Cobweb rescued !!!!!!

Hurray ! after my sad Cobweb story Josje was so kind to offer her help ( now SHE is a  builder, which I definitely am not :-) ). So last week I drove there, house on board - one of the best things about smaller scales is that you can easily take houses for a  spin or walk, if they like to - and she did some cosmetic surgery.

This was what had happened - don't laugh so hard you!!!! I did , actually, but it was a shame as I had spent so much time on the dear little cottage :


HUH ??????? Chimney over the frontdoor ? What about Health and Safety rules????

But now it looks like this :

What she basically did, was removing the tabs atttachments and replacing them on front. And it works !!!!

So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Josje !!!

Alice...

I have some BIG trouble with Cobweb ( well, I always told anyone willing to listen that I am definitely not a builder...) Exchanged the two roof parts, looks idiotic now.
The only way I could save it if I would know anyone with a table saw to take tabs off the back roof.

Failing that, I think I will be better off trying afresh in the new year . No buying right now as posties are in overdrive this time of the year, anyway.

But on the bright side, I took Alice out , made her an apron, draped skirt and apron, made a branch for Cheshire Cat to sit on ( branch grows out of book chest :-) ) . OK, apron is slightly wonky , but I don't care !!!

Cobweb nearly done !

Apart from the fireplaces, which are STILL a sore in the eye , everything is done now and ready to go.

I finished front and back ( windows, doors, etc) and the roofs plus chimney. Fortunately remembered just in time that I had to glue the chimney stack on before roofing!!!!!

                                                           Front :

                                                     Backside of roof

                           Again , those darned fireplaces, nope , still do not like them one bit better:

                                   Roof and front laid side by side (or on top)

Cobweb continued

Hmm, not quite a success, although most parts do look decent now or are going well.

Big disaster struck when I worked on the fireplaces. As per instructions, I let the filler I used dry thoroughly before chiseling stonework. That was a non-starter!!!! I chiseled and chiseled and chiseled....Could not chisel the inside, at all, so the fireplaces are a mess.

Here you can see what happened...:

Honest, they are an eyesore, even if it does not look too bad on the pic. I was ready to bin the whole cottage, as these fireplaces are so central to construction, plus they hit you in the eye as soon as you open the cottage.

Fortunately Tony ( Mr Bea) has promised me to send me an extra set, so I can prepare all other parts of the cottage and as soon as I have made new and decent fireplaces, it will be easy going..

The chimney stack was OK, I let the filler dry only so much before scribing into it:

( dont look too much at the color, is still under revision and looks better by the time I am typing this)

The walls have been mucked up :

They look nice and dirty ! Maybe some extra "mould".

Meanwhile I have taken up roofing, hope that will turn out OK :-) !!

Teapots from Onlineshow

Last month the miniature Online show took place and I took a fancy to these teapots. These are from an estate sale, one by Christopher Whitford, one "English teapot"( I thoght they might be by Rachel Munday, but am not quite sure) :

                                           And here they are in my tearoom :

Cobweb up till now- after one week

OK., had taken hols from job  to work on minis. But, of course, there are loads of RL things I have to do, as well, not having had time for those !

Well, in between these boring things I worked on Cobweb again and tthis is where we are now! Lots of loose pieces lying around everywhere , some of them tend to hop off whenever they can :-(

                             Outer walls done , well, have to muck them up as yet:

                           Inner windowframes, doorframe first floor , staircase painted

                            First floor door housing, chimney stack and two plastered hearths

                                       That is as far as I have got for now !

A new adventure begins; Cobweb cottage :-)

When I was at the Apeldoorn fair, splashing out big time, I also acquired a kit from Petite Properties for their new halfscale (1/24 scale) Cobweb Cottage kit. I have taken off some days from work to do a lot of things that I ought to ( like visiting vet with my zoo,3 times, eek!,  getting winter tyres sorted , etc) , but certainly also to mini! And I love having days in a row to do this, so that I do not need to tidy all my stuff away every time, hoping I will remember where I left it when I start again.

So here we go...

Cobweb is kind of a 3D puzzle. The kit is very easy to handle ( and me being me nearly blooped big time already ). The  manual is very nice and clear, although it is about building only, so one has to think ahead about wiring, decorating, etc; well, the good ole' stuff, really.

Up till now I have glued the fireplaces together and am in the process of sticking the "beamwork"to the wallls ( I want to dry them flat under a weight, so wait until I have got the ornaments in place before building.
The fireplaces  are different, though, one has to glue them together first thing , as they will be stone (read : filler).

So this is where I am now; doesn't look much , but it still a bit of work ( well, a gal has a RL to attend to) :
           

                                         Fireplaces:

                                                         Front wall , painted

                                                beam panel , sticky tape on backside

Ditto, with side panel 

Rear panel, beams in place

Needs some mucking up, but it does look like something!

Yess, I am winning!

Slowly, slowly the Accursed Aubusson is emerging by now. After all problems I had during the last 14 months - the only minipart of me functioning seeming to be hitting  the "buy it"button  and trouble getting "back into"minis , even stitching ( some hefty mistakes in this one included) ,I am now making progress. Finally! Hooray!

So here we are, Nov 2014 :

Crosthwaite cottage

Last fair I bought Crosthwaite Cottage from Herdwick landscapes slightly mofified to suit my needs :

  Recently I bought some furniture to go with it, and also , at the fair, I added some more smaller things to go with it ( like all that porcelain!!) . I did spend most of the afternoon trying to tack / attach my thingies into the house.

Most of them are in place now, I could just photograph them before dark.

                                               The kitchen/living room

                       
                                             Once more:

                                               Room next :

                                                     Upstairs 1 ( bed for granny?

                                                                upstairs 2

                                                          scullery etc :-)

Some more from my splashing party

Here goes:

I did serious damage both to my account and Elizabeth Bettler's stand (sorry , she has no website , but you can see 1/12 samples of her pottery here ) .

                                       This is all 1/24 or halfscale :

                                             Teapot, cups and a milk jug

                                           
                                           pots of jams, washing jugs

                                              adorable salt box to be mounted

                                             plates, saucepans, pieform

                                                    small vases,jugs

                                                   kitchen stuff together

                                                    Some fiery 1/24 kitties :

                                                             
                                                              and two ditto dogs :

                             (And, of course , a very happy 1/12 kitty, could not resist that face!)

                                         The little critters sewn by Shirley Scheibehenne :

                                          sleepy baby hare

                                           VERY sleepy ducky, flat bellied!

                                        tortoise

                                                 Little hedgehog

Apeldoorn fair- I SPLASHED ! Part 1

Yesterday I visited the Dutch twice-a-year fair. And since I had been a bit impaired during the last two fairs, trying to get around with my arm in a sling -believe me, that is tiresome, it feels as if you have grown a piece of heavy luggage that you would love to put into some locker to pick up later - , plus having had to miss out on the Rheda fair too, I fully intended to have a very good time and to have some treats!

Well, that I did....

Here are , to begin with , my worst sins:

I started out hitting Karon Cunningham's stand , there was a nice David Booth sofa with a stool, that I "needed" big time :

It is living in my "posh "roombox for now, may move later on, not quite sure yet.

And there was this little Humpty Dumpty by St Leger , needing a home... :-( (if you know their work , you know that when you pull the little lever underneath, he will start to fall)

A gal can never have too much kitchen equipment :

Then there was this lovely chest , made by Chris Malcolmson

Oh dear......

Jain , ( the Giddykipper) had a bad tempered cook, who has sunk into a chair for a cuppa and a break. - varicose veins? corns? both, maybe?)

Then there was also Shirley Scheibehenne , who makes lovely and very clever little critters, all hand sewn.One can see them , making pics is a lot harder, esp in artifical light, so I can ony show you some of them now:

Sleeping duckie ( flat on his belly)

and a little hedgehog :-)

To be continued.......