What am I doing now?

This is a link to all my blog addresses if you want to see what I am working on now.

All my blogs

Goodbye 1/12ths

I need to return my workroom back to a spare bedroom so I have decided I can't continue with 1/12th doll housing.  I am a tidy freak and there is no where else in our small house where I can work on this stuff without it looking untidy all the time.  It isn't too big a wrench because, unlike most other people, I don't keep my houses when they are done.  Our house just isn't big enough to display doll's houses hither and yon, so when I start a new one I have to sell its predecessor: selling The Willows half done is just sort of like having to sell it a bit early!

I hope to continue in the hobby and carry on going to shows and writing for DH & MS magazine but I shall be working in Quarter Scale (1/48th).  Fingers crossed it grabs me.

My starting project is a bit of a challenge for folk who know what they are doing - nothing like jumping in at the deep end.  Take a look at:  The Gatehouse and follow me there if you want to see how I get on.

Meanwhile The Willows has gone to a lady who is organising her own doll's house fair this month and it will be  on show there as a work in progress and will be completed and brought back next year to show the finished project.  If you can possibly get to Rochdale on 25th August do try to support her (and her husband's) hard work.  It sounds as if it will be fun.

Whibley's Dolls House Fair and Exhibition

Monday 25 August 2014
10.30am to 4pm

Open Door Coffee House at Horse Carrs
Shawclough Road
Rochdale
Ol12 6LG

DETAILS:

Exhibition of Dolls Houses and box rooms. Exhibition of Miniature working steam engines. Scalextric challenge (for Charity). Various small scale traders.

Plus the Coffee House will be open for lunches and cake.

Entry fee: Adults £2. Children £1 (accompanied)

Contact: Andrew Newing
 07577 758861

Footnote:  I am selling all my 1/12th stuff if you go to Lilliput it will tell you where to see it and how to buy.

For Sale

Chocolat is for sale.  I only have room for two houses in my real house when a third one comes in, one of the others has to leave.  It is Chocolat's turn.  If you are interested please email me: mormson@gmail.com.  If you want to see lots of photos, click here:  Chocolat - finished.  There are seven other web albums for Chocolat, so there is a ton to go at.  Plus its own blog: click here: Chocolat

£250

It is being sold empty ready for you to make it into any shop you like.  The name comes off easily, so it can be whatever you want it to be.

New project

I have started a new project.  Click here if you want to look at it The Willows and don't forget to 'follow by email' if you want to follow its progress.

Boxing Day thought

Just in case you find yourself here for the first time I thought I'd let you know how my blogs work.  I have one for each project.  Some are sold (!), some are finished and some are just ideas with maybe some bits of collecting being done for them;  but there will always be one blog with a project in process. 

I do one 'build' in the summer when I am in the UK and one in the winter in the USA.  

At the time of writing my 2013 summer project was Chocolat.  That project is finished and will appear in a series of articles in Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine next year.  

I am now in Naples in Florida for the winter and my current project is one of a set of three, quarter scale, houses.  The blog for this is My Quarter Life.  So, until I return to the UK in April and begin my 2014 Summer project the quarter scale blog will be the active one.

I do sometimes nip in and out of the others for some reason or another but, in the main the two active blogs will be the current project and the Dolls House Shows blog.

Shopping

I am selling off my stash - about 200 items - the first forty are ready to go.  Click here Lilliput Minis or on the link in the right hand column.

Unpicking the threads

The last post here was six months ago and was to say that the photos were a bit screwed up.  Even worse news for anyone finding this blog for the first time - the web albums are now about to disappear.  

I have loads of web albums some public and some private and I pay for extra space to do it.  This means that every once in a while I have to go in and cull some to keep space available for current sharing.  The time has come to remove the Wentworth web albums.

Even though I no longer have the house and am working on my third project it is still 'disturbing' to be shedding it in this way.  I apologise to the folk - who like me - love trawling through other people's work for ideas.

I do still have all the photos of course in my computer so if anyone ever wants to have a look at them - please just email me and I will be happy to make them available.

All change!

(Apologies to anyone who reads all my blogs as this appears (with minor changes) in them all)


I have just spent the best part of today re-jigging all my photo albums for my Blogs .  It was prompted by Google telling me I was running out of room.  This led to having a grand sort out.  On the one hand it was great to have all the new (purchased!) room, on the other hand it was a load of work re-assembling various folders to share with you.  Whatever web album storage I look at, it never seems to do what I want it to do, which is simply to replicate my photo collection as it is in my computer.  The major problem is (with Google web albums and others) that I can't nest folders within folders as I would like to and I end up with a bunch of small folders all jostling for position.  I then have to rename them all so that they will clump together in some logical way.  For example all the albums to do with any of my miniatures need to start with the same word, so they've become  - yup! - Minis.  This doesn't make files particularly simple to construct and probably not that easy to find.  I promise I have done my best with a duff system.

The re-jig means that any blog prior to this date which has a link to an album will be defunct.  I am sorry for that but it would have always been so at some stage.  I was already having to remove the older albums to make room for the new ones.  Hopefully, with all the extra space I now have, the future links will last a lot longer.  

On the whole it will be fine.  When I write a post and create a new album or add photos to an existing one I will give you the link.  You won't have to go hunting and searching for it.  Additionally, if at any time you are visiting  the blog and just want to find something not being written about you can click on the link in the right-hand column labelled  All albums  and that's where you will end up.  When you get there if you click on the drop down arrow of the 'Sort By' option where it says Album Date you can select Album Title instead.  That puts them all in alphabetical order (obviously!) and should make it much easier to find what you want.  The first clump of albums is Clavering then a bunch of Garden albums then a mass of Minis.

Happy wanderings.

Sold

I am genuinely feeling a bit sad when I am writing this.  38 Wentworth Court sold on the 28th September 2012. 

It is still with me for a little while longer as its new owner couldn't take possession until the 22nd of this month.

Such a bundle of mixed feelings.  On a purely practical level it makes sense if this hobby is to continue   We can't possibly have more than two (and a small one!) houses in this house at any one time and, as most of you know, I have Bentleys, Chocolat and Starfish Cottage all taking up space right now.  Also, as I don't want a house to dress and redress as some people do, it will just sit there in stasis and somehow that doesn't really suit me.

As I have said before it was a very personal house, representing bits and pieces of my life with my children and therefore evoking those and other memories when I looked inside it.  That has made the parting harder I think.

On the other hand I am really happy to think it will go on to make someone else happy and that it will have another life and be filled with other stories.  I wonder what its next life will be.  I suspect it might travel back in time from 1990.....

I wish it and its new owners (large and small) all happiness.


(Don't forget, my articles about it are still running in Dolls House and Miniatures magazine from September through to March)

House up for Sale

Well, I've done it... the Wentworth is up for Sale.

I thought I might wait until next Summer but on consideration, now it has been emptied, it probably doesn't matter when it goes.  I will be sad to see it go, but it will be nice to regain the space on the chest of drawers in the bedroom.  That will mean all my doll house hobby will be tidily contained in my 'office'.  I do like 'tidy'!

Here's the advert in case anyone is interested.  It is listed under the Dolls House category and is headed 'Celebrity' Wentworth Court Dolls House.

This is the Wentworth Court which is currently featuring in Dolls House and Miniature Scene Magazine. 

There are seven articles running from September through to next  March.

It also has an accompanying Blog and a CD of photographs.

It is being sold unfurnished, so it is ready for you to make it your own.

Please contact me for links to its web albums and its Blog where you can find masses of more information.  EBay prevents such links being included here.

Dolls House Emporium Wentworth with Burghley basement.

Quick Style – i.e. DHE professionally finished exterior.

Decorated and trimmed throughout down to the tiniest detail such as a door bell.

Good quality real wood floors.

Blinds at all the windows.

Carpets.

Sixteen lights including two chandeliers.

Four fireplaces, all light up.

Wiring in place and everything working.

Fitted ELF kitchen.

Total value of items over £700.

No reserve price so this starting point is a real bargain.

Smoke free, pet free home.

Must be collected from Bury, Lancashire - too large and heavy to post.  

Prefer cash on pick up please, but you can pay to my Paypal account if you prefer.

The cannibal

As I keep saying I will not be near my Wentworth while the articles I am writing about it are ready to publish so I am living in hopes that memory and a lot of photographs will do the job.  I already have many images of the house and its contents but I spent an hour yesterday capturing some more just in case.


With that done and having made the decision to sell it next summer when we get back here again I decided I might as well empty it and find things to go in Bentleys.  It isn't as easy as yo think to just work out what's there and make a note so that it doesn't get duplicated.  There are so many tiny individual pieces in a collection it is nigh on impossible to be that accurate, so I decided to just get on with it.  This is the stuff I found for Bentleys.....

As I went along during the removal I tried to group the contents into Bentleys, Chocolat, Starfish Cottage and leftovers to keep or sell.  This soon became a logistical nightmare and it soon became Bentleys and 'the rest'.  Here's the rest........

In 1/1 world I have lived in eleven homes in three countries in the last eighteen years and without exception have been sad to leave each of them even though we have chosen to move on for whatever reason.  My homes are just that, and a home is much more than a house.  It is somewhere I make to fit comfortably around the way we live, they make and hold memories, I plant gardens and it all grows to be somewhere I come to love.  Leaving them is always sad and feels as though someone is cutting some string containing nerve endings which joins me to them.

I was astonished to find the same emotion attached to my 1/12th home.  It was perhaps a tad more meaningful breaking up this particular mini place as it contained actual memories of my life with my children and linked me back to how I felt when I moved on from their childhood home eighteen years ago when my peripatetic life began.  

Fame and fortune

Just to remind you that, if you buy September's Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine, you will see my first article on the Wentworth.  It is out today. I have had an advance copy and it looks fine.  They have changed a couple of things very slightly and made a couple of mistakes when labelling the photographs, but nothing that actually matters.  The girl's bedroom is described as the spare bedroom and one photo shows the house on the basement and infers the basement is an Argos trolley.  As I said it only shows up if you are the person who wrote it.  I am very happy with what they've done with my stuff.

I have to get my copy in miles ahead of schedule because we will be in the States when some of the articles appear.  This also means I need to take a zillion detailed photos for when I am on the other side of the pond, just in case anything needs adding to or changing when I am over there and I get asked for a rewrite or photos.

I am planning on that photo session 'freeing up' the Wentworth so that I can cannibalise it for Chocolat and Star Fish Cottage.  When I come back next summer I am planning on selling the building to give me more room.  As I keep saying my home won't accommodate four projects.

I will probably have it stripped out by September so anyone reading this can have first dibs on it then if they are interested. The Quick Style (this means the exterior was professionally finished by them) Dolls House Emporium kit with free Burghley basement cost £250. If you add on paint, trims, wallpaper, carpet, wooden flooring there is at least another hundred pounds spent. It will also have sixteen lights, four fireplaces and a fitted ELF kitchen - more than another three hundred pounds. So something like £700 in total. I would like £200 for it. For someone who wants to save over five hundred pounds and a lot of time it would be a bargain.

You would also be owning a property with a blog and a series of (7) articles published about it.  After February it will have the seven magazines as part of the deal and a CD containing hundreds of photographs.

Fame at last ......

Thought I'd do a bit of self-promotion and give you a heads up on the September issue of Dolls House and Miniatures Magazine (on sale 26th July) where there will be the first in a series of six pieces written by me about the Wentworth.  Here's their advert for it (and other things, of course!) in the back of this month's issue.

Honeychurch table

A lovely display table to set off your dolls house properly.

25 inches wide, 25 inches deep and 24 inches high.

64 cms wide, 64 cms deep and 61 cms high

weighs 21 kilos

you cannot remove the legs for transporting.

White

With useful drawer space.  Not always seen on these tables.

Please note this is a full size piece of furniture for your doll's house to sit on.  It is NOT a 1:12 miniature.

This item has to be picked up.  I am happy to accept cash on pick up. 

If you are considering using a courier to pick up, check the cost of the pick up before bidding as this can be very expensive.

The Honeychurch table is on sale on EBay if anyone reading this is interested.  This is the advert.

Just a little something

One of my 99 pence EBay purchases arrived today.  


I am sorry for the poor quality photograph I am being lazy and using my iPad rather than my camera.  


I trawled all over Wentworth Court and decided I couldn't find just the right spot for it, so I have (temporarily) stuck it to the inner door of the basement as a reminder of what this house is about.  It is like a warm full stop.

Welcome to Nicky and Otterine

Welcome to Nicky and Otterine.  Thank you for joining the followers of my Blog.  These are two very talented ladies and I've just bookmarked their sites and have to go now so I can spend hours trawling through them.........

Welcome to followers

Welcome to Ilonka.  What fantastic things to look at on your site.  Your family (and friends) are very lucky as I am sure they get the beautiful socks and sweaters and other things you make.


Welcome also to Paula.  Again, what a busy lady, all those projects to be working at and what a lovely place to live.  You can be just as isolated in a city, at least you have the fantastic views to compensate.  

My advert on EBay for the Honeychurch

I have put the Honeychurch up for sale.  It cost me seventy-four pounds plus the trip to pick it up and a table to put it on.  Just in case you are interested (or anyone you know is interested) it is in the Dolls House section of EBay and looks like this.

This is a rare opportunity to buy a lovely shop made by Honeychurch.  These are few and far between and are rarely complete.  This one has everything. There is nothing missing and nothing broken.  It has been finished and used as a dolls house rather than a collectors piece and could go straight back into use as that but it would make a wonderful starting place for a miniaturist looking for something special.  It is made of plywood - no MDF in sight.  The base measures 23 inches by 15 1/2 inches.  If you email me I am happy to send precise measurements of each room or any other details you want.  I can also email more detailed photos if you need them.

There is the normal amount of wear on an item which has been used.

Pick up only is advisable.  This is from Bury, Lancashire (near Manchester).  If you want to arrange shipping that's also fine. 

I am happy to accept a PayPal payment or cash on collection.  No cheques please.

Welcome Chris

Welcome Chris to the followers list.  Nice to talk to you here as well as email.  Thanks for joining.

Transforming stuff

I have been buying lots of bits and pieces from EBay while I was away and I snared these scales for 99p.  I know you are saying "Yes, and I can see why" but I promise you they will be transformed into a thing of beauty with a little wire wool and some paint.  At about twenty when I was first married I found a pair of shop scales in a junk shop being used as a doorstop and bought them for pennies.  I then painted them a lovely British racing green and polished the brass pans until they shone.  I loved them for many years afterwards and they moved from home to home, usually living on the kitchen window sill and always being used as they were my only kitchen scales.  Believe me balance scales are fantastically accurate.  I admit the real ones needed calibrating initially by sticking a couple of penny coins underneath the pan side.  The children who bought sweets from that sweet shop in its lifetime obviously always got an extra one.  So these tiny ones, which actually balance, are perfect for my Wentworth as it is an homage to my life with my children.  Sadly Wentworth doesn't have windowsills but, however much room they take up in the kitchen, they will have a home there to remind me of my real ones.  (My daughter has those now).