMiniLover via YouTube
37. Bread ring Joannesminis via YouTube
38. Birdhouses Joannesminis via YouTube
39. Birds nest about.com
40. Bird cage Court of Gypsies Miniatures
41. Wicker bird cage about.com
42. Paper tulips Brenda Shahzada via My Small Obsession
43. Tulips about.com
44. Irises about.com
45. Pussy willows about.com
46. Narcissus (in Italian) Pressature con il microonde
47. Jonquils (French) Les Maisons de Miki 
48. Printable flower pots True2Scale
49. Easter bunny mold clayminis 
50. Bunny cross stitch pattern Minna

Additional tutorials suggested by readers:

• Kilt/skirt CWPoppets

A Retreat into Quarter Scale

I was fortunate to be invited to an annual retreat for miniaturists. Last weekend, thirteen talented ladies gathered in a lovely house in the countryside for four days. We laughed, ate well, and shared our passion for miniatures while working on individual projects.

I took the opportunity to try a 1:48 scale Corner Shop from Petite Properties. Even though I have been hesitant to work in this small scale, I've really enjoyed it so far. I'm using the basic shell pieces that were provided, and creating the rest from bits and pieces of paper and wire. I think it will become a French flower shop. I hope to post more pics of it as it progresses.

The flooring is made from individual pieces of painted paper.

Ceiling of the first floor.