It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

My HALLOWEEN BLOG is up on my website. So if you come here and don't ever go there, Go THERE NOW!

Here's a taste. 

And, I am having a GIVEAWAY

It's on Facebook and it's for a loaded 

Potion Prep Board.

That is all...

A Day in The Life - A Miniature Life.

"The reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps." Bob Black

I have a feeling if you are like me, you march off the edge of your map daily.  By that I mean, we start off with one project and by the end of the day are way off the trail.  A long way from where we started.

I wake up thinking about miniatures and pretty much go to bed the same way. This usually entails what I plan for the day and then what I never got to that day.

I was working on some chairs recently that I wanted to reupholster and had all of that spread out on one work table.

 

Choosing fabrics for several pieces had me stumped so I looked for a distraction.Then some tea sets I had ordered caught my eye. These were meant to be made up into magically pouring tea sets like this:

Oh, and there's some finished chairs. Here's another one:

*The customer who won this on eBay said she was disappointed with the "quality of the chair" (Bespaq) because "it's light weight and cheap and small (again, Bespaq) and not worth what I paid for it. "I thought it would be oversized and not so cheap looking" (once again perfectly scaled Bespaq).  I told her to return it for a full refund. Never heard from her again. When this happens I have to think they were trying to either get  a partial refund or a full refund and then get to keep the piece. Not. But I digress and am off the path again, as you can see.

So there are the tea sets:

They are commercial pieces that I bought online or on eBay and the quality varies widely with one set being much too big for 1:12 scale. I have an order for a magical set but couldn't decide which to start with and ended up not starting.

BUT. Someone had inquired about a dormouse in a tea pot and I had just gotten this new modeling compound called Bees Putty from Germany. I sculpted this mouse in the too big tea pot because sometimes too big is just right. And the Bees Putty is pretty neat stuff.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to", said the Cat. Alice  

I looked back at the tea sets, thought the silver tray was too big and thought maybe it should be painted to go with some Italian pottery I had done recently:

 Actually these were another wandering when I came across some turned wooden pots and some larger terracotta pots I got in a lot on eBay. Because I wanted the strawberry planter in the lot.  (Which I broke as soon as it arrived.) I came across them many a time and finally came up with something to do with them while trolling Pinterest.

So the tray got a coat of gesso. Black gesso. I do love the black stuff. 

I never went further with the tray because I got distracted again. I put away the fabric and tea sets - getting pretty crowded on all 3 of my work desks - and decided to clean up the whole lot. I probably don't have to tell you that once you start that 25 other projects present themselves. 
 Please tell my I'm not alone. Post your wanderings below.  

The Mad Hatter At Home

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end.  Then stop."  
Lewis Carroll

My favorite character in Alice in Wonderland is the Mad Hatter.  Inspired by the fairly recent Alice movie starring be-still-my-heart Johnny Depp and made by the quirky Tim Burton my miniature motivation started brewing and an old clock case called to be put into use.
 
I envision the Mad Hatter to be a curious fellow, for whom it is always teatime. Of course, he is mad, which is his charm, but also creative, messy and he lives in clutter because imaginative and mad people really do not have time for tidying things up.  He's also absent minded and forgets where he left his tea.

Old clock case now a miniature diorama

" Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where -"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."  LC

Sometimes you just have to start.  Jump in and go. There had to be the black and white checks but the rest was up for grabs and became purple.  Probably because I found scrap book paper with a Mad Hatter theme.  And that was the start.  I already had a tall chair I had made for a customer for whom it did not suit but I liked the chair and it looks like the Mad Hatter's chair so that became the first furnishing.  

Bit by bit it grew from there keeping in mind the Mad Hatter lives here.  But he is not here.  

And yet the Cheshire Cat, who can vanish at will, is.   

The amazing cat was made for me by Kerri Pajutee. 

How about that grin?

The Cheshire Cat made by Kerri Pajutee

Following is the stuff the Hatter needs in his room including all the tea things and those items he needs to design and make his mad hats. All messy.  When you can't figure out why a raven is like a writing desk you do the best you can.

"How do you know I'm Mad?"
"You must be or you wouldn't have come here".

The Hatter's work desk

Padded Bulletin Board

Mad Hatter Hat Making Supplies

 "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast"

There is an inherent weirdness in the Alice tale written nearly 150 years ago and it is as popular today as it ever was.  Wonderland finds itself the subject of many miniature translations and this is mine.  I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be at Oxford University and heard the history of the characters as they populated the school back in Lewis Carroll's day and the eccentric characters are as endearing as ever.  And everything about Alice in Wonderland translates very well into miniature.


 "Yes, that's it!, said the Hatter with a sigh, "it's always tea time"

There are lots of tottering tea things here that are certainly impossible. But without a doubt things like this happen in Wonderland every day.  Sometimes, I think it would be pleasant just to stay there.

Drink Me

Forgotten Hats

Sleeping Dormouse

Tea Cart

We all fall down the rabbit hole from time to time and being there need not always be tragic, however bizarre that journey might be.  This was a fun journey for me so I hope you like it.  Please tell me below what you think.

Furnished Room Box
Portrait is a watercolor from the J. Depp Hatter. Photo of the original Alice.

A Chair Is A Very Difficult Object

Array of Windsor Chairs by Pierre Wallace and William Clinger

"A chair is a very difficult object.  A skyscraper is almost easier.  That is why Chippendale is famous" ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

I have to say, I have a thing for chairs.  You might notice that you might collect more of one thing than another and well, 3 and its a collection.  So turns out I have a chair collection, albeit in miniature. Seems like I come upon an wonderful chair and I have to have it. Even if I don't need it.

Here is a very nice range of artisan crafted 1:12 scale chairs.  Enjoy looking !!

"A house that does not have one warm, comfy chair in it is soulless". ~ May Sarton 
 

Fanciful Wingback by Robert Bernhard

Gothic Throne by Michael Mortimer

Horn Chair by Susanne Russo

Victorian Horn Chair by David Ward

Leather Wing Chair by Joan Ince

17th C Spindle Back Armchair by Pierre Wallace

Gothic Chair by Betty Valentine

Comfy Velvet Chair by Barbara Logan

I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.  I think Thoreau said that.  If you have a nice cozy chair you can get in it and be by yourself, read or wonder or just be. Or pretend you're sitting in the perfect chair in your perfect doll house. 

What does your perfect chair look like in miniature or otherwise?  Please comment below.

"Every chair should be a throne and hold a king" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson