Opening in Guild School Class

My Victorian Cottage class for the IGMA Guild School was full, but unfortunately, it turns out that one of the students can't come to Castine this year. This means that as of this afternoon, one spot in the class is again availble. If you've ever thought of treating yourself to the fabulous Guild School experience, and would like to take the class, we would love to have you join us!

Coming Soon!

The web site I have been promising for some time is finally under construction, and will be up and running shortly. It will have information about me, a gallery of past work and items available for immediate sale.

I will post the url here as soon as it is ready for visitors. Check back for further developments!

Pumpkin Patch

This fall themed walnut house sold at the Philadelphia Miniaturia show in November. I've waited to put pictures up because it was to be a surprise Christmas present.

HO and N scale molded plants are becoming available - a great resource for those of us who work in small scales, though they take quite a bit of tweaking in order to look natural. They are molded in very bright colors, so they need repainting, as well. When I saw the pumpkins, I couldn't resist using them with a walnut house; it seemed like the perfect combination!

The cozy interior includes two tiny cats on an ottoman by Sylvia Mobley.

A Pargeted House

Decorative plaster work, known as pargeting, was the fashionable way to update your half timber house in 16th-17th century England. Inspired by Henry VIII's Nonesuch Palace (now demolished, unfortunately), designs could range from simple geometric shapes to fabulous fantasy creations, depending upon the skill of the craftsman and the taste - and budget - of the home's owner. The craft of pargeting is still practised in England today; "Pargeter" (the author Edith Pargeter, for example) has even become a last name.

I had wanted to make a pargeted house ever since I first saw pictures of some fifteen years ago; they are so unusual and charming! Until very recently, though, I coudn't quite decide how to go about it. When I finally tackled the problem head on, it turned out to require several different materials and techniques, including brass etchings, N scale landscaping bits and molded styrene shapes. Quite a lot of trial and error was involved, but I was pleased with the result.

The house sold at Philadelphia Miniaturia, and is now in a private collection. I will probably make another pargeted house, but not quite as eleaborate. this one has pargeting on three sides.

I gave it a cozy English cottage interior, with a half tester bed inthe master bedroom. The little dog on the cushion (upper right room) is by Sylvia Mobley.

The Summer Studio

Once in a while I get an idea for a project, but have to let it simmer on the back burner while I work on other things. This is one of those projects. When I designed the Garden Cottage for my Guild School class, I was thinking about other outbuildings that might be in someone's back yard. An artist's studio came to mind immediately, but I wasn't quite sure about the style. I finally decided on a more modern building, just for a change of pace. We live in a mid-century modern house, so this studio would look very nice in our back yard!

A happy recent discovery was that N Scale flowers are becoming available. That's what the sunflowers are, though I repainted them because I'm much too fussy to leave anything "as is." The hostas (green and white plants) are HO scale vegetables that I assembled NOT according to instructions and repainted.

My good friend Terry Junger made the two in progress paintings on the easels.

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Email Issues

I have recently discovered that some emails sent to inquire about my miniatures were apparently trapped by my evil spam filter, and I never saw them. Now that I am aware of the problem, it shouldn't happen again.  If you have emailed me in the last few months and never received a reply, please re-send your email for a prompt response, and accept my apologies.

At last!

After disappearing into my studio for a month, I have new things to show.  First is that storybook style cottage I mentioned in my last post.  I'm calling it "Charming Cottage":

It's a somewhat smaller version of the Glencairn Cottage I made a couple of years ago.The chimney was inspired in part by the Hugh Comstock "Hansel" cottage in Carmel, CA. I loved the niche for the flowerpot in the chimney, so I just has to include it in my version.

It was a bit of a challenge putting the curve in the roof, but I managed it by bending 1/64" plywood with the grain.

The interior is a bit dark - just like the full size houses. There's a sitting room on the ground floor and a bedroom upstairs. The fireplace is the same asymmetrical shape as the chimney. On the right side of the bedroom is a tiny porcelain cat on a hassock by Sylvia Mobley, which unfortunately only partly shows in the picture. 

If you blow up the photos, you'll see that I really should have been sure to blow all the landscaping foam out of the house before I took the pictures!