Hello, for the forseeable future it's unlikely I'll be coming back to this blog. With the coronavirus lockdown and the current situation in my part of the world I don't have the energy for it. 

I'm now posting anything I've made or will make on instagram @ratfingers

I am a Trump supporter, due to the fact I sincerely believe he was trying to prevent further war and make America more self sufficient.

 I follow Anthony Brian Logan, Candace Owens, Four Freedoms international, Turning point uk, Russia Insight, Mark Dice, Awaken with JP, Russia Today, Eco India, South China post, Hindustan Times, Dr Mumbi, Townsends, Charles Dowding, Russell Brand, it goes on and on.

I also read Howard Kunstlers blog, an ex democrat supporter and the Consciousness of sheep blog.

Hope you are all well, and thanks for being so helpful and encouraging to me and others since I started my blog and miniatures.

1:12 scale "Ivory" thread winder tutorial...sort of.

Hello, I'm here to collect my bad blogger award...and also leave a quick tutorial of sorts.

Using a flower punch, secure the thread behind the "front" of the flower, between two petals, then make a dot mark on the petal as shown in the video. This dot reminds you of where you started a round. I think two rounds is sufficient. Then place the thread over three petals, with the thread being brought back to come up between the first and second petal where you started, then repeat, repeat until you're finished. Secure the thread at the back with a bit of glue, trim when dry, and then snip the petals. I used an exacto knife to do it.

Hope the video makes this tutorial clearer. It's really just to show how to make the pattern 😃

Bye... away now with my award 😃

Halloween part 2! Masks!

Had a go at making miniature masks this year, using silicone to make moulds and experimenting with liquid fimo. Bit hit and miss, learning curves etc, but I'm pretty pleased with the results so far.

The masters for the masks.

No werewolf because time ran out :D Still tweaking these ones..

A representation of how miniature people would look waiting for me to get this party organized! 

Leaving the 1:12th scale Halloween world, this year I decided to go back to the old Irish tradition of using a turnip for carving a Jack o'Lantern (which I have since discovered is actually a swede, and not a turnip..even the shops don't know this, they label them as turnips) Here in Northern Ireland we didn't use pumpkins until relatively recently, in fact Halloween was never really that big here, despite it having origins here as Samhain. I remember as a child being forced to sit out in the garden carving my turnip with a knife and a spoon. It was a nightmarish experience that took up most of the day and would be considered child abuse today, we didn't have adult supervision back then.  We also wore black bin bags as a costume...

 I can see why the pumpkin took over.  There is something perfect about the turnip/swede though (and it really stinks).

Ar har, I stink

Happy Halloween to you all! x

1:12 scale Halloween Part 1 (plus free Halloween printables)

Happy Halloween!  I've flung these posts together, bit last minute! Where have you been Sarah? NO TIME! This is not quite what I had planned, but just in case there are any of you out there running around like a headless horseman trying to sort out some more final touches to your mini party, had to get it posted! Also something to do tonight, if like me, you have no party to go to... :( :D

A little round halloween box, made using a beautiful old illustration by Dennison's. This one is from 1914! Also found this nice online book showing halloween decor for the 1920s, The Dennison Bogie Book

Tips of cocktail sticks make great facepaints, you can put "faceputty" made out of erasers or something in the blank space below those...I haven't finished these...so much unfinished (business ;) ) around here.

A Halloween tambourine, image courtesy of  The Graphics Fairy, and flattened mini beadcaps to make the...oh, er, what are those things called, momento..open new tab, google...small metal jangles called ZILS! :D

I scored my party bags sides so that they would fold in nicely at the top.

Here are the links for the Halloween Printables!

Boxes and stuff  Print on card

Party hats and party bags! Print on paper

Because of my limited software, there are no tabs here and there, so I've included these pics below, to show how the party bags and hats should look when you cut them out, DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR OWN TABS WHERE YOU SEE FIT!! :D The party hat tabs do not need to be scored. The round box sides, party hat and tambourine sides, need to be curled using a tool of some sort, something like a ruler, I use the side of my bone folder.

When making up round boxes etc, I don't use tabs along the side of the circle. I measure the circumference of the circle, then make a mark on the "side", curl the "side", do a dry fit and then adjust, to make sure of a snug fit, then glue to make a loop that will around the circle. Then run a bit of glue around the inside of the base of the loop and drop the circle in, carefully fitting it in to place.

The Circumference of the tambourine is 56mm.

The circumference of the Ghost box lid is 63mm, the base is 61mm.

Depending on the thickness of the card used, those measurements may go up a millimetre or two to get the right side length. Remember to dry fit before gluing!

Bit of WIOY (work it out yourself) with my printables, sorry about that :D

This is a bit of a hurried post today...



Now some more pics of mini halloween stuff to look at...no time to write anything.

Part 2 coming soon..

Christmas house decoration, Free Printable

Hello, Just a quick mini printable before Christmas! This is a scaled down version of a lovely french card model that was posted on flickr by Patricia, this little house is called Chalet Suedois. I absolutely love her Flickr site, and have made up quite a few of the models she has very kindly scanned and shared.

I made this tiny card model a few years ago, but decided to put a printable of it up, which is a little different from that shown above. I've now put yellow in every window, so that anyone who doesn't want to cut the windows out will have the "lights on" in the house. I also darkened the colours in one version. I've printed neither of these new printables, but I hope they'll be ok...its almost Christmas Eve, no time, no time :D

The snow is a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and glue, with some glitter mixed in for sparkle. I'm afraid I have no ratio for that, it was a bit hit and miss as I remember.... and a few layers of it as well. 

...there are also no instructions per se, I'm hoping anybody that prints them out will be able to figure out what goes where, though I've a few pointers ahead. Oh and the finished one should help out if needed, I hope. I'm not one for tabs, but I've put a few in anyway. Just play around with it! You can do it! :D

Unfortunately my Christmas tree lights are broken and this isn't as pretty as it could have been...

Don't forget to score these and crease accordingly, I remember being stumped by this briefly.. One wall higher than the other? Oh I see....(refer to finished model). That is the balcony floating above the wall, and goes on the front of the house above the door.

And that's everything in the printable, a base, two rooves, the main building, the gable ends and two chimneys (which I wouldn't bother with :D), oh and a tiny fiddly balcony too.  Those arrows are everywhere that needs creased, do not cut! This is the dark version in this image. It's basically a fancy Putz house that you can add more to as you see fit.

You can remove the smaller roofed building so that it can be placed further back on the large roof, or just leave it as is.



Links to both printables below!

Light version

Dark version

Well this was a bit thrown together and last minute, as I'm sure you can tell. Have a great Christmas!

Sarah x

Happy Halloween

Have a great Halloween! 

Sarah x

Queen Mary doll's house linens by The Old Bleach Linen Company

We have a very small collection of miniature linens made in N.Ireland, housed at our local museum, the Lisburn Linen Centre. I have been meaning to get photos of these for a good while now, finally got around to it. Please excuse the poor quality in my photos, they keep the lighting very, very low to preserve the fabrics.  You can right click on an image and open in a new tab if you want to get a closer look.

The following text is transcribed from the information boards at the display. (everything in "..")

"Doll's houses have always been a toy for the wealthy as well as a plaything for children. One of the best known is Queen Mary's doll's house which was designed for her in the 1920s by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the noted architect. Built in 1/12 scale, the house was furnished throughout by British Craftsmen and manufacturers. The doll's house was intended as a token of national goodwill and to provide a means of raising funds for charity.  For this purpose it was exhibited at the British Empire exhibition in 1934. It is now on display in Windsor Castle."

"Miniature items prepared for Queen Mary's doll's house. 

Woven by The Old Bleach Linen Company, Randalstown, Co. Antrim. 

Given by Mrs C. W. Bingley, London, 1995"

Image courtesy of Oldbleach.co.uk, hope they don't mind me borrowing it... Don't be fooled, our view of the sun rarely looks like that :D

"These linen sheets and pillowcases, diaper and huck towelling and household cloths were for the use of a miniature royal household and it's servants. Those for the personal use of the royal family of dolls had the hand embroidered cypher of George V while the items with the red markings were to be used by the servants of the royal household"

To help with scale, the box is 10 x 3.5 cm.

Bed linen

Bed linen detail

Towels

"These miniature Irish damask tablecloths and napkins were intended for use when the doll royal family held luncheon or dinner parties"

Tablecloth and a box of napkins on the right. These are just beautiful in person!

Tablecloth and napkin. True colour.

You can see the pattern a bit better in this one.

In the comment section, Sharon asked a good question about how these came to be in my local museum and not in the Queen Mary's dollshouse, and wondering about the scale. Unfortunately I had no way of showing scale in the photos, now with dimensions for the box this should help. 

I found two links, which shows that the company sold the miniature household linen to the general public. They used the association with the Queen's dollshouse, as a sort of Royal warrant of appointment, as evidenced on the packaging...."They are made by the Old Bleach Linen co.Ltd of Randalstown,Northen Ireland-who made all the house hold linen for the Queens dolls house-you can always write to them about anything to do with linen" Rather tempted to write to them, if they are still around.

Worth having a look at it, if you are interested in vintage miniatures. 

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-bleach-pure-linen-towels-219626048

http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewLot.aspx?LotId=82977&Section=1321

I doubt the damask tablecloths were available to buy, from what I have found online...

Princess Marie Louise 'borrowed' one of King George's despatch boxes to be uncannily reproduced in miniature. She sent a linen tablecloth from Buckingham Palace to Belfast to be copied, and so on.

Thanks Sharon! I'm pleased to have this new information added to the post :)

And I'm away again, I have neglected everyone's blogs, apologies for that, will be back soon! :D