June 2013 Trip: Castine

Missy and I flew to Portland, Maine from New York on the Friday before Guild School started, in Portland we rented a car and traveled up Route 1 to Castine making a stop in Wiscasset to visit a needlework shop and Missy wanted a lobster roll from the famous Red's Eats, at least we didn't have to wait too long in line as it was rather cold and I was starting to feel rather frozen. We arrived in Castine at about 6pm, it was great meeting old friends on both Friday night and Saturday morning. And during the week I made a few more new friends with either first timers or people I haven't met in the previous two years.

Guild School kicked off with an opening dinner on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning classes started, I took both of Bill Robertson's classes, he is about the only teacher that teaches the techniques that I really want to learn. For me, Castine is too far and expensive to go and do a class just because it is nice, so I do put a lot of thought into choosing classes and then hold my breath until I know which classes I got as the classes are allotted lottery style and not on a first come first served basis. So far I have been lucky enough to get my first choice every year. This year I chose the bone chest class for two reasons, I wanted to learn how to get from a piece of irregular shaped bone or ivory down to a flat slab or square, there are lots of antique furniture that has ivory inlays or/and ivory knobs and then all kinds of lovely little turned items too, especially needlework items like lace bobbins, etc and then also dressing room items like shoe button hooks, etc. The second reason was the working lock on the chest. I chose the Rococo carved mirror simply because I don't have a lot of experience in carving or the tools needed and a lot of the furniture that I would love to make has  detailed and intricate carving and I didn't really knew where to start although I have a few books on the subject, but then I was pretty sure doing it in miniature wouldn't be quite the same as in full scale. I can safely say that I enjoyed both classes very much and did learn both the things I expected and one or two unexpected surprises.

 Bill was so kind as to send me some of the photos he took in class, although I had my camera with me, when I get busy I totally forget about taking photos. Well, this is what faced us on day one, farrier files and hacksaws, not exactly the kind of tools you normally associate with miniatures.

 Here we all are hacking away at out bones, we first filed a flat on side of the bone and then sawed off a slice with the hacksaw, pretty rough on the hands, bone is rather hard after all.

 Next we taped our piece of bone to some MDF and milled it down on the drill press to the desired thickness and then it was easy to cut on the table saw into the pieces we needed for the box.

Bill's prototype boxes, one of the unexpected techniques that I learned was using hand cut through dovetails to join the box with. Ever since Aubrey Cronje, one of my South African friends showed me his blanket chest that he made a few years ago in one of Bill's classes with hand cut dovetails, I wanted to learn how to do that too.

I am not sure on which day this photo was taken but by this time I think most of us was working on the metal work for the box, which involved sawing out really tiny pieces with the jewelers saw and adding details with files.

Since most of the metal pieces needed bending we had to heat them red hot with a torch to anneal them so that they wouldn't break while bending them.

And here is my almost finished box together with my mirror frame that is far from finished, the box only needs the strap in the front, mine broke soon before the end of class on the last day and I was just too tired to start a new one and I thought the chances of messing up again were good, I plan on finishing it next week, I think I am almost back in my own time zone :-)

A photo that Missy took of me in class, I must say that except for the first day cutting the bone which was hard work, I found the class relaxing and fun, I think the fact that I got used to working long hours most days now at home during the last year making miniatures full time really helped.

Here is Bill's prototype of the mirror frame, Bill also showed us how to make our own carving chisels, another surprise that wasn't in the class description.

And here is Debora carving away at hers, she made it look so easy, but then of course, she has done a quite a bit of carving before. By the way she had her savonarola chair with her, just breathtaking and much more beautiful than photos can ever tell, I also saw the real chair that she based hers on in the MET museum, I like the mini one more :-)

I didn't nearly finish my frame, for this kind of intense and concentrated work I really need to be alone in my workroom with just the dog and some good music. Do any of you work with music and what do you like to listen to? I work so much better when I have music to listen to, my favorites are the classics, yes, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven etc, didn't like it much when I was younger, but now I love them, another favorite is movie sound tracks, especially John Williams who did a lot of music for movies like Star Wars, ET, Harry Potter, Memoirs of a Geisha, can you tell I have lived with two teenagers for a long time, I watched a lot of movies with them and sometimes still do. Well, back to the frame, I plan to work a lot on it next week before I jump back into all my commissions and hopefully I will have it finished by next Friday.

It rained for most of the week in Castine and it was rather cool all the time, so the summer clothes never made it out of the suitcase. Of course on Saturday morning when we had to leave at 8am to get to Portland in time for Missy's flight and my train, the sun was shining brightly and we had this wonderful clear blue sky.

Wednesday night is the only night during Guild school that there isn't anything official happening, but some teachers and groups like to do things on that night that has become a tradition. One is chocolate martini's with Bill straight after class, here am I and Missy enjoying ours, well I guess I was finished with mine by then. Afterwards I joined the Petitpointers group for dinner and show and tell in Annelle Ferguson's class, it is always a treat to see one another's work up close and personal, photos never do petit point any justice. My favorite though had to be Frances Peterson's newest rug, I just love her design and the colors she chose.

I didn't buy a lot on sales night, here are most of my purchases, two wine bottles with real wine and a tin of yummy cookies from Christina Minischetti and a meat cleaver from Bill Robertson.

And all too soon it was Friday night, time for graduation and teary farewells, here is a part of the bone chest class display on Graduation night, we just had to include the file and saw in the display.

Me with Bill, do check out his lobster tie, the second most talked about thing at Castine after miniatures, lobster, most everyone seems to love it, except me and a few others, I don't like seafood, oops ;-)

And with my dear friend Stacey Sereno, there were lots of other friends too but no photos with them, we forget most of the time because it is such a busy week. Hope I didn't bore you with this long post, but then some of you did ask for a detailed report.

Next: a visit on the way home with a special blogger friend.
Elga

June 2013 Trip: New York City

On to the next three days of my trip, the first day was really just spend in traveling to New York from Amsterdam. Elly dropped me off at Rai Station where I got the train to Schiphol Airport, I arrived in New York at about 3:30pm, by the time I was picked up by the shuttle to the hotel rush hour (I think it should be called slow hours instead) has started and it took a good one and a half hour to get to the hotel. I had a few hours to just relax and catch up with the six hour time difference before Missy Boling, my travel partner and roommate in Castine joined me for two days of fun in New York.

On day one we did some shopping in the morning, our first stop was a jewelry tool shop where I bought a few much needed tools.

I bought some gravers, now I can finally start to do some of the brass turning that I have been itching to do after taking Bill Robertson's brass bed class in Castine last year, by the way the poor bed is still just a pile of brass pieces, but I plan on working a bit different this year by taking one week a month off from all my commissions and just work a bit on my doll house and finishing some of my half done projects. Trying to do it on weekends just haven't worked for me last year, the weekend is just too short to get your teeth properly into a project, and I do have a family too that demands some of my time ;-) I also bought a set of drill bits for my drill press, a tap and die set, I have been wanting to make a fire screen with a brass vertical pole inserted into a wooden base that will have a horizontal pole sliding up and down on the vertical pole, in order to make it adjustable it needs a screw in the back, similar to this one. And then Missy and I saw the set in the yellow plastic for making round holes square and we thought that would be a cool tool to have, I also bought a small square cut six escapement file, I wanted a few more, but they didn't have the shapes I was looking for in stock. I had somebody sell them from her home about 15 min drive away from my home, but she closed down her shop a few months ago :-(

Update on the tools in the yellow plastic: Catherine just informed me that they are reamers for making holes bigger in metal work, we did use reamers last year in the brass bed class, but those were a lot bigger. Still a cool set of tools to have, but I have a lot to learn about tools yet ;-)

Next stop was Tinsel Traders, a shop that I visited last year too and just love, they sell all kinds of vintage embroidery threads, trims, etc. On the table are 3 spools of narrow metal trim, hanging on the chair is a glitzy gold and blue metal trim, the big spool has a fine ivory cotton thread wrapped in tiny intervals with a silver thread, I am curious to see how this will work for some miniature knitting and crochet. And then the last spool has a flat brass blending filament that could be useful for all kinds of miniatures where you want to add a bit of bling.

I am thinking of using one of the flat metal trims to finish of the edges of the panels on the casket.

After lunch we took the free ferry from Manhattan island to Staten island, so far the Statue of Liberty has been closed each time I am in New York, at least the ferry went past her and I could get a glimpse of her in the distance, but no good photos although I took a few.

Manhattan from Staten island.

Going back to Manhattan I really enjoyed seeing the island from the ferry, when you walk in the streets the buildings just tower above you.

Renee Fields, one of my fellow Petitpointers that lives in New York joined me and Missy for supper. I am on the left and Renee on the right. It was fun to meet Renee in the flesh.

She was kind enough to drag two books all over New York for me, I have been wanting this furniture book for quite a while, but it weighs over 7 pounds and nobody wants to ship it to South Africa. Normally the book is quite expensive too, so when I saw that Amazon had a good secondhand copy in stock for a mere $18, I e-mailed Renee and begged her if I could have the book sent to her and pick it up during my trip and thankfully she said yes, isn't it just great to have friends all over the globe :-)

One of the things that I like about the book is that it has photos of the inside detail of a lot of the furniture featured in the book and also descriptions on the construction methods used.

One of Missy's requests for something to see in New York was The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

We went there first thing on our second day and I must say that I enjoyed the beauty of the architecture of the church both outside and inside very much.

From there we walked through Central Park to the MET museum, even after my second visit I haven't seen everything in this wonderful museum.

This set of two chairs and window seat caught my eye, the chairs are made of a beautiful figured Rosewood and I love the shape of the window seat.

Front view of the window seat.

Late in the afternoon we went to a doll house shop that is a few blocks away from the museum.

I bought these two tiny figures here, if anyone can help me with the name of the maker that would be great, they are marked B.N. on the bottom and a date of 1996.

I also bought these two lovely metal candlesticks, they are going to look perfect in my Arts and Crafts parlor, once again I need help with the maker, they are marked with the initials P.J.

From here we went on to have a well deserved supper after lots of walking and to end our two days in New York on a high note, we enjoyed watching a ballet at the New York City Ballet, an experience that Missy and I both really enjoyed.

Till next time when I will tell you all about Castine and my classes there.
Elga

June 2013 Trip: Amsterdam and Rheda

I arrived back home yesterday from my 18 day trip to Europe and the USA and had a wonderful time, I will post about my trip in a few posts as I really did a lot in these 18 days and it would be just too much to tell you everything about it in one post. And I have to catch up on reading all your latest posts, I simply had no time left for reading blogs.

First stop was Amsterdam where I arrived on 1 June to be welcomed by a smiling Josje at the airport, we went by train into the center of town and locked up my luggage in lockers at the station and then we went fabric shopping.

Our first stop was at Den Haan and Wagenmakers, a quilting shop where I bought these lovely fabrics, I especially like the green and white Chinese fabric, I think it might work well as a wall covering in the conservatory that I still want to build one day.

Next stop was McLennan's Pure Silk where I found some nice small prints and a wonderful silk tulle, these are intended for doll clothes. I am busy working on a scullery maid and cook for my kitchen, hmmm, poor things, they won't be getting any of the silk though, I am still busy cleaning the greenware on these dolls so it will be a while before I finish them. It is such a long time since I have done any china painting, guess I am a bit intimidated trying it on such a small scale, it is after all more than 15 years since I made any dolls and those were big.

After the shopping spree Josje took me to Cromhouthuizen, a wonderful 17th century canal house with some very interesting architectural details.

For example, the staircase cuts right in front of a window.

I just love the metal work on the staircase.

Looking down from the top of the staircase.

A beautiful carved door which was standing open and not really noticeable from the other side, but Josje knew about the carving on it and closed the door so that we could admire the carving.

A glimpse of the kitchen.

By this time it was getting rather late, Josje went with me to hand deliver me (her words) to Elly, my host for the next three nights, it was really great to see Elly again.

The next day the three of us went to the 1zu12 fair in Rheda, Germany, about a three hour drive from Amsterdam and here are a few photos of my purchases.

The table, chairs and rug are of course my own handwork, the rest are my Rheda purchases. The painting is from Joachim Kuhner, a German artist, I think I will make a new frame for it at some time.

I just had to buy the South African perlagonium from Ebba Sunne from Denmark, as I have one in the same beautiful red growing in my garden. The bon bon dish is from Phil Greyner of the UK. The gorgeous jewelry was made by Ursula Sturmer from Germany and is made of real silver, gold and Swarovski crystals.

The beautiful Siamese cat was made by Sarah Hendry from the UK.

The coffee set is hand painted pewter from Victoria Fasken, another UK artist.

The vinaigrier and mug was made by Elisabeth Causeret from France.

And lastly these beautiful plates from Stokesayware's new range of British antique plates. The plate on the right is my favorite, why.....

Because I own a full size saucer of the same design that has been on display in my kitchen for many, many years.

On Monday Josje met me at the Rijksmuseum, something which I was rather thankful for, the place is huge and at times confusing, I am not sure if I would have found what I wanted to look at by myself.

The newly renovated museum from the outside.

I just loved this cupboard, it makes me think of sunflowers and sunny days.

This is rather an unusual writing desk, I do like all the drawers on the two sides, plenty of storage space.

I just love blue and white delft, I would love to try and make the bird cage from porcelain in miniature.

On the other side of the museum is the Amsterdam concert building, I would love to attend a concert here some day.

Well, that was it for Amsterdam, thank you so much Elly and Josje, I really enjoyed my three days with you.

Next: New York City
Elga

Off on another adventure!

Wow, it is ages since I have posted, life has just been very hectic, both on the work and personal side. BUT, it is that time off the year again, time to travel a bit, I am leaving here late tonight for a few days in Amsterdam, will see Elly and Josje and attend the Rheda miniature show in Germany. On Tuesday I will go to New York for two days and then on to Castine for Guild School, I am really looking forward to my trip.

Here are a few photos of some of my work of the last few months.

Two foot stools that will be covered in petit point by their new owners, the Black wood one will join one of the wing chairs I made last year.

I finished this piece of petit point that I showed you in progress some time ago.

And then a very special commission, I was asked to repeat the sewing table I made last year, this is piece is special to me, as it is the first time that a piece of mine will go to a museum, it is to become part of the Kathleen S Browning Miniatures Collection at the Kentucky Gateway museum in Maysville, Kentucky, USA.

I changed a few small things this time round, I made the drawer with dovetails and changed the petit point so that it would fill the screen better. I also changed two or three of the colors and like the darker warmer background color a lot more, it ties in better with the wood color. The big drawer looks very light in the photo but it is darker in real.

Have a great weekend
Elga