Miniature Clock from Grahamstown

Recently my aunt visited us from South Africa.  She brought me my combined birthday/Christmas present which she had commissioned last year from a miniaturist in Grahamstown, as she had spotted his work at the annual Arts festival in the city.

A long time ago, just before I left South Africa, my best friend and her mother gave me a lovely little chair and occasional table made from Yellow wood and Imbuia wood, a popular and enduring combination in SA, and I was delighted. What a pleasure it was to discover that the new gift from my aunt was made with exactly the same types of wood.

This miniature Grandfather clock has a working movement. One of the weights had come off the chain in transit, and I haven't yet fixed it back on, so the photo of the front shows that the weight is detached. But apart from that the clock is beautiful. It was made by Koos Jonker of Grahamstown (he doesn't appear to have a website).

And the long blog silence?  We moved into our new home in January.  We ripped out all the old smelly carpets during the following weeks as we sought to get settled, we built a new much larger workshop in our back garden (with plenty of space left for the garden), then in April and May we gutted the old kitchen and installed the new kitchen ourselves just after the electrician completely rewired the entire house.  We've also made improvements to the garden, have had some relatives to stay (meaning the spare room has been pressed into service) and my husband has been boarding the loft.  My Westville dolls house sits on its table in our bedroom waiting for the various other full sized home improvements to be done (we have no wardrobes, so need to build them) so that I can get back to miniatures.  I have given a talk to the local Trefoil Guild about my dolls and miniatures collection, and have done some doll related sewing during the past 6 months, and now that major upheavals in our home are less urgent I'm planning some more creative miniature work.

Tidying up

Today I helped my elder daughter clean and tidy her bedroom.  Why?  Why couldn't she do it herself?  Because teens always seem hopelessly lost in their own mess and this one did have good reasons - we've recently had the house rewired, so all rooms are covered in dust, we hadn't unpacked all the boxes in her room because it would have made the job even harder for the electricians and we needed a clothing storage solution for her (no wardrobe or chest of drawers, as our old house had built in).  So I've bought her a cheap temporary clothing storage solution until we can put new flooring down and build in proper wardrobe, then we cleaned the room. 

This meant moving her dollshouse (Mrs Harvey's shop) but at least it also meant being able to plug in the dollshouse afterwards, as the electricians have fitted a socket in the right place for the dollshouse.  So we're one step closer to her being able to get Mrs Harvey's things out of the storage box again which is exciting, and by the end of the day my red haired teen was admitting that she was pleased that her room is at last starting to look like it should.

With all the work we're doing to the full size house (we're doing the kitchen up too, so are cooking, eating and washing up in the garden - thank goodness for the wonderful hot April this year), I keep looking forward to my next miniature goal - I'm planning to start sewing again in June and this will include encouraging my teen to finish the sewing of Mrs Harvey's curtains (half done).

Have you guessed yet?

Sorry, since posting at the end of January, February flew by with so much to do in our new home, my younger daughter's birthday and my full-time job, so blogging and the dolls have had little of my attention.  But I did mention a new addition to the skating doll family in the 26th January post, and I have managed to photograph him when I took some photos of the Greenleaf Westville house (which will appear here soon).

Ever since the first 6 Kidz 'n Catz dolls came out in 2009, I've had my eye on this little lad.  Maybe it was because he reminds me of my elder nephew at a certain age, maybe it was because of the jointed elbows and knees, or his beautiful clothes, including a sweatshirt featuring the Eiffel tower.  Even after seeing the more recent boys in the KnC range on-line, he is still my favourite of the boys.  I finally purchased him in a 10% off sale from Bambolina in about September last year, but kept him hidden from the girls until after our move.  I also got lucky on ebay about 6 weeks before our house move, as I managed to purchase the KnC ice skating outfit for £10 (it normally retails at £36), and although it smelled slightly smoky (brand new), 2 days in the sealed bag with a washing powder tablet soon removed the smell.  This meant that his first outing was on the second night of the new Dancing on Ice series, when we'd only been in the house for 5 days and were still surrounded by boxes of books etc.  I introduced him as my doll - they can play with him, but he lives with Susie and Anna in my room with Panda, Bruin and my husband's bear in the doll corner of the bedroom (my doll cabinet is now hanging on the wall above the chest of drawers where the bigger dolls sit, and my Westville house is on its table nearby).

Jakob sitting in his skates

I have kept his KnC name of Jakob.  His original trousers don't really go very well with the KnC skating outfit, so he now wears Peter's spare black skating leggings with his burnt orange skates.  I haven't had time to make him any other clothes, and will not be buying the KnC outfits as they are much more expensive than the Gotz clothes and I'm capable of sewing them myself.  His feet are a little smaller than the Gotz dolls, but he can wear their shoes with socks.

Jakob

Jakob is 18" high, so is shorter than the Gotz girls, Peter and Ron, though is about the same height as Harry and Hermoine.  His jointed arms and legs do make him a little easier to dress than the Gotz girls, though the elastic in them can pull into funny poses, which means reposing him to look more natural.  His hair is a wig rather than rooted, but looks very natural, his face is beautifully sculpted and tinted.  The girls like him because he is flexible so can really look like he is doing skating moves.

 Jakob with Anna and Susie in their skates

Welcome

I've been very remiss in not welcoming people to this blog recently.  However I do think that being away on holiday for 3 weeks and then moving house in January are pretty good reasons to be a bit 'behind', so I do hope I am forgiven.

princessclaire1000, Aunt Lou and Korianne don't appear to blogs so I know nothing about them

Christine is in Australia, and like me enjoys collecting things, especially vintage dolls houses! You can find her blog at http://rosemyne.blogspot.com/ 

Julieta lives in Holland (she is Dutch and Mexican) and you can find her blog at http://lamunecajuanita.blogspot.com/

Olga seems to have several blogs (both in Russian and English), I like http://dollshobby.blogspot.com/ as she also collects Gotz dolls

'Never Grow up' is the name of Beast'sbelle's blog http://nevergrowupdollguide.blogspot.com/  - I'm with you on that one!

Carly at http://drearydomlarks.blogspot.com/ collects Robert Tonner dolls at 'Grimm's Fabled Academy for Girls'

Susan has a blog at http://susansminitalk.blogspot.com/ and makes and collects all kinds of miniatures

M and M specialises in miniature crochet at http://www.hotpinkhook.com/ for dolls, she has even made some yummy donuts!

Please visit their blogs if they've got one - welcome to you all and I hope you enjoy reading my doll blog.

Update - Korianne has got a blog, it just didn't show up for me when I looked at her profile - you can find it at mintydolls.blogspot.com and she collects mini play dolls of various vintages.

Big and little house moving

Since returning from the SA adventure the dolls and us have had a hectic time because we moved house 2 weeks ago.  Not far, but everything still needed to be packed up and with the amount of stuff we'd accumulated after 18 years in one home (including the addition of 2 daughters, 3 dolls houses, lots of play dolls,  as well as my husband's hobby things) this was a mammoth task in less than a week.  Our former neighbour kindly allowed us to put the dolls houses in her spare bedroom so we didn't have to move them with everything else, but I made sure all the doll family came in our car rather than the large removal van.

Since the move we've been very busy unpacking boxes (we have approximately 2,000 beloved books), flooring the loft, putting up beds and finding places for things in our new home, so it wasn't until Sunday afternoon that we were finally able to go and collect the dolls houses and put them into their new positions.  The Triang has gone in my younger daughter's bedroom, so that her Christmas expanded Polly Pocket collection is able to make the most of it, Mrs Harvey's shop has gone into my elder daughter's bedroom and my unfinished Greenleaf Westville now lives on its special table in our bedroom.  As yet the 2 larger dolls houses are unfurnished, as we've got further decorating to do to the full size house so there is no point unpacking things only to put them away again soon afterwards.  But having the Westville in my bedroom is a constant gentle reminder that I started building that house about 21 years ago and it is about time I finished it!  However for the past couple of nights tiling the full sized bathroom has been my main focus and I'm rather tired tonight, so the Westville will have to wait a bit longer before I can give it my attention.

We've got the TV set up so haven't missed an episode of Dancing on Ice since it started 3 weeks ago, and nor have the play dolls!  What is more there is a new addition with skates to the play doll line up and he belongs to me. I'll keep you guessing though, as I haven't taken photos of him yet.

Samantha's South African adventure

Blog silence during December was purely because we were preparing for and flying to South Africa for a long anticipated visit to see some of my family who still live in Cape Town (the last time we visited as a family was 5 years ago).  One of the Gotz girls was lucky enough to join us on the trip.  I know my little daughter would have loved to have taken 2 of the dolls, but she didn't have enough arms to carry both her favourite fluffy bunny, pull her hand luggage and carry 2 dolls, so Samantha, her original Gotz ice skater doll, was chosen.  We selected a few outfits, and took the pink sleeping bag which proved to be a useful way of carrying the clothes inside hand luggage.

As you can see, Samantha wore sensible clothes for travelling.

On our third day in Cape Town we took our daughters, my nieces and Samantha on the open top red bus trip around the city of Cape Town, which all of us enjoyed.

Admiring Camps Bay beach from the red bus

Samantha loved the Agapanthus at Vergelegen Wine Estate, Somerset West.

We did take our girls ice skating at the wonderful Olympic sized rink in Goodwood, however although Samantha had the golden dress and the matching skates, we didn't take her to the rink because it was too crowded, so she had to pretend that she had been ice skating in hot South Africa!  On Christmas Eve she came to the Nine Lessons and Carols in St George's Cathedral with us, wearing her pink summer dress to match her owner's dress.  Fr Christmas brought her a new outfit and shoes which were perfect for the summer weather.

 Fr Christmas and Samantha on Christmas Eve

After Christmas we went to Clanwilliam Dam for a few days.  It was too hot (33 - 40 degrees some days), so shade was the thing - here you can see her sitting in her deck chair enjoying a view of the dam, wearing her new outfit (which I believe Fr Christmas sourced from a local craft market in South Africa).

Samantha's new outfit (including the shoes)

Relaxing at Clanwilliam Dam campsite - Lebanon Citrus

Now we are home again and she is telling the other dolls all about her fantastic holiday in the sun.

Introducing some new little treasures

l-r: Patsi in Florida, Jenny, anniversary Patsi, Lexie, Patsi in California

 
The past 3 years have held their own emotional difficulties in my life, and apart from my immediate family and friends, my dolls have been a great comfort, a hobby I can retreat to and indulge in when other things become too much.  With a full time job, other commitments and of course my family, I don't have much time to indulge, but I have spent several hours in the past 2 years exploring and learning about dolls online and have discovered some beautiful (but completely unobtainable due to price) dolls out there.  However 3 small dolls caught my eye during this time, and last year I finally succumbed and bought my first Heidi Plusczok doll.  I spotted 8 1/2" Patsi (the 25th anniversary version - 2005 http://www.heidiplusczok.com/seiten/archive_2005_1.html) and kept going back to her.  Something about the delicate knitting of her hat and cardigan, gorgeous flower sprinkled dress and sweet pensive little face framed by soft red curls really got to me.  I managed to source one from a doll seller in the USA for a good price (I spent several evenings comparing prices) and bought her.

 l-r: Patsi in Florida, anniversary Patsi, Patsi in California

In the following months I also discovered that there were 2 other versions of Patsi, this time all vinyl bodies (anniversary Patsi has a cloth covered torso with vinyl limbs and head), and in due course I managed to purchase both Patsi in Florida (2006 http://www.heidiplusczok.com/seiten/archive_2006_1.html) and Patsi in California (2007 http://www.heidiplusczok.com/seiten/archive_2007_1.html), both for very reduced prices, from a doll seller in the USA.  Shipping them over to the UK obviously added to the cost and this did make me pause a bit.  There are slight differences in the way the dolls faces have been painted, the first 2 Patsi dolls have blue eyes (though painted differently) and Patsi in California has brown eyes, though all three have the red curls.  Each of them comes with a complete set of outfits and shoes in a special box).  They are very pretty, the outfits and shoes are Boneka.

 Whilst looking for Patsi dolls I came across the small dolls of Heather Maciak, and instantly fell for Lexie and Jenny.  However, like the Patsi girls, these 8" playmates are mainly available in the USA and Canada, the biggest market for dolls in the west.  On ebay I discovered a Lexie doll being sold by someone in Germany, and after carefully checking the feedback on the seller and the description and photos of the doll, I decided to buy her earlier this year.  Lexie is no disappointment, she is a love of a little doll, a real cheeky character and the red hair adds to this (well I live with a cheeky, strong willed red head and at least a small doll doesn't answer back!).  A few months later I found a Jenny doll on ebay, this time in the USA, she wasn't in her original outfit but did come with her original box (she should be elfin Jenny but came with the 'playtime' outfit with no shoes), whereas Lexie didn't have her original box (she is 'all dressed up Lexie').  Heather Maciak has now stopped producing Jenny and Lexie, and there is a Yahoo group which is dedicated to them.  They don't come up on ebay very often, so I feel lucky to have acquired them.  They are porcelain, so are heavier than the vinyl Patsi girls.

Jenny in Playtime outfit, Lexie 'All dressed up'

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I've been doing a photography course, and yesterday I felt ready to try some miniature doll portraits.  The photos shown here are the result and I'm pleased with them.  I lit them from both sides (one side was natural light from the window, with the curtains pulled across a bit, the other side was a piece of kitchen foil which reflected the natural light onto their other side to even out the shadows).  Jenny has borrowed a pair of shoes and a hat from one of the Patsi girls.  There are plenty of outfits to share between them all, though I have bought a couple of sewing and knitting books for dolls of this size (if I can ever allow myself the time for this!).

Postscript:  two of these girls feature in some photos I've sent to Papillon Bleu for her fairground themed birthday party - you'll have to wait until she publishes them on her blog in January to see what they are doing.