A kick in the slats for the fiscally prudent.........

Today's drop in interest rates to a paltry 1% blatantly cocks a snook at those of us who follow the prescribed principles of fiscal prudence.

To put it bluntly, anyone with savings would be as well to take it all out in cash and stash it under the mattress, or use it to insulate a thermal vest, which would be a damn sight more useful than leaving it in the bank earning zilch.

I'm from a generation who believed saving was good and credit was bad. I grew up in a solidly working class mining community, where being in debt was considered as dirty as the coal that coated my grandfather, father, uncles and male cousins when they came home from their shift at the pit every day.

As a very young child I had a Post Office savings account into which I dutifully paid every penny. Each year I would make a special pilgrimage to the village post office to have the interest calculated and carefully entered in my little cardboard passbook. It was then that I began a lifelong love affair with the mysteries of compound interest.

If I wanted something for myself I had to save for it, earning pennies by doing odd jobs, running errands......whatever I could. And I didn't get my heart's desire until I had enough cold, hard cash in my hot little hand.

Fast forward forty years. We now live in an age of over 100% mortgages, umpteem maxed out credit cards as the norm, loans for holidays, cars, kitchens and conservatories. The whole concept of saving for anything is regarded as archaic and the headlong scramble for cheap money has become a way of life for millions.

Not only that, banks have been happy to lend indiscriminately:

Borrower: "Oy you, gimme some dosh."

Toadying Banker: "Certainly sir. Just let me check..........hm, poor credit record, defaults on existing loan repayments........no problem sir. How much would you like?"

So the fiscally prudent who religiously pay off their credit card bills in full every month, owe not a penny to a living soul, and who have consistently saved for a rainy day can all go hang as their savings are now worth f**k all.

Let's reward all the poor sods who have borrowed too much, spent wildly and indiscriminately on credit, saved bugger all and are now reeling from the effects of the recession. Awww... bless.

I am sooooooo disenchanted I could spit.

Down day.........

Not feeling very upbeat today......... 5 February is my most hated day in the calender and it hasn't helped that PP is still feeling very poorly, the weather has been dull and grey and cold, I'm behind with loads of stuff and even displacement activity has temporarily lost its lustre.

So, in brief, a litany of woes and desolation.

In an act of virtual self-flagellation, I set myself the long overdue task of a first china paint and firing on a batch of dolls which were bisque fired two weeks ago, just before PP went into hospital. Since then, apart from unloading the kiln to check that the firing had been successful, the dolls have lain in a box in the workroom, unpainted and neglected.

I normally enjoy the act of painting as the doll's characters emerge with each successive paint firing, and the faces slowly come alive.........sallow or rosy cheeks, lips either plump and kissable or thin and disapproving. Eyes, bright and sparkling or red-rimmed and brimming with tears.
Eyebrows raised in questioning disbelief, or drawn together in deep thought. My characters never have exactly the same painted expressions.

Today though I just couldn't get enthused at all. Partly due to my malaise, and partly due to the fact that my MS chose to play up and firstly ever so slightly blurred my vision then added to the fun by introducing the barest minimum of hand tremor. If I hadn't been concentrating so hard on painting I probably wouldn't have noticed it, but working under a powerful magnifying lamp, delineating the features of a tiny baby whose head measured less than 3mm in diameter, it had the same effect as a minor earthquake. As a result, some faces had to be wiped clean several times before I finally got things under control and stuck at it until I was satisfied with the paint quality.

In all, the task should have taken no more than two hours tops, but it was four hours before I finally finished and was able to load the kiln with a huge sigh of relief.

I couldn't even muster the energy to produce my usual neat, concentric circles of heads and bodies, so pleasing to the eye and a balm to the soul, so instead there is a rather unsatisfying jumble.



Incidentally the dark coloured porcelain dolls are not the result of a catastrophic overfire, which can happen from time to time. No they are meant to be that colour, a rich velvet brown, and are destined to be exotic young child Indian princes to accompany my pullalong ceremonial toy elephant with howdah. If I can regain my creative inspiration there will also be matching tiny 1 1/2" dolls to sit in state in the howdah.

However, in the meantime they still have another two paint firings to go..........

Globophobia.............

Small dog is traumatised.

It was brought on by the delivery yesterday morning of an extremely large box addressed to PP, and delivered by the postman who trudged up the still snow-covered driveway and puffed.......

"'Ere you go love.....got to get this 'normous box out the back of the van before I can even see what else there is in there........."

So when I say large, I do mean large. Over a metre square!

Small dog, who is always extremely interested in postal deliveries, escorted both me and the box upstairs to PP, where it was laid on the bed, blocking out the sun.

As soon as the flaps were opened, three huge helium-filled balloons floated up out of the box, stopping only when they reached the end of their ribbon tethers, where they bobbed and swayed gently.

Immediately, small dog leapt off the bed and ran round the room, out the door, along the landing, back again, downstairs, upstairs, and back into the room where she stood barking like a maniac.
I have positioned the balloons by the window where PP can enjoy them. From her vantage point by PP's side, small dog keeps a watchful,wary eye on them, occasionally venturing down to the foot of the bed to give them a hard stare.

A definite case of Globophobia if ever I saw it.

Which, come to think of it, forms a neat counterpoint to one of my own.......Coulrophobia

Faith in human nature restored.........

I've been making more little wickerwork prams. Although they are undoubtedly frustratingly fiddly at times, there is something about the weaving process which has the ability to tame the savage beast.

It's one of those rare miniature endeavours which is calmingly (though not boringly) repetitive and creative at the same time. When I start each one, I really have no idea of how the finished item will look, except that it will be a baby carriage with four wheels and a handle.

Already my ideas notebook is filling with scribbled sketches and ideas for variations on the theme and I have one on the go at all times.

They are incredibly time consuming to make though, especially in the initial preparation stages. Rather than use board or card for the base, in order to make them as authentic and true to the originals as possible, I have opted to use fine stripwood, which is painstakingly measured (twice!) then cut to size for both length and width. I have a nifty cutting tool for doing this, but it is very difficult to get 100% accuracy, especially when cutting along the grain, when the cut tends to follow line of the grain, necessitating a bit of sanding off.

I then use a template, (designed to perfection by PP from her sickbed) to mark and then drill all the tiny holes around the outside edges of the base for the wickerwork frame of 'spokes'.

Yesterday I was down to my last piece of stripwood so have had to order more, from Borcraft Miniatures, from whom I've been buying stripwood and and wooden mouldings for all of my 25 years as a miniaturist.

I need a specific width and thickness, which is not a standard size, so I emailed to check if it was possible to order it. Within half an hour I had a reply, saying there would be no problem with the non-standard size, and would I like the pram bases cut to length as well!

What wonderful, exemplary service. It has quite restored my flagging faith in human nature.

Welcome.........

Welcome to yet another 'follower', Doreen from Ontario, Canada, whose blog features some very original miniature projects including a great ice cream parlour!

In other news, a sudden and dramatic thaw has taken place today, which is just as well as I really needed to get out for some essential supplies for poorly PP.

Tesco was a complete madhouse, with dozens of kids (still on a 'snow day' from school despite the conspicuous lack of snow) running around screaming and people shopping as if they were planning to be laid siege.

Not only that, Tesco appear to have a whole mile long aisle awash with Valentine's Day tat....fluffy heart shaped cushions, Barbie-pink "I Wuv Yoo" photo frames, mammoth 3 foot high cards and a whole plethora of other equally disturbing wares. At the best of times, this combination of blood-red and Barbie pink would have me heading for the vomitorium but this is most definitely NOT the best of times.

New - Victorian Toy Perambulators!

I am pleased to unveil the latest additions to the Diminutive Dolls range..... authentic miniature handcrafted Victorian-style wicker toy prams.

They have been many weeks in 'research and development' but I've finally cracked it and in the last few days the design has really come together and I have completed a few which meet my rigourous high standards.

They are scaled to represent toy prams for the 1/12th scale miniature doll's house child, and are perfect for my tiny porcelain baby dolls which measure just 1" tall.

The 'first editions' are now available on the website

There will never be two exactly the same, and I already have several ideas on the drawing board for alternative designs and styles.

However, here are my first wickerwork toy baby carriages.......







Don't you just love it when all the hard work pays off...........?!

Snowed in..........

So the South East of England has been hit by the worst snowfalls in 18 years and naturally everything has ground to a halt.....there has been no post delivery today, trains and buses are badly disrupted, schools are closed and more snow is forecast for this afternoon through tonight.

We live at the top of a very steep hill, so small dog I have gained much innocent amusement this morning watching foolhardy cars either glide down the hill sideways, or crawl up the hill sideways.

Needless to say I have abandoned any intention venturing out in the car today and instead will enjoy the vista from the cosy warmth of the house.