Anne Fairfax

A few years ago Susan Bembridge was my neighbour at the 1:12 Show in Rheda-Wiedenbruck Germany. All the lovely wallpapers and fabrics on her table kept calling me over for a closer look... .
 I finally made a choice, I bought a piece of silk crepe de chine with the name Anne`s bedroom.

Click on the picture to visit Susan`s website

Home in Holland again I searched for this Anne, who was she, what was her story ? She was Anne Fairfax, and she had a rather sad life, losing her mother and sisters. The house were her bedroom was is called Fairfax House, it has its own website www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk .
In her bedroom hangs a sweet picture of Anne, painted in 1742 by Philip Mercier.

Inspired by Anne Fairfax I am dressing  Belle in a 18th century style dress made from the fabric I bought  from Susan.
 I am now trying to get a nice fit on the bodice.

Update

It is time for an update, it is far too long since I posted!

There are four new followers:  a warm Welcome to David Edwards , Las miniaturas y el vintage, Noelle de Terwangne and Yolanda Moran.

I have been playing with my new tiny kiln , trying to make my own dolls, but the results are not very professional ! It certainly is a learning proces. I expected  anything could go wrong: the pouring of the liquid porcelain, the cleaning of the greenware, the painting of the doll parts, the temperature of the kiln, and evereything did go wrong and 90 % of the dollparts ended up in the bin.. A lot of puzzles and questions. I am glad there is a lot of information to be found on the internet, and a lot of helpfull professional generous dollmakers who want share their knowledge.  At the moment I am dressing my first lady doll, she is far from perfect, but I like her.
The face and arms mold I have is Belle from Stacy Hofmann and a legs mold from Dawn Adams:

buttoned boots with a heel.Not suitable for a lady in 18th century style dress. So I scraped of the boots in the Greenware stage, before it is cured in the kiln, when the porcelain is not really dry. And added white stockings and silk shoes with silk bows.

Welcome new followers.

A warm welcome to new followers: Susu, DoF theinfill, Birgit, AnneRie, Shaairah, Annemarie Hovenga, Erika Kraster-de Boer, Ozden Ceyhan, Lina, Susan Maskin, AM, and minis64.
Have a great weekend!
Margot

Beeckestijn

The painting by Jan Davidsz. de Heem 

The photograph by Richard Kuiper

The past weeks volunteers were working  hard on Beeckestijn: an 18th century country estate in Velsen.
We all worked together under the supervision of our new artistic manager: Nathalie Faber.
The exhibition is called Still Life Exhibition. On display are paintings and photographs from the 17th century till the 21th century. Can you see the difference...
The stilllife painting was painted in the 17th century. The stillife by Richard Kuiper is a photograph from the 21 th century, everything in the photo is plastic...

Christmas in Villa Vanilla

A bit too late...but I wish you all a merry Xmas and a happy and healthy NewYear!
This is an old picture from the livingroom in Villa Vanilla : my Honeychurch dollhouse.

My father Tom built the house in 1987 for me from a kit .

Autumn storms.

Welcome, dear old followers and dear new followers:
Hannelore Strehler-Bauer, Elsa, Alennka,
  Pracownia Malych Wnetrz,  Lisey de Oz,  Ines Paiva Raposo.
 Also I welcome a stranger in town, he arrived during the first autumn storm..indeed a strange gentleman...

 with his pet black crow and big black spider on his top hat.
He is the new owner of the antiques and curiosities shop.
I made him from a resin doll-kit by www.minidollkit.com , the black crow is made by Georgia Marfels.

Heidi says hi..

My friend Marijke is always on the lookout for lovely old stuff . She found this 9 cm Heidi, who has a lot of hair! The old boxes have handkerchiefs in them. I love the decor!

Interview...

For the June issue of the Dutch dollhouse and miniatures magazine: Poppenhuizen en Miniaturen, I was interviewed by Dienke Cazemier about La Belle Brigante. I was a little nervous, like before a job-interview...but there was no need as Dienke wrote a very nice article and made lovely pictures!

Some progress...

Porcelain dolls by Sylvia Mobley, dressed and wigged by me.

At the moment I make very little progress on the dolls, but I wanted to show you that I have been doing something...unfortunately not enough to attend shows at the moment.

Tiny surprise revealed..

Carmel was the winner of my surprise giveaway. A few days ago the little gift arrived at Carmel`s home in Australia. Now Carmel has seen it, I can put a picture on my blog too. It is a 3 cm gentleman made from scratch, dressed in 18th century style, in silks and lace.

Welcome with flowers

I would like to say welcome with flowers to new followers:
Amandus 1.12, Mcddiss, Sognatriceabordo, Rafa Fonseca, Cristina, Maja, Mercedes, Rocinash,
 Ramhinos de Pano, Francesca, Drora Hed, Annie Fryd, Rita`s minis, Indy Poppy (the winner of my GiveAway), Eva Tatalamaru, Jorgelina, Cote, Antonia, Isabel(morgana135), Norma, Mariana Belmonte, Milena Basili, Carla, Emily Sophie, Beatriz Sanchez, Begona Calo, TeenyTinyThings, Amary,

Xandra Dekker.

Winner of the give-away!

Last night I asked Jan to pick a name out of the old straw hat, and so he did. And the winner is Indy-Poppy
Congratulations! Please mail me your address, and I will send you your mini-gift.
Thanks to everyone for participating,  have a lovely day. Margot

Surprise GiveAway !

This is a blurry fuzzy picture of my shy GiveAway. He is a gentle creature.If you are curious and would like this  little fellow to come and live in your dollshouse, leave a comment on this post and become a follower. The draw is on May 21 end of the day.
 Good Luck.
Margot

Welcome new followers and welcome new plants!

 For my birthday I wished for plants as a present and that`s exactly what I got!
And to all new followers: a warm and flowery Welcome!
Gina Dutton, Blanche, Peetje van der Hoek, Annadan, Ele An, Craig Cantrell, Cbtol34, Liliam1961, HoneyMelone,
Lucy Coles.

So now there are 300 followers, it is time for a giveaway!!!

In my next post you can read all about my surprise giveaway.......

New Aim issue!

Celebrating Spring...click on the cover to follow the link to the free on-line magazine! Enjoy.

Delicate lady in delicate lace

 I am dressing this delicate porcelain lady in a very pale pink silk dress, the dress is completely covered in a very delicate old lace....

Welcome to the chaos...

A very warm welcome to new followers:
Johanna, Toni Gago, Angelique Hoekstra, Alexandra, Obscure Creations,
Agnieszka Jaroszek, Angela Perez Sanchez, Jeffry , I linked your Blogs to your names but for the following names I could not find Blogs... a very warm welcome to: Daphne, Brian, JRelsner, Dominique and Ullaczn.

 This is the situation in my workroom at the moment,
I am trying to dress six dolls at the same time, a new strategy...hmm, not sure yet if this will prove to be more productive...

Getting started on new dolls .

Today I am assembling some beautiful doll-kits by
Sylvia Mobley. I think these two look charming together. Maybe I will dress them as a couple, a bride and groom perhaps. A Spring wedding would be lovely...

Cute picture...

Another tiny lady, her rococo wig makes her a bit taller..

A new tiny doll and welcome new followers.

A very warm welcome to new followers:
Gillian  
Andy
Carmen
Christine F.
Lidi
-P-
Doortje
Kati
Luisa
Synnove
Thank you all for becoming a follower!

For Etsy I  made this tiny doll and hat.
I put together a little scene
with a 1:12 size chair and a vintage piece of knitwork.
The sheperdess hat was made from old hatstraw
and the little bride is dressed in lovely old lace.
I love the soft colors and the old materials.
Margot

Merry Christmas!

to all my followers and everyone who visits my Blog, I wish you a peaceful and happy christmas with friends and family!

Welcome new followers!

For the first time from my new home : A very warm welcome to my  new followers,
Patrizia  http://lemagiedipatty.com/
La Duchessa http://la-duchessa.blogspot.com/
Marja http://marjabalvers.blogspot.com/
Gaia http://leparolesilenziose.blogspot.com/
Marita http://miparaisomitaller.blogspot.com/
Isabelle http://lapassiondisabelle.blogsot.com/
Carlolina Leonardo, I can`t find you Blog Carolina.
John http://john-merrimanpark.blogspot.com/
Sans DD http://sansdollhousediaries.blogspot.com
Simon http://miniatureenthusiast.blogspot.com/
Noelle Pettit Martin http://anadventureinminiature.blogspot.com/
Jamila Zolotnikova http://jamila-zolotnikova.blogspot.com/
Lea http://atelier-de-lea.blogspot.com/
Jennifer www.plushpussycat.com
Thank you all for becoming a follower and amaze and inspire me with your beautiful Blogs!!
Have a great day.
Margot

New home

This summer we moved to a house with a garden! During the hectic days of packing and moving, Ootje found refuge in this pink cabinet. There were moments I wished I could have curled up in there with him..

Ootje and Gloomy love the garden and exploring! Jan and I allready did some work in the garden, but as we had to do a lot of painting, peeling of wallpaper, more painting, and a lot of chores that have to be done when you move to a new home, the garden is for next year.

Welcome new followers.

A very warm welcome to:
Bryony, Mini, Sjoukje, Giac, Georgie Steeds, Melissa, Leo Leandry, Miniature Treasures, Riitta, Eliana Martins,
and Carla. Thank you for becoming a follower.

Two of my  ladies moved abroad and they were so kind to send me pictures of their new elegant home:
Thank you Catherine!

I dressed this lady by Miep Otzen in dark green and pink silk. and purple silk ribbons.

I dressed this lady by Sylvia Mobley in cotton with roses, silk ribbons and antique lace apron.

   

La Belle Brigante featured on Pocketchange website.

On the Pocketchange 

website there is a little article about La Belle Brigante, thank you Chrissie Bryant.

Welcome new followers!

A very warm welcome to all new followers and a big thankyou to everyone who left all those lovely comments!!
New followers are:
Ilenia y muanuanimales
Pilar
Paula Doeven
Francesca Martinez
Terefer
Kaya
Marta
Daphne
Eva
Catherine

Surprise revealed.

As you know Heather won my surprise GiveAway. . Now that she so kindly posted about it , I also can post a picture. The mannequin was a kit I bought from Hazel Dowd and covered in linnen. I made panniers and an underskirt with lace. The dress itself is made from very pale pink silk.

Welcome new followers and welcome Firefox...

After a very helpful tip I changed my browser from Internet Explorer to Firefox and now my followers are here again! Glad you`re back, I missed you all this week! A very warm welcome to new followers:
Gemma
Esperanza
Sls
Tuseiregina
Rosa Pitti
Marian
Las manos de Sca
Ana Camara
Rosanna
Kimmi Lou Miniatures
Elga
A. Bouwman
Teruka
Pinerose  This is Sylvia Mobley`s blog, she creates the very high quality doll-kits I love to dress.
Erica

I hope I did not miss any of you. I could not find all of your blogs.
I do wish you all a wonderful sunday!

The new AIM issue June/July is out!

GiveAway winner!

I want to thank you all that entered my GiveAway, and became new followers and left all those wonderful comments!!! I wrote all your names on pieces of paper and put them in a straw summerhat, Ootje became very curious and I asked him to draw a name and so he did...Of course he ran off with the paper and gave me a fierce "mine,mine,mine" look! Sweet natured as he is he eventually pawed me over the paper, and the winner is Heather !! Congratulations Heather, please let me know your address, so I can send the surprise to your home....that is, when it is finished. It is not completely finished yet...shame on me! I am going to start working on it right now!!