A Little Bit Of This & That...

Has been a while since I have been on here...life keeps throwing up its little distractions, you know how it is :) So I thought it was time to get my act together and put up another posting. This particular posting is a real bit of "this and that",  but hope you find it interesting. 

As time has gone on since last year, I have found my studio room changing and evolving. At the moment, I have two of my most favourite recent acquisitions sitting on my mantelpiece, which I thought I would share with you. 

c1930s Mosaic Vase

 A few months ago at a summer car boot sale, something rather special caught my eye. On close inspection, the owner told me that she had had it for decades, that it had been made in the 1930s and had been passed down to her. She went on to say that she was reluctantly selling as she had to downsize and relinquish some of her treasured possessions.  

It was a large vase covered mosaic style in an array of quite beautiful tiny pieces of antique china and pottery, many bits dating back to the 1800s! I simply fell in love with it there and then,  purchased it for a mere snip of a price and promised the lady that I would cherish it. 

It is now sitting pride of place on the mantelpiece of my studio room. I look at it every day and still love it as much as the first day I got it. To me it is like a picture and utterly fascinating. 

I realise it is not everyone's "cup of tea" as none of my offspring are fond of it. And in the same way that they react when I go on about  dolls house stuff, they simply smile and humour me when I mention it.  

F.G. Taylor Miniature Lead Cottage

Then there is this gorgeous little c1950s F.G. Taylor lead cottage, that came with a whole set of vintage lead toy animals. Of course I just couldn't part with it!  So it now resides tucked at an angle at the side of a plant pot on my mantelpiece. 

Apparently it should have a water wheel that sits along the back and side, but I don't mind that it is missing, as I think the cottage looks rather lovely as it is. 

And now for something a little random....

A Window Of A House Near Poole Harbour

A few weeks ago I spent a long weekend in a gorgeous little house right on Poole Harbour, on the south coast. Whilst walking along one of the streets close to Poole harbour, where all the wonderful old Georgian houses open right out onto the pavement, I was gobsmacked to see a window crammed full of antique miniatures. Very strange to find this in the window of someone's home and clearly displayed facing outwards for passers by to feast their eyes on.

So I just had to stop and take a photo didn't I...and here it is. The light kept reflecting on the glass window so unfortunately the photo is not as clear as I had hoped, but at least you can get the gist of what was on show. 

Leading & Glass Workshop

Then one day last week, I was able to do something that has been on my "Bucket List" for so long.  One of my lovely nieces, who is training to be a stone mason, asked if I would like to accompany her to a glass and leading one day workshop.  I have always adored stained glass, and been wanting to learn how to create it for as long as I can remember, but somehow the right opportunity never seemed to arise. 

So at the crack of dawn last Friday, we found ourselves trundling off to Oldbury in Birmingham to Jamal Rafay's workshop, where we learnt the basics in cutting glass and leading the traditional way. 

Jamal was so patient and knowledgeable, and talked us through every single step thoroughly. I'm a huge fan of the 1920s/30s leaded glass designs...so no surprise that I chose a sunrise pattern for my creation!  His little garden room where the workshop took place was simply magical, it seemed that nearly every nook and cranny was packed with examples of his amazing work. Jamal is an incredible artist and also runs workshops on glass painting...which is now on my "Must Do List" for next year. If you click on the following link you will see Jamal's website:

www.stainedglassic.com


And now back to miniatures...

Some Interesting German Miniatures For Sale

This week I have been listing more antique and vintage goodies to KT Miniatures website. Amongst some of the miniature treasures that are still available at the time of writing this blog, are some interesting German pieces. 

This 1920s F.W.Gerlach soft metal ironing board comes in a painted finish. 

This German kitchen cupboard has gorgeous oval cut out windows in the top central door backed by lovely blue celluloid type mock glass. 
These can be found on the Kitchen Page.

Here is a German "Korbi" type cream/tan coloured pressed card sofa by Karl Schreiter, very much in the wicker style. It is in excellent condition which is refreshing, as this style of card furniture proved to be rather fragile in young hands.

These two pieces of German furniture are being sold as a pair. They have mock non opening doors and drawers, and have a lovely imitation wood effect finish in places. The books are wooden and fixed. These can be found on the Living & Dining Room Page.

This is believed to be a c1910/1920s Albin Schonherr bed, sometimes mistaken for a Gottschalk bed. It can be found on the Bedroom Page.

This old celluloid German wireless started life out as a pencil sharpener, but a previous owner glued on the backplate and fixed green material to the underside to cover up the pencil hole. It is perfect now for an old dolls house where scale does not matter, and can be found on the General Page. 

All the little dolls house treasures seen here and a lot more besides,  are available to purchase on KT Miniatures website. So why not go take a peek and see if there is anything that takes your fancy.
www.ktminiatures.com