Chillin' Out

Sometimes I find a piece of furniture that really tickles me and last week I found this one:

I'm calling it a sun lounger but it could equally be used as a day bed or a chaise longue.

At only 9 cms long, I think it's probably 1:16 scale.  It's made from thin lengths of bamboo, with a seat cushion made from what feels like slightly padded crepe paper which is pink but it's probably faded down from red over the years.

There is no maker's mark on it, so if anyone knows who it was made by, I'd be very interested to learn.

It came with this little crib which looks very like the Fairylite ones I have, though it has no maker's mark on it either and it's smaller with an extra upright bit hold the little canopy drape.

However, the sun lounger doesn't feel like it's by the same maker as the crib. The bamboo on the lounger is smooth and shiny and reminds me of various Japanese pieces I've seen for sale over the years so maybe that's where it hales from?

As soon as I saw it I knew it would fit perfectly with the decor and hedonistic lifestyle in my Triang Ultra Modern!

Here it is in the sun room where it will probably live.

It hadn't been in the sun room for five minutes when Liz commandeered it; insisting that Millicent the the long-suffering maid drag it out onto the balcony so that she could catch some rays.

With a cocktail to hand, of course!

Until next time,
Zoe

Lots of Little Treasures

There hasn't been much going on creatively in my dolls' houses recently, in fact, I think the only things I can claim to have made recently are the bedcovers for the Pit-a-Pat beds in my Triang Princess 2.

I actually made these about two months ago.

I'm hopeless with a needle and there's not a right angle to be seen anywhere on the pillows which were supposed to be identical... ahem.  Never mind, I'm still quite happy with the finished 'look' of them and as long as no one inspects them too closely all will be fine!

At about the same time that I made the bedding, I also made a little improvement to the fireplace in the upstairs room of my Triang DH/D.

It had lost its original brick paper, been horribly overpainted and then had some grey wood-grain effect paper stuck on it - yuck!  So, I've removed the later paper and repapered it with reproduction Triang brick paper - I think it looks a whole lot better for it.

The slim mantlepiece on these fireplaces does tend to limit what can be placed on them but when I was browsing through my 'stash' a few weeks back, I spotted these lovely pewter candlesticks which fit on it perfectly. I added the lovely candles which were a gift from my friend Claire (part of a lovely surprise parcel she sent recently!) and commandeered a matching slimline clock from another house. Much smarter.

More recently, I have made a few purchases:

I love this sweet little Grecon toddler and, as I don't have any toddlers in outdoor clothing in my collection, I was very pleased to get her.

As a bonus, the little job lot she came in included this uber-cute little wooden chair which I presume is homemade.

Then there was much excitement in the Truly Madly Tiny household when I bagged these gorgeous Austrian cold-painted bronze flowers for a bargain price.  Just one of these would have made me a very happy lady so six... well, let's just say I was most joyous, ha ha.

I am no connoisseur of these things so I was very happy too when they arrived and they had "AUSTRIA" imprinted on the bases.

And finally for today:

I had to buy these two little pictures when I saw them - there is something about them which I find utterly charming.  They are hand-painted modern miniatures by Veronique Lux: the one on the left is entitled "Le Chat Botté" (Puss in Boots) and the one on the right is entitled "Madmoiselle Chat et son livre" (Miss Cat and her book).

The frames are as lovely as the paintings, being painted to look as if they're made with bamboo.

Here is Madmoiselle Chat hanging in the nursery of the Triang Ultra Modern. The colours in the painting fit in with the decor in this room really well.

And here is Le Chat Bottė in the girls' bedroom in the Triang Princess 2 - he can keep Tom Kitten (sitting on the bed) company!

Until next time,
Zoe

Back in Action!

Sometimes life just goes crazy and you feel like you're chasing your tail - that's what the last three weeks have been like!

BUT, I do have a couple of miniature matters to share now that things have settled down a bit:

Firstly, I want to show you these little silk cushions.  You might remember that I posted a photo of this Westacre sofa recently and mentioned that it would originally have had a little silk cushion at each end. Well, my lovely friend, Edel, very kindly volunteered to make these for me.

I sent her a little swatch of "100% silk fabric satin backed crepe" in a lovely, aged pink colour called "Vintage Rose" (bought on eBay for 99p with free P&P!) and she transformed it into these perfect little cushions with the tiniest, neatest stitches!

 

And, as there was a little bit of fabric left over, Edel made a gorgeous little 'bonus' quilt for my Elgin cradle.  It's amazing how different the colour looks between the cushion photo and these - in reality I think it's somewhere in between the two.

When I gave Edel the measurements, I originally envisaged the quilt tucking into the sides of the cradle, but now I'm thinking it looks better laid on top like this because you can see the lovely detailing better.

Again, the stitches are fabulously tiny and neat!  Thank you, Edel, you are so clever and I will treasure these! xx

Next up - plates!



I've had a go at making some 'china' plates. The results are a bit varied but, overall, I'm pleased. I think the four on the right are the better ones.

I copied an idea that I saw somewhere recently (Facebook maybe?) and it was very easy to do.  I bought paper plates from eBay - 25 of them for £1.49 plus 95p postage (then I remembered that a friend actually gave me some a while back!!!)  I then found photographs of plates I liked on Google Images and printed them out.

The tricky bit is to get the printed plate exactly the right size, preferably not overlapping the edge of the plate and no smaller than the plate - so pretty precise - and to cut them out neatly.  I did a lot of grey-scale printing until I got it right. Or nearly right - the four plates on the left in the photo had printouts which were a smidge too big and their edges are a bit rough as a result.

The next step is to put tacky glue onto the plates and stick on the printed plates, smoothing them down carefully - no wrinkles allowed!

Once dry, you just coat them with several layers of varnish (back and front). I used clear nail varnish as it is quite thick and after a few coats, it gave the plates a bit of bulk.

The final step, if you choose, is to put lining around the outside edge with a gold pen. I found that this neatened them up a bit.

Here are some photos of them in situ in Agar Hall:

Until next time,

Zoe

Sassy Teenage Grecon - Follow Up

You might recall my recent post about this sassy teenage Grecon:

 

When she arrived, I wasn't sure if her pale-blue fishnet tights were original or not but decided that, on balance, they probably were.

Well, now I know for definite because I was leafing through one of my favourite books this morning, 'Dollhouse and Miniature Dolls 1840-1990' by Marcie & Bob Tubbs, when I spotted a this photo:



Lo and behold, there was a similarly-dressed teenager, wearing the same pale-blue fishnets! I love it when pieces of the jigsaw fall into place like this.

   

My teenager definitely looks more sassy than the one in the book and I think that's down to the length of her dress which is, let's be honest, quite immodest!

I notice that the Tubbs book teenager has a longer dress and that her legs are nicely bound under her tights. Whereas, Little Miss Sass' legs are only bound half-way up under her tights - so I'm wondering if her dress was originally a little longer.

Perhaps her fashion-conscious young 'Human Bean' decided that she should lead the fashion for ever-shorter dresses as the 60s progressed and took the scissors to her.

On the other hand, the seams of her dress are properly finished and don't show signs of being re-stitched, so maybe it was down to a daring streak in the out-worker who originally dressed her - who knows?

The other thing I picked up from the photograph in the Tubbs book was that the Grecons in the photo are described as a "set" dating from the late 1950s, early 1960s and, apart from being pleased that my dating of her was in line with this, I realised that I had this contemporary young man waiting in the wings to keep her company.

Given that all my other Grecon teenagers look rather prissy when compared to Little Miss Sass, I'm very pleased that she'll have this young man to knock about with.  He has slightly different feet (longer and flatter) and might be a touch earlier, but they seem reasonably well-suited and we'll just have to see how it works out for them...

Until next time,
Zoe

[You can see my original post about my Sassy Teenage Grecon here.]

Westacre Settee and Chair

This week I became the proud owner of two lovely pieces of Westacre furniture.

Westacre furniture was hand-made in Norfolk, England in the 1920s and 30s.

Firstly, there is this black lacquered settee which would originally have had two little bead-trimmed cushions, one at either end, most likely made from a fine silk, in a colour to match the Liberty lawn seat cushion.

And secondly, there is this black lacquered chair.

I would have liked to have identified the Liberty print, which looks like William Morris to me, but I can't find it anywhere on the internet!

The lacquered back of the settee has a finely-painted figure on it.

And the chair back shows a typical oriental scene of weeping willow, a pagoda and a figure carrying a water yoke.

The furniture was made with a wire frame, covered in papier mâché. Card was added to represent seats and seat backs and then the whole piece is lacquered before being finely painted with gold detailing.

Stiffened pillow lace (lace made by hand using a lace pillow) has been used to represent 'canework' on the back of the settee and the seat of the chair.

On the settee, the pillow lace is wrapped around the frame at the back and, I think, sewn on to it.

Despite the distinctly hand-made look of Westacre furniture, the quality and detailing are excellent. 

This photo shows the raised 'carving' at the top of the chair back.

I love information and so I love this label!

Liza Antrim's excellent book, 'Family Dolls' Houses of the 18th and 19th Centuries' [from which I obtained most of my information for this post], tells us that Westacre furniture was sold by Morrell's toy shop in the Burlington Arcade, London and this label would indicate that it was also sold by Liberty & Co, London.

Liza's book contains a photograph of a wholesale price list for the furniture and this "Lacquered Settee" is listed as costing 45 shillings for one dozen, so 3 shillings and 9 pence for one of them.  I don't know the exact date of either the wholesale price list or this label but it does look as if the retail mark-up was around 100%.

According to an on-line calculator I found (Concertina.com), the Liberty & Co retail price of 6 shillings and 11 pence in 1930 would equate to around £49, and whilst these calculators aren't completely reliable, it would seem that the furniture was pretty pricey!

I understand that Wesacre furniture comes in several different sizes, but my two new pieces are both of the smaller size - roughly 1:16 and here is the settee looking slightly diminutive in my 1:12 scale Triang 81.  The settee is 9.5 cm wide (or, just a pinch under 4 inches).

Though still looking small, it definitely looks better suited to this more 1:16 scale room in my G&J Lines No. 5.

I like it here and it's English like the house, so it makes sense to be there - but who knows if it will stay?!

Until next time,

Zoe

Kinky Boots!

🎵Everybody's going for those kinky boots,

kinky boots, (boop, boop).

Kinky boots.🎵

Trendy Wendy's leg surgery has been successful and she's now sporting a smart pair of knee-length blue boots to match her coat and the peak of her hat.  She looks so much smarter than she did before.

Despite her having one thin ankle and boots of slightly different lengths (!), this is the best leg re-wrap I've ever done. Usually, my patients end up looking like they've got varicose veins!

BUT, I think I've discovered the secret to a good wrap - rotate the patient's limb around and not the thread (or wool).  Rotating the limb means that you can lay the thread exactly where you want it and without any gaps. Previously I've wrapped the thread around and then, when finished, turned the patient over only to find that I've left gaps in the wrapping at the back. I'll let you know if my new theory holds up.

Here's Wendy doing a photo shoot with two chilled-out looking boxer dogs I found in a charity shop yesterday, only £1 for the pair - just look at the healthy, glossy sheen on those coats!

Until next time,

Zoe

Hooray for a Hat!

This week, Grecondale's flourishing population was further increased by the arrival of this mixed trio, which came as a little job lot:

 

Despite the Granny being in the best condition, it was actually the two ladies on the the left who interested me most.

   

This very eccentric-looking lady was wearing a hat that was clearly never intended for her head! 

I was hoping it wouldn't be too well-glued to her hair but no, someone had made a very thorough job of sticking it on and she will definitely need a visit to Curl Up and Dye hair salon to sort her out.

She also needs a bit of attention around the knee area as she's looking very 'Nora Batty' at the moment.

   

But hoorah! This poor gluey headed bald man has been hanging around waiting for me to make him a hat for many months now and now he has one!

He doesn't even have to suffer the ignominy of wearing whatever effort I would have produced with my limited sewing skills, and this one is navy blue; toning nicely with his lighter blue overcoat.

And then we come to this Trendy Wendy.  Despite her scruffy legs and general grubbiness, I love her for her fabulous outfit.

A bit like the sassy teenager from a few weeks ago, this young lady has a bit of a 1960s mod look about her (though maybe from a couple of years earlier), with that fabulous peaked bubble hat, monochrome scarf and short A-line coat.

I doubt she will ever forgive me for this photo, but I wanted to show that her coat is actually lined, however, beneath it, and most unusually for a Grecon, she is as naked as the day she was sewn!

Given the grubby condition of her, I like to think she's been the most handled and therefore probably the most loved of these the three ladies. So loved that her long, skinny legs need major surgery and her hands are almost bare wire!

And finally, here is Granny. Her dress is a lovely soft silk and she's in good, clean condition. Unloved? I hope not, but just in case, I will have make sure her future is bright - maybe a loving Grecon Grandpa and a large extended family.

All three of the new arrivals have tiny feet and have the 'GRECON MADE IN ENGLAND' label sewn to the back of their outfits.  

Looking closely at their mouths, I think it's possible that all three of them started life with just a dot of a mouth and were later given a purplish red smile.

Maybe they were drawn discontented but had such a great life with their 'Human Bean' that they demanded smiles - I'd like to think so!

Until next time,

Zoe