Tudor bake ovens

Well, yesterday I started and (largely) finished the bake ovens in the kitchen :) (The design is based almost entirely on Brian Long's excellent instructions in his Tudor dolls' house book, by the way. )

Here's what I learned while researching Tudor baking.  A bake oven of this period has two levels.  The baker lights a fire in the upper level and when the masonry is hot, he uses first a rake to pull out the ash and coals (which drop through a gap into the lower ash pit), then cleans the oven with a mop and puts the bread or pie in the now empty and clean but still-hot oven.  A wooden oven door seals everything up until it's baked.

Here's the basic construction of the interior, showing the three spaces for the ovens and the single ash pit, beneath.  You can see the cut outs for the gaps through which the ashes would drop, although I don't suppose anyone else will ever notice them :)

I miraculously remembered to drill the hole in the back of the middle oven for running the wiring :)  I painted the interior of the ovens and ash pit black, and cut out the facings of the unit, upper and lower, from heavy, acid free illustration board.  I think I had a drink at this point, I'm not sure ...

I covered the facings with Poly Filla and let them dry (well, more or less).   Then I glued them in place with my current favourite glue, Quick Grip. (Do you think they'll sponsor me?)

Then I aged the plaster and tried to blend it in with the rest of the kitchen. 

I want to have a fire going in the middle oven, the left hand oven will just have been swabbed out with the mop and the right hand oven will be sealed with its wooden door.  So, I have to make the three wooden doors (two of which will not be in place), I have to make the bundle of faggots and the fire for the middle oven and I have to make the bread peel, mop and rake.  Oh, and a bucket of dirty water!

And I also have to edge both the main fireplace and the bake ovens in egg carton stones :)  But I feel a huge sense of relief, knowing that the ovens are actually built.

If I can get Tiddles to build the spiral staircase on Thursday, then I can start planning the upper level.

Logs in the kitchen fireplace

I didn't get much done yesterday because I was busy with real work.  But I did go out into our garden and snip some twigs into logs :)

I have to dull down the sheen of the bricks -- maybe it's time to put on the soot and grime!

More pots by Suramics!

David came back from the post office with a lovely little parcel for me:  more goodies from Sue Dix of Suramics Pottery!  Aren't these pretty?  I love the blue and brown glaze on these so much.  Thanks, Sue -- you do great work!

I took this photo of the kitchen last night.  I'm really pleased with how it's all coming together.  Now I need to start on the bake oven!

Cob irons, part 2

Cob irons, part 1

My next task was to make the "iron" part of the cob irons, the part that holds the spit.  I'd already decided to make a black polymer clay facing, but I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to use to make the actual supports for the spit.

I thought about using more clay or heavy wire, but then I found some little brass right angle screw hooks in the kitchen hardware drawer that seemed as if they might work.

After I glued the trimmed brick facings to the plywood, I rolled out some black polymer clay for the front.  After it was baked I trimmed the clay to fit, and glued it on.  I then marked and drilled five holes in each piece, starting with the lowest hole 1 inch from the bottom and the others at 1/2" intervals above it.

(At the bottom of the next photo you can see a sample of the original brass hook.  I had to trim the hook part because it was too long and out of scale when I tried it as is.)  I'm really glad I went with the hooks and that they were comparatively easy to trim.  They're nice and secure and sturdy.   I painted them black with acrylic paint.

And here are the cob irons in place!   I know the suckling pig looks rather odd roasting over an invisible fire, but the kitchen flames are on order from eBay :)

Welcome to all our new followers!

Wow!  So many new followers -- thank you all so much :)

There's miniaturist Heather Cutting-Rayl from New Mexico in the United States. Her blog is This Little Doll House, and she has a special interest in witch and wizard minis.

There's Susan from Istanbul in Turkey, whose blog is Kankadolls and Miniatures.  She makes incredible papier-maché dolls that have to be seen to be believed!  She also very generously offers all kinds of tutorial on how to make them.

There's Jeanette from Germany whose blog is Garden of Miniatures.  She doesn't just make flowers, she makes whole gardens (and graveyards ...)!

There's Ingrid from Belguim, whose blog is mijn droomwereldje.   Her aesthetic is soft, slightly shabby, turn of the last century (what the English might call Edwardian) interiors. 

There's Daydreamer who has a brand new blog with some wonderful photos and musings about the connection between her dolls' houses and her childhood.  Very evocative.

There's Flora from Italy, whose blog is la casa delle bambole di flora. Her header image is an Ingres portrait that I've always loved, which sets the tone for the pretty, slightly shabby mini objects and scenes she photographs. 


There's My Small Obsession, run by MiniMaker, who also runs the video site Creating Dollhouse Miniatures.  Her blog has tons of helpful advice and how-tos.

There's bogna from Poland, who has a number of blogs and interests, including I Love That Doll.

There's Cheryl from Hawaii, whose blog is A Miniature Place.  She shares lots of photos of beautiful, tasteful mini objects and decorating, and, in addition to work in 1:12 scale, shares pieces in quarter scale, too.

There's also Peggy Fowler, KLC,  Susanne and Mary, whose profiles didn't seem to be linked to a blog of their own.  If you do have a blog, please let me know and I'll correct this :)

Welcome, all!

And the winners of the giveaway are ...

I decided that since there were 36 entrants in the draw to celebrate the blog reaching 50 followers, there would be three prizes :) (That made sense to me at the time ...)

According to random.org, the winners are ...

Thank you all so much for entering!  Would Cynthia, Julia and Old Maid please email me their mailing addresses, and I'll start putting together their prizes :)

My email address is nina [at] ninascottstoddart.com.  Just replace the [at] with the symbol @ :)

Cob irons and more clay stuff

In an effort to avoid working on the bake ovens, I decided to work on the main roasting fireplace :)  Yesterday I cut some 3/8" plywood to the correct shape for the cob iron supports.  (Cob irons hold the spit at different heights from the fire to help control the roasting of meat. ) 

 Here's a photo showing a huge fireplace with cob irons at Hampton Court:

The cob irons for my little fireplace are about 4 inches high and 1 3/4 inches deep, angled from front bottom to back top.  Again, I took all this from Brian Long's Tudor book. 

These are the plywood forms in place.  The spaces to the outside of each cob iron will be for the wood stores.

Then I rolled out some grey polymer clay (see, I'm getting smarter -- grey means I won't have to paint them grey for grout!) for the brick impress.  Again, learning from my mistakes, I made the clay sheets thicker, this time :)  I cut them out to the shape of the supports.

Then I impressed the clay with the molds I bought from Malcolm's Miniatures.  Again, I used the Tudor brick.

The thicker clay took the impress so much better, as you can see.  Then I baked and painted them and trimmed the clay appliques to more precise size (using the impress molds, of course, distorts the size a wee bit).

And here's what they looked like this morning:

I also made a few bits and bobs last night while we were watching dvds --  mostly knives, another pheasant (this time designed to drape over the chopping block) and an "iron" hanging rack for all the game storage.

I'll be back to do the draw for the books a little later :)

Kitchen storeroom

Yesterday I built a little platform in the storeroom and framed in the door to the kitchen.  I shaped each of the boards that make up the platform (they're just offcuts of pine I stole from my husband's workshop) and I really like the effect.  Now I want to build a new table with a top actually constructed from boards!

There's going to be a little ladder up to the platform and then another ladder up to the room above.  See the little stool I made?  Katie Cat has curled up on it, to keep an eye on the pheasants.  Or perhaps she caught them.  We may never know.

 

Thursday evening, while David and I watched a dvd (New Tricks -- do you know it?  A great police procedural from the UK) I made my first attempt at making dead pheasants out of polymer clay :)  Then last night, while David and watched a dvd (State of Play, a thrilling BBC series -- I know, there's a theme developing here :) I made my first attempt at painting dead pheasants made of polymer clay :)

They're a little garish, but I'm quite pleased for my first attempt.  Not as hard as I thought they'd be, although I felt very sorry for them, making them dead and all.  Next time I'll actually go back upstairs and get a small brush for the markings, instead of being lazy and using the brush I happened to have in my hand!

The blue embroidery floss is temporary.  I doubt even wealthy Tudors used blue cord to hang up their pheasants.  But I had to hang them up right away, and shove them in David's face.  "Look!"  I said.  "Dead pheasants!"  "Yes, I see" he said, politely (he's English).  "How fascinating."

He's really very patient with me and my enthusiasms :)

Finally, here's a view from the storeroom door into the kitchen itself.

Tiddles's embroidery and the Tower bedchamber window ...

We took some photos of Tiddles's masterpiece of needlepoint on Thursday, but I haven't had a chance to share them with you, yet.  This is her tapestry:

She followed a pattern from Sandra Whitehead's book Celtic, medieval and Tudor wallhangings in 1/12 scale needlepoint.  It's stitched on 32 count fabric with two strands of embroidery floss. 

By the way, Tiddles was 9 when she started this in November, and she's 10 now :)

This girl is amazing, isn't she?  She comes by it honestly -- her mother, Jennie, is the finest needlewoman I know -- fast, accurate, tidy and with perfect stitches.  Tiddles is going to be just as good, I think. 

From the sublime to the comparatively ridiculous, now :)  I finally finished the little casement window in the Tower bedchamber.

I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get the panes out, but it broke apart quite obligingly when I pulled on it :)  I'm not entirely sure it was supposed to, but it helped the process!  I stained the bits and pieces, applied miniature pin striping to the panes for leading and then reassembled the whole gubbins.  I glued the window back into the wall and framed it, and now I have a lovely, working casement window so when the inhabitant of the tower chamber needs a breath of fresh air, he can put down his lute and lean out :)

Welcome to our new followers!

I'm more than a little stunned and amazed (in a very happy way) at how many followers have joined this blog in the last day.  Thank you all, so much, for your interest and support!  For those whom I have not had a chance to thank personally, please forgive me.

There's Annie from Denmark whose blog is Obsidian Hall (I love that name.  It's so evocative).  She's got a dark, patinated, slightly grungy or distressed (in a very good way!)  aesthetic which I really enjoy.

There's aru, from Spain, whose blog amounts to a beautiful photo essay on miniatures!

There's annina from the UK, who specialises in modern miniatures (which I love, as well) and who is featured in an April 7 story in the NY Times about modern design in miniatures!

There's Bözse from Hungary, who loves making her own miniatures (and I have to agree, it's pretty addictive :)

There's Julia of Bear Cabin Miniatures from Wales, who started building a dolls' house for her daughter and now makes and sells wonderful furniture, needlework and accessories from her Etsy store!  (That's her Victorian sofa at the top of this post ...)

There's Kat who runs the Mini Madness Virtual Tea Party with her "co-conspirator" Wendie.  This blog's goal is to give miniaturists from all over the world a place to gather, chat and do all the things we might do if we could meet in person!

There's Sylvia from Spain, whose aesthetic is warm, romantic and slightly shabby (very European) and whose blog is full of delicious photos!

There's Tallulah-Belle who makes amazing miniature garden plantings and floral arrangements, and whose blog also has some tutorials.  She also has an Etsy shop!

There's also Synnøve, a Norwegian blogger, whose blog mixes photos of beautiful Nordic style miniatures (lots of patina, soft colours, very romantic) with photos of mind-blowing Norwegian scenery.  Gorgeous!

There's Teresa from Tiny Ter Minaitures, an IGMA artisan from Spain who makes an extraordinary range of miniatures from flowers, fruit and food to modern grocery items.  So perfect!

There's another IGMA artisan, Mags Cassidy, a busy miniaturist from the UK who also has an Etsy shop (in fact she's got a very tempting Tudor food board for sale right now ... :)

There's Katerina from Italy whose blog is lively and has some great tutorials (like a basket making tutorial that I simply have to try with the kids)!

And, finally, thanks also to our mysterious follower Monique!