zondag 19 mei 2013

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.

zaterdag 11 mei 2013

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.