I've Made My Bed ...

Welcome to any new followers and nice to see you all here. We are well into the New Year already, hope it will be a good one for all of us.
This is my latest pink bed made to order, at last I was able to retrieve the original design for the bed ends which is my favourite. This is a very pretty bed and has a bit of a French look about it I think. Would be lovely in an olde worlde bedroom, French or whatever. I can make more pink chests of drawers with mirror if anyone wants them also.
Need to catch up on blog postings, I am sure I've missed lots of goodies, my internet has been so slow it wasn't worth trying to do much, seems a bit faster now, can't wait until we get broadband connection.
I am about to get back to working on my little Greenleaf Orchid kit, I started making changes to the windows then came to a halt, unable to decide whether to change them completely or not. I think they will be a bit smaller than the originals but have to work out how to go about it as I've never done much building before. I might have some pics to show before too long. Then of course there is the dreaded **wiring**. Never done that before either, we'll see how I go.
That's all for now,
A bientot!

I'm still here ...

I can hardly believe it is so long since my last post. I have been a bit busy and I want to have something to show when I do post, so here is what I have been working on. I know, more candelabras. I have gone back to my original more rustic style and made them much smaller than the first ones. The off-white one is about 6cm high, the next one is 5cm and the smaller pair is 4.5cm. The earlier ones were large, suitable for outdoor rustic dining, similar to ones I have in 1:1 so the candles are over the diners' heads.

These are for indoors and won't take up the whole table. There is also an old birdcage in the photo, missing its base but has a certain rustic charm, may look ok with a fern poking out perhaps.

I would also like to offer a warm welcome to all the new visitors to my site. I will be visiting all your blogs to see what you are doing. I hope to have some interesting things to show you soon.
A bientot.

Soldering On

My second shot at candelabra-making, this one hasn't been painted yet, perhaps I'll leave it raw, just age it a little with chemical I used to use on stained glass, if I can find out what it is.
You can see what the candle holders are - brass tacks. Brad will file off the spikes with his trusty Dremel, then I can put candles on it. I think this one is a little neater, I used a finer wire to wrap around the soldering.

Also, welcome to Carolina and Anna, good to see you here as I learn more about miniatures and the making of them. I really want to find a particular skill that I enjoy and that I can 'perfect' if that is possible. Can only do that by trying a few different things and practice makes perfect.

Dreaming of France

While sitting ruminating on how to decorate my little shop -  I'm leaning towards a French look and decided to name it Petit Parterre - I started reminiscing about my last trip to France. I've been twice, the first time was too many years ago to mention. A quick few days in the middle of winter and Paris was the coldest city I had visited on that trip - colder even than the north of Scotland.

The last trip was in 2001. My sister met me in Paris and we hired a car for a whirlwind tour of France. I was the first behind the wheel and amazingly got us out of Paris safely, around the Arc de Triomphe -  terrifying. We're both Francophiles so there was a lot of pointing and oohing as we drove along. This time it was hot, very hot, and a lot of the places we stayed weren't air-conditioned. Loved the fact that people could travel with their dogs and keep them in their rooms at some hotels, even take them to dinner. Very well behaved and well groomed though.

Tested out my new digital camera after reading up on how to use it on the flight over. A first for me - not good at reading instructions! That will have to change as I think I'll be using some kits to furnish my little plant and flower shop. I've included a before shot of the shop as I bought it several years ago. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could do to personalise it and will post a good shot of my efforts when I have one.

Have added some pics taken on my last trip - so inspirational! Ideas for lots of miniature projects.