The year of the sink

I would love to do a mini post but my organising of the workroom has spilled over into the rest of the house and at present I am working in the attics and bedrooms. 

So here is a D.I.Y. post from about 18 months ago to a year. 

Before I began my mini Journey I had a maxi one ! I live in a huge rented house that has not had any updates in yonks. Now you might as many people have said think me mad to do work on a rental but as long as I live in it I want it to be liveable and comfortable. It began with my horrible nasty dated bad quality kitchen and of course I got sidetracked during the summer by the lack of garden sink. Some friends were throwing out their old sink, I had some cellular cement blocks handy, found some old wood, bought tiles from Emmaus and voila! 

 Here I marked out the height and worked out if I could walk around it to get to the woodshed on the left. I had just painted that section peacock blue as it was nasty old wood. The peacock paint came from the bin! 

 I laid the blocks and waited for them to set before placing the wooden supports.

 Here I was chipping away the blocks to accomodate the bowl of the sink, an easy job with this type of cement block.

 Here above is the finished sink. It's a special tap/faucet that takes the hosepipe as it is not plumbed in. The waste water is linked down the drain no problem. I used the blue paint again to make it all harmonious. I use this now for potting up and washing in the summer. 

I also have a back kitchen which is very useful and serves as a laundry/storage area. I wanted a large sink to wash the dogs in so I bought a huge resin sink on Amazon Germany and again made a cellular cement base onto which I built plaster block supports. The sink is quite lightweight. The back tiles are the same as the garden sink, a job lot of amazing Italian tiles for 2 euros! Lots left. 

 Now for the main kitchen. The owner told me that she loved her oak kitchen until I told her that it wasn't real oak and was falling apart at the seams. She said she trusted me so after finding this photo for inspiration I went ahead. Initially I was going to replace the tiles but in the end I just chipped out the broken ones and replaced them with some from the old tiled worksurface. The tiles had been laid on plaster which had rotted and the tiles were loose anyway. Oddly these tiles are the same as the ones in my old country house many years ago. They are a classic pattern from Desvres.

Here is where I came from, the doors had come off as did the tiles and the sink was my pet hate Stainless steel. The set in cooker worked when it felt like it. The floor is not so bad, small hexagonal terra cotta.

After restoring the back wall and under sink I built two side supports in the same cellular cement with brick fronts. The support beam in just joist wood and the curtain rail is from the charity shop as usual. I painted it a few times leaving it to cure each time to cover the red brick. The cement blocks had to be skimmed with plaster mix before painting. 

Here I added a saucepan cupboard to the right and tiled the top and the front of the sink base with the old left over tiles to unify it all. I used one of the old fake oak doors here.The towel rail is an old curtain rail with nice brass filials. There will be a mirror in the frame one day when I finish painting all the remaining cupboards the same F&B blue grey. The shelf above was really narrow so I pulled off the front trim and added a plank before re ataching the trim and painting it to match. Another pet hate sits on this shelf , a TV !! but friends watch it so needs must. I now have pleasure using my kitchen so it was worth it as before I dreaded that broken dark room.

Now that my gestures have become 'small' it is going to be hard to go finish the kitchen but I will. Unless of course ,,,,,,

Small time miniatures

SMALL TIME

https://www.small-time.com/

Now all you miniaturists must know this website but I only fell upon it the other day and it's amazing. I am going to have to sell one of my kidneys to pay for everything that is in my basket! The clocks are wonderful and they work, yes ! There prices are reasonable I think for the craftsmanship involved. If I do find a buyer for my kidney and pay for my 'basket' I will share with you of course!

Gothic Fireplace

As with the Gothic Cupboard, this fireplace/console was in Nicky Haslams Folly that was intended as my first foray into dollhouses. As with the cupboard the laser cutting was done by Puffin Design Crab Pot in England ( via Etsy ). I loved this piece which Haslam uses as a console table in his small dining room at the Folly and decided as with the cupboard that it was a key piece to copy. I made some terrible drawings, deeply ashamed of them given what Puffin did with them!!! 

 Above is the original, you can tell its been painted over several times and is oddly in wood for a fireplace to maybe it was always meant to be a dummy one.

 My terrible drawings given along with lots of photos. 

 This is what came ! I was so excited I sat up all night assembling it. It's fine birch plywood. This company is Genius ! 

 Here I have put the now assembled copy against the original. Oddly the book photos were to 1:12th scale. The top I marbled up as near to the original as I could. 

 A little fun with decor. The architectural prints came from a good old sales catalogue Simply under fine plexi with tape edging. This is a type of framing that I often use in my home. The temple on the left came from Greece and was silvered before I painted it ivory and sludged it, adding a black base. The tiny temple on the right is a metal charm set on on scrap of wood as a base. I was going to make a glass case for it, I might still do it for the Soane Room.

Malachite obelisks make from airclay. More metal and silver charms and a tiny Thai godess.

After assembling and painting I refined the design and had the whole thing done again and it sits in a box waiting to be assembled.

The morning post

Last night with the best intentions I thought that I would go back to the stairs. Now if there is anything that I am really good at it's avoidance! I tidied up the table from the fireplace and going through some papers before puting them away I came across this photo of a toy horse that had caught my attention last month in an old copy of Country Living . I had considered making a nursery/school room and still might in the new second floor of Ramsay House.  

 This is just a very rough little thing, not meant really to be finished, just for fun but I thought that I would share. The base is birch ply, the body is balsa dowel, the head is Poly sheet as fine wood split each time. The legs are of course toothpics and the handle is fine obeche. The wheels are slivers of beech dowel , tricky to cut on my fret saw, I made ten to get four.

 I had trouble with the spots, I need finer brushes. I dirtied it up with a wash of dark red sludge and varnished it up. I told you I was mad, need any more proof? 

Soane Fireplace update

Almost done ! I sludged the mat black base with grey with a damaged paintbrush, tried to be shaky ( never had THANK GOD shaky hands ) (( ever need a bomb diffused in a moving train called me ! )) I then sort of stippled it again with greenish sludge, varnished it with mat acrylic ( should have waited until paint was dry) and then rubbed down with steel wool and waxed it up with antique wax. The photo looks a bit brutal but its not too bad in reality. I de-shined the slate floor slab since the photo. Only the mantle is marble, the slab and inserts are slate, or simili slate. 

 The fireplace wall. I had to stop the mirror frame lower than the ceiling as I don't yet know what coving will be used. The room will be in a darker green from F&B , probably card room green and I will be darkening the corners and shading the finished colour so it doesn't look to bland. Well that's the plan at this date, things can change. I am going to have to balance the colours over the house for visual effect. Card Room green in the lower right Soane Room, Sudbury Yellow in the hallway and Blue Grey in the Drawing Room. The Chinese Bedroom has its green based chinese wallpaper and the Empire bedroom first floor right will be in a rather monochrome stipe with painted furniture.

 My private vice, finishing things that no one will ever see ! WHY ? No idea, ask my therapist !

You can see the horizontal straps used to stabalise the birch plywood. 

Soane Fireplace

In the middle of the staircase build I decided AGAIN to take a break in the form of another fireplace. I liked this dark marble style but without the victorian style insert and finding this pile of shop bought doors that were not in use I dismantled them to recuperate the moldings. I might use the doors with other moldings in the house, time will tell. 

Here are the doors, bought for a few euros on some website somewhere ages ago before I knew what I was doing. I just knew I needed doors ! Talk about Learning!

 I made a carboard mock up in the scale of a real fireplace from Jamb & Co London.

 Glued up simply, the first stage in the build. 

 Adding a top, this one didn't work but the scale was good.

 As with the drawing room fireplace I began with the fireplace wall that will project out from the room by three centimètres. This room is 30 cms high ( 3m60 in real scale ) This wall is narrower than the drawing room one as this fireplace is smaller in scale.  I used birch ply but quickly realised that the stock of ply I had purchased despite being laid under pressure, had warped slightly. This is why I prefer mdf wood. 

 Here is the back with added side blocks for stability.

 Laying out the pieces before gluing the egg carton stone cladding inside the hearth. I decided on a 'stone' pattern rather than the brick one used before. I glued the wall and fireplace onto a piece of 350 grm kraft card to give it stability when working on it. This can easily be cut away later.

 All glued up ready for painting. I just placed the back board for the photo as it's easier to fix it in place after painting the interior. 

 A detail of the interior.

 The detail of the back showing the stone work.

 A first coat of F&B 'Clunch'. 

 I think this photo is so funny, all the work to hold it in place it almost needs scaffolding ! I had to reinforce the birch ply with 10x10 beach strips to prevent the warping. The orange wood is Simply blocks used to level the clamping.

 I had the idea to make the whole wall in mirror within a frame. the mirror will be in several pieces held in place with brass nails. The mirror should also be on each side of the lower wall.

 Two coats of F&B black paint waiting for the light marbling. I am going to paint the skirting boards  black also. I had to raise the skirting boards up by 3 mm to take into acount the thickness of the wood flooring. here you can see the paint effect within the hearth 

 A quick 'mise en scene' with the round mirror made from a 'silvered' watch glass and a curtain eyelet. I will show how later. Tomorrow I will try to be lighter in touch with the marble and then varnish and wax it over and then get back to the stairs !! Promise . 

Telling tales

The other day my friends took me to our usual Emmaus charity shop and I found this beautiful oil painting. The instant I saw her I fell in love ! She is so happy and smiling and she makes me happy too. I paid the huge sum of 5 euros for her! imagine that ! 

I wanted to add a story here. Some years ago I was head of developement at Kenzo in Paris, it is part of the LVMH group that also owns Louis Vuitton and Dior. I hadn't been there for long when I was given the budget to organise, it was almost a million euros so you can imagine how busy I was! I had about 20 employees in the workrooms and my days were long. One day I got a phone call from Philippe Starck's assistant Thierry asking to meet me to discuss making a CHAIR for Starck ! 

I of course told him it wasn't my job and he answered that another designer I knew well said that if anyone could make it it was me ! I later learnt that the chair whose stucture was make like a fold up umbrella was made by Starck and he needed to make a removable cover and give it oomph ! Another person had already made an attempt and the delai was now short. Philippe Starck insisted on meeting me before confiding me with his design. I had to escape for an hour, not easy with my working day but we met and we liked each other immediately and I made the chair and he loved it. It was for a store called Target in the US . 

A few weeks later he asked me to make a collection of clothes for a famous bath towel manufacturer, clothes that were based on towels ! Conceived made delivered. 

After that I was contacted by his prototyper and he asked me ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I am getting there ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, yes there is a point to this rambling ,,,,,, to make a collection of miniature Louis Vuitton trunks and suitcases with him for the Tokyo super store window. At that point I knew nothing of miniatures and my days were still super busy and my nights were spent in front of the computer doing budget calculations but I still said yes. Yes still crazy!

I had to work out how to make tiny suitcase handles in saddle stitched leather, cover larger trunks in leather ( I wet it and stretched it over a metal base and held it in place until dry ) then add corners. The gold plated trunk fastenings were made by a specialist and unfortunately I didn't think of asking the details ! The logo printed toile fabric also was made up. I had to make a golf bag and golf clubs, then several umbrellas and parasoles followed by a folding bed that fit inside a trunk! This is a photo of the original. I had to hand paint the stripes onto hankie coton to get the scale right. I covered the trunk that was made by the prototyper and lined it to match the bed. My last item was a quilted lining for another trunk and also a fold out ironing board.

The whole project, made at night of course, luckilly I sleep only four to five hours a night, was wonderful and in the end I didn't even ask to be paid ! Idiot ! I was later asked to make all the same ones for another big store but after making 20 leather covered saddle stitched suitcase handles to scale plus two matresses, each with six sections and 16 coton tufts hand done on EACH segment I gave up as my new work contract prevented me from working for another company. It was an experience, my first into miniatures. 

Some months later Philippes wife Nori ( then ) phoned me and asked me to make a sexy couture collection for pregnant women and of course I said yes. We worked on the terrace of their South western beach house in the sun and we didn't think it was work at all! The deck ended on the beach and there was miles of sand in each direction. Nori was pregnant and she acted as the model for all the clothes. One day we spent the morning in the big Paris Flea Market looking for ideas then lunching and after sending her home in a taxi ( she was huge with child) she called me to say that she had given birth only two hours later and to come to the hospital. Her hormones kicked her into mother mode and the collection was never finished. 

Philippes propotyper Jean Philippe later contacted me again to make ,,,,,,,,,, yes a chair !! for another designer for the Via fair in Italy. The brief was it had to look like it was made out of Bubble Gum !! I made it from bright pink scuba suiting ! It was a tough project and as usual to be done in a hurry. 

Another time I was asked to make a five metre high black faux fur teddy bear for the opening of a store in Paris but  I said no as I hadn't the space to work in that scale! Talk about crazy oportunities. 

Chinese Emporium

Well it's too late to deny that I am mad and more than a bit obsessional ! Not have yet built the actual 'Chinese Bedroom' and frustration mounting I took to looking out for furnishings and ornaments to decorate it. I decided that I needed a table so of course I bought two from 'MiniatureCrush ' on Etsy, a lovely understanding seller who always gives good group prices with packaging from the US ( not always the case ! ) The big table is JBM ( which will mean something to someone! ) as is the small one. The Ginger jars are actually hand painted and even prettier in real life ! The two tiny chinese porcelain stools are slightly small for the scale as real ones are about 40 cms high. They are still gorgeous and well hand painted also. The tiny tiny gold metal jewel case is amazing !

 A better picture of the ceramic stools. I might put them on each side of the fireplace.

 A closer look at the jars, really pretty but not sure where they will go yet.

 This has to be seen to be believed. I never cease to be amazed at how much detail can be made small. 

 When I saw these I thought that they would make great fire dogs but they are a big big for that. I still love them. They came from tibet-temple888 on eBay and are from China and cost about 12 euros for the pair in bronze! 

 Here you can better see the scale. 

 This hand carved box wood plaque came from the same seller and was about 8 euros, so little for so much work.

 It will make a lovely antique but it's slightly thick so I might try to trim it down.

 These pagodas I might paint up and put on the mantlepiece, same seller also bronze , 16 euros the pair. The tiny seated gazelle was 8 euros. 

 As you will have seen on a post about my home I collect blue porcelaine Fo dogs so I might paint these the same colour and put them on the table with a bowl of orchids between them.

 This Lion ( sorry out of focus ) is lovely, it was my brothers star sign. I might make a stand and paint it and put it in the drawing room. It was 8 euros.

 These little godesses are lovely and might end up painted white as many of these statues are in white porcelain, I actually have some somewhere from my father in laws home, he was a Baron, sounds grand but he wasn't in reality and never used the title.

 I love this eagle, so detailed, about 8 euros again, everything was about the same price finally. When I was in school my English teacher was mad about falcons and hawks and slept with them perched on his big brass bed at night ! Yes the mess ! but he regularly had food in his beard and was always losing something but he was a wonderful teacher. I once cut up a leather glove to make a hood for one of the birds. 

 This has to be the prettiest piece, again 8 euros. I will make a shrine to place her within. 

I will stop now buying for this room before it begins to look like a chinese emporium ! It is still good to have things to choose from and I can play around decorating. I Don't mind such a purchase because they are all quality crafts and in real bronze, not resin or plaster.