Thame Miniatures Fair

Well we had a great fair yesterday in Thame, lovely to meet up with old friends and some smashing customers.

Contrary to the forecast it stayed dry most of the day, even had some sunshine.

There were some quality stands and customers flowed through the door all day long, a very busy day indeed, we shall be back next year for certain.

The above painting, my copy of the 3rd Earl of Bristol (after Thomas Gainsborough) went to a really nice lady, the best painting I have done in my long career of painting and was sort of sad to actually see it go.

It is a painting that I shall not be repeating, but with a few more paintings being sold yesterday then I now have to get the paints out again.

It is the Stafford fair in just under two weeks time and have some real serious re-stocking to do, my miniature bottles and stoneware are proving very popular lately, also I have noticed a real upward trend in 1/24th scale this year, so planning to move ahead in that scale, don't know how much my poor eyes will take though.

This one is a tiny watercolour of Buckingham Palace, it measures just 7/8" x 3/4".

another miniature

Well it's just 8 days now till the Thame Miniatures fair, still busy in the workshop, as always!

Have finished a few new miniatures which will be on our Fair table at Thame, the above is a wall plaque suitable for a church, I can supply these with other inscriptions or even left blank.

This measures just 3" wide and the text has been designed by myself.

Still a lot of new miniatures in the planning stage and hope to get quite a few more new items in production over the next few weeks and with Stafford and Droitwich coming up I really need to get some extra stock made, plus I really want to get the watercolours out again.

And just before I sign off I was asked at the Worcester fair if I could make some Turps & Meths bottles. see pic below, they are now added to our extensive range of hand turned bottles.
They are both under 1" tall.

Another new miniature

Well the new fair at Worcester was quite a success for us, lots of customers through the door, special thanks to those who bought from us, look forward to being there next year.

Now we are coming towards the end of Summer we are busy replenishing our stocks, especially as we now have some of the larger fairs just round the corner we need to be prepared, so lots of time in the workshop over the next few weeks.

Plus I must find time to revamp my website, it is long overdue an overhaul.

Still lots of ideas to come, one of which can be seen above, pub signs or even shop signs, hope to have a selection for the Thame fair which is on Bank Holiday Monday August 27th, will have some blank ones as well so you slip in your own picture.

My mind is still full with ideas, downside is there is not enough hours in the day!

It's a nice sunny day here, perhaps Summer has finally arrived, I won't be holding my breath though.

Moving more toward 1/24th scale

And still going smaller, the last few fairs have seen some good sales on 1/24th scale, so a few new items will now be on our table for forthcoming shows, the photo is of some of my latest work on the lathe, a tad small and not doing my eyes much good. A few ideas are also in progress on this smaller scale and should have a much larger range of 1/24th come the autumn.
And just had to add this painting, I say this in a B&W photo the other day and just had to paint it, it is Lea castle which is no longer there and it once stood at the head of the village where I was born, Cookley.

Tomorrow we shall be exhibiting at the new miniatures fair in Worcester, it is at Perdiswell leisure Centre and hope to see some of you there.

Then it will be a three week gap until the next one which will be down at Thame.

Having a pleasant weekend watching the Golf on TV and at the same time painting, the miniature above is Blickling Hall, this is from a sketch I did when we visited back at the end of June.

Managed to do a few turnings this morning ready for next weekend when we shall be at Crick which is not far from Rugby, looking forward to this as it's a place we have not exhibited at before.

Have to get busy now as we have four fairs within the next six weeks.

All the above are turned in exotic woods, I do love the one on the right which is rosewood burl, shame about the quality of the photo.

Have a lot more on the go in the workshop, a couple of new items at least for Crick, so I am still on target for introducing a new item at each fair we exhibit at.

There are actually quite a few new turnings to add to our table at Crick, have sold quite a lot at the last few fairs, so will be turning a lot more before we depart early next Sunday morning.

Not just exotic woods either, I have been using some nice select pieces of acrylic as well.

The Harvington Miniatures Roadshow continues to roll.

Only realised today that it has been well over a week since my last post, so thought I had better get to it, am working on a few new things right now, the little candlestick holder above is now ready for our next fair which is at Crick in two weeks time, have managed to turn three of them, not easy to do due to the size as you can see from the photo.

And before anyone asks, No the candle does not actually light up!

After six weeks without a fair we have a few coming up over the next month, so will be busy making miniatures and hopefully produce so of my new ideas.

Below is the latest photo of my favourite miniature, grand daughter Martha, she has now taken a liking to her family pet (Choo).

Martha is now 5-1/2 months old and I can't see it being much longer before she is walking, she does love to be stood up.

She is now experimenting with real food and after sucking on some cucumber yesterday she was promptly sick on me!

Well what can anyone say about the current British weather, rain, rain and more rain, feels more like Autumn at the moment, so much that we have been spending more time that usual watching TV, yes I know I could at least be painting, but...

Buying a few DVD's right now, one I fancied was Survivors, this was a BBC series back from the 70's, wow I checked ebay and you should see the prices, anything from £70 upwards, so checked Amazon and found it brand new at £22, watched the first epsiode last night.

Unlocked the door!

Well I'm back, had a great week in Norfolk, the weather was brilliant, thankfully.

Did a few turnings this morning, just to get my hand in again, was good to be back on the lathe again.

Miniatures above are amongst a few that will be listed on ebay tonight.

Although we have visited before we just had to visit Blickling Hall again, it is such an amazing place, owned by the National Trust, it is kept in remarkable condition, if you get the chance to visit then don't hesitate.

Hmmmm, though if you are to spend a bit of time there take some sandwiches and a drink.

Okay money is needed for the upkeep, would have thought them entrance fees would have looked after that.

But it was so hot, we popped in the cafe for a couple of drinks, a small bottle of coke and a water, okay nothing to go mad about, but come on the cost is way over the top.

I did say something about it which is unusual for me!, but the lady just brushed my complaint aside, expect she is used to it by now, you know the type, hand knitted long skirt and knickers, white top and flat cap which looks like they have been cut out of a tent.

Come on National Trust, you are doing a good job but stop ripping customers off.

Overall though we had a brilliant holiday, Cley Mill is another great place to visit.

We found a great bookshop just a few yards away, hmm that proved to be an expensive visit, but if you ever visit this wonderful place then there is a small cafe at the mill, we had cream teas, very reasonably priced and   was very lightly priced, how I managed to finish off the pot of cream I'll never know, but I did.

And to finish this post off, again if you are ever over Norfolk there is a new Dolls House Shop, Tudor Rose Miniatures at Bawdiswell Garden Centre, it's just a few miles out of Norwich, it's a lovely shop with lots of interesting miniatures and very friendly and the Garden Centre is pretty good as well.

They now stock my wood turnings, fingers crossed they are succesful.