From MDF To This - Look At My Early 1900s German Style Kitchen A Year Later!

Followers of this journal may remember KT Miniatures' workshop prototype of an old German style kitchen. It featured on this journal a number of times last year. The whole project was inspired by the miniature German kitchens commonly seen around the early 1900s, and was the basis for KT Miniatures 2018 workshops. 

The kitchen project started off as four pieces of plain MDF glued together to create a floor, back and two sides. Then after some fun painting coloured squares on the floor it went from this...

...to this. 

And then after some arty painting on the wall plus construction of authentic pieces of kitchen furniture and accessories by simply using cardboard, wood, card, paint, etc. it ended up looking like this...

The German style furniture and fixtures were based on real antique dolls house items, plus the old style frieze created purely for this project, was inspired by some old dolls house wallpaper. 

The project also included replica lithographed plates, saucepans, utensils, jug, etc.all made from card and paint. In the photo above the dresser, jug and plates on the left are the actual genuine antique items. The dresser, jug and plates on the right are the replicas as reproduced for the workshop. 

Then at the time of running this kitchen workshop back in 2018, in order to help the ladies who were attending, I illustrated on KT Miniatures Journal how the prototype could look dressed with some actual genuine antique miniature pieces, alongside all the handmade pieces that were included in the project.  

And now, here we are a year later...

I am delighted to say that the kitchen prototype now looks like this...I absolutely love it!

Over the past 12 months I have had great fun collecting all kinds of antique bits and pieces to put in this little kitchen. 

In fact I have ended up with so much paraphernalia (you know what it's like, one can become obsessed once you start collecting) that I decided to create an additional long wooden shelf  that runs right across the top of the back wall. It is now perfect for displaying all the additional jelly moulds, metal food covers, etc. that I now seem to have.

The cardboard replica range, wall shelf and bench are heavily laden with all kinds of pots, pans, kitchenware, etc. 

At the other end of the kitchen more antique pieces adorn the replica dresser, kitchen side table and wall rack. 

Plus I have fixed to the wall an antique German wooden flour box and an Art Nouveau German soft metal rack from which a dustpan and brush hang. 

The heavily aged cream painted metal table and matching tin chair came in after I had made the kitchen and I just could not part with them. They look perfect in the centre of the kitchen floor. 

In fact, the kitchen is now literally bursting at the seams but I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze one or two more bits in, at the very least! 

Hope you enjoyed the update:)
Celia

Currently I have one of my handmade early 1900s German style kitchens for sale on the website, same dimensions as the workshop prototype above. 

The walls were inspired by a genuine antique German kitchen and the floor has been covered in antique wallpaper. All furniture and accessories as seen are included:
http://ktminiatures.com/early-1900s-german-style-miniature-kitchen/

Lovely Photos Of Jane's Completed Workshop Project!

Followers of KT Miniatures may remember earlier in the year I had promised that if anyone who came to my 2018 workshops sent photos of their completed project, I would show you on here....with their permission of course! 

Well....here we are!

Jane Sharp was one of the lovely ladies who attended the May workshop. During her time with us, she had mentioned that she was just about to have a knee operation, and that she was looking forward to carrying on with the project during the few weeks of recuperation, following her operation.  

 A couple of weeks after Jane's op' she emailed to say that she had been able to get going with her project as planned and sent some photos of the project in progress. She had managed to paint the tiled effect floor, and chosen to have a mixture of blue and white tiles.  She had mixed a pale blue paint with a dark blue paint, in order to get the shade that she wanted.  I agree with Jane that very oddly,  the floor looks like it is black and white in the photos, but it is most definitely blue. Jane said that she took it slowly and carefully, and although there was a bit of touching up to do, she was thrilled with result. I think it looks super!

The tiled effect floor can be quite tricky as the paint has a tendency to bleed underneath the masking tape sometimes, no matter how carefully the paint or indeed the masking tape is applied. But any "bleeding" can be easily rectified by "touching up" with the relevant colours using a tiny brush.

Above you can see that Jane had made good progress with her kitchen range whilst she was actually at the workshop. 

And here is the finished kitchen range...it is brilliant. The reproduction blue/ beige Delft type frieze was part of the project and Jane is delighted with how the colours of the frieze and floor go together well. 

Jane had also finished creating and constructing all the furniture which were part of the workshop project. 

And now...just a few more weeks further on, Jane sent me photos of the finished project, with all the furniture painted and accessories created. 

Isn't it amazing!!!!! 

She has also added some of her own bits and bobs in varying scales that she has been collecting for this project. 

In the antique toy German kitchens of the early 1900s the contents would have been in different scales, and I personally love to see  the varying scales combined in antique/vintage style miniature settings - it adds authenticity and character to the overall effect.

Jane said that she thoroughly enjoyed making this project and adds...."it is amazing what you can do with wood, card, paint and some lovely accessories". 

Well...it has given me great pleasure to see such a stunning example of this workshop project created, it really is beautiful.  I am very grateful to Jane for allowing me to share her photos with you and hope that you have enjoyed taking a peek too. 
  

If you CLICK HERE you can see full details of the workshop project and more photos. I hope to bring you details of KT Miniatures 2019 workshop project later this year. 

Celia

The May Workshop Happened To Be On The Same Day As The Royal Wedding!

Well...when I booked the second session of my 2018 workshop for Saturday 19th May way back at the beginning of the year...I could not have foreseen that shortly after, Prince Harry and Meghan were going to choose that same day to get married!  In the end the "Bicester Avenue" complex where our workshops took place, was like the Marie Celeste for a good part of the day, lots of people obviously glued to the television...but at least all the ladies who were booked in for the workshop came:) And what a lovely day it was. 

The ladies worked hard on their little early 1900s German style kitchen room boxes and contents. Everyone could choose what features to focus on whilst they were at the workshop, and with the aid of a book of instructions and full kit, they could finish the rest off at home. 

This gave the workshop a far more relaxed feel, people could work at their own pace, as well as come and go for refreshments etc. whenever they wanted. With such a small class, it was super to be able to spread right out...and I have decided that for future workshops (or certainly for the more complex projects), the maximum number of people at any one time will be set to six. 

Some of us finally succumbed to one or two of the scrumptious cakes from the restaurant  that were available literally just outside the conference room where we were based. Everyone had a go at painting and aging the walls of their kitchen room box - plus one painted tiled effect floor was finished by the end of the day. You can see for yourself the magnificent results!

This was Fiona's floor just after the final coat of paint had been applied and we all watched with great excitement as she slowly peeled all the masking tape away. 

We all agreed that Fiona's floor was rather brilliant!

Above you can see Janine's German style kitchen range in the early stage of construction. 

Above Jane can be seen with the range almost constructed...

and here is Jane's range with the red and cream paint. 

Here is someone's magnificent replica of a German dresser with its first coat of paint. 

And finally I just had to sneak in this photo of Robin Britton, my ex Nostalgia In Miniature Workshop colleague who is now officially retired, but who kindly agreed to come along to both workshops and help out. It was great having her there and I think she really enjoyed herself too. 

Various antique and vintage miniature kitchenware was available to purchase at both workshops. A lot has now been sold but all left over pieces will be put up for sale on KT Miniatures website over the next few weeks, including a couple of 1920s/30s Britains painted lead cooking pots. 

This is the prototype of the early 1900s German style kitchen, which the attendees kits were based on, however they had many options in decorating the room box and also with the furniture. More photos of the workshop project can be seen on the official KT Miniatures 2018 Workshop web page: CLICK HERE

I hope to bring details of KT Miniatures 2019 Workshop Project later in the autumn this year. A big thank you to all the ladies who attended both workshops in April and May, I am looking forward to seeing photos of your finished projects very soon:)
Celia