I have always wanted an obsessionally all working, all singing all dancing minature house…now I have two I am working on, one waiting in the wings and Lorraine and Julie have all the bits to start one too. This was meant to be my hobby after I retired..but heck..who wants to retire anyway! Prices for various items cost from a few pence to hundreds of pounds. Now no-one needs to be stuck for my birthday present ever again!
The Blue House was started after last Xmas when my husband suprised me with the first house, I rapidly added a second identical one, converted inside to have three nice big rooms. There is everything from a jar of tadpoles in the young boys attic bedroom to a trophy cupboard for the Bedlingtons “pots”.
I commisioned an artisan who specialises in animals and people to make me some one twelfth scale Bedlingtons, the first two arrived just before Christmas
The one at the front is quite clearly Ch Honeymist Art Tatum. Eventually I will add a kennel block full of them, but at £50 each I will need to do it gradulally!
The two parrots, African Greys (in front of piano), represent my two parrots Jazz and Beakie, and the music room reflects my husband John and my life long interest in all forms of music. John played French Horn in the National Youth Orchestra as a boy, my Dad played saxaphone and clarinet in a “big band”,
We ran the University Jazz Club for a number of years, John played in a modern jazz group “Head” after we moved to Scottland and we both love classical music too. Most of my dogs KC names are Jazz musicians or jazz song titles.
This nursemaid doll is exquisite, from an artisan called Heidi Otte, the house soon to be started is shown above, watch for pictures of progress, and we do three dimensional jigsaws too. Some of you may recognise “New York”..this was a BIG challenge to do! Many years have passed since the naked house above was finished, but I have just got my web master to add pictures of the finished product. This house is huge and I had to learn how to do the outside to look like stone and I put off doing the roof for ages as I was scared to make a mess of adding hundreds of individual tiny thin real slates. Also the electric wiring was much more complex than the previous house and I learned to do much more complex curtains, flooring and the panelling in the diningroom. Almost all the dolls are Heidi Ott’s expensive but wonderful dolls, the clocks are hand made working ones, the furniture is top of the range some specially commisioned. The miniature Bedlingtons are works of art and I can name them as models of dogs I have owned over the years, so several Xmas and birthday presents are represented! Look for the mummy dog with her puppies under the kitchen table. All the lights can be turned on for individual rooms and some flicker like real candles, one can also haave just the flickering lights on, the fire places all have flickering fires and the wash boiler also has a fickering fire. I hate to admit I am old enough to remember having a similar “set pot boiler” situated in an outside wash house and poshers and dolly tubs and a huge mangle too! My poor Mum was SO relieved when we got our first gas washing machine and then later an electric one…and yes I remember the days before bread was routinely sliced!
