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 

Take a seat... but not for too long!

I know..long time no see! :D

 I'm just back from a slight case of miniature burnout. I've been burning the candle at both ends for the past few..*ahem* years :D Mountain of unfinished miniatures and non miniature work in my wake too, so I'm trying to organise myself better these days.  I work in a very small work space, so it doesn't take much to become a bit overwhelmed either. Gradually sorting myself out now...and the printer broke, which nearly sent me to the asylum :D

...please tell me I'm not alone in this madness...

I haven't actually made anything...but I have bought something. I was going to make my own cast iron park bench, but when I saw this one I thought I would cut that corner, and save time and sanity... This one is a "falcon" miniature bench, a little pricey, but it is based on a real Victorian design ( google Lion head antique park bench, and you'll see it's life size twin amongst the image results ). 

I think I will keep the ends black, but I am planning on replacing the slats. Although they are perfectly acceptable as is, I want them that little bit more refined..plus they're a bit orange. 

The ends are metal, and a bit bendy. I'm not going to remove the paint, at all, as the box it came in stated that there is lead in the product. I may go over it with a matt black paint though.

And there is her underbelly, so if you remove the slats, you don't have to worry about putting it back together again, as each end is connected with a rod.

And the slats pop off, fairly easily. I think I will sheer off those bolts and stick new slats straight on to the ledge. 

Yes..summer is definitely on the horizon :D Sods law, it was only like this when I was taking photos, sky clear before and after, but not during the photoshoot!

So hopefully next time I'm here, I will have the finished bench and possibly a finished one year old tomato plant..or is it two years old! :D Wish me luck.

Happy Christmas and super KDF mini's from Pepper!

Long overdue post!

Awhile back, Pepper very thoughtfully asked if I "needed" anything from KDF ( don't we all :D ), as she was well aware there are some must-have miniatures that you literally cannot get anywhere, unless you go to a miniature show. As it happened I did "need" some Causeret pottery and Ray Storey glassware, quite badly actually. My shopping list items ended up being mostly unavailable, so Pepper had to choose for me, and she chose perfectly! She also had to dig into her Ray Storey glassware collection, as he had sold out prior to the show. So another giant Thank You again for that Pepper! Aaand... she got me more than a few extras! Everything arrived individually wrapped in tissue paper, and I had no idea what was in each one, so you can just imagine how amazing my afternoon was the day I unwrapped each of the following miniatures....  Warning - Photos do not do these miniatures justice, though they still look amazing despite the lighting conditions :D

Pottery by Elisabeth Causeret. 

They are just...beautiful. The crackle glaze is even more crackly in reality.

Each piece is signed with a potters mark on the base, bit hard to make out in the photo. They are incredibly stable too.

More Elisabeth Causeret Pottery. The mugs are both the same size, one is just standing slightly in front of the other.

Even more Elisabeth Causeret Pottery ( I know, I have been spoiled!). The lid on the teapot is removable.

Ray Storey bottles.

Colander and ladles by Orsis Miniatures. Very bad photo, these are delightfully dainty, ie. each ladle handle has a curl at the top. The matchstick is 3.8 cm long.

David Provan spice tower, honey pot with dipper and recorder.

The recorder has a thumb hole on the other side......I forgot to turn it over to show that :D

Each container has been turned for a precision fit, and the lid has a beautiful knot too.

Potato peeler by David Provan, part of me believes that you could actually peel a tiny potato with this. 

The last miniature parcel to be opened was this little box, I actually didn't expect anything to be inside it, but it was a tad heavy....

...?! :D

YES! The most amazing amount of biscuits!! And they were beautifully arranged in rows, which I forgot to record, in my haste to get them out of the box. I will definitely need tweezers to recreate how they were arranged :D I've even got an order for eating these, bear goes first, followed by star, then rectangle finished off with plain rounds, then back to bear,etc, :D. These were made by Orsis Miniatures.

And everything together! I had taken an inpromptu photograph of some of the pottery in the conservatory, but there has been an invasion of cat hairs and fluff, so I didn't include it :D Spring clean coming soon...

Thank you so, so much Pepper!

Pepper has opted for payment via miniatures, so this is one side of a swap, sadly she has to wait for the other side as I haven't made them yet, as much as I would have loved her to have them for Christmas :D

Hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year.

1:12 shopping bag and stoneware jars.

 I made the shopping bag from a 5p sample and  plain fabric (from an old pillowcase). The rope is made from waxed thread (I ran the thread over beeswax, it makes it easier to handle and hold a shape too).  There are videos on youtube for a rope braid (hairstyle tutorials).  Easy to do, once you get the hang of it.



And the jars are painted, varnished and ready to be placed, placed where though, Im not sure.

And my break from this, didn't last long. Comparing to the last photo I took of it,  Im slightly shocked it hasn't changed much, after the hours I put into it. This is going to take a very long time. 

A few things being worked on.

I have a lot of things being worked on.  These are a few of those things.

The unfinished back door.  Bought online, one of the mass produced doors available, slightly customized. I try to customize anything I  buy, it usually just needs refined.  The door handle I bought from Modelling Timbers website. I used black sticker lines to make the stained glass, and filled in the perspex with clear varnish and acrylic ink, for a glassy effect. The Chinese lantern poking in at the side, I made with etched brass I bought from PPD Ltd, an old light fitting scrap wood and copper rods. Even it isn't  finished, even though its up in its place.

A Dollshouse birdhouse. A dovecote I made from scratch using lollypop sticks, card and  cocktail sticks and a few other odds and ends. I made the ridge tile using card, quite a few jewellery fittings and flocked it with ground up Richard Stacey bricks, the bits left over from the chimney stack. The roof needs a dusting, badly. No birds have moved in yet, though I have two in mind. But they have no feet yet!

Some cushions I made, some with scraps of material I bought at a market. The grey bench cushion hasn't been filled yet. And the bolster on the end is a Janet Granger kit, without its tassels, which I bought to try out needlepoint. I have a Bobbie Schoonmaker Arak Saruk rug kit arriving soon, so I thought I should practice on something small first. Just as well it worked out, as I think the  Bobbie Schoonmaker kit may be stuck in customs, so I can look forward to an additional bill. Then after that, I design and make my own rugs from scratch, because I can't afford them, really. Bench is a kit by McQueenie Miniatures. Excuse the out of scale cat hairs by the armrest. They get everywhere, I think I stitched a few into the bolster also.