Written in the stars...........

For some obscure reason, lost in the mists of time, I have a daily horoscope delivered to my email inbox. I started it for a bit of a lark years years ago, and now I can't stop it. Not because I am an avid believer in my astrological destiny, but for the entirely more prosaic reason that I can't remember either the login or password required to switch it off.

Anyhoo, this morning I was mumbling and moaning to PP about my personal To Do list, (not to be confused with the business To Do list, about which the less said the better) which includes a plethora of Extremely Urgent Stuff, all of which has to be done and dusted by the end of this month. Complex, time-consuming stuff such as sorting out our campervan insurance renewal after seeking competitive quotes, completing and submitting my online tax return, assorted other financial gubbins etc etc etc.

The length and complexity of the list renders me transfixed and immobilised, rather like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming juggernaut.

So, I was more than slightly miffed by this morning's horoscope offering which reads as follows:

Hello Sandra!

Here's your horoscope for Wednesday 17 June

If there's work piled up that is long overdue, Sandra, today will be the day to dig in. Added strength and mental acuity are in the air, and the projects you couldn't get to before will be readily accomplished. Make the most of the energy provided by the planetary aspects by not putting anything off. If you procrastinate, the pile will just get bigger. Do what needs to be done, and you'll feel great after.

Oh, just bugger off right now, Astrocentre!

What I DON'T need is to be told that I'm firing on all cylinders and will power through a list of tasks with consummate ease, when I know I'll patently not.

And yes...... if I did 'do what needs to be done' I'm absolutely sure I would 'feel great after'. Talk about stating the obvious.

Sheesh!

I am now seriously disgruntled and even less likely to perform well today, thereby neatly confounding my celestial prediction and creating a reverse self-fulfilling prophesy.

Barkathon............

Small Dog is devastated that she missed the canine event of the decade in London today.

Although she wouldn't have broken the record single-pawed, she is an enthusiastic barker, which is demonstrated by the way her front paws leave the ground with each woof.

I've just recalled her from the garden as she was getting into her stride, barking at some nocturnal squirrel or hedgehog........the neighbour's dog from two doors down sets up a stereo bark in a slightly lower register, which then sets off the dog on the other side of us and all three together create a symphony of sound akin to the Starlight Barking.

SD never willingly ceases this nightly ritual and usually has to be dragged back indoors where she immediately dashes to her water bowl to rehydrate her vocal chords then struts around with the air of a job well done.

Noisy little mutt.

Petite perambulators.........

PP and I have been hard at work during the past week, perfecting some new miniature toys to add to our range.

I've been working on new costumes for little toy dolls, and following the success of our 1/12th scale toy prams, PP has raised the bar even higher and produced some gorgeous 1/24 toy prams, one of which is pictured below, alongside one of my toy dolls and a thimble to show the scale.



These tiny wonders are the perfect size for doll's doll's dolls.

Or to put it another way, the dolls which belong to the toy dolls, which belong to 1/12 scale doll's house children!

Not content with these, PP has also made some lovely little toy cribs, which are even smaller!

For full details visit either Diminutive Dolls or Tower House Dolls websites.

In other news, the weather has reverted to type and we have swapped glorious sunshine and balmy temperatures for grey skies and relentless rain and drizzle. While this is good for both the garden and my work ethic, small dog is extremely disgruntled as she simply hates getting wet. Even the prospect of a squirrel chase hasn't been enough to raise her spirits and she has taken to her basket like a small, furry version of Camille.......all pale and quivering.

We are hoping that the weather will have improved by Friday as we're off camping again. I've been checking the forecast on a number of different online weather websites and am going to go with the most optimistic. However till then it's back to work.........

Vintage Ventriloquists..........

More than 50 votes on the poll first thing this morning, so I seem to have captured the imagination of the dollclub members.

Voting so far is fairly evenly spread, but I was disappointed to see that nobody is interested in the vintage ventriloquist and dummy.

I have a certain morbid fascination with them.....they're quite strange and otherworldly and it takes no leap of the imagination to think of them having a life of their own, independent of their owner.

I remember seeing an old black and white film when I was quite young, about a ventriloquist (played by James Cagney?) and his dummy alter-ego. There's a scene where he has to subdue the dummy and lock him in a suitcase, with the dummy kicking and screaming to be let out.
Then of course there was that famous Twilight Zone episode in which Cliff Robertson plays the ventriloquist and is convinced that his dummy, Willie, is alive and evil.



While trawling for suitable images I also found this great blog post about vintage ventriloquists today, which has a wonderful selection of photos, many of which are quite unsettling.

Hmm...........perhaps on reflection, I can see why no one would want to recreate a vintage ventriloquist and his possibly malevolent dummy, in miniature.

Am I weird or what........?

Brainstorming.........

It's been a little while since our last Home Workshop Pack, which featured the delectable Mr Albert Lowther, the erstwhile proprietor of my toy shop.

We've been trying to decide on a series of projects to run from July through to the end of the year and have come up with a shortlist of 10 different characters, ranging from Miss Havisham in her decaying wedding finery, complete with rat-infested wedding cake and the cobwebby candlestick which caused her final demise, to a pretty young milliner at her work table, festooned with the tools and materials of her trade, putting the final touches to a wonderful creation. Plus a whole host of other unusual characters...........

As always, our home workshop packs will contain everything needed to complete a particular character/project, including the doll kit, assembly pack, materials, trimmings, wigging, all accessories as appropriate, patterns, illustrated step-by-step instructions and full email support.

To see the entire shortlist and to vote for your favourite(s) you must be a member of our online dollclub. It's free to join and you will receive notification of all our home workshop packs, special offers, sales etc, which are available only to members.

You can join the dollclub HERE

If you are already a member, you can access the online poll HERE. You will have to sign in to Yahoo Groups using the information you used to create your account.

The poll will remain open until Sunday 14th June and we will post the results on the dollclub forum.

The character with the highest number of votes will be featured as our next home workshop pack in July, with the second most popular in August, and so on, through to December.

AIMing high........

The latest issue of the FREE online magazine, Artisans in Miniature is now available to view online.




As a member of the editorial team I've been a bit lax of late, due to real life rearing its ugly head and leaving me little spare time/energy/enthusiasm for anything other than the basics. However, despite the (temporary) hiatus in my series of Tales From the Toy Cupboard, I did manage a contribution to the latest issue, a show report on the Kensington Dollshouse Festival last month.

The current issue covers both June and July, and the theme is all things summer. August's theme will be nautical and the coast, then September (which will be compiled in August) will be my own specialist subject, miniature toys, bears and the nursery. I have to supply the cover shot, not to mention some of the content, so I'd better crack on with it otherwise August will be here before I know it.

Happy days..........

Despite the gloriously sunny weather the past two days, I have been cocooned in my workroom for much of the time, sorting through fabrics, trimmings and ribbons and organising my toy dolls workbox.

I found the merest snippet of a wonderful silver/rainbow hairstripe silk, from a piece I bought nearly 20 years ago. Because I have only a tiny amount left, I have been hoarding it, unwilling to use it as I know I can never replace it.

However yesterday I decided to throw caution to the winds, and used a piece of this precious fabric to begin work on these two little toy dolls, which I finished late this afternoon.




I am so pleased with them.........aside from the gorgeous silk fabric, which I used for the bustled jackets, I have teamed one with a very pale aqua, and the other a soft pale cornflower blue and both have accents of contrasting colours in the costume/bonnet.

Each doll measures less than 1 3/4" tall and has jointed limbs. The costumes are completely hand sewn, using a tiny needle only slightly thicker than a human hair. The diminutive shoes are made from tissue-thin silk and have real leather soles. The tiny jackets have six individual pieces. Viscose for the minute ringlet wigs is meticulously wound onto the finest piano wire..........

Every element of the costume, every painstaking stage involved in making these little dolls should have me tearing my hair out, but strangely, whenever I sit down to make one, I can feel the stress and worry of everyday life just drain away, and a sense of peace, calm and contentment enfolds me. I become lost in the creative process and the hours simply melt away, till finally I place the last silk ribbon bow in place and sit back to admire the finished doll.

Happy days...........