Woodside Cottage

Well we now have a bit of a break before our next fair, so am doing what I enjoy doing most, painting.

The one above is called 'Woodside Cottage' and adds to my array of cottage paintings, this is where I can let the artist inside me run riot, I love using colours as you can most probably tell with most of my miniatures.

There are a lot more like this on the ideas list installed in my brain.

We had a reasonable fair at the Chateau on Sunday, but nowhere near as good as last year, don't know if it was because we were in a side room, but there didn't seem to be anywhere as near as many visitors.

Hopefully by the time our next fair comes along I will have rebuilt the stand, desperately needs doing now as we have added to our range so much this past year.

Furniture is quite big on our list of ideas.

Red Bridge Cottage

Red Bridge Cottage

Well it's almost Chateau Impney time, just a few days and we shall be exhibiting just up the road at Droitwich, possibly the best venue and fair in the Midlands, it's set in a fairy tale type of Chateau, easy to get to and plenty of parking.

Am busy painting now and restocking my stand till the weekend, there will be plenty of new paintings on my stand, the stand is so different compared to last year, so many new items on display and lots more to come yet.

Perhaps this time next year I shall have to increase the table size!

Supposed to be the last fair of the year for Harvington Miniatures, but may do possibly one more, watch this space.

New tankards

Well I have been quiet the past few weeks, I have had a bad cold and trying to get a bit of stock ready for our next couple of fairs, this Sunday November 11th we are at Nantwich in Cheshire and the following Sunday at the Chateau Impney in Droitwich.

Then it will be two months before the next Fair, which will be at Stafford in Jan 2013.

Lots of ideas will hopefully come to fruition by then.

The two tankards above are the latest addition to our commemorative mugs line, to see our complete range you will have to pop along to one of the fairs we attend, so far we are looking at around 20 fairs for 2013, so guess we are going to be kept busy.

What with one thing and another I just haven't had much time for miniature work the past few weeks.

I have managed some new bottles though, the ones pictured here are actually on ebay at the moment and they are all under 1/2" tall.

We are at a new fair tomorrow, it's being run by the Wolverhampton Dolls House Club and is being held at the Bantock House Museum, WV3 9LQ, 11am till 4pm and admission charge is only 50p per family.

So even if you don't collect miniatures this is your chance to pop along and see what is available in the hobby, you may well be surprised.

Then it will be full on in the workshop as we have several fairs before the year is out.

For 2013 we are planning around 20 fairs, so going to busy for quite a while and my head is still brimming with lots of new ideas, watch this space                   .

Smokers Chair 1/12th scale

Been relaxing and having a play this week at furniture making, having never been trained in any sort of furniture making or miniature making I have this week managed to get hold of a lovely piece of an exotic fruitwood, took a bit of doing chopping it down to size but eventually did it and this is my first attempt at a decent piece of furniture, it measures just over 2-1/4" tall and is based on a smokers chairs from one of my reference books, for a first attempt I am more than happy.

Now I know how to build it I can now make a template and hopefully produce a few more chairs of different types.

No staining here, 12 different grades of sandpaper and finished with a couple of coats of lacquer, which has given a real nice smooth finish.

I'm afraid my carpentry skills does not do this piece of wood justice, but I shall keep trying, but must say 17 turned pieces and two carved pieces tested my patience to the full.

New bench

Photo is of my prototype for a cartwheel bench (3" long), just need to iron out a few things before making any more, but was an interesting learning process in making this, I will show it on my table tomorrow at Stafford and if there is any interest I will proceed and make a couple more.

Still a lot of ideas in my head so lots more to come yet.

But for now it's watercolours time, want to see if I can get the two miniatures I am working on finished in time for tomorrow.
Any yes I have, Eltz Castle, two versions, thanks Chell!

And if you are in the area then do pop into the County Showground at Stafford for what promises to be a quality Dolls House and Miniatures Fair, open 10.30 till 4 and it's only £3.50 to get in.

Do say hello to us at Harvington Miniatures if you come along.

Chamber Pots

Well a week today (Sept 9th) and we shall be at the County Showground in Stafford for the Stafford Dolls House and Miniatures Fair over 60 exhibitors at this well established fair.

And as I've said before, again we shall have new items on our stand, we somehow to manage to introduce a few new miniatures at every fair we do and for this fair we shall be selling our new Chamber Pot (or Potty).

Have done this in 1/12th and 1/24th, the photo above shows them painted in stoneware style against a background of a £1 coin, they will also be painted up in other styles.

Have also made some more new stoneware in 1/24th scale plus a couple of new pop bottles and also currently working on a couple of new paintings which I hope to have ready.

After this fair it is 6 or 7 weeks till the next one, stills lots of ideas on the table which we are working on, so I may be quiet for a couple of weeks.

Hope to see some of you there.