What an afternoon....we suddenly acquired our own private lake outside the front door!

So there I was this afternoon, photographing some stock in readiness to list to the website, now that Broadband was working again and website back to normal...see earlier post I put up this morning. Then all of a sudden it went very dark outside, there were flashes of lightening and huge rumbles of thunder and the heavens opened like I have never ever seen before. It was almost biblical like! Within minutes all the drains outside were blocked and water started to pour into everyone's driveways at our end of the road, several of us have driveways sloping down to our front doors! Those of us who were at home, began nervously looking out of our front doors, completely bewildered.

 

These photos were taken only after a few minutes...the rain just got heavier and heavier after this and I didn't have chance to take anymore photos as I was too busy freaking out, as the water at its worst was just about 1/2" underneath all our breeze blocks at the front and encroaching over our doorstep. We have lived here in Thame for nearly 30 years and we have never experienced anything like this before...ever. Several of us at our end of the road were now extremely worried that our houses were going to be flooded, all we could hear was siren after siren....which added to the weirdness of it all. Apparently there were bigger and more dramatic things going on elsewhere in Thame at that very moment.

A quick phone call to my mate Robin (of our workshop fame) to see how she was faring at her end of Thame, proved that she was ok but I was in panicking mode by now. She came up with a superb idea of rolling up a rug or old carpet or something similar and shoving them up against the front door to block water that way or anywhere else where there were leaks to protect property from the inside.  That was going to be my first line of defence if necessary...we just don't have any sandbags! Mr KT and I were mentally going through how and where to turn electrics and gas off at mains if necessary.

Then suddenly the clouds parted and the rain stopped just like that!  

For a while, all we could hear were the continuing sirens echoing around Thame. It was all so freaky and weird.  Some water had penetrated over the top of our breeze blocks but thankfully not enough for us to panic further. Plus we had to endure sewage bubbling out of all the manhole covers and drains in our back gardens but luckily that all subsided after a couple of hours to just a trickle. And although there is a horrible damp and unpleasant aroma around, am thankful that our house was saved from actual flooding on this occasion. My heart goes out to anyone who was not so lucky.

Celia

PS. Crazy or what but when suddenly faced with a priority of what to move if water came into the house, after my computer (has all my business stuff on)...my lovely Hobbies 186 dolls house and contents were second on the list!!! Ha ha...much to Mr KT's annoyance. 

PPS. As you may have guessed, I had to abandon all hope of doing any listing today!

There One Minute...Gone The Next - Technological Woes!

If you had visited KT Miniatures website over the last couple of days or so and spotted a link to a KT Miniatures Gallery page, but gone back to the website last night to find that page gone...no, your eyes are not deceiving you. Let's just say this week has not gone to plan!

Firstly I've been battling with a shockingly intermittent Broadband service which has been continually going down, sometimes for hours at a time. This has been going on for a few days and is driving me nuts! BT tell me that apparently there isn't a problem...well I beg to differ! This is one of the reasons why I've not been able to list any more items onto the website this week as yet, or answer your emails as quickly as normal.

Secondly, after listening to feedback from customers with regards to my new website, I had decided to install a KT Miniatures Gallery page, with videos and photos of past commissions, projects, etc. After spending many hours sifting through files, downloading photos, videos, etc., it finally went live properly on Monday. All seemed fine until yesterday afternoon, as I went to start uploading stock to the website, several error messages started flashing across the screen. Trying hard not to panic at this stage, but completely unable to grasp what was going on, got Mr KT onto the case. After pressing a few buttons and Googling the error coding that was flashing before our very eyes, came to a "help page" that suggested that one of the main causes could be that I had downloaded a virus, maybe attached to a photo? Well, seeing as all those photos were mine and had come from my own files, I suddenly became rather hot and bothered indeed! Pressing more buttons, we were told that the problem had occurred during the past 24 hours. Assuming that it just had to be something to do with the Gallery page,  every trace of that page, all the photos, etc. were immediately exterminated off the system. 

But still no joy, the error was still there. Dammit!

At this point, I may have had a slight meltdown as all kinds of scenarios flashed before me. But good old Mr KT, even though he was not feeling great, persevered and eventually discovered that the cause was from two analytical plug-ins, one of which had had an update a few hours before which now rendered those two plug-ins incompatible with each other...duh! Problem sorted, the menacing plug in now also gone.

Ok...so now all my hard work of many hours over several days has been completely wasted as it has been completely obliterated off the system, but I have not given up on the idea of a gallery or two. To be honest though, I was not happy with that Gallery page, it certainly needed a lot of tweaking as it was too long and for mobiles particularly, could have caused one or two problems. So...I will need to have a re-think.

Technology eh...is great, as long as it works!

So back to today, as long as the Broadband stays up and no other little hiccups occur, am hoping to embark on some listing to the website this afternoon!!!

Celia

Fascinating Bertha (Penrose) & Ralph Wright Story And Their Bloomsbury Group Connections - Makers Of Some Exquisite Dolls House Miniatures!

Remember earlier in the year when some extremely rare and quite stunning Bertha (Penrose) and Ralph Wright dolls house furniture was put up for sale on KT Miniatures?  (Here's Link). Since then much of the collection has been sold but I simply couldn't part with everything so certain pieces have been kept.

 This massive wardrobe with Bertha's exquisite hand painted oriental design is now residing in the nursery of my 1930s Hobbies dolls house.

 The beautiful hand painted floral sofa and armchair all made by Bertha and carved out of single blocks of wood,  is now in situ in my 1930s Hobbies living room. Ok, the scale is a little smaller than the 1930s Pit-a-Pat rexine suite that was there previously, but I rarely bother about any disparity of scale in my old dolls houses, and instead just fill with tiny treasures that I love.

This Bertha & Ralph armchair, also carved out of one single block of wood, has simply been painted in a rich terracotta colour and is perfect for the corner of the main bedroom of my old Hobbies house. Other bits and pieces are also scattered within this same dolls house, as well as my vintage toy shop and some are still in a box as I decide where to put them!

 The provenance of this collection was so intriguing though,  that I felt compelled to find out more about these makers. The story is a fascinating one and even now, am quite certain that there is far more to unravel.

It is often so difficult to prove the provenance of an old dolls house or old dolls house items. Sometimes we hit lucky and there is accompanying printed documentation or maybe an inscription or even photos, but generally that is rare.  Most of the time there is no proof whatsoever and often I have to go on just hearsay or supposition.

With the Bertha (Penrose) & Ralph Wright Collection, I was lucky to have a whole printed sheet containing a couple of black and white photos and some handwritten notes which came with the dolls house furniture. And then, as you will see in the article, I was lucky enough to find one tiny set of initials in the corner of the hand painted screen which was enough to satisfy me that the provenance was 100% legitimate.

I must give special thanks to Rebecca Green, owner of the wonderful Dolls Houses Past & Present website and also editor of her website's online magazine, who discovered several useful snippets of information with regards to both Bertha and Ralph, all of which enabled me to proceed that much further in my own research. Am now delighted to say that  Ralph & Bertha Wright's article with regards to their dolls house furniture, dolls houses plus all the information that both Rebecca and I have currently found out about them can now be seen on page five of the March/June Issue:

 PLEASE  CLICK HERE 

The ties between Bertha & Ralph and the Bloomsbury Group are even more entwined than first thought. And actually, just this last week as I have been laid low whilst fighting the dreaded throat/cough/cold lurgy that is currently doing the rounds, I have read from cover to cover "Bloomsbury's Outsider-A Life Of David Garnett" By Sarah Knight. There have been several references in this book of Alec Penrose (Bertha's first husband) and Ralph Wright (Bertha's second husband) and both apparently were great friends of David Garnett.

How fantastic is it for just a small collection of old dolls house furniture to have this kind of information on their makers with such remarkable connections and history behind them. 
Celia

PS. If you have never seen Rebecca's website as yet and are a lover of dolls houses, particularly old dolls houses, then you are missing a treat...please do go take a look! Not only is there a massive gallery on there of many old dolls houses and related items, but there is of course the entire current issue of the online magazine to feast your eyes on, plus an archive of all back issues freely available to all - packed to the brim with fascinating information: www.dollshousespastandpresent.com

Workshop Last Saturday....And Some Sad Workshop News

The first of our two summer workshops took place last Saturday....and what a brilliant day it was! Thank you to all the ladies who helped make it a very special day. For a full report and lots of photos, please go and take a look at our workshop blog: CLICK HERE TO VIEW. 

The workshop was tinged with some sadness, as we bid farewell to so many lovely regular workshop customers - as this was the last but one of our Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops...ever! If you are a reader of KT Miniatures Newsletter or our Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops Newsletter, this news will not come as a surprise to you. But if this is the first that you've heard about this, all is explained below...

Sad News...End Of Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops

It is with great sadness to announce that after our July workshop is over, we will be closing the tiny doors on Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops and they will be no more. 

My workshop colleague Robin Britton has made the monumental decision to retire and withdraw from the professional miniature scene over the next few months, so the tiny doors will be closing on her Coombe Crafts business too. Her decision has been influenced by a recent milestone birthday and understandably has a lot of real life "stuff" she would like to do while she can.  And then for me there is the continuing nail biting uncertainty as Mr KT patiently awaits a transplant, so it just seems apt to end our joint workshop venture at this time.

But don't worry though, I most definitely have no plans to retire from KT Miniatures for a very long time yet (I have quite a few more years until pension age), so it may be that in the not too distant future if circumstances deem it possible once more, I  could continue the workshops in some shape or form under the banner of KT Miniatures instead. We shall have to see...
Celia 

A New Addition To The Antique Toy Shop...And Other Little Snippets Of This & That!

It has been a while since I last posted on here...unfortunately real life has been getting in the way, but all is fine and dandy once again now.

I was delighted to have visited Kensington Dolls House Festival earlier in May and as mentioned in previous post with regards to the contents of my old toy shop, I did manage to make another acquisition from Teeny Weeny Teddies. Oh, I wish I had had more money to spend though....there was just so much to delight, although his stock was unsurprisingly somewhat depleted by the time I got to his stand on the Saturday afternoon! There is just something rather special about Dave Pennant's weeny toys, they look so old and realistic.

I succumbed this time to an "antique" dolls house doll (she is the tiny doll on the right), who now sits in her new home on the green chair alongside the lovely overseas artisan made dolls house doll that was previously purchased from KDF (doll on the left). The tiny "antique doll" has moveable limbs, her dress has been made from old fabric and she is extremely delicate looking. As also mentioned in the previous post, Dave does not have a website but you can contact him by email: davepee@hotmail.co.uk or ring: 07932 707 441 

Workshop This Saturday....

Kits are all ready and waiting, endless components have been cut and packed. Pages and pages of instructions now printed. 

 

This is what we will be making...an early 1900s German style shop, either in 1/12th scale or 1/24th scale. We are very much looking forward to meeting the ladies who are booked to come to this, our first session of the summer workshops. Should be fun! Robin and I made a quick dash over to the Bicester workshop venue the other day. There appears to be a new road layout (there is always so much building going on down there), so if you are coming off the motorway end (M40), you must not turn at the brand new set of traffic lights which takes you into an enormous brand new Tesco (wow it looks big), but simply carry straight down to the first roundabout and then turn back on yourself...the venue is on that other side of the dual carriageway.

 c1930s-1950s Britains Lead Garden Gate, Tree Trunk & Rockery
These were the new additions that were put up for sale a few days ago now. 

I adore this old Britain's lead garden gate and hedge set piece.  If you have a back opening old dolls house, this would look fantastic sitting at the front, it simply oozes nostalgia.

The swing open gate is attached to a side pillar via tiny hooks. It is so very 1930s!

There is this curious old Britains lead tree trunk. Am sure this could be used in an imaginative way with certain old dolls houses, or perhaps you could start up your own antique Britains Lead Garden scene.

There are also various quite versatile painted lead rockery pieces, which can be used on their own or joined together to suit. The hole in the top of one of the step pieces is assuminglya touch of metal fatigue, but most of the other separate components are in reasonably good condition. 

CLICK HERE to view.