Yesterday we had some friends come to visit us for the first time. We hadn't seen them for a while and it was good to get to know the children a little as the dads talked about their musical common interest and I chatted with their mum.
My younger daughter brought out the marble run and a biscuit tin filled with glass marbles and in no time at all the two boys (aged 9 and 8) and their little sister (aged 4) were rolling marbles around our rug, creating pictures with them and inventing games. My 14 year old girl was very happy to get involved in this creative play (it made a nice change from GCSE homework!).
After a while I brought down the Triang dollshouse for the 4 year old and my 6 year old to play with (she was shown the 1/12th scale houses but was told they were for looking at) and they had great fun rearranging furniture and making up stories with the motley collection of dolls (old and new) which inhabit the house.
As they were leaving the 3 elder children rearranged our fridge poetry magnets and laughed as the silly sentences they made up from the collection of kitchen and garden words.
During the two hours they were with us, there was never a cross word, no arguments or fighting, just happy enjoyment. I'm under no illusions, I know there could easily have been disagreements, it was just a pleasure to see them talking and getting to know each other whilst they played with some old fashioned toys.
Monday, 27 September 2010
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Gotz dolls in Scotland
Since we returned from Scotland 3 weeks ago, life has been too busy for blogging, apart from my short tribute to Sarah Price. However 5 of the Gotz dolls did come caravanning with us, 3 of whom you've not met before in this blog!
About a week or so before our holiday I surprised my girls by bringing out from their year-long hiding place the three Gotz Harry Potter dolls I had bought via ebay during 2009. I had purchased Harry, Hermione and Ron dolls from the same seller at about half the RRP than if I had bought them new (they were complete with boxes but used), and had been upset by the fact they all arrived smelling distinctly of cigarette smoke (which is bad for vinyl dolls). I had tried the remedy I had discovered on the internet - a couple of concentrated washing powder tablets were placed with each of the dolls in their closed boxes for over a month in a cupboard where there was little ventillation, and when I removed them from their boxes, they smelled much fresher - the washing tablets had absorbed the smells and I didn't even have to wash their clothes. But for quite a long time I wasn't sure if I had been stupid to buy the dolls without querying whether they came from a smoke free environment or not, so consequently kept them a secret from the family. I also wasn't sure if my elder girl would appreciate or revile them, she is a Harry Potter fan (books and movies) but the dolls faces are character faces, they were designed before the movies came out based on the descriptions in the books, and it was just possible they would not meet her image of the characters. I need not have worried - my daughters were both astonished and delighted and immediately embraced them into the doll family. They decided to bring them caravanning, along with Samantha and Harriet.
As it turned out, a fair bit of scenario building and pretend play went on during the course of the 2 weeks with the dolls, with Harriet's red hair making her the perfect choice to be Ginny Weasley. Samantha went on a few outings with us during the first half of the holiday, including to the St Andrews Aquarium (where she enjoyed the fish, and was almost eaten by a crocodile), a restaurant in St Andrews called 'The Dolls House Restaurant' which doesn't have a dolls house on display but was given the name because the building reminded the owners of a dolls house (the food was delicious and the prices reasonable) and to a model railway exhibition. However the 3 Harry Potter dolls came with us on the highlight of our trip - the Fort William to Mallaig (& return) railway journey that includes the famous Glenfinnian viaduct, which featured in several Harry Potter films. We travelled on the Jacobite Steam train, there were a few carriages like the ones used in the films, but our seats were in a standard carriage. The trip was well worth the journey (we drove across the highlands to catch the train) and I did manage to get a few photos of Harry, Ron and Hermione on the train.
About a week or so before our holiday I surprised my girls by bringing out from their year-long hiding place the three Gotz Harry Potter dolls I had bought via ebay during 2009. I had purchased Harry, Hermione and Ron dolls from the same seller at about half the RRP than if I had bought them new (they were complete with boxes but used), and had been upset by the fact they all arrived smelling distinctly of cigarette smoke (which is bad for vinyl dolls). I had tried the remedy I had discovered on the internet - a couple of concentrated washing powder tablets were placed with each of the dolls in their closed boxes for over a month in a cupboard where there was little ventillation, and when I removed them from their boxes, they smelled much fresher - the washing tablets had absorbed the smells and I didn't even have to wash their clothes. But for quite a long time I wasn't sure if I had been stupid to buy the dolls without querying whether they came from a smoke free environment or not, so consequently kept them a secret from the family. I also wasn't sure if my elder girl would appreciate or revile them, she is a Harry Potter fan (books and movies) but the dolls faces are character faces, they were designed before the movies came out based on the descriptions in the books, and it was just possible they would not meet her image of the characters. I need not have worried - my daughters were both astonished and delighted and immediately embraced them into the doll family. They decided to bring them caravanning, along with Samantha and Harriet.
Harry, Ron and Hermione in our caravan
Harriet tries on Harry's glasses
Harry flirts with Samantha ...
... before deciding to give Harriet (Ginny) a cuddle!
Samantha enjoys the fish as St Andrews Aquarium ...
... but nearly gets eaten by a crocodile!
Samantha at The Dolls House Restaurant in St Andrews
Samantha watches the trains
Ron, Hermione and Harry look at the view from
The Jacobite steam train - are we getting near to Hogwarts yet?
The Jacobite steam train - are we getting near to Hogwarts yet?
Hermione and Harry look at a loch from the train
Hermioine, Harry and Ron in their Hogwarts clothes on The Jacobite train
Harry Rocks!
Harriet (Ginny) and Harry do the Wizard rock
Hermione tries the golden ice skating dress for size
(she is slightly slimmer than the Hannah/Sarah Gotz dolls)
(she is slightly slimmer than the Hannah/Sarah Gotz dolls)
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Sarah Price and St Hils
It is a strange place this blogging world. We 'meet' people via the internet whom it is unlikely we'd encounter in everyday life because we're scattered all around the world. I've discussed dolls and miniatures through blogging and flickr for over a year now with people as far afield as Australia, USA, Brazil, Russia and South Africa, as well as the UK. During the past 3 months I've not been in a position to keep up to date with other doll blogs and have only periodically updated the DollMum blog. I've been so busy at work and at home with various other matters. So I wasn't really aware that Sarah Price who created St Hilary's Miniature church had been unwell, and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It was only when in WHSmith in Glenrothes last week whilst on a 2 week caravan holiday in Scotland with my husband and daughters that I picked up a copy of The Dolls House magazine (September issue) and discovered to my great sadness and dismay that Sarah died on the 18th June 2010 after a short battle with the terrible disease.
Sarah was kind enough to comment on some of the posts in my blog, and I occasionally commented on her blog which was full of interest surrounding the little world of St Hils, which she had created as a way of dealing with the loss of her beloved mother Hilary, who also loved miniatures. Sarah was inspirational, there are so many miniature houses, but very few miniature churches populated with loving attention to detail and enjoyable story lines connected with the Christian calendar which was Sarah's speciality. She was one of the miniaturists whom I hoped to one day meet at a fair, but that will never happen now.
Rest in Peace Sarah, and may St Hilary's miniature Church be a lasting memorial to a fine, gentle and special person with a great sense of humour (and of course to her mother).
Sarah was kind enough to comment on some of the posts in my blog, and I occasionally commented on her blog which was full of interest surrounding the little world of St Hils, which she had created as a way of dealing with the loss of her beloved mother Hilary, who also loved miniatures. Sarah was inspirational, there are so many miniature houses, but very few miniature churches populated with loving attention to detail and enjoyable story lines connected with the Christian calendar which was Sarah's speciality. She was one of the miniaturists whom I hoped to one day meet at a fair, but that will never happen now.
Rest in Peace Sarah, and may St Hilary's miniature Church be a lasting memorial to a fine, gentle and special person with a great sense of humour (and of course to her mother).
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Rockstar dress pattern
I have traced out the pattern and my husband has scanned it into a pdf for the Rockstar outfit for 18"-19.5" play dolls. I have also typed out the instructions and put them into a separate pdf. If you would like a copy, please email me at:
dollmum at yahoo dot co dot uk
(I've written it like that to prevent spamming) and I'll send it to you.
Below are the progress photos of the second dress being made. These might help alongside the written instructions pdf.
dollmum at yahoo dot co dot uk
(I've written it like that to prevent spamming) and I'll send it to you.
Below are the progress photos of the second dress being made. These might help alongside the written instructions pdf.
The two halves of the dress with the yoke pieces pinned ready for sewing
Front yoke with the outside and inside pieces sewn on their top edge,
before turning right side out
before turning right side out
Back yoke pieces after turning, before pressing and hand stitching
Sleeves pinned in place ready for stitching
Sleeves stitched in place, side seams sewn
Close up of sleeve before it was turned right side out
Headband, ends folded over and long seam stitched
Headband being turned right side out
Samantha and Harriet
To get a guitar you need to search ebay for 'miniature guitar' and buy one which is about 25 cm long. There is a whole range of them at this size, they are made for collectors who love different styles of guitars and display them as ornaments. They range in price from £4.99 to £19.99, and I've checked overseas ebay as well, so know they can be obtained in the US and Australia etc. Sometimes you can find them in their own case, but mostly they come with a display stand.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Rock group grows
This evening I finally finished Samantha's rockstar outfit. I bought more shoes from releaserain on ebay (all the way from Hong Kong), and had previously bought the glittery tights (which are for American Girl) from a US seller based in London. The tights are a little short for Samantha but the dress and shoes hide that minor issue.
Here she is wearing her new rockstar outfit, and posing with the flying V 'Jimmy Hendrix' guitar which my elder daughter bought on her music trip recently. I have taken some photos of the progress of the dress to show how it is constructed, and will post those up tomorrow.
Samantha and Harriet rock!
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Redcurrant jelly
This evening I took a break from sewing Samantha's pop-star outfit. This was from necessity because the redcurrants were fully ripe and today my husband and daughters stripped the bush clean as requested while I was at work. When I weighed the bowlful before removing them from stalks and discarding the shrivelled ones, it came to 1.8kg, after my younger daughter and I spent over 90 minutes steadily de-stalking them, it came to just over 1.6kg. I wasn't sure that I had enough sugar to turn the whole lot into jelly in one go, so I did 1kg worth this evening, which after straining out the pips gave me just over 2 jars worth (one of which will be a gift for a friend this weekend). My elder girl who stayed up for the jelly making had a taste of the scraping from the saucepan and wanted more, so that is a good sign.
It seems like such a lot of work for a couple of jars (though there will be more tomorrow from the remainder which are ready for cooking), but as we stripped the berries from their stalks I explained (between younger girl's silly jokes and elder girl's comments as she sorted photos from her music trip) that jams, preserves and jellies were made from fruit as a way of preserving them for the winter months, so that people got a supply of vitamin C even when there wasn't any fresh fruit about. Modern international trade, airfreight and people travelling relatively easily around the world has given us the impression we can have any type of fruit at any time of the year, but not so very long ago seasonal was the only way to eat, and during the war, preserving produce was vital during rationing. The nicest thing about this evening was that we spent time together, even though the task was monotonous, the company was good.
It is now entirely too late to start sewing, especially as I've had a full, busy day at work, I've just heard the jelly jar lids pop as they cool (they've sealed nicely) so I shall go to bed shortly after a job well done.
It seems like such a lot of work for a couple of jars (though there will be more tomorrow from the remainder which are ready for cooking), but as we stripped the berries from their stalks I explained (between younger girl's silly jokes and elder girl's comments as she sorted photos from her music trip) that jams, preserves and jellies were made from fruit as a way of preserving them for the winter months, so that people got a supply of vitamin C even when there wasn't any fresh fruit about. Modern international trade, airfreight and people travelling relatively easily around the world has given us the impression we can have any type of fruit at any time of the year, but not so very long ago seasonal was the only way to eat, and during the war, preserving produce was vital during rationing. The nicest thing about this evening was that we spent time together, even though the task was monotonous, the company was good.
It is now entirely too late to start sewing, especially as I've had a full, busy day at work, I've just heard the jelly jar lids pop as they cool (they've sealed nicely) so I shall go to bed shortly after a job well done.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Harriet's rock outfit revealed
On Saturday morning I got up and worked on the microphone and stand. Actually I made 2 of each, calculating the other as being a present for my cousin's daughter later. My husband cut the dowel and the old wooden cotton reel (he was a bit unsure of cutting a 'museum piece' in half for this project, but I decided it wasn't particularly valuable!). He drilled out the centre hole to fit the dowel and there was the basic microphone stand. However the attachment on top to hold the microphone was the next problem, which I worked on during the morning. I found a piece of plastic tube in his workshop from which I cut a narrow ring. This ring I cut in half across the circle, to make 2 half circles. In the middle of each half circle I drilled a hole for the short number 4 screw and drilled a hole in the top of each 12" long dowel for the screw. I then screwed the half circle to the top of the dowel into the end grain. I was using the pillar drill, and hadn't lost my drilling knack (I used to use that drill a lot in a previous job when working with my husband) and it was quite a pleasurable way to start a Saturday morning.
Back in the house I covered each half circle with some thin wadding, glued on with evostick. Once this was dry I used some of the leftover silvery material from Peter's first skating outfit to cover the wadding, gluing it on in stages using Hi-tack glue. The glue soaked through the very thin material very easily and it was tricky not getting my fingers rather than the material sticking to the dowel, however after allowing each stage to dry a bit, I was able to make progress with it. Once the top was complete, it was a relatively simple matter to glue a long strip of the silvery material along the length of the dowel.
Each microphone was made out a 2" length of the same dowel. At one end I glued a strip of wadding, then I covered it with a piece of the silvering material taken from the edge, where there was a 1 inch wide band of white material rather than the silver, so this made a good distinction between the padded microphone and the handle. Once this had dried, I used a short length of elastic sewn on at the end and at the other end of the handle to provide a means for the doll or the microphone stand to hold the microphone without dropping it.
Back in the house I covered each half circle with some thin wadding, glued on with evostick. Once this was dry I used some of the leftover silvery material from Peter's first skating outfit to cover the wadding, gluing it on in stages using Hi-tack glue. The glue soaked through the very thin material very easily and it was tricky not getting my fingers rather than the material sticking to the dowel, however after allowing each stage to dry a bit, I was able to make progress with it. Once the top was complete, it was a relatively simple matter to glue a long strip of the silvery material along the length of the dowel.
The top of the microphone stand
after I'd covered the plastic half circle with wadding
after I'd covered the plastic half circle with wadding
Each microphone was made out a 2" length of the same dowel. At one end I glued a strip of wadding, then I covered it with a piece of the silvering material taken from the edge, where there was a 1 inch wide band of white material rather than the silver, so this made a good distinction between the padded microphone and the handle. Once this had dried, I used a short length of elastic sewn on at the end and at the other end of the handle to provide a means for the doll or the microphone stand to hold the microphone without dropping it.
The microphones at various stages,
and the base of the microphone stand (half cotton reel)
and the base of the microphone stand (half cotton reel)
comparing the two home made microphone stands for Gotz dolls
with the smaller version for Groovy Girl dolls
with the smaller version for Groovy Girl dolls
Close up of the microphone on its stand
Later in the day my elder daughter returned from her music trip. She brought back a few souveniors, one of which was a small guitar about the same size but a different style from the one I'd bought! She was delighted with Harriet in her new outfit, but the green eyed monster emerged when my younger daughter saw her sister get a new outfit and instrument for her doll, and there was nothing for Samantha doll (who received a new outfit in May but no instrument). So I've decided to make a similar rockstar outfit for Samantha (I had already planned to make one for one of the 3 dolls belonging to my cousin's daughter, for Christmas, and had bought a guitar for that purpose), so it looks like the pattern I made up based on the 'Hannah Rockstar' outfit, will be used again a couple of times.
Harriet in her version of the Rockstar outfit
Harriet rocks!
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