On Friday my younger daughter and I dusted and tidied the Westville. Some of the furniture and the family were at home and my little girl loves to sneak into my room and rearrange the family and play with them (she is always careful). I looked through all my furniture boxes to remind myself of what we have already for the house and had another think about the proposed/half built extension and whether to go ahead with it. The jury is still out on that question, however I'm determined to make some inroads with the house in the coming months.
Yesterday we made the journey to the Thame Dollshouse and Miniatures Fair. My husband enjoys miniatures so was willing to come (and drive) and my little girl was very keen (big girl stayed at home doing holiday homework). I had a strict fairly small budget as I mainly wanted to attend to get some inspiration and had a couple of particular stalls I wanted to visit. My little girl had a small amount of birthday money and some pocket money to spend. We agreed that we would look around the entire fair before buying anything and we stuck to this. The organisers had very helpfully published the floor plan and list of stallholders in advance on their website, so I printed this out and had it with me when we arrived (they did have printed versions available and my girl used this so we had two floor plans).
I had a useful conversation with Celia of KT Miniatures. I showed her the earliest photo I have of my Triang dollshouse and asked her if she could identify the wooden piano - despite the darkness of the photo she was fairly convinced it was a Barton and that the china bath which I no longer have looked 1930s, the lead bath the dolls house now contains is apparently 1950s. KT Miniatures had some vintage dolls houses for sale which we admired and some adorable jointed bisque German dolls of the 1930s. I ended up buying one of them (she is only 2 5/16" (60 mm) tall. I will make her some clothes and put her in my doll cabinet. They didn't have a Barton piano unfortunately, however I shall keep looking.
My girl was enthralled by Sandra and Pamela's stall (Tower House Dolls - Diminutive Dolls & Toys) and decided that we would come back to them for her pocket money spend. When we did my husband had a conversation with them about glue and the wheels on Pamela's tiny doll carriages while I took my time choosing which kit to buy. In the end I bought a Wicker Toy pram kit and a mini baby for it which I will dress and my girl bought a tiny ballerina dressed in red which she has named 'Lily'.
I drooled over Little Trimmings wares but didn't buy anything - I've bought from them online and will do so in future, but it was lovely to see they stock some very fine ribbon, various kits and fabrics and miniature buckles. I also loved the two stalls with miniature plants and flowers, I had bought a flower kit from one of them at Miniatura and as I haven't made it up yet, I couldn't justify buying another just yet.
We loved the wide choice of miniature books by Dateman Books - I'd seen their website online so was really pleased to see their tiny printed books properly. They have 1/12th scale books and larger sizes for bigger dolls. I bought 'Little Women' for the Sasha dolls.
The displays of miniature scenes by the local club was very interesting, some lovely work. I didn't take photos of any of them even though I had the camera with me (in fact I didn't take any photos at the event at all as I wasn't sure if stallholders would like it and I didn't see others taking photos). We bought 2 raffle tickets (but didn't win anything) and my girl played the Tombola and won some miniature ice creams.
We admired the Mini Mundus kits stocked by Jennifer's of Walsall, the Grand Piano is amazing and I'd love to make this one. We saw wood flooring at a couple of stalls at the fair, however I was keen on the Houseworks flooring Jennifer's of Walsall stocked, though they'd run out of the colour I wanted (so another online purchase in due course).
I spent ages at Jane Harrop's stall, she had so many lovely kits to choose from and it was hard to decide. In the end I bought two kits, her book of children's toys (35 different things to make) and some tacky glue. However I think I'll be buying online from her as well once I've made up my current collection of kits.
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| The Barrel horse kit (the Little Wooden horse) and a go cart kit from Jane Harrop |
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| Glue, book and kits bought from Jane Harrop |
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| Ballerina doll, Wicker pram kit and baby doll from Tower House Dolls |
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| 'Lily' the red ballerina and the miniature baby from Tower House Dolls |
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| Sasha doll scaled book from Dateman Books |
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| I had to buy 'Little Women' for the Sasha dolls |
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| My tiny bisque 1930s German jointed doll bought from KT Miniatures |
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6 comments:
Anna, this bought back so many memories of lovely days spent traipsing my husband around dollshouse and miniature fairs in the UK! I just loved them and my dollshouse, which I still have. I really enjoyed looking at the things on display and those things that I couldn't afford, so I would get ideas about making my own. It's such an addictive hobby, isn't it! But such fun. I look forward to seeing your dollshouse in the future perhaps?
I used to love going to dolls house fairs and just looking at all the amazing things that can be bought and are made by some wonderful crafts people. Lately I have been missing my dolls house and so I'm hoping to try and get the half finished one I still own completed once I have the space in the Sasha studio( Posh name for Workshop )to use.
Love your purchases, especially the dolls :)
Thank you for the KT Miniatures plug DollMum and glad you enjoyed the fair. It was very nice to meet you. I was completely bowled over by the story of your old dolls house and you certainly have a very special and well travelled house there ....so many wonderful memories that are attached to it too!
There is always so much to see at the Thame Fair and the charity stands always help to make the event just that little bit special. We now have a whole year to wait until the next one! Celia
Lovely to have found your blog. I had planned to get to Thame but circumstances intervened. But what has really blown me away are some of your Sasha photos....I shall explore further.
Sharon - dolls houses and miniatures is a dangerously addictive hobby, I have several unfinished projects relating to my houses (though reasonably good reasons for the delays completing miniature projects).
Dee - going to Thame reminded me of the pleasure and frustration of visiting dolls house fairs - when I was much younger I couldn't afford most of what I saw, even now some of the high quality miniatures are well beyond my budget. Thame fair was well laid out and easy to manage and I've learned not to take too much to carry to start with (except I took the camera I didn't use, which I now regret).
Celia - you can read more about my old Triang house elsewhere on my blog if you haven't already. I like that Thame fair supports a charity, it makes it so much more special - not over commercial in atmosphere, which is good.
Cestina - I'm glad you like the Sasha photos, enjoy exploring. Shame you didn't get to Thame this year.
I like this post. I like to read of doll houses and the Doll House & Miniatures fair. I understand a lot, and it's a good English exercise for me:) Thank you very much! So nice when your little daughter shares the hobby!
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