Friday 27 March 2015

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.

Wednesday 4 March 2015

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