Exciting times......

It usually takes a few days to get back into the swing of things following a two-week holiday.
There's all the general household 'stuff' to catch up on and the prospect of getting back in the work saddle is rarely appealing after time off.

However, (and I can hardly believe this myself) I've hit the ground, if not exactly running, at least at a gentle trot.

I've spent time in the workroom already this week, working on my August workshop kit which will be featured at the Mini Miniature Show, as well as making inroads into preparation for my three one day workshops which will be held this autumn.

Also, as someone renowned for procrastination on a grand scale, I've even begun planning a very special workshop which will be showcased at next year's Cotswold Miniatures Weekend.

Yes, you read that right.  NEXT YEAR! 

October 2016 to be precise.  I'm delighted to have been invited to teach at this prestigious event and my recent French holiday provided the inspiration for a rather wonderful project, for which Nick Day of Treacle Lane is once again designing and producing the kit.  We're still working through the design elements but trust me, it will be A. Mazing.

As will my autumn one day workshops which are scheduled for the following dates:

Saturday 26th September - Everything Alice!                                                             
In this 150th anniversary year of the publication of Alice in Wonderland our first workshop will feature a variety of Alice -themed miniatures, including a range of toys, dolls, boxed games, new toy theatre, pullalong toy cart, playset, illustrated book, shop window display and lots more! 

Saturday 24 October - Toy Theatre Cart                                                                       
The theme for this session is taken from one of my favourite fairy tales..... Little Red Riding Hood.  Students will make a beautifully decorated theatre cart on wheels. Double doors open to reveal the interior, complete with moveable scenery and characters.  As this is a working toy cart, there will be a (hopefully) compliant wolf to pull it along.  Also included in this session are a little toy Red Riding Hood doll, vintage boxed game and tiny book.

Saturday 14 November - Mignonette Toy Doll Presentation Box                         
I just love things in boxes, and especially miniature things in boxes!                                 
This project harks back to the heyday of French dollmaking and the beautiful presentation boxes of the 1890s.  It features a wooden box which will be decorated inside and out with vintage style papers.  Students will then dress a porcelain Jumeau-inspired toy doll and then make a variety of items for her, including costumes, hats, flower posy, fan, a selection of tiny personal accessories, book, toiletries. 
The doll and all of her costumes and accessories can be pinned onto two silk covered pads which can themselves be removed from the box base and lid.                                    
This project is a one-of-a-kind heirloom piece.

We are currently finalising details so full information and photos of all the projects will be available next month, when bookings will open.  Workshops are limited to a maximum of 5 students and will be held in St. Leonards on Sea, East Sussex.  Sessions will run from 10.30am till 5.00pm.  

August Mini Miniature Show August Workshop

With just over a month till the start of the August Mini Miniature Show, it's time to reveal my workshop offering..... 

My recent holiday in France, home of the wonderful dolls by Emile Jumeau, inspired this little boxed toy doll’s doll, dressed in ivory and sepia silk and lace.  She is china-painted porcelain, has jointed arms and legs and measures a smidgen under 1  3/4” tall.

 

As always, the workshop kit will contain everything you need to make this special little doll, including her bespoke box.

The doll has silk underwear, socks and silk shoes with ankle straps.  Her long-sleeved dress is made from silk and lace and has a ruched silk panel decorated with tiny silk bows.

A chestnut brown ringlet curl wig falls from beneath a dainty silk bonnet.  

Around her wrist is a vintage Paris display card.

She nestles in her made to measure box which has a clear acetate window.

 

The kit includes fully illustrated step-by-step instructions.  Students will be able to attend a video link session with me, at a time to suit them.

 

Kits cost $39 (£25  35Euro) plus international shipping  $8 (7Euro,  P&P within the UK £3)

 

To book a place, or for further information, please contact me,  sandra(at)towerhousedolls.co.uk    

Please include your country of residence so that I can add the correct shipping.

Payment is by PayPal and kits will be sent out during the first week of August.

 

 

 

One Day Workshops - update

Preparations continue apace for our autumn one day workshops.  

Having finalised the dates, we are now hard at work on the myriad details of each session, which we are determined will be A. MAZING!  Our inaugural sessions will feature a selection of unique miniatures, giving students the opportunity to try their hand at a variety of different skills and techniques.

Over the past 28 years I've taught many dozens of classes and I'm really looking forward to our exciting new programme and getting 'hands on' with students again.  

As is Small Dog, although in her case it will be 'paws on'.

She is also insistent that I mention 'Yorkshier Terriors' are hypo-allergenic, so our workshops are completely suitable for people with allergies.  Although whether that applies to Yorkshier Terriors with a penchant for rolling in 'fockspoo' is another matter altogether.

Moving swiftly on...... here is sneak preview of just one of the elements of one workshop.

Miniature travelling toy theatre cart

 Yes.... that's Small Dog on the advertising poster on the side..... *sigh*

The doors open to reveal..... a secret surprise!

Another session will feature this rather wonderful vignette....

..... which will be transformed into L'atelier de la Poupée!

Full details will be available during the summer so watch this space.....

Buggrit..... and then some!

I'd been feeling so pleased with myself too.

Nailed the annual accounts in just two days.  Also did a complete financial review and everything's ship shape ready to submit my personal and business tax returns next week.

So while I was in finance mode, I thought I'd get ahead of myself for a change and make a start on the spreadsheets for this current financial year, and do April and May.

It's a good job I did.

Hidden away in April's business bank statement was a transaction I didn't recognise.  A payment for a substantial sum which I'd certainly have remembered.

I hunted through all the receipts and invoices, checked my online transactions but couldn't find anything relating to it.

What particularly concerned me though, was that the payment was made to towerhousedolls.  Cue checking everything AGAIN.  Still no clue.

So I rang the bank.  It took a while to explain that while, yes, I am Tower House Dolls, no I didn't make that payment to myself.

So I was transferred to the bank's fraud department, where again there was puzzlement.  It appeared to have gone to somewhere in the US, they thought it might be Massachusetts. Had I bought anything from a company called Tower House Dolls in the US?

NO.

They admitted it would be an almighty coincidence and I was transferred to a higher level fraud department where I was subjected to a barrage of security and personal questions, which eventually seemed to convince them that I, or rather 'Tower House Dolls', was the innocent victim of online fraud.

So, all our business credit/debit cards were cancelled on the spot and I'm awaiting a number of forms and declarations through the post which I have to submit asap.

Will we get the money back?

Perhaps.  Pending 'enquiries'

*fingers crossed*
Buggrit  Buggrit  Buggrit!

UPDATE
Earlier this evening I received notification that the stolen money had been reinstated to the account.  

WOOHOOOOO!!!!!

Pheeeewww!

After her bravura performance yesterday, Small Dog is in the doghouse today.

The reason?

We treated her yesterday afternoon with Advocate.  It's a spot-on broad spectrum combination treatment, effective against fleas, flea larvae, roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, heartworms and Sarcoptic mange, ear and Demodex mites.

You would think, wouldn't you, that she would be grateful for this care and concern for her health and wellbeing but no.  

She wasn't.

She expressed her displeasure by going straight up the garden and rolling in 'fockspoo'

Normally this would result in an immediate trip to the shower room and a liberal dousing in her special shampoo until the offending stench has been removed.  However, washing her so soon after the (expensive!) Advocate application would render it ineffective so apart from a brisk rubdown with a wet wipe we will have to live with it for another 24 hours.

If we can bear it that long.

Needless to say, she has been looking immensely pleased with herself, basking in one of her favourite scents......  Essence de Renard.

Sniggering Dog

Pupdate.....

As a fully fledged member of the Tower House Dolls management team, Small Dog now has a seat on the board.

Well..... I say board.  It's more of a comfy blankie in her basket, which is her designated work area as she's not into hot desking.

Here she is earlier preparing for our monthly management meeting.....

That disgruntled look is down to the fact that she'd just heard that the biscuits were restricted to Rich Tea.  Not, as she'd been hoping, Ginger Crunch Creams.

The following is a transcript of the meeting....

Minutes of  Monthly Meeting of Tower House Dolls Management Team

Monday 1 June at 11.00 am

Present

Sandra Morris – Partner & Creative Director

Pam Shallcrass – Partner & Director of General and Website Administration

Small Dog – Sleeping Partner and Head of Marketing and Communication

SD was called upon to report on the first few weeks in her new role.

SD wishes to have recorded the fact that under her jurisdiction the THD Facebook page has now attained the giddy heights of a smidgen over 800 Likes.  She claims to have achieved this by linking from her own FB page and actively promoting THD at every opportunity.  

SD proposed an incentive bonius, consisting of 1 gravy bone for every additional Like she acquires.

Following an animated debate, during which SD only took the huff once, it was agreed that 1 gravy bone for every 10 Likes was a fair incentive.

Duly noted

We then moved onto the main business, an overview and discussion of the new One Day Workshop Programme, currently in preparation.

SD suggested that she be in sole charge of 'meet and greet' for each of the sessions.

SM opined that if by 'meet and greet' she meant jumping around like a mad thing, laddering people's tights, then the answer was no.

Unseemly (and frankly undignified) response from SD, which the bounds of decorum forbid me to repeat.

Short break for tea and biscuits.  SD wished it to be recorded that Rich Tea biscuits are hardly suitable fare for an up and coming executive of her calibre but nevertheless managed to choke down half of one, plus another bit which fell on the floor.

Meeting called to order and resumed at 11.25

Brief discussion of logistics of workshops and the need for a FAQ PDF for the website, which PS offered to undertake.

SD requested to know WTF a FAQ PDF is.  She was informed that as this is technically outside her remit and she needn't bother her furry little head with such things.

SM provided the team with details of the proposed workshops which provoked a lively debate on whether they might be too ambitious.

SD proposed that if students got stuck she could sit on their laps as the act of stroking her would undoubtedly unblock their creativity.

Lively discussion of whether the application of a small Cold, Wet Nose might be beneficial. 

PS suggested that we do some tests with willing volunteers to test the efficacy of SD's assertion.

SD offered to do some durability testing on the finished workshop samples.  Offer declined.

Any other business - Small Dog's request for an iBone denied.

Meeting adjourned at 11.45 am.

Breaking news......

It's been all go at the international headquarters of Tower House Dolls.

What with a brand new Head of Marketing and Communication now in post *ahem* and lots of plans afoot, it's an exciting time.

So here's a head up for a new enterprise starting in the autumn...... a programme of one day workshops which will be nothing short of A-Mazing.

The full detailed programme will be released in July, but we wanted to choose and save the dates, which are.....

Saturday 26 September
Saturday 24 October
Saturday 14 November
Saturday 5 December

I'm not at liberty to divulge details of the four different projects yet but rest assured you will LOVE them. 

I've been collaborating with the incredibly talented and helpful Nick Day of  Treacle Lane who has taken my outlandish, half-baked suggestions and 'back of an envelope' ideas and come up with some wonderful, exclusive kits which will form the basis of two of the classes.

So if you fancy having a go at something interesting and unusual, keep a look out for the grand reveal later in the summer.  If you're really keen and want to be sure you don't miss the programme when it's released, please contact me and ask to go on my mailing list.

It only remains to introduce the newest member of the revamped THD management team, whose idea this was.  As you see she has hit the ground (with all four paws) running.