1:12 scale blue and white china -- an addiction

I love blue and white china!  I love the look of it, and it's perfect for the period of my William and Mary dolls' house because Chinese export pottery and Delftware became quite a craze beginning in the late 17th century. 

Here are some artists making blue and white china pieces in dollhouse scale  -- some of these are the highest end imaginable and others are more affordable for collectors at my price point.  They're all beautiful and inspiring!

Pictured at the top of this post is a miniature tulipiere or tulip vase from the Dutch queen of exquisite 1:12 scale Delftware, Henny Staring.   Below is a sultan's head vase, also from her Delftware collections. There are no prices listed on her website, but I found a few pieces for sale in resellers' shops and the price tags are eye-watering :)  Never mind, a girl can dream!

UK makers Stokesay Ware do several lines of blue and white pieces, including full dinner and tea sets as well as bowls, vases and other special items (see dresser, below).  I've started collecting their pieces with a few blue and white plates and look forward to expanding my collection to vases.  I can testify that these pieces are strictly to scale -- they are very thin and perfect in every way.  Stokesay Ware will even do a special-order Blue Willow pattern tea set with handle-less teacups -- perfect for that early Georgian setting!

Avon Miniatures is based in Devon and sells a number of blue and white porcelain pieces that would be lovely in a collection.  They do their own version of Blue Willow plus a number of blue and white collector's plates (shown below).  The website is a little out-dated, and could use some better photos, but I look forward to ordering from them soon!

I can't wait to order some pieces from Sally Meekins, another UK artisan with quite a few blue and white pieces on offer.  Above is a magnificent large pyramidal tulipiere by Meekins, and below is a charming pair of blue and white cats!  She has quite a few very unusual articles on her site ...

I'm sure there must be some makers I'm missing -- if I've left out a favourite of yours,  please do comment and let me know!  I certainly don't want to miss any 1:12 scale blue and white china :)

Another gorgeous turned bowl from Thomas Saunders

I've been stupidly sick the last couple of days -- it's just a cold or something, but it's making me extra draggy -- so nothing really new to post, but I wanted to share this piece which arrived last week.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the work of Ontario artisan Thomas Saunders, who turns both wood and stone into extraordinary scale pieces of art.  I have a few pieces by him, but when I saw this stunning soapstone and tiger wood fruit bowl in his new Artfire shop, I had to have it!

Tom's shop is Turnings in Miniature, and he's an artist in every sense of the word. He also blogs under the same name.

Here's the bowl, filled with gorgeous polymer clay fruit by Kiva :)  Thank you so much, Tom, I love it and Kiva, I'm so glad to finally have a fruit bowl worthy of your talent!

Working on first floor of William and Mary House

Well, the foam walls are going up (temporarily, at least) and I've cut some chimney pieces :)  I've sketched in the roof over the kitchen wing, and the whole thing is looking more and more like a house!

I decided to make the kitchen roof from cardboard since it's not going to open and close. I did make a mistake in measuring (as you can see from the back edge of the roof!) but I'll cover that up and make good when I put the tiles on, at least that's my plan :)

I'm going to experiment with my surface finishes on this wall.  I've primed it the grey of the brick grout, but I think I'll paint it again, in a lighter grey.  This one seems a bit dark.  My plan is to make my own brick facing (from artists board or sandpaper) and make quoins from egg cartons for the corners.

I'm not going to finish the back wall to any degree -- just give a coat of whatever grey I use for the grout colour.  This is NOT going to be a perfect house from every angle!

I went down to David's workshop this morning and cut two chimney breasts and one hearth.  Here's the little fireplace and the wooden hearth (which I'll faux finish as stone) in what will be the bedroom.  I've decided not to have a window in this room, because I'll need all the back wall for the large bed :)  This room will be half panelled and then papered above in Itsy Bitsy Mini's Distressed Damask in burgundy, and I have a gorgeous, very fine burgundy stretch velvet that reads as scale better than most 1:1 velvets.  I'll use that for the bed.

Here's the stunning fireplace surround for the Blue and White room.  It comes with its own hearth, so I had to make a shallow chimney breast -- shallow enough that both breast and surround can fit on the hearth.  The breast is actually twice as thick as shown here, but I couldn't get it to balance while I was taking the picture :)

The floors will all be removeable -- because of the ceiling wiring on the lower floor, I need to be able to remove these floors in case something goes wrong with the light fixtures (as something is sure to :)   I splashed out on premade oak floors which I'll stain Mission Oak to match the ground floors.

Small Time -- miniature clocks and more

I just stumbled upon this marvellous site:  Small Time, UK maker of miniature clocks and other delights!  There are so many stunning pieces on this site, many of which are perfect for the Georgian period.

Look at this 1:12 scale 18th century room box -- look at the moulding!  Stunning detail, perfect scale and very inspirational.  It's later than the periods I'm really working in, but I admire the beauty and execution of this piece.

And look at this tiny sterling silver pocketwatch! 

New vendor -- JS Miniatures, maker of Georgian fireplace surrounds

Isn't this lovely?  It's a Georgian fireplace surround with faux marble insert from a new supplier, JS Miniatures, in the UK.  The proprietor, Jennifer, also writes one of the blogs I follow, A Georgian Dolls House Blog.

These surrounds are available either in kit form, (with wooden structure and one of four colours of faux marble) or ready-made.  I really like them -- it's a nice, clean design, and the marble adds a lovely detail!


JS Miniatures Website
A Georgian Dolls' House Blog

Winners of the Giveaway!

(This is Edmund, head male cat at our home.  He has nothing to do with the draw, but I love this photo :)

Well, we've picked the winners of the 250 follower giveaway.


The winner of the Blue and White set is DAISY!

The winner of the Witchy set is MINI-ME!

The winner of the Jardinere set is KIKKA!

Thank you to all the participants so much for your support and interest :)  Would the winners please email me with their postal addresses?  My email address is mco [at] ns.sympatico.ca

Love to you all,

Nina

250 follower giveaway!

Finally, it's time for our giveaway, a small token of our appreciation for all our followers and friends online! 

As usual, there's a choice of three packages.  This time around the themes are:

1.  Blue and White

This will include the screen that Evangelista made, covered with Itsy Bitsy Minis' Jacobean Blue pattern wallpaper.  There are also three necklaces, a white tray tiled with delft tiles, two tea cups and two tassels.

2.  Witchy

This includes tassels, a little black stool upholstered with fabric printed with a bat, an open book showing a map of the heavens, three necklaces and the little bat needlework cushion.

3.  Jardinière

This giveaway has a white chair upholstered in a faded green and pink toile, two rose-themed needlepoint cushions, two topiaries and three little necklaces in greens and pinks.

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To enter, please be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post, letting me know which  package draw you'd like to be entered in.   I'll have the kids do the drawing on Thursday afternoon (Nova Scotia time) during Knitwits :)

Hallowe'en theme project -- Bat Cushion

Happy Hallowe'en to all the witch, wizard and spooky aficionados out there! As a Hallowe'en gift for my fellow miniaturists, here's a little bat cushion I designed and the pattern for it.

This is quite a dainty cushion, stitched in stem stitch on 22 canvas.  If you want to make it bigger, or want to stitch it on a smaller canvas, then you could add an expanded border :)

Here's the pattern chart:

As always, this is my own design, and I'm thrilled for you to make as many as you like for yourself or for gifts.   (Just a note -- the little sample in the top photo doesn't have the contrasting grey sections shown in the pattern because I didn't have any grey floss :))

Hello! I'm back!

Oh my dears.  I'm so sorry!  I'd like to thank everyone who wrote me, asking how things were -- all is well.  David's health is good and I've just been really busy with my one woman show which closed last weekend, quite successfully.

Just a quick update about a few of the things I've been working on, then I'll put up a post tomorrow (I hope) for the giveaways.

I've been embroidering up a storm over the last few months.  Here are some of the things I've completed or almost completed:

The dragon rug just needs to be finished off -- the stitching is done, Hallelujah!  I've been working on it since before the England trip, in fact it was my travel project :)  The rest are all cushions, most of them patterns from Felicity Price's book Needlepoint 1 12 scale projects.  The one in the middle of the bottom row is from a Janet Granger kit -- it's the cushion pattern Yvonne.  A really lovely design, fiddly to stitch but worth it.

Eva and I have been working on House of Miniatures kits at Knitwits.  I love these kits, at least the ones that are not upholstered.  I've had NO joy with settees, sofas or wing chairs :(  They just don't work for me, but the straight-up wooden ones are fabulous.  I buy them as cheaply as I can on eBay -- just search for "house miniature kit".

I just finished this dower chest, and found it really easy to complete. It's going to live in David's workshop in the attic of the William and Mary house.  I love everything about this little piece -- from the chest top to the drawer to the turned legs.

Eva just completed this lovely Queen Anne side table on Thursday.  She worked very carefully at it, and did a lovely job. Such a useful table!

And I made up this tavern table kit a few weeks ago.  If you get a chance to pick up one of these (they come in two sizes,  this one, a smallish sqaure one, and a larger rectangular one), and it works with your project, do pick it up.  It's a very easy kit and I love the results!  Perfect for a tea table, games table or in a pub or kitchen.

More tomorrow, my darlings, and I'll scurry around and try to get caught up on all your blogs!

Love,

Nina

Witchy giveaway items -- preview!

Here are some items for the second part of our giveaway:  pieces for a stylish witch or wizard :) (We're going to have the actual draw post later this week, where you will be able to leave comments to be entered in the three draws).

Among the items for the draw are a little stool that I reupholstered in a bat-print.

I also made two little tassels in halloween colours, plus an open book with a black snakeskin cover which features a map of the heavens.  The kids made three classy necklaces, too, and I made a plain tray for them.

More to come!