A Grave Undertaking....

Back in 2019, I wrote about a little mourning doll I made.  During my recent clearout I came across an associated box of bits, containing a part assembled coffin box, vintage black lace, some jet jewellery etc.

The coffin box was a nightmare to design and make... no right angled corners and a devilishly difficult shape.  I remember taking a solemn oath at the time that I'd never, ever, make another.

But then, this morning, I came across this in a gothic group on Facebook.....

Believe it or not, this macabre stuff of nightmares is a doll.  I've tried and failed to imagine the sort of child who would appreciate it.  Perhaps a young Norman Bates, or a pre-pubescent Hannibal Lecter.  However the craftsmanship is undeniable, assuming it is fabricated and not an actual small skeleton *shudder*.

Anyway, I wasn't so much focussed on the horrific 'dearly departed' as the coffin itself.  It's never occurred to me to attempt a curved coffin shape, which might be more forgiving than the standard multi-angled box.

My own mourning doll was rather sweet and not at all scary

However, I remember that black silk costume was also a nightmare as it showed up every tiny mote of dust and infinitesimal speck of glue.   Nevertheless, I'm minded to revisit the idea and perhaps recreate something similar but slightly different.   

I can feel a spell of 'research' coming on.  By which I mean enlisting the services of Pinterest and Google to go down the rabbit hole of 'mourning dolls'.

The die is cast....

Up at stupid o'clock this morning due to it being a momentous day and having been awake half the night, tossing and turning.

Today is the day I formally submit my business closure notice to HMRC.  I feel there should be some sort of drum roll flourish, *boom tish*

Tomorrow the website formally closes, although it will likely remain as a ghostly presence until its life support is turned off by the hosting company.  So tomorrow I'll be removing the few remaining items from the shop and turning off the lights before I leave.

Next week I'll be closing the business bank accounts and business PayPal account, and preparing the final end of year accounts for submission in early April. 

My business email address will stop functioning as soon as the website disappears, so for all things doll and miniature related I will have a new email address which I'll notify in my final Tower House Dolls newsletter next week. 

The Tower House Dolls Facebook page has been renamed Sandra Morris Dolls and I will definitely maintain this blog, as it contains the repository of my life over the past 17 years, not to mention the many (mis)adventures of Small Dog, so I simply can’t bear to close it too.

As I prepare to set sail into the sunset of retirement I’m already dusting off my personal projects notebooks which contains years worth of ideas which I’ve never had the time to make.  I also, inevitably, have several projects in progress which have been languishing for way too long, which I’m planning to revisit.  

I have a dwindling cache of tiny undressed dolls to last me a year or two, so I will likely have the occasional special little doll or miniature available for sale, and if so, I will post details on my blog  and FB page, as well as sending out a newsletter.

I am also keeping the FB ‘Mignonette Doll Club’ running for the foreseeable future… as somewhere to share ideas and have a good moan when I mess something up.  It’s a private group so if you would like to join you’ll have to request it.

So, although Tower House Dolls is no more, I’m still going to be around.  There’s a very apposite saying “when your hobby becomes your business, it stops being fun”.   Certainly running a business involves lots of responsibilities, many of which I won’t miss.  

Yes... bookkeeping/accounts/tax returns, I’m looking at you!

However I can truthfully say I’ve enjoyed most of it over the past 35 years, even packing for fairs till the early hours and setting off at stupid o’clock to then spend hours setting up.  All the many years I organised and taught classes and workshops for miniatures clubs or at my home were a joy and I got to meet so many lovely ladies, several of whom remain friends to this day.

I’m looking forward to beginning a whole new chapter in my miniatures journey and of freeing my creative urges to see where they take me.  I may even have already ordered a little miniature something to get me in the mood when the dust settles next week. 

 

Clean sweep.....

With my official retirement date just days away (eeeeek!) I'm thinking about what my 'new' life might look like.  For some people, celebrating retirement might mean a round the world cruise, or a luxury hotel holiday.  Or perhaps buying a motorhome and setting off on an extended 'van life' adventure.

Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't mind doing any (or all!) of those things, but I'm going to have to work up to them in increments.  There are some smaller adventures I'm looking forward to undertaking over the coming months with my newly acquired spare time and to that end I have indulged in a very special treat, after which I've been hankering for years. 

We have hired a cleaner.  Just for one hour a week at the moment, so see how it goes, but thus far it's a game changer.

I have to confess, I don't enjoy cleaning.  It's generally a thankless, Sisyphean task which has to be repeated endlessly, day after day, until you die.  Dust accumulates constantly, kitchen worktops stay clear and clean for mere nanoseconds,  crumbs and dirt take up permanent residence in corners, tiles get splashed.... it's all relentlessly relentless.  It doesn't help that I can only clean in short bursts, when my energy levels allow, so sometimes it just doesn't feel worth it as I know I won't be able to do everything that's needed at one time.

Negotiations have been ongoing for some time.  We dipped a toe into the world of 'paying people to do the stuff we hate' last year, when we decided to hire a regular window cleaner. Hitherto, PP had been responsible for cleaning the outside of our 16 windows, and it would take her most of a day with a bucket and extending pole thingy.   However, since her surgery I've banned her from doing it, and I can't do it either, so every eight weeks two chaps come with the requisite equipment to clean all the windows in less than 20 minutes.

Deciding to hire a cleaner though is a whole different level.  They're actually in your home, given unrestricted access to private areas where visitors never go.  They see how you live.  How you REALLY live.  It's all a bit daunting.   With neither of us ever having had a cleaner, we didn't know quite what was reasonable to expect and in what timescale.   We identified the areas of the house we'd like to have cleaned.  Not the whole house as several of the rooms aren't used on a daily basis.  Not the office (which will shortly revert to a study) and not my workroom, (which will shortly be re-designated as a craft/hobby room).  Not the spare bedrooms or the main bathroom.  Not our little granddaughter's bedroom.   Just the high traffic/most used areas which take the longest to clean and get messed up the quickest.

Having identified what we needed, it was time to find our cleaner.  Asking for recommendations on our local neighbourhood network produced a deluge of responses.  Some recommended themselves, others endorsed their own cleaners or those of friends.  After sifting through all the messages, I contacted several who offered more information than simply their hourly rates.  This enabled us to further narrow our search down to two, who we met for a brief chat and so they could see what we wanted doing.  Although both were lovely, we decided to go with the older, more experienced lady.

She's already worked wonders after just one visit.  Our kitchen is gleaming, the floors are sparkling, mirrors are dust and smear free and everywhere smells fresh and clean.  There's a psychological effect too, in that we're highly motivated to keep it that way.  

I don't know why we waited so long to take the plunge.