Friends and Minis

I'm sitting in my craft room looking out at the cows grazing in the paddock next door and my thoughts turn to my blog friends in England who are expecting a large storm to hit. My thoughts are with you all and hope you have no more than some leaves to sweep up tomorrow.

Talking of friends, you may recall in an earlier blog entry that I told you of the room box my friend Lyn gave to my daughter Jamie and I. Yesterday I turned my attention to it and gave it a little face lift. It had been beautifully decorated by Lyn in the 1990s but was looking a little tired. I gave it some new wallpaper and wood flooring. The contents were what Lyn had collected for the box except for the chairs around the table. Unfortunately the chairs that Lyn had around the table had fallen apart and the paper coverings had disintegrated. I have kept one of the chairs which I managed to put back together which is on the front left of the box. I will cover the paper seat with some watered down PVA to protect it from tearing any further. I found the chairs around the table in my stash. They had been moving around with me since the 1990s when I first did miniatures but I had never used them.

 The room box as it was.

 Rewallpapered and with wood flooring and with contents moved back in.

The lady of the house that started it all.

Lyn found this doll on a trip to Australia and fell in love with her. She asked my dad to make the room box and other pieces were collected to please the lady of the house.

The completed room box.

I hope Lyn is happy with the renovation.

Now to tell you about the wonderful day I had on Saturday. I thought I was the only miniaturist in my home town until about two years ago when I saw the name of a local lady on the membership list of the New Zealand Association of Miniature Enthusiasts. I made contact with her at the time and we have emailed each other off and on since then. Both living very busy lives we had not caught up with each other until Saturday. I bought some magazines off Susan and she delivered them to me and came in for a cup of tea. She left three hours later and I loved the time sharing my interest with a fellow miniaturist. I think we both felt more inspired and motivated after our catch-up to get on with our miniature projects. Susan brought some of her exquisite miniature knitting for me to see and photos of her miniature projects. A fabulous few hours.

As for the Selina Rose Gallery it got a coat of paint yesterday, although I think I got as much paint on me. Painting isn't my strong point! It will need a sand down and another coat of paint but that will have to wait until next weekend. Today I am going to make a shop counter with accessories for the Gallery.

After seeing me feeling more motivated after Susan's visit on Saturday my daughter decided to set some miniature challenges for me, one of them being a shop counter with accessories such as a laptop. She has also set me a challenge of making some picture frames and turning a little planter she bought me for $1.00 with her pocket money into a miniature scene.

At the moment tipped up on end I am seeing the little planter

as an outdoor shower or 'convenience'.

 



Jamie is very keen on Harry Potter things at the moment and she is going to start working on turning an old dolls house I had into a general store that would fit into the world of Harry Potter - a one-stop shop for Wizards and Witches. This morning she has made some dragon eggs which will be nestled into little wooden crates and at the moment my husband is helping her design a shop sign for her shop.

I'll post some pictures once the sign is created and the eggs have been fired. She will think it is very cool if some of her miniatures get onto my blog.

Anyhow I had better sign off as the day is fast disappearing and I have a shop counter to make.