Mould cull............

New week, new month, new season, new-found sense of direction.........

For some reason, lost in the mists of time, I never feel the urge to spring clean. For me, autumn seems the optimum time for a bit of a clear out in preparation for some serious nesting when winter sets in.

Mind you, I do dabble with clearouts during the rest of the year, as previous posts alluding to the 'guddle' in my workroom will attest. However I've really got the bit between my teeth this time, and have decided to attack my mould cupboards.

For the uninitiated, mould cupboards are not havens for microbacterial critters. They house my extensive collection of porcelain doll moulds going back two decades, and every now and then I try to 'rationalise' them.

This is a difficult and sometimes traumatic process, made easier by the passage of time. There was a time, maybe 5 years or so back, when even the mention of the possibility of me getting rid of a few moulds would give me a fit of the vapours, so viscerally attached was I to them.

However increasingly, I am finding it easier and less painful to slough off whole work-related areas, and happily, this includes seriously downsizing my moulds. Over the course of today I have carefully and methodically assessed around 50 molds. Some were simply past it.......the casting process gradually erodes detail, the plaster becomes less absorbent and eventually they have to be binned. My emotional attachment to them means that I cannot simply band them together and place them carefully in their final resting place in the bin.

No.

I have to take a hammer to then and smash them to smithereens.

It's the kindest way.

Thus it was today, and I merrily smashed around 20 or so worn out arm and leg moulds.

Those which I no longer want, but still have life left in them are being reprieved, and will be offered for sale as soon as I've gone through every single mould in each of my three cupboards. In fact, although all the moulds are used, there will be moulds which have only been cast a few times, so are in mint condition.

This process will take most of this week as there are several hundred moulds in total. However if anyone is interested in a bargain basement lot of miniature doll moulds (they will range from a few pence to a few pounds) and, (and this bit is VERY IMPORTANT!) can collect, I will be compiling a list as soon as I've gone through them all. Ideally I'd like them all to go together rather than piecemeal, and under no circumstances am I prepared to send any by post.

This is because they are quite bulky and heavy, and the cost of postage would far outweigh their value. Also they're a sod to package, as being made of plaster they are vulnerable to damage, and thus require acres of bubble wrap, bagfuls of poly chips and very big boxes so they don't hit against each other. As they'll be available for sale at ridiculously low prices I just haven't got the time, the energy or the inclination to spend hours and hours meticulously packaging.

If anyone is interested, leave a comment or email me direct and I'll be in contact when the list is completed. If you live in the Outer Hebrides, or mainland Europe, or across the pond, I'm assuming you're not going to be passing through St Leonards on Sea anytime in the next month or so, in which case, please only express an interest if you can actually collect within a reasonable timescale.

Right.

Off to tackle another batch...........very cathartic this downsizing lark.