A New Year, a summer holiday, and op-shopping!

It's so long since I have posted anything on this blog that I feel I should be wishing you Happy Everything, not just Happy New Year! I do hope that this year brings us all health, happiness, peace of mind, and lots of mini enjoyment - and I hope to keep in touch more with my blogging friends!

I wish my summer holiday could have been longer - but I did manage to avoid the really hot weather that arrived just after I left, so I can't really complain. I had hoped to work on some of my dolls houses in Bathurst which need restoring, but didn't really have time. I did make a start on reorganising one of the rooms where some of my houses live - the former main bedroom of the house - so that they are easier to access, and so I could also fit a couple of new houses in (more about them in later posts).

My sister and I went to a few op shops (thrift stores / charity shops), which we always enjoy doing - and my haul of dolls house related things was better than it often is! Above you can see most of what I found in two op shops. Two things are from the art gallery shop - the little figurine may go in a house or a dolls house art gallery as a sculpture, and the postcard has lots of great mini portraits! The place mats have a nice woven pattern of green and red through them, and will make good flooring - and the silk tie will come in handy for bedding or cushions or curtains ....

My sister found the Blue-Box dolls house in one of the op shops - I have several other Blue-Box houses, but not this one, so I was thrilled to find it! It cost the princely amount of $4!!! (much less than its original price of $27.00, probably in the late 1970s - I have an ad for this dolls house from 1978, though I'm not sure when it was introduced or last available).

The mat is missing, but I think all the other pieces are there (plus a couple of extras) - hopefully I'll have time to photograph it all next time I'm there.

(The box does not have the Blue-Box name on it, strangely, but it is impressed on the bottom of the house.)

In another op shop, we had taken our finds (mainly books) to the front counter, and I had a look in the glass cabinet there, where small things are kept - and was amazed to see these two containers of miniature plastic plants!

The Britains flowers even have the planting tool (it's the long blue piece with a label about complaints attached to it). (These are two views of the same container here, by the way.)

 

 

Silver birch trees with moss foliage, and plastic conifers - are these also Britains?

In the op shop where I found the place mats, silk tie and Blue-Box dolls house, I also looked through the books. There were quite a few vintage carpentry manuals and children's annuals, both of which can be sources of plans for dolls houses or dolls house furniture, so I had a good look through them - and struck lucky with one, called The Handyman's Complete Carpentry Guide by Andrew Waugh, with furniture designed by William Greenwood. This was published by the former Australian newspaper company Consolidated Press - there's no date in the book, but it was advertised in newspapers in 1954 (and was a "privilege book" (ie offered at a discount) for purchasers of Consolidated Press's newspapers, including The Argus in Melbourne).

The inside covers show some of the items described in the book - including the dolls house (the small thing just to the left of the bed, with a green roof and red walls). (As you can see, this copy of the book was originally sold at Boans, a Perth department store, so it had made its way right to the other side of the country.)

The book gives instructions for building a house, as well as for making furniture, a slippery dip, an extension ladder (!), a sleep-out - and toys, including a dolls house:

The dolls house has a rather strange front, to my way of thinking. The roof is asymmetrically pitched, but the removable front has a "double-gable appearance" - a false roof line matching the steeper side of the roof, as well as the real roof line of the shallower side ... Perhaps they thought it looked better, as the false roof line would be parallel to the porch roof. I don't think that I've seen a dolls house made to this design, but I'll look out for it now - if this plan was followed faithfully, it would be quite distinctive.
The suggested colour scheme for the dolls house was cream coloured walls, apple green window sashes and frames, and a terracotta roof (quite different from the illustration on the inside cover!).

Most of the dolls house furniture is quite simple - it might be possible to identify pieces made to these plans, but some look quite similar to commercially made pieces. The book recommends that the dolls house furniture be "stained and finished with French polish or clear lacquer", with scraps of fabric for the settee, bed and dressing table).

I was very happy with these finds - and I hope to be back soon to show you the two dolls houses which were waiting for me in Bathurst.

My buys at the Sydney Miniatures and Dolls House Fair 2015

I've been back from my holiday for a week, and I want to show you what I bought at the fair. Unfortunately, one of the things I picked up last weekend was a good dose of the flu, and I am still not up to taking new photos of everything - so here are the photos I took on my mobile phone, in my hotel room in the evenings.

After saying hello to Norma Bennett and Anna-Maria, I made my way to one of the few stalls that consistently has a few vintage pieces - Diana Simms'. She did have some vintage and antique dolls, but none that said 'buy me!' These are not really vintage, but I like them: plates hand painted by Judy Keena, and a plate of egg & toast soldiers by unknown.

When I went back the next day, I had a rummage through Diana's boxes - and she kindly provides an empty one, so you can take out things you've looked at as you go, and see what's right at the bottom. I found two lovely paintings by Turner, published as cigarette cards with gold borders, a Wills cigarette card of Beechworth in Victoria (where yummy apple juice comes from!), plus a jumper, two beanies and a scarf.

As I was leaving Diana's stall on the second day, I noticed these bevelled mirrors, so I went back towards the end of the fair and bought one of each of these three shapes: an oval, an octagon and a circle.

At the back of the hall I found Robyn's Minis, whom I've bought from at a previous fair. She said she had more old things in the morning, but had sold a lot. The food was marked as $1 each, but she reduced it to 50c!!!

I couldn't see at the fair who made the chair, but thought it would go well in my Armin Koch house. When I removed the sticker over the signature, guess whose it was - Armin Koch! 

Actually, I thought the last name was spelled Kod, and the person I bought my dolls house made by him from thought he had been based in Brisbane - I was never able to find him in any online sources, though. I went back to Robyn's stall the second day, as she had sounded as if she knew of him - and yes, she told me that he was the toymaker at Nambucca Heads! Knowing that, I have been able to find him in the 1980 electoral roll - and discover that his last name is Koch, not Kod! I'll show my dolls house made by him soon.

Robyn was packing up her stall when I got there on the second day, so I looked through what was left and found these - 2 terracotta pots, a badge with 2 characters I don't recognize, some lemon and lime slices (or maybe the green and white ones are cucumber or zucchini?), a cushion, and jars with tiny shells and tiny paint tubes.

On the first day, I looked through the bargain boxes on several stalls - I'm afraid I didn't take note of which stalls they all were. I found these beach balls and tennis racquets:

And on Nora Lee Maingard's stall, these shoes (which she had bought in Mauritius) and a Japanese jug:

Nora Lee had brought in some vintage furniture, which she offered to Anna-Maria, who wasn't so interested and showed it to me. There were several Marx pieces - I do like this yellow sofa:

With the Marx pieces was a Sonia Messer sink. None of us had seen ceramic Sonia Messer pieces, but it's stamped on the back, copyright 1975:

 Also on the first day, I got these wonderful macrame hangers from Norma Blackburn (MinisbyTwinmum) - so I won't have to learn macrame!

I also found Margaret Crosswell's stall. She was there last year too, but I don't think I noticed her wonderful Clarice Cliff and other reproductions. I chose a number of vases, bowls and plates on the first day:

and went back on the second day for another look. I spent some time choosing what's almost a matching tea set of Cottage ware (the sugar bowl doesn't have a yellow door, but never mind), plus a model cottage, a jug with a rooster and a hollyhocks jug. I bought two more hollyhocks vases, too - one will be a prize for a Dolls Houses Past and Present giveaway competition. (Sorry, these really need better quality photos to appreciate them, but I hope you can make out the fine details.)

Just opposite Margaret Crosswell's stand was Wyn Garside, and I spent some time looking and wondering what to buy. When I chose this tea cosy, she said, oh, you've chosen the dowdy one! I said it was for a 1940s house. 

The jumper in this photo is by Helen Palenski - it was my last purchase of the second day. Helen said that she had had 4 or 5 different cat designs this year, but by the time I saw them, there was just a Siamese and this cat.

I have bought flowers from this seller before - Dianne Cotterill, of Miniatures to Di For.  I was almost going to buy nasturtiums, but a quick look at my blog post on last year's fair reminded me that I bought some then. Then I thought about a spider plant in a hanging bowl to go in Norma Blackburn's macrame hangers - the kind ladies at this stall suggested that I take it up to Norma's stall and try it. The pot was a bit small for the hanger. So I decided on some red geraniums!

These plates of pawpaw and mango were only 50c each! I probably should have got more - it seems appropriate that some of my dolls houses in Darwin should have tropical fruit. I don't know anything about the maker apart from that they're called Del & come from Queensland.

This is a 1970s book for kids, I think, on making dolls house furnishings from bits and pieces. Only the cover is in colour, but in all the illustrations of the rooms they are peopled by bears and chicks!

And finally, my second-last buy of the fair, cushions from Norma Bennett - my combinations of her designs. Norma very kindly gave me a lift both afternoons to Ashfield railway station - there was trackwork, so this saved me two bus rides to a station where the trains where still running. Thank you Norma and Gordon!

I had carefully measured the inside of my suitcase and taken a tape measure to the fair, in case of finding a vintage dolls house which appealed to me - but I didn't see any at all. Other years, there have been one or two at least - either there weren't any this year, or it/they sold before I got there.

I have photos of some of the displays to share, too - they were taken on my camera, so hopefully will be a bit better quality than these ones taken on my phone!

Sydney Miniatures and Dolls' House Fair 2013

I was able to go to the fair on both days again this year.

On the first day, I said hi to Anna-Maria (The Shopping Sherpa), and she took photos of me in my dolls house T-shirt made for me by my sister:

"Rebecca's Collections" on the front, with a photo of a mini me in a mini dolls house room/study. (I think I must have been saying something to Anna-Maria!)

And on the back, Dolls Houses Past and Present, of which I am the site owner and magazine editor:

On the left of my T-shirt is a Walther & Stevenson farm house, ca 1930s, and on the right a Blue-Box plastic kitchen. You can see The Shopping Sherpa's amazingly colourful stall behind me!

I wandered over to look at the exhibits, and was taken with this dolls house, made by 9 year old Ella Fraser:

Yes, that's a bucket. She writes:

I really love the book The Borrowers and this miniature house is inspired by it. My little people live in a forgotten bucket in the back of a laundry cupboard. No-one knows they are there. Their home is full of old things and packaging that humans have thrown away, but they don't give back so that is why I called them The Takers. But they are good because they recycle everything.

A closer look:

A little further on I noticed this striking roombox:

A Milly-Molly-Mandy room, set between two volumes of Milly-Molly-Mandy stories! Nearby was a group of people, and I recognised the name tag of one of them: Margaret Webster from Tamworth, who had sent photos of her mystery dolls house to Dolls Houses Past and Present a couple of years ago! I was delighted to meet her, and it turned out that she had made the Milly-Molly-Mandy room!

To one side is the entry, with wellies, scarves and overcoats. On the other side is a scullery:

Milly-Molly-Mandy, in her pink and white striped dress, stands by her grandmother near the range.


Just near Margaret's roombox was another one in book form:

The clock face swings open to show:

a long corridor through a library, which opens to show:

A young man sitting at a desk, by shelves of old, leather-covered books - but on the wall in front of him are ... posters - of Bob Dylan! I think Margaret said that the creator of this room was also from Tamworth. I would have liked to hear more about it.
[EDIT: I was asked to remove the photos of this creation, so I will leave the description for your imagination ...]

Another striking exhibit:

Davidia Williams' new creation! This deserves a post of its own, so I'll show that, and my buys from the fair, in the next couple of posts.

Make your own 1970s chairs

I did buy a few other things at the fair - a book and a couple of magazines. The book was from the stand next to Anna-Maria's, and when I showed Anna-Maria the pictures, she said, "Why didn't I think of that!? Will you scan the pages?"
So here they are - with all the colour illustrations, because I love seeing how 70s style was represented here!



The book is called How to Decorate a doll's house, by Eve Barwell, published by Studio Vista in 1975 (ISBN 0289 70509 6). The 70s was when dolls houses and miniatures really took off as an adult hobby, but this book was written for children (as was the rest of the Studio Vista How To series - How to Amuse yourself on a journey, How to Disguise yourself, How to Mend your bike, How to Start using tools, etc ).

The introduction does explain about scales, particularly 1 inch to one foot and 3/4 inch to one foot, and recommends sticking to whichever scale you choose. It doesn't give measurements in the directions for making furniture, but suggests using the furniture in your own home to check the right size for your doll's house.

A lot of tips are given about how to decorate the house, based on who will be using the room, when and how often ...

The first room that visitors see is the hall, so it must be welcoming. However, it's a room where no-one spends much time, so the colours can be strong and dramatic:


An elegant, clean and bright hall, with its purple carpet and vase of red flowers giving a splash of colour ... (I have mentioned before the house which we rented in 1978, which had purple carpets and red curtains - or was it the other way around? - in rooms in which we spent a great deal of time. Clearly the decorators had not read this book.)

Postage stamps are one suggestion for pictures - an idea I have used myself (for example, here and here, although they would look better hung!!) - but personally, I prefer pictorial subjects to Willy Brandt and the Queen ...

The living room, of course, is where people spend a lot of time, and because of this it needs restful colours such as blue, brown or beige ...

Hello, Mr and Mrs Dol-toi!

This living room is decorated in beige and brown with splashes of contrasting green; orange or yellow would also have contrasted well ... A brown carpet and beige curtains would have worked just as well as a beige carpet and brown curtains, but not brown carpet and brown curtains - that would make the room seem dark and small (!).

Here are the instructions for making the living room chairs - of cardboard covered with fabric on both sides, with either pipecleaners or cardboard cut-out rectangles for the arms and legs:



For extra chairs in the living room, take some cardboard packaging (the kind which used to be used round fruit; is it still??) and make bucket chairs:


The colour scheme for the kitchen is yellow and orange, with a red Venetian blind - bright, warm colours making the room seem sunny and gay:


The cupboards and fitments are white, to make them look extra clean and bright - but the floor is patterned, as a plain colour would soon look dirty.

Here are the instructions for making this bright, white kitchen table and chairs - from polystyrene trays and cocktail sticks:



A pretty and restful colour scheme for the parents' bedroom:


and bright, primary colours for the children's bedroom / playroom:

Master and Miss Dol-toi happily playing in their bedroom