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

A Special Thank You To Some Amazing People!

Followers of KT Miniatures may remember the difficult time my family had last November, when out of the blue my 22 year old daughter suddenly collapsed at a party, after having driven herself up the 70 miles to Birmingham for the weekend to stay with an old school friend. The phone call that evening from the hospital asking me to come asap and then the subsequent events during those next few days were truly shocking. 

Kate and her friend had only been at the party for a few minutes when suddenly she collapsed with no warning at all. It turned out Kate's heart had stopped, she had gone into cardiac arrest, but miraculously four medical students happened to be in the same room as Kate that very moment. All four girls stayed calm as they realised what was happening, allowing their training to kick in. They worked as a team, each playing a part in helping Kate, during what was a traumatic experience for them too. I shall always be grateful to all four of them, but particularly Jess and Claudia who launched into CPR, even though they had never done it for real before, other than learning the basics on a dummy!

Subsequently all the paramedics, plus the whole team of doctors and nurses at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham were truly magnificent, and I saw the NHS at its very best.  We were left in no doubt that had those medical students not undertaken CPR so quickly and effectively, it was unlikely that Kate would have survived. They really had saved her life!

Once the dust settled, we as a family decided that we would like to give the four girls a thank you present...but what do you give someone who has saved your daughter's life? A bottle of wine or box of chocolates seemed so inappropriate somehow. After much family debate it was decided that I should write to the Dean of Birmingham Medical School to inform him on what the students had done and ask if the girls could get some kind of congratulatory recognition for their actions.  His reply was instant.

So on the afternoon of February 14th 2018, Kate and I found ourselves in the office of the Vice Chancellor of Birmingham University with the four medical students, some of their parents, and various officials, tutors from the university and a doctor who is integral to the CPR training. 

The girls were given a newly created award -
The Vice-Chancellor's Special Commendation Award. 
If you click on the following link, enlarge the magazine text and scroll to page 10, you can read all about it: 
CLICK HERE

There is a minor detail wrong in the write up, as Kate has not been a student for a couple of years, since she graduated from Sheffield Hallam University and has been working ever since.  But the article does illustrate how not only amazing the medical students are but also how wonderful and effective the training is at the Birmingham Medical School. I have no doubt that those four girls will go on to become incredible doctors, and they more than deserved the special recognition. In our eyes, they are absolute heroes!

To date, there is still no definitive diagnosis for the cause of Kate's cardiac arrest, and the terminology "Sudden Adult Death Syndrome" has been mentioned. And although Kate has had a S-ICD (a mini defibrillator) fitted into her side in case her heart stops again, she is back at work, and  we have so much to be thankful for. We were told that only 8% of people survive what she went through. And out of them, some have brain damage. So we REALLY do have a lot to be thankful for. 

For anyone who has gone through similar to Kate, I can highly recommend the Cardiac Risk in the Young charity (CRY). 
https://www.c-r-y.org.uk/

So thank you everyone, who have been emailing these past few weeks to ask how Kate is doing, I do appreciate it. 

The answer is...she is doing ok.

CeliaX

Some Rare Antique German Miniatures & Some Increasingly Rare c1930s British Made Miniatures Just Gone Up For Sale...

Some quite rare dolls house miniatures went up for sale yesterday on KT Miniatures website. One or two were  snapped up immediately, but there are plenty more miniature delights to be had still.

This antique soft metal chair is a bit of a mystery. I am assuming that it is either late 1800s or early 1900s German made? But it has been suggested to me that it could also be French? 

If anyone out there can shed some light on the origin of this, I would love to hear from you. It is gorgeous. I do have another chair like this but which is missing one leg, and am considering whether to do something arty with it. The other chair is too lovely to be consigned to a box for evermore just because it is missing a leg, so watch this space:)

Here is an increasingly hard to find attractive sideboard with decorative mirror top. It is very much in the Biedermeier style with lithographed paper imitating wood. This is also believed to be late 1800s, early 1900s and German made.  

The original tarnished mirror is kept in place by blue paper over the back. 

The little metal handle is missing but seeing that this is over 100 years old I think it can be forgiven. 

More about the above items can be found on the following page: 

ktminiatures.com/living-and-dining-room/

This is a first for KT Miniatures, never handled one of these little painted metal German bathroom scales before. It is exquisite. 

It is believed to originate from the 1920s and is marked GERMANY underneath. The pastel pink and cream colour is very pretty.

The dial detail is quite sweet too. 

More about this can be found on the following page:

ktminiatures.com/bathroom/

Some c1930s British Made Miniatures

Here is a set of c1930s  Charbens brown painted metal furniture, which was manufactured in the UK. I must admit, I am finding more and more that amongst the few pieces of Charbens metal furniture that does come along,  about 50% of the items seem to be suffering from the same fate as a lot of the Dinky Dolly Varden dolls house furniture, ie. with metal fatigue. Is it a fault with the material used or could a major cause be how and where these little treasures may have been stored over the decades...such as attics that can experience temperature extremes throughout the seasons?

The bureau/bookcase rarely comes along, and although this is suffering a little from metal fatigue (there is a hole in the bureau front, plus a gaping hole in the back unseen), it is well over 80 years old so allowances can be made.

The piano is another hard to find Charbens piece.

This one is fully intact, including the two foot pedals and the side supporting bars...these are so often missing!

And although this Charbens dining table has suffered much paint loss and has two tiny metal fatigue holes in the top, it still could be useful to someone.
More of these can be seen on the following link:
ktminiatures.com/living-and-dining-room/

Here is a 1/24th scale Dinky Dolly Varden metal bedroom suite, in a mottled pink finish.

The dressing table, stool and cupboard are in a relatively good condition. The drawers open on the dressing table and cupboard.

The bed base, as you can see has one or two holes in it caused by metal fatigue! But someone with nimble fingers could easily make a tiny mattress and bedclothes to cover all this.
This set can be seen on the following link:
ktminiatures.com/bedroom/

Now these little 1/24th scale Dinky Dolly Varden kitchen and one chair sets, are in fabulous condition, which is refreshing.

The mock drawer detail is quite effective.

These would look fabulous in any tiny 1/24th scale dolls house.
Can be seen on:
ktminiatures.com/kitchen/

Various other bits and bobs were listed to various sections of KT Miniatures yesterday. Why not go take a peek and see if there is anything that takes your fancy:
www.ktminiatures.com

A Little Bit Of This & That...

KT Miniatures has been a little quiet of late, mainly by two rather lovely little distractions...ie. my baby grandsons.  My now 6 month old grandson and his parents visited recently, and we spent a wonderful Sunday morning traipsing around a local farm in the mud (Moreton Barn - just outside of Thame) which opened its doors to the public to help raise money for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. 

It was fabulous for kids and their parents (and Grandmas)! The newborn lambs and mums, plus an array of farm animals were gorgeous. What was particularly nice was that children were allowed to stroke and hold some of them. 

What a super idea for an old redundant wellie boot!!

And now the 11 month old grandson and his parents have moved in with me for a few weeks, so life has certainly livened up! They have sold their previous abode and are currently waiting to move into a nearby house,whilst major plumbing and building work is going on. So we are all shoehorned into my little house and there is heaps of additional "stuff" everywhere! But great fun and I am loving every minute. 

Meanwhile last minute preparations are in full swing for my first workshop of the year which is taking place next Saturday, and I am looking forward to it very much.

The same workshop will be held all over again next month, so if anyone else would like to come on Saturday 19th May, then please do get in touch asap as booking is about to close.  If you click on following link you can see lots of photos and find out more about the project: 
The Early 1900s German Style Kitchen Workshop. 

Celia

The Little German Style Kitchen With Some Antique & Vintage Contents....

As promised in the last posting on this Journal, here is my little kitchen (the prototype for the impending KT Miniatures workshop) now filled with a few rather lovely old treasures that I have been putting aside specifically to display in it. 

I am chuffed to bits with the results, as the aged ambiance of the room box and furniture make an ideal backdrop for the genuine antique pieces that I have been collecting over a period of time.

The dresser, side table, chair and wall rack are all part of the workshop project. So too the saucepan hanging on the rack, the jug on the chair and the lithographed plates on the dresser - all made from card and based on real antique pieces. Everything else you see in this photo above is antique or vintage. 

Next to the saucepan on the wall rack is an old tin colander, a c1930s T&B frying pan and an odd vintage prong. 

On the side table is a very pretty early 1900s German soft metal tray (fully glazed with real glass) which has a few random pieces of a c1920s/30s German metal art-deco tea set. Antique plaster meat next to the tray and plaster vegetables underneath the table, all help to fill the space.  

On the dresser there is quite an array of antique pieces displayed. 

A great favourite of mine has to be the exquisite early c1900s German green glass/soft metal jug with two matching wine goblets. I have had these for a while but they have been sitting loose and a little lost in my studio display cabinet, as I simply had nowhere else to put them. So it is rather pleasing that they now they have a proper home! Also displayed on the dresser is a  plaster fruit flan, an old white jug and a heavily aged early c1900s decorative wooden plate (ok - it is missing loads of it's paint but I think that adds to the charm).

Underneath is an antique cane picnic basket from the 1920s which I have had for quite some time. Previously it had perched precariously on top of an old wardrobe in one of my old dolls houses, but now it too has a proper home.  The vintage metal oval platter is a mystery and may not be all that old, but I think it looks good as "a filler". In complete contrast, the metal dish with glass food cover standing in front is most definitely an antique, and another favourite of mine. 

Hanging on the wall just left of the dresser is the white salt box, made out of card and part of the workshop project. As a quirk I have added a label on the front saying "salz", which is German for "salt".

The Delft type frieze running around the walls of the room box, has been reproduced from an old fragment and included as part of the project. To the left of the kitchen...as you can see the wall shelf has a couple of utensils and imitation bakeware pieces that are part of the workshop kit, but all the other items are old. 

I have had the large German metal teapot seemingly forever  - it is quite large in scale and possibly late c1800s, but I don't care that it is big...I think it looks rather nice sitting in its new home on top of the shelf. The antique glass jar with stopper right next to it is possibly late c1800s too and also large in scale. The brown glass on the end of the top shelf is Victorian and another of those items that I wanted to keep but didn't have a home for...but it looks fine there now, even if it is dwarfed somewhat by the tall over sized neighbouring bottle! On the lower shelves there is a random assortment of old metal, glass and china pieces crammed together. I need to rummage through my "junk" box and see if I can find even more to cram on there. 

On the old style kitchen range is a c1920 Britains painted lead cooking pot with lid, and a smallish old hallmarked silver (sugar/salt?) spoon, plus next to it is the top half of a Britains steamer ie it looks like a pan with lid, but there are holes in the bottom. I now need to look for an actual Britains saucepan in matching colour! 

As you can see the Britains cookware are all gloriously over sized in scale but I really am not bothered, as I enjoy mixing different scale items in my old dolls houses. My advice to people who are collecting antique and vintage dolls houses is to forget about scale when furnishing and accessorising, but simply collect what you like. That is what the youngsters of the earlier eras would have done with their miniature kitchens....the attention or obsession with regards to scale was not quite the same back then as it is nowadays:) 

I am contemplating creating some old looking kitchen canisters to sit on the shelf of the kitchen range, unless I can find some genuine antique ones. 

On the old looking bench rack, is the round wooden bread board - both part of the workshop kit, so too the saucepan made out of card. The tin tray, white tin pan and metal meat cleaver are all old. 

I am quite pleased how the antique pieces sit so well alongside the handmade pieces. But this is far from finished, oh no sirree...and after the workshops are over, I have further plans for this kitchen...but more about that another day:)

For those of you who are booked to come to either KT Miniatures April 21st or May 19th workshops, then I hope the above photos will help kick start your imagination and help get your creative juices going. For those of you who won't be coming to the workshops, well...I hope you still enjoyed taking a peek. 

If anyone would like to come to either of the workshops, do get in touch asap. Booking for the April workshop is closing this Friday, as I am now working on the kits. 
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

Celia