Love this little set of furniture

I am so glad my chosen dining table doesn't seat twelve!  I now also know why (almost) no-one is making quarter scale finished furniture to sell - by the time I had made six identical chairs I was screaming inside my head.

I am really pleased with how these turned out.  Firstly, and mostly, because they are beautiful kits by Templewood Miniatures.  Also they are better than some previous ones that I did because I am trying to stop short-cutting the various steps needed to get a good finish.

I began by rubbing down the pieces while they were still fixed in their frames.  I used the piece of Abranet which had come with the Jane Harrop kit.  When they were gorgeously smooth I thinly coated them with a silk finish, water-based varnish on both sides.  When that was dry, I buffed them up by rubbing them over a piece of ordinary printer paper.

They were no more fiddly to do than most things at this scale and I suppose doing six of them did give various steps in the process time to dry - well, enough time to allow me to handle them (carefully) whilst doing the next step.  I don't think I am ever going to be able to leave stuff overnight during construction.

I confess to breaking two of the pieces getting them out of their frame but that was probably because the varnish had helped to seal them in a bit more.  Not a great problem as they glued back together just fine and even I can't find the breaks.

I also rubbed down all the edges after they came out of the frame as they were sort of 'nibby' from the varnish.  They came up beautifully with just the copy paper method.

Here are the six chairs in process.  Doesn't look much does it.

All done.  One thing I did change.  The last piece to go in is the bar across the front of the chair.  After I struggled with this on the first one I decided it was far easier to put this in before sticking on the back of the chair, so if you buy this kit, bear that in mind.

I made the lovely dining table earlier today.  I will give them a bit of a glue-clean-up tomorrow when they are bone dry and they will look even better.

Mackintosh style table in cherry wood  £3

Two (yes, two!) Mackintosh style high back chairs in laser cut Cherry wood £3

Templewood Miniatures