The Great Clearout continues......

My workroom is no stranger to untidyness.  I tend to work in what I like to call 'creative chaos' and what tidier minded mortals would call an unholy guddle.

However, even I have to admit that I've surpassed myself these past few days.

Having emptied every single cupboard, drawer and storage box in order to rationalise and reorganise the contents I've reached the point where I seriously doubt it will ever be tidy again.

Exhibit A.....

And before somebody pipes up and asserts it's not too bad, I should point out that the bit around the corner, most of the floor, and EVERY SINGLE SURFACE is piled high with stuff.

I did start off by trying to sort just one section at a time, but it rapidly became apparent that I would have to completely empty everything out so that I could move stuff from inappropriate storage areas.

For example, I have a lot of stripwood in various widths, thicknesses, woods etc.  For some obscure reason, lost in the mists of time, I'd been keeping them all in long cardboard tubes in a cupboard which was both too shallow and not wide enough so they all had to be stored diagonally, leaving loads of wasted and unusable space.

Yes.

I know.

I don't know what I was thinking either.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I do have a perfectly proportioned cupboard into which all the tubes of stripwood fit exactly, but in my infinite wisdom I was using THAT one to store baskets of kits, which wouldn't stack and were shoe-horned into the space.

So I've switched all the stripwood into the kits cupboard and all the kits into the stripwood cupboard and hey presto.  Everything fits and I even have some space left over.

Quite why this hadn't occurred to me before is a mystery.  Perhaps the act of getting EVERYTHING out of all the cupboards freed me to see what a doofus I've been.

My only consolation at the moment is that it can't get any worse.

 

 

Hidden gems......

I started Phase 2 of the workroom makeover today by starting to clear out all the cupboards.  I'm going to have to completely empty the room in order to redecorate and re-carpet, so I'm going though everything with a view to further de-cluttering.

I started with the cupboards behind my chair, which held paints, glues, packaging supplies etc.  Right at the back I found a box which has been there for some time and for which I had no idea of the contents.   

I thought I had sold off all of the 1/12th porcelain doll kits which I used to make, but the box contained a selection of kits which I'd presumably kept in order to use for some specific projects.

For example, I discovered a few sets of kits to make a ventriloquist and his dummy/puppet.  Also some special kits I'd made for an Eastern Prince project a while back.  Not to mention some child kits including Snivelling Simon, a charming child who is literally crying out for the addition of trails of tears and snot.

All of the kits include body packs, instructions for assembly and wigging viscose.  I'm also including a costume pattern pack for the little Indian Prince.

 

They're now listed on the website under THD Specials.   As I no longer have any of the moulds these few remaining kits are the last of their kind.

Tomorrow I'm tackling the cupboard in the far corner which is currently inaccessible due to a pile of books.  I have no idea what I'm going to find in there....... #excitingtimes!

Plan B........

I really hate to admit defeat on anything, least of all an inanimate object, but I'm finally going to stop abjectly failing to remove the damned varnish from my cupboard doors and go with Plan B..... a shabby chic paint finish.

Having used almost an entire pot of Eco stripper, in increasingly thick layers, for longer and longer, I still have one blotchy door, with patches of varnish resolutely hanging on to the wood for grim death.

I have to admit it looks only marginally worse than the doors I haven't touched.  I never liked the wood colour but the units were part of a demo kitchen in a DIY store years ago when I was kitting out my former studio, and as they were going for a song I couldn't resist.

The studio was twice the size of  my current workroom though, and somehow the wood colour wasn't a problem.  I've put up with it since moving here but it just looks boring and dated, and I'm ready for a change.  There's nothing wrong with either the units or the doors, so I'm 'upcycling' them.

Despite the fact that painting them wasn't my first choice, if I'm honest it will be an easier option, doable in a day rather than several weeks, and since I'm going to use the marvellous chalk paint made by Annie Sloan, I don't even have to sand or rub down the wood at all, although I might give it a going over with sugar soap just to remove any surface film.

Let's hope I don't have to resort to Plan C.....   




*I don't have a Plan C*

To strip, or not to strip......

My workroom makeover is proceeding very s-l-o-w-l-y.

I had anticipated that Phase 1 - stripping the horrid orangey varnish from all the cupboard doors would take exactly 5 days.  There are 10 doors at 2 a day = 5 days. Simples.

HA!

Thus far I have achieved something less than 1/10th.  Which is to say, not even one door.
This is because polyurethane varnish appears to be second only to cockroaches in its indestructibility.

I naively assumed that any common or garden paint and varnish stripper would do the job in no time at all...... lickety split.

But no.  I don't know what I was thinking.

After 3 applications of the new Eco stripper (water-based, solvent-free, no harmful fumes etc etc etc) I am left with a blotchy finish on the one door I started with.  Yes, a tiny amount of the varnish has been removed, but around 95% is resolutely hanging in there.

And before anyone else suggests it, sanding the varnish off is a non-starter, partly because the doors have mouldings and rebates which would be a nightmare to sand, but primarily because our electric mouse sander has gone to the great power tool graveyard which exists at the back of our understairs cupboard.

I've seriously considered abandoning the whole stripping thing and going for a shabby chic painted finish instead.  But the doors are a lovely solid oak, and when I did a 2" square test patch on the inside of one of them, the Eco stripper did a sterling job and revealed a lovely pale wood which I intend to treat with a limed oak and wax finish.

Quite why the 2" square sample came up beautifully but the whole door hasn't is a mystery. Perhaps the Eco stuff only works on tiny bits at a time and gets exhausted if it has to tackle an entire cupboard door at once.

If this is the case I know exactly how it feels.

So.

Having religiously followed the instructions on the tub, and on the helpful You Tube video in which a chap strips 15 layers of ancient paint from a dresser in record time and is still smiling at the end, I'm unconvinced I'm dealing with the same stuff.

I've left it on for the recommended time, which achieved nothing.  I've left it on for 30mins, then an hour longer, with only marginally improved results.

So today I'm going all out and will brush on a thicker layer and leave it overnight.  

What's the worst that can happen?  It's hardly likely to melt the door.  Hopefully, tomorrow morning, I can scrape off the stripper to reveal a fully stripped, non blotchy, varnish-free cupboard door.

If not then I will have to resort to Plan B. 

Time flies......

Why is it that the working week, which nominally consists of 5 days seems to last twice as long, while the weekend, which nominally consists of 2 days seems to last half as long?

This trick of time is everywhere these days.  It feels like only a month or so since Christmas, but we'll be fully half way through the year next month.  

Every winter I look forward so much to the arrival of spring, but this year I feel cheated.  Whatever we've just experienced I wouldn't call it spring.  Our seasons, and therefore my perception of the passage of time are all out of kilter.

*deep sigh*

Anyway, despite the fact I should have doing any number of other things today,I managed to steal a little time for myself and made this for my little shop of dolls, just in case I manage to get the building finished any time soon. 

I had just a tiny bit of pale blue silk in exactly the right colour to complement the shop decor so I was able to make a bustled jacket with some lovely silk buds and bows trimming around the edge and on her little lacy bonnet.  It's been so long since I made any little dolls for my own projects...... it was really quite cathartic and most enjoyable on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon.

*Note to self...... take more time out to make stuff just for me.... 


 

All strung out......

Aside from creating no end of upheaval in the workroom this week I've also been busy, meticulously stringing tiny arms and legs onto the latest batch of toy doll's dolls.

As you can see they're literally cock-a-hoop to be able to move around, thanks to their newly jointed limbs.....

I've just listed a few Pot Luck Doll Packs on the website, offering a selection of three different dolls, ranging from a truly diminutive 1" tall (or should that be short?) to an only slightly more statuesque 1  3/4".  My choice, but they will be selected from the range of different dolls shown playing around in the photo. Included with each pack is a micro doll dressing hints and tips sheet.

Offering savings of 17% on the cost of individual dolls, these packs are only available while stocks last......

Read all about it......!

This week has all about taking irrevocable steps.  

Some more irrevocable than others......

In the workroom, I've finally begun the long-awaited makeover, which at some point will necessitate completely emptying the room to facilitate re-decorating and re-carpeting.

While I know that everything currently fits in that one room, I am sure that emptying it will cause all the stuff to expand exponentially, so that it will never all fit back in it again.

That is how stuff works.

Expansion by stealth.

So I've been casting my eye over the contents with a view to further downsizing.  By far the things I have most of are magazines.

My magazine collection dates back to the mid 1970s up to the mid 2000s and contains many rare gems and now defunct publications.

In the past I have toyed with the notion of listing them individually, on Ebay, or on our website, but having counted them today, and discovering that I have around 500 (YES FIVE HUNDRED!) I've rather lost my enthusiasm for that idea.

For example, I have every issue of the late lamented Home Miniaturist magazine.  There is also a  quantity of the highly respected, excellent and now also defunct International Doll's House News magazine.

I have first and subsequent issues of Doll's House World, Doll's House & Miniature Scene and The Doll's House Magazine.  

My specialist miniature doll magazines include issues of Dolls in Miniature and Dainty Doll's Newsletter, both of which are replete with patterns and ideas for mini doll dressing.

Most are in mint condition, having been read once, then filed away in magazine storage boxes.
 
I want to sell them all as one lot.  Please don't email me asking for a specific copy of Doll's House World from 1993, or issues 23, 47 and 86 of DHMS.  I will have to bite you.

The entire collection is for sale for £250.  No offers.  No cherry picking.  At just 50p per copy that's an absolute bargain.  You can fill the gaps in your own collections or sell them on, or even, if you have oceans of time, energy and enthusiasm, list them one by one on Ebay and make a small fortune.

There is just one proviso..... they are for collection only from St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex.  On collection the lucky buyer can expect a cup of tea and a cake, not to mention the pleasure of having Small Dog sit on their lap.

Bargain or what........?!

A tiny sample of the titles on offer.......