Bits and pieces

I am SOOOO frustrated to not be doing my staircase or anything miniature for that matter but I have to organise the house since retrieving so much stuff. I have sent more than 30 large boxes to our local charity and set aside a few more for a friend but that still leaves a lot to deal with. 

I was sad to find this large hand painted box in this condition. The story behind it is as follows. In 2003 we had what you can call a killer heatwave in europe and Paris was severely hit with  40° ( 104° F ) recorded even at night when usually the températures lower. Over 70,000 people died in europe and 15,000 in France alone. It was really terrible as there was no respite, impossible to sleep and ambulance sirens going all over the city all the time. I had an elderly neighbour called Monsieur D who loved to walk a lot despite being in his 80's! One day I realised that I hadn't seen him and found his walking stick propped up in the hall so against his family's wishes I called the firebrigade and they found him lying dead, his pacemaker had failed. When his daughter came to clear out his apartment she asked me to come look at what she had found and M. D was a hoarder but of fairly good things, not rubbish! He had brought home broken things and magasines and books and filled his home with them. One room was so full that it reached the ceiling and masked some amazing antique furniture long since buried. I evaluated the better things for his daughter and gave her documents to help her sell them and in return she gave me this dish/box along with a pair of mahogany shelves to thank me. The lid had a small crack but otherwise it was ok, now sadly it's gone.  

 As you can see the lid apart from the little crack is still ok.

 This I wanted to share as a pratical thing. In the supermarket I realised that the card spacer between the layers of milk bottles was made of the same material as egg cartons, so I helped myself. Maybe you can also find this in your supermarkets as it makes such great bricks and stones.

 It does have slight nobbles but on the whole it beats cutting up egg boxes!

 I wanted to share yet another collection, it never ends! I used to buy shoe buckles in the flea market for a few cents when no one was into that. It's something else I call my paupers collection but today is no longer possible. One day I decided to put them under glass and on display. Some are 18th century and in silver with good cut stones and others are from the victorian era. The buttons as 18th century and came from a friend whose grandmother had a chateau and she told him to take what he wanted so he sold all the jewellery he found and these buttons along with some other bits were to be thrown away! Yes ! Luckilly I was at his home that night. 

 Some are gorgeous and some are just bling.

 These two were to be part of the next display, they are in cut steel. This technique was invented in Victorian times to imitated paste and stones as when polished it glitters like Diamonds.  These are quite good as they are not rusted as many are although they can be cleaned up. A lot of jewellery was also made using this technique and worn in candle light it is very convincing. 

 This is a dress buckle from the 1920's. Enamel and paste stones.

 Another Victorian cut steel buckle but with a leather insert, probably to match the shoe.

Blooming lovely

I have a Glorious huge Camelia bush in the garden with lush pink blooms.

They are quite common in this part of France in many colours. I also have a smaller white one.

As you can see I have a collection of jugs ! Many many many!

My lovely Madonna and child in heavy pottery sitting on an antique Indian textile. 

I wanted to share with you.

Howard Carter move over

Howard Carter was the archeologist who uncovered the tomb of Tutankamon in Egypt in NOV 1922. Today I feel a bit like him still digging through boxes. I still have about 20 large ones to open and deal with and make some new finds. It is strange the things that I have no memory of ! 

This little lacquer table, dining room height is a lovely find as it could go in the Chinese room! The birds are I think favours or 'Feves' and are prettier than the ones they make now, they must be at least 15 years old.

 This was one of the first things I customised for a dolls house I fantasised about years ago. It had been plain wood so I antiqued it. The handle is in the drawer ) They still make these today but in comparaison they are much 'heavier' and uglier and you see them everywhere. The little deer is from the Metropolitain Museum in New York, its gilt bronze. The little dog is also a cake favour, imagine choking on that ! 

 The little porcelaine basket of flowers I have had for many years, I always loved the scale and detail even before imagining a doll house to put it in! It might be Chelsea China, its signed. 

 Now many will think this an odd thing to collect but there were times in my life when I had very little cash and I wasn't going to let that stop me collecting things! Over the years I've collected many things that cost almost nothing and now are a lot more pricey ! I have antique photos, antique toys and bears, almost 500 handbags if not more ! Empty leather jewel boxes and these objects below ! The French call them 'poires', which means pears and they usually hang near the bed to put the ceiling light on and off . I began as you do with one then the others followed me home over time. I still find them sometimes but not for prices I am willing to pay and besides just how many do I need?  

 I used to display them in a pair of cristal vases on each side of a console table. Today they are going back into a box. 

 My elephant collection is growing as I open more boxes. How on earth did I start collecting éléphants ? I think it began with this pair of white painted spelter ones bought in Portobello about 25 years ago for all the money I had in my purse then. There was Something about them that I just couldn't leave on that stall table. 

 A bulkier and heavier thing to collect but again these were bought years ago when no one was interested in Church things. There is a large silver pair in a box somewhere to come still. My favorites are the brass ones as the design is just right for my taste. The white ones are marble and weigh a LOT! Luckilly I was younger and fitter when I bought these and thought Nothing of carting home 20 pounds of finds. Today when going to the flea market I first weigh up the article and if it's crazy heavy I leave it no matter how cheap or cute. Ah old age you kill me. 

But the question again remains, who needs 4 ( or more ) pairs of Church candlesticks ???

Still digging

As frustrating as it is I am still sifting through boxes of storage items and not making minis! 

Out of the 200 or so boxes I have gone through roughly 40 and the house is creaking under the weight of books and books and books! Books on interior design, painting, jewellery, buttons, embroidery etc. Also novels I can't wait to read again and it's tempting to stop and sit and open one!

I came across my collection of bronze greyhounds and placed them here under the window in place of the white coral which I decided to put on the hall table and what was on the hall table back into a box. It's like a game of chess. I also found things I have no recollection of, weirdly.

 My poor Fo dogs have been squashed by a Victorian china spaniel, two art nouveau pitchers, a carved 19th century Chinese bamboo 'brush pot' and some 15th century India carved stone pieces from Hampi in India. The kids would dig in the mud of the river and find these rare items that they sold to a man in the village who sold them to me for roughly 1 euro each!

 I used to collect these small embroidered pillows, no idea why as I also came across about 30 large embroidered pillows by me back when I was into that craft. I also found an unfinished rug with part of the border to be done. The stool that you can see upended is also a creation of mine, crazy craft, when I find something I like doing I go at it like there is no tomorrow.

 This lovely 18th  century chair covered in ivory woven horse hair came from the trash ! The sculpture sitting on it is by a young artist called Clementine de Chabaneix, it plugs in and the street lamp works but it's only good in the dark. I was afraid that it hadn't survived the move but it has proved me wrong, now WHERE to put it!

 My lovely ugly lion now sitting on a small 19th century Chinese table and surrounded by prickly white coral. I began with one small piece and then it just grew as usual. I can never just have one of something. 

 Here you can see a minimalists nightmare ! it's usually busy but this is too much. I intend to move in two years time to somewhere bigger, I might not wait that long now! 

The notary oak unit was a gift from friends and when I saw it realised that I couldn't put books in it until my thinking went horizontal! I adorned it with an egyptian gilt bronze plaque taken from a huge egyptian revival bed found in the street when I lived in the South of France. 

 Taken tonight, a lovely log fire, a comfy sofa, lots of pillows and my computer. The fireplace is not my taste, too rustic but it's still a fire and it makes all the difference to a home.

Not quite a 'mini' post more of a 'maxi' one ! 

Digging through the past.

Today was a big day for me as we went to begin emptying my 12 year old storage units ! When with my partner in 2006 we decided to move first to China and then to Sao Paulo Brazil I put all my things into storage and contracted a mover to ship it all over in six months. It took me more months to figure out my visa without which I could not ship my stuff and my contract with the mover ended and I lost all the money I paid him. I then asked some friends to move the stuff from my expensive Parisien storage to a more economical country one which they did. I had 40m3 in all spread over 5 units. Over the years I have paid a lot to keep all this despite people telling me to let it go but there are things from my family and childhood and archives from work along with over 100 original works of art. This morning we rose at 6h30 and got lost on the way spending hours on the wrong motorway but we did get there and emptied two of the five units. Tomorrow we go back! I am already dead on my feet.

 Above is one of the paintings I retrieved, it is called Eos and was the first oil painting I ever did. I copied it from a postcard in bad lighting before beginning to wear glasses ! And I had no idea how to use the oils with glazing techniques , I just winged it. I love greyhounds, they are so graceful. 

Eos was painted by Sir Edwin Landseer who was a master animal painter and did hundreds of animal paintings over his career. The original hangs in the Queens collection at Buckingham Palace. 

 Below is the original, much clearer than the photo I worked from, this WAS a pre internet period! To the right you can make out a velvet covered chair, in the photo I found you could not distinguish it clearly so I painted a sort of gold frame instead. The original is a million times better but mine reminds me of a period of country calm with no stress, some thing that I am trying to realise today.

Sawing is believing

When I was cutting out the window and door spaces in the upright walls I had trouble manipulating the wood under the Dremel scroll saw given the scale and weight. I saw this saw on Amazon and received it today. It comes with three blades and they cut really well! This is going to take a lot of strain out of cutting out the window holes ! Just sharing.

 Its called the 'ZONA SA35/450 356450 Saber Saw ' from 'ZONA'

It cost 10.99 gbp. Good value I find.

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When one door closes.

I was about the cut out the doorways in each panel before assembly when I realised that I had no idea how the actual door frames would sit and how much space they would take up on each side. I had done two doors as a test so that was more or less sorted out in my head.

 I then mocked up an opening and made it as deep as the walls would be by adding scraps of card until the thickness was right. I then made up two doors from foam board for the opening as the two downstairs main rooms have double doors leading off the hallway. 

The two following photos were my inspiration. The top one for the surround and the second one for the paneling. They are both English Georgian style. 

 Here I pinned in place some card and foam board to get an initial idea.

 I wrestled with openings, to the inside or outwards, a lot depended on this. I finally decided to open inwards and set the doors on the room side of the opening and not the hall side. This determined hinges. 

 I used the same technique as the two doors I had already made with a fine mdf core layered with 350g kraft card.

 As there are two pairs of doors and knowing how much I hate repetition after the fact, I decided to make the four doors at once. 

 Below you can see that I had just 'filled' in the edges of the doors to mask the multiple layers of card and wood.

 I made the doors 10 cms wide as a pair and as the opening I initially cut out was 11 cms that gave me 10mm for side trims. I knew that at this stage I could still adjust the openings and this was the whole point of making the doors now as opposed to later when it would be a lot harder to trim the openings.

 I gave the doors multiple coats of mat acrylic house paint with lots of fine grit sanding in between each coat. I am still not sure of the final colour scheme but they still needed a good base.

 Two pairs of side trim and two top trims made in the same way as the doors.

 Above and below the doors with the edge trims made the same way as the doors but with a mat board base instead of wood. At a later stage I had to add a wood backing to take the hinges and for this I used 'blind' wood. The door handles came from JULIE via Etsy.

 Here you can compare the doors with the first door I made. The ground floor rooms have high ceilings so I wanted to make a statement with the doors giving them the right scale in height.

 For the surround I glued some wood trim ( blind wood, balsa and fine obeche ) onto fine card to make assemble easier and keep it all stable. The card could easily be cut away later. The top trim came from a dollhouse kit unused and the middle section is a half dowel cut with my new desk saw!

 First coat of paint, I followed with four more and sanded each one well.

 I then assembled the frame with the edge trim using wood glue followed by kraft framing tape around the join to maintain a solid hold. 

 Glueing in the hinges, I hate using hinges, so tricky ! I used two part époxy quick drying glue and some tape to hold in place until setting.

 Here you can see the card cut away and the side panels in place. For an assembly of card I think it looks ok. I used to be such a snob in the beginning thinking that everything had to be genuine, real wood to scale, real ceramic tiles and glass windows and mirrors. NOW I know better, that its all illusion, just as life itself is illusion.

 The door frame against the scale drawing. The hinges are still missing their screws or nails and have yet to be set into the frame. I now have enough information to proceed with the other door openings. Each  ceiling height is in a different scale, smaller as you ascend. 30 cms for the ground floor, then 25 and then 22. The top floor has a slanted 'mansard' ceiling opening up more possibilites for design.

 Here is the glue I use, you must all know it but its good and solid and quick. I have used other époxy glues but they were too slow drying.