Already a year has gone by...

It is exactly a year to the day that lovely Mr KT (aka Dave) passed away during his much longed for liver transplant operation.   The first few weeks after his passing I felt as though I was lost in a kind of "fog", shock mixed with raw grief I suppose.  Hence it did take me a while to get going again with KT Miniatures, but...slowly and surely life began to move forward with the help of family and friends. 

Suddenly and very quickly (like so many others thrust into the same position),  I have had to learn to deal with problems that I'd never had to before in all my 36 years of marriage. Mostly because they were Dave's area of expertise and he would automatically sort them.  Probably to date, the most challenging have been technical problems with the computer and KT Miniatures' website, and all things to do with my car!  But I am learning and have surprised myself in what I've been able to do.

One of the best pieces of advice from someone given to me after the funeral was to keep busy...and I have been doing just that. Ok, occasionally grief has a nasty habit of creeping up when I least expect it but it passes, and the secret is definitely not to sit and mope, but to get out there and do something.

And although it hurts like mad that he missed his daughter's graduation ceremony last autumn,  that he missed a son's wedding this January and was not here to share in the pure joy of our first grandchild recently born or indeed the impending birth of a second grandchild soon to be born...life does feel so much better now. 

Dave was naturally a very positive and optimistic  person right up to the very end, he used humour to help him and me cope with his prolonged illness, even in his darkest hours. What is rather nice is that we as a family can smile or chuckle when we talk about him now.  

Thanks once again to everyone for your kindness and friendship given over these past few surreal months and for your continued support to KT Miniatures. 

 I think at last we are well and truly on the up at this end now,  and life seems a lot more rosy:)

CeliaX

New Studio Finished At Last - Time To Move Back In!

At last, after several weeks of upheaval and hard graft, my new studio/workroom is complete. The carpet is down, the furniture is back in and although I'm still in the process of moving "stuff" down the two flights of stairs from my old workroom,  I can now get back to work properly.

As you can see, I decided in the end to paint the pine fireplace and the wooden alcove shelves in an off white eggshell paint.  But I'm confident now that it was the right choice and it has really enhanced the room. 

I used  a selection of vintage style tiles from Topps Tiles and created a random effect of five different designs from the same tile range. The result was even better than I thought it would be.

The poster was from Kelly Hall Designs bought a while ago and I finally had it framed by a local company.  I absolutely love it as the artist has featured a local landmark called Wittenham Clumps for this Oxfordshire poster, which she has created in the vintage railway poster style. It really enhances the space above my fireplace.

Am still in the process of moving everything down from my old workroom but gradually the room is  taking shape.

I use vintage jugs and nursery cups picked up from local car boot sales and charity shops to store my tools, paintbrushes etc. So too old tins, boxes and even wooden boxes  are used to hold other bits and bobs. I really don't care if the jugs or cups have hairline cracks in, or the tins have dents and are a bit on the rusty side... they are perfect for what I need them for. My old tiny Victorian dolls house has now been moved from the hall shelf into here, along with my old style toy shop. A  black Victorian jewellery box, admittedly a little worse for wear, is turned up on its end and is perfect for housing three little treasures. The tiny clock was bought for just under £3.00 in the Dunelm sale - my pretty green curtains were also from the Dunelm sale at an absolute snip of a price...I do love a bargain! The lovely ancient burgundy vintage industrial style lamp belonged to daughter-in-law but she had no more use for it so it had been destined for the charity shop. However I rescued it for my desk but my goodness...it weighs an absolute ton! The beautiful painting of a French chateau on the top shelf was a very special gift from a friend.

 My lovely old 1920s cabinet is now very useful for keeping absolutely everything in!

 An old pine school cupboard has been brought down from upstairs and painted in a pale green/grey eggshell paint. I have great plans to do something arty with the doors and want to change the boring old knobs, but that will have to wait for another day. My lovely old battered 1920s/30s bungalow is now at home on the top. The cupboard itself is filled with all my paints, glues, tools, etc.

 My old squidgy red sofa is still on the other side of the room - it is so comfortable and I have had it for years now.  You just sink into it....bliss!

Another absolute bargain was this vintage key cabinet and letter rack, bought greatly reduced in a closing down sale from a wonderful local shop.

I will use the letter rack for letters but I won't be using the cabinet for keys. Instead I will use it to keep all those little dolls that I could  not find a home for in my dolls houses for whatever reason....I had to give them somewhere nice to live, instead of a dusty box?

So there we are....I still have quite a lot more to do - as yet I don't even have a lampshade. Am also looking for a massive old picture frame to make into an arty noticeboard using vintage offcuts of antique wallpaper (if I can find enough) or possibly old ephemera....but that will also have to wait for another day, as  I have now blown my meagre budget completely. Tomorrow I hope to get stuck into some KT Miniatures work and begin listing some old treasures once again. 

CeliaX

More Old Miniature Treasures From the 19th & 20th Century...

Last week I put up the other half of a wonderful antique dolls house collection that came in recently. I was left gobsmacked, as within 24 hours nearly all new "antique and vintage stock" that was put up for sale on KT Miniatures' website  literally flew off the shelf! Which was nice for me but there were a few disappointed customers...sorry. 

If only I had more but some of these just do not come along that often and in such good condition. Amongst some of the more unusual pieces was a German oak wardrobe, a curious old Art Nouveau wardrobe - very pretty, an antique metal bed with canopy pole, all of which can be seen in the photo above.

Then there were further old treasures such as these two very old German tin and soft metal fireplaces. The smaller one has a built in range and the larger fireplace is ornate, and quite pretty. You can just see a hint of a glorious old metal teapot on a trivet, which I suspect is as old as the 19th century Evans & Cartwright range that it came with, and which you can see in the previous posting on here. The odd looking bowl of fruit I have never seen before and again, I think it is very old. The bowl is made of very thin wood and the mock fruit are fixed to a paper disk that has been hand decorated. 

Lovely items!

My new studio is coming on nicely and I am very excited.

 A builder friend is coming tomorrow to tile the fireplace - it is going to be tricky as some tiles need to be cut plus a vent needs to be put into the backboard...so as he is a professional and knows what he is doing, I decided to leave that job up to him.  As you can see in the pic above, I decided to paint the pine fire surround in an aged white eggshell paint, so too the built in shelves over my computer desk....and am chuffed to bits with the result. I've made a random patchwork plan so that my friend will know which tile to put where (hopefully). I decided against having just floorboards for numerous reasons including that I just could not face more weeks of chaos, with sanding and varnishing etc, so the carpet is due on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, sadly that is the end of that particular old collection, all have been listed and more or less sold now, but I do have some other lovely miniature treasures that have been stored away for several weeks up in my old workroom, and which will be listed to the website as soon as my new studio is up and running, and fully functional...hopefully by the end of the week.

CeliaX

Rare Evans & Cartwright Metal Miniatures Plus Other Antique German Tiny Treasures.

It is rare to come across any circa 1800s Evans & Cartwright metal items these days, but just recently not just one but two "E&C" pieces came in. Both were snapped up pretty quick unsurprisingly, but I thought I would still highlight them on here. 

Just briefly, Evans & Cartwright were a British toy company based in Wolverhampton. The company started in 1816 originally by John Evans, then he was joined later by his stepson Sidney Cartwright. They built up the business together until Sidney then took over in 1842, and eventually the company ceased around 1870 - 1880. For a full in depth history of this company, see page 124-129 of Liza Antrim's wonderful book "Family Dolls' Houses Of The 18th & 19th Centuries".

c1800s Evans & Cartwright Metal Range

This is believed to be a rare circa 1800s Evans & Cartwright metal cooking range. It measures  5 3/8″ wide x 1 1/2″ deep x 5″ high. So quite large in scale.

 It still has the original tap fixed to the left hand side.

The embossed detail gives you a sense of the detail found on a real life size Victorian range....absolutely super!

 As you can see from the photo above, the top right hand plate cover is missing.

So too, a tiny edge piece of the left back decorative corner, which has long been snapped off. But to be honest, other than a little rust, this is in a reasonably good condition. .

A range exactly like this appears on page 129 of Liza Antrim’s FAMILY DOLLS HOUSES.  A wonderful piece of history.

c1800s Evans & Cartwright Metal Fireplace With Additional Unknown Wooden Fire Surround 

This is believed to be a circa 1800s Evans & Cartwright metal fireplace with an additional wooden painted fire surround of unknown make. A metal fireplace similar to this appears on page 129 of Liza Antrim's FAMILY DOLLS HOUSES.  

 

 The metal fireplace itself is all there, including the gilt metal fire fret.

The decorative detail is quite ornate, and apart from a little rust and wear, this is in relatively good played with condition.

The wooden fire surround is a glorious ochre painted colour, sadly the maker is unknown. The metal fireplace slots neatly into the surround and I assume that the surround is of the same age as the E&C fireplace.

For reference, the metal fireplace measures 3 1/8" at widest point x 3 3/8" high x 1 3/4" overall depth.  Fire surround measures 6 1/4" widest point x 5 1/4" high x 1 3/4" depth.

 Below are two other rare German miniature treasures from the same collection and which have also been sold, but because they rarely come along I thought I would show you them on here.

 c1900s Erhard & Sohne Ornate Mirror Frame With Candle Holders (missing mirror)

This is an antique gilt coloured metal mirror frame, rather ornate in design along with two candle holders – one each side of mirror frame.

The original mirror is missing but as the original rear mirror fitting tabs are still present and intact, it should not be too difficult to fit a replacement mirror.

Apart from the missing mirror, this is in a good played with condition. For reference, this measures 3 1/2″ high x 2 1/2″ overall width, and it appears on page 36 of Swantje-Koehler-Verlag’s ORMOLU DOLLHOUSE ACCESSORIES.

Antique German Filigree Cradle 

This is unusual and delightful. I have never seen or handled one quite like it before so I think I can describe this as being rare.  

As it came with the collection of items dating from the mid 1800s to early 1900s, I have to assume that it will be of the same era.
 
The frame is of soft filigree metal and has been lined with blue material. 

The underside is lined with brown paper of some kind.

Overall this is in a good played with condition,  just some minor loss of gilt colour around the filigree borders. What a wonderful item! For reference, it measures 2 3/4″ long x 1 1/4″ at highest point x 1 1/4″ wide.

Other antique treasures listed last week are still available, so why not go check out my website: www.ktminiatures.com

More antique treasures from this same collection will be going up for sale this week. 
Celia

Has Been A While...Lot's Going On

My goodness....has it really been a month since I last put up a post on here?

Well, if you are wondering why KT Miniatures has been so quiet, there has been a lot going on here and mostly rather nice. For starters of course, I have been undertaking "Grandma Duties" which I am enjoying thoroughly. Plus I have also been away at least three times during the past month, not all holdidays may I point out :) Then there is the ongoing task of shifting my workroom/studio down two flights of stairs to Mr KT's and my old computer room/office. After scraping all the old wallpaper off, my builder/decorator friend Gordon then did all the papering and painting for me, as there were nasty cracks and issues that needed a professional to sort out. 

 

There are still a few things to be done - such as tiling the boarded up fireplace and getting a carpet. After much deliberaton, I decided against stripping floorboards as they are the open ones and not in great condition. I just couldn't face further chaos and mess in stripping, filling board gaps with sawdust and pva, not to mention staining them....so carpet it is. 

However, I have decided to be arty with the fireplace tiles though and have drawn up a plan with the aid of the computer after having chosen some reasonably priced old looking tiles. I am going for all five patterns from Topps Tiles "Archivo" range. My plan is a random patchwork effect...should be fun.  The next decision before the carpet is fitted, is whether to wax the fireplace and newly fitted shelves or paint. Then if the paint option is chosen, what colour should I choose? Decisons, decisions!

I am moving towards the painted option as I have had that pine fire surround for years and feel I want a change. Although  have never used eggshell paint before, someone suggested that it would be more hardwearing and a more pleasing effect than satinwood paint. Hmm...we shall see.

 

Meanwhile, I have every intention of beginning to list some rather lovely antique and vintage goodies this week. Unfortunately the old stock is still packed away in boxes up in my old workroom, but a lovely collection came in yesterday, which I will start working on this week as I can lay my hands on them more easily. It is currently piled high in an old pink plastic crate and the items you can see in the above pic. are just the ones laying on the top. Trust me....there are some exquisite pieces underneath! I need to to go through it all and sort them out. I never stop getting excited when I handle these old treasures - I wish I could keep them all! :)

There are also several boxes of tiny random antique accessories.

This particular collection belonged to the maternal grandmother of the owner and it is important to her that these go to a good home. On first inspection they appear to mostly fall into the late 1800s - early 1900s era.  I will endeavour to show some of the more interesting pieces on this Journal over the next few days. 
Celia