Delete this Blog?

Does anyone need this blog left up and running?

If not I will delete it on 1 September.

What am I doing now?

This is a link to all my blog addresses if you want to see what I am working on now.

All my blogs

Quarter scale for sale

I have just sold most of my (more than two hundred) 48ths.  As they went for half price you can see this was something it would have been better not to do but it does emphasise that I am not leaving quarter scale lightly.

I have a few pieces left if you want to take a look.

Lilliput Minis


The house itself is also for sale cost around £250 - I would like £100 but am open to offers

Nice while it lasted

It is hail and fair well I'm afraid.

I switched to quarter scale last summer because I had no room to keep my 1/12ths when they were done and thought forty-eighths would be the solution.

I am not immune to their charm but, as anyone who has ever done both scales will know, it is a completely different ball game.  I found while I was in Naples for the winter I never got started on the handful of small furniture kits I had taken over to do.  I thought I had good reasons why not, lack of a place to work, loads of visitors etc etc.

I couldn't wait to get home and crack on.  Well, I have been back two weeks and really can not get going.  This is so not me as far as a hobby goes, I usually eat, breathe and sleep it.  I came to the inevitable conclusion it is a wrong fit for me.

I loved the challenge of working on such small things - like I love the challenge of a crossword but, like a crossword, once it was done that seemed to be it.  

I really get the biggest kick out of being able to try to replicate real life as accurately as I can and that is difficult and very different in forty-eighths.  It is all about illusion rather than scaling down and, I don't know why, it just doesn't give me the same satisfaction.

I have been very brave and accepted it is time to throw in the towel.

Thank you to all the truly wonderful quarter people I met along the way - they were so kind, helpful and just plain nice I shall miss them so much more than the hobby itself.

                                             --------------------------------------------------

Anyone who wants the Geoff Lewis house (the Gate House) which I have started for £100 plus pp (it cost £250) please email me.  Also Petite properties (not started) plus all the stairs, doors,plinth cost me £57.13 so its yours for £28 plus pp.  Again email me.

I have posted this in The Gate House and in Les Roches, so whichever one you are reading it in don't bother to go to the other blog.

If you want to see what I am about to start (though I don't know why you would) here it is:

Dalton House

Back home

We arrived back in the UK on Sunday (it is now Friday) and we have managed to dig ourselves out from unpacking four pieces of luggage (the 50 lb size) and three months mail, caught up with a few people, done some house chores and are now finding some time to play.....

I got back into my workroom today with the intention of settling back into cracking on with one or both of my projects.  Alas I am 'lost'.  In effect it has been six months since I was working here and my quarter scale gear was all new to me then.  I am in a room where I don't know what I have and, if I do think of something, I am not quite sure where it is.

I assure you I am organised to the nth degree but this is very, very tiny stuff and there are hundreds of bits and bobs.

I decided to be kind to myself and allow another day's prevarication until I am grounded.

I haven't wasted my mini afternoon though.  Part of my wondering where I am up to sent me to read this blog (that's partly why I write it) and I realised how unwieldy these blogs are if you want to actually locate a particular thing - I was looking to see who made the very nice floor clock I had made some time ago.  This set me off labelling all 115 posts.  Some have several labels to 'attach' so it took a while!  I have also tried to change the titles of posts so I can easily recognise the items they refer to.  Snappy/clever titles will go by the board and I will be sticking to pedantic descriptive efforts from now on.

I hope this was an afternoon well spent and that if you are following The Gate House it will also help you find your way around should you want to back-track.  I will be doing it to Les Roches too but, for now, I am trying to stop my butterfly brain flitting from item to item and trying to focus in on The Gate House and start to get on with the project properly.

not the current state as I have almost completed the kitchen

I also intend to be very brave and record (and U-Tube) the project as it goes along in hopes it helps someone find their way around their first quarter scale project - as I am doing. 

Please stick with me; I hope to do some work this weekend.

Quarter scale section in Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine

Some of you might remember around September last year I was prattling on about my writing a piece about quarter scale in a dedicated section of DH&MS each month. Well it is going to happen and will begin in the June issue. Indeed there will be two quarter scale pieces in the June issue that I know of.



Slight change of plan - I found I was getting buried in too many interests and decided to trim back here and there. Part of that was my decision to only write an occasional piece for the magazine in the future and not take on a 'series'. Happily the editor is still running it (indefinitely) and the terrific Moi Ali has taken up the baton and will be authoring the series.



If quarter scalers out there want to see this little acorn grow it needs watering with some input from you. Please, please don't be bashful about contacting the magazine with any thoughts, suggestions or even just a plain thank-you. The editor does take notice. Please offer up any quarter scale news, ideas, or better still your own project to Moi. She (like me) believes there is no such thing as too much information. It is also an opportunity for any quarter scale trader to make themselves known to a growing UK market.



Please don't be bashful or assume your ideas aren't useful; it is all grist to the mill. We won't get more magazine space, vendors or shows without constantly reminding people how many of us are here and would love to see this happening.



The June issue will be in the shops 28th May 2015. You can subscribe or just buy a single copy. It is as rare as hen's teeth in the US newsagents but you could subscribe or purchase the imag thus avoiding mailing costs and you'd get the issue as soon as it is released.



Email addresses for:



Moi Ali: moi@moiali.com



Carl Golder (editor DH&MS): carl.golder@warnersgroup.co.uk

Floors - True2Scale -

I have already used (and blogged about) True2Scale's wonderful peel and stick wallpapers.  It really is the greatest thing since sliced bread as far as I am concerned when it comes to 'papering' quarter scale walls. They have now introduced a lovely finished (mock) wood peel and stick flooring:

click to enlarge picture

It is in the same material as their wallpaper which is a sort of fabric rather than paper.  This gives it durability and also a lovely matte finish.  I think this will look just great in situ.  I will show you when I use it, but that will be some time away so I wanted to share it now in case you are hunting up a good flooring for your project.

I can honestly say, hand on heart, there isn't a product on their stand which isn't just perfect for the job.  Most of all, for me, they always live up to their name and everything is absolutely true to scale; this includes this newcomer to their repertoire.

For UK readers True2Scale will be at Kensington in May - worth a trip just for that!

I picked this up from the Sarasota show last weekend - if you want to see the show report and what I bought there you will need to go to my Dolls House Shows blog.

B J Miniatures

Followers of this blog will remember I demolished a lovely little rocking chair kit I bought from Suzanne and Andrew at the Philly show.  It turned out to be a kit from B J Miniatures so I promptly ordered another just before I left for December in the UK.  When I came back my little order was waiting for me.  In true greed mode I determined it is never worth paying postage on one item so I may as well order a couple of other things!!  Here they are:

the replacement chair

The next is one of those classic moments - "What a sweet little sled - I like that" - well yes, I liked it the first time I bought it - hey ho - one duplicated sled:

I saw this 'glassware' and thought it would look great stacked on shelves or behind the glass door of a cupboard.

I love the detail on these tiny teapots made by Ruth Stewart.  

There is no way I will be able to paint them like this....

Here is a sweet little Eiffel tower clock probably destined for Les Roches rather than The Gatehouse.  The face looks a bit wonky here; it is perfect in real life.

Finally a great piece of furniture if I can get it to fit inside the front door.  It would be a shame to hang stuff on it!