Another workshop!

On saturday, along with a friend, we start on a 5 days project given by Rik Pierce.
We're facing a lot of work and long days/evenings but so looking forward to it.
I will be making photo's ofcourse and give an impression of the workshop and my results when I'm back home.

Here's a picture of what we will be making. Isn't it a lovely building?

I will be back next week, I'll have to start packing my suitcase and tools for the class.

The wooden doll

A week ago I did follow a workshop at the Apeldoorn Dollhouse Show given by David Pennant from Teeny Weeny Teddies. His class was well prepared and a great tutor he turned out to be. First we've started on carving/sanding the wooden pieces. A lot of extra steps followed and after that we've had plenty of time to practice on painting faces. First on a flat surface and after that on a dummy before we started finally painting on our tiny dolls. She's fully poseable, well her arms and legs at least. Putting on her sleeves was a reall challenge since my own fingers got in the way constantly.

But here she is on the sofa her residence for the time being.

And here's a close up of her, it wasn't easy to get a clear picture of her.

On Saturday, at the show, I recieved this wonderfull portrait from a friend of mine!

I was totally surprised by this generous gift so again a BIG thank you!! He will get a nice place in one of the rooms but I haven't decided which one yet. So he might show up in several pictures through the house.

And here's one of the plates that I've painted, it's still not finished it needs some more detailwork like fish scales after that it can again be fired.

At the show I didn't have much time for shopping since I was helping a friend at his table.

But fortunately I can look forward to a trip to Kensington Dollhouse Festival next month.

Catching Up....!

So sorry for my abscense in Blogland. But as we all know there's a reall world out there which sometimes is very demanding. But all is well here.

And lately I have found some time to start working on miniatures again. I recieved extra pieces of fabric from Susan Bembrigde for the canopy bed in the Blue room. I had it printed the wrong way so I had to wait for extra fabric that Susan send me.

        Here is a glimpse of the canopy bed, at least you can see the color combination

Also I have been working hard on the display of  my roomboxes, still not finished so no 
pictures yet! 

And next week we will be having the Apeldoorn Fair http://www.dhnshow.com/nl/nl.html again, really looking forward to that one. And although it will be a very busy hectic week I'm lucky to have time on friday to follow a workshop from David Pennant from Teeny Weeny. And ofcourse catch up with a lot of friends during the show.

 We will be making a Peg/Dutch doll like this if all works well!!

A transformation...!

Well that's what I was thinking when I saw these pictures next to eachother!

I found this picture again on my pc, it's from the start of the "blue room".

I know it doesn't look pretty, at least you can allready see where the bathroom will be situated.

This picture was probably taken early april.

After that there was a holidaybreak, well basicly 2 to be honest.

The beginning of moving my workshop to another even bigger room.

So the workshopspace was a bit hectic to work/stay in, to say the least!

But it's getting there..........hopefully finished by January.

And the "Blue Room" is nearly finished. It needs some goldleaf finishes and I can finally start making the doors for this room as well as the curtain(a gold/yellow color). I also got used to the color of the floor, I now like the shades of it so I will leave it as it is.

The canopy bed for this room is nearly finished but I will show that one when it's completed. In the meantime here's a picture of the room so far.

I hope you'll like it.

Sleeping...!?!

I know...it must have looked like I have been sleeping for a long long time! But no, I did not! RL asked a lot of my time untill recently and there's the moving of my workshop to another and bigger room! Which is really neat but also takes a lot of time as you can imagine.

But this week I did find some time to start on miniatures again. I've even been  working on 2 bedrooms for my canalhouse. 

 One is ofcourse the traditional "blue room" and for the contempory room I've upholstered the bed, I even decorated the legs with goldleaf.
(which you probably won't see when the bed is made up, but I know it's there!)
Ofcourse this bed won't stay in the "Blue room" which will get a canopy bed instead.
Also I'm still not sure about this floor.....

Oooh and the blue looks a lot different on the photo's then in reality, it's called Blue Grey. The white pieces of wall will be decorated with blue printed silks ofcourse, the same fabric will be used for it's bed. And yes next door will be the bathroom with a chinoiserie wallpaper and no not in blue this time.

And here's the contempory bed, I found this amazing printed fabric at a local store which got me started again!

Not just a painting....!

Last april I've found this wonderfull painting at the Apeldoorn Dollshouse show.

There was someting about this portrait so I talked about it with the painter, Jaap Wijtenburg. He makes the most wonderfull miniature paintings, like the originals on real canvas! Well the lady on this particular painting is Belle van Zuylen.

A very "modern woman of her period" she was born in 1740. In the summer she lived on the countryside and in the winters in the town, so she was "practically a neigbour!

So by that time I had to buy it for my dollhouse ofcourse. Still not sure if she will be placed in the livingroom or in the (future) diningroom or a perfect place in the library as she was a writer as well.

Here's a close up of the painting. There will also be more detail on the frame and it will be finished with real goldleaf ofcourse.

And a quick picture of the painting  lying on the cover of her biography

If you want to read more about her: Belle van Zuylen

Orange

As you would have guessed today's color in the Netherlands had to be ORANGE!!

This moring after the abdication of Queen Beatrix we've got a new king, her son, Willem Alexander. So this has been an interesting national (feast)day.

And here's a picture of our new king & queen in case you've missed the news!

(Maxima's gorgeous dress was made by a Dutch designer, Jan Taminiau)

But there's more..........

This evening I finally had time to see who is the winner of the "Giveaway".

Indeed even in our house there was a bit of orange to find but let me a sure you I didn't wear any orange clothes! Trust me the color doesn't do me any good ;-)

And now for some drum rolls..............the winner is...................!?!

Congratulations Irene........it's your lucky day, you've won my giveaway!!

So if you could contact me so that I can mail it to you as soon as possible.

I hope you will like it and find a nice place for it in one of your lovely rooms.