Hooked......

I know that many of you who have been following Butterfly's recent tours de force on behalf of Small Worlds are now hopeful of reading on here about "An old house in Paris, covered with vines....".    (Pop back to my last post for the links to Butterfly's three posts if you missed them - they are worth the trip!)

The good news is that the old house will come along fairly soon - I am still waiting to complete part of the upstairs. The bad news is that the waiting involves being able to source the right sort of something and that's not going so well at the moment.

However much else is happening in Small Worlds, in particular a gentle flow of visitors which this week included 3 pre-booked school classes and an unexpected visit by a kindergarten class.   These tiny tots, aged from 3 to 5, were completely angelic.   They moved round Small Worlds in awed silence and single file, ushered by their teacher with encouraging cries and repetitions of "don't touch".   Not that I saw a single one attempting to do any such thing.   They were enchanting, and at the end their teacher said "Now what do we do when we like something?" whereupon they all clapped in unison.   And then sang me a thank you song.

I am not quite sure what happens to small children between the ages of 5 and 7 but the visit of the first form on the following day was rather more stressful and exciting.   Fourteen 7 year olds, reasonably well-controlled, but just a bit too excited for comfort.   They enjoyed themselves though, and everything survived.   Although I suspect that being allowed to play in the Children's Corner was the actual hit of the day.

The second form who followed hard on their heels were more engaged, and the third form who had preceded the babies on the first day are already very possessive of Small Worlds.   Most of them had already visited it last year and knew exactly what had changed and wanted to know where their favourite things had been placed in the new order.   

I was amused that, when I asked if something could be written in the visitors' book,  each of the classes had a designated "best writer".....

I've been taking things a bit gently this week, since I had visitors from England to stay, and then spent two days in Prague.   A huge delight there was a visit to the amazing Villa Müller, a 1930s house of stunning perfection, designed by Adolf Loos.  I urge anyone who is interested in architecture who finds themselves in Prague to put it on their "must-see" list.   If you do visit it, make sure to book onto one of the English-speaking tours because the lady taking you round is such an enthusiast it would be a shame to miss any of what she is able to tell you.

One day I hope to recreate in miniature at least "My lady's chamber" - the "Dámský boudoir" you can see on the second row of the link.   The design is based on a railway carriage and Loos has created a perfect "Room of One's Own" for Frau Müller.

Something else I have enjoyed in the past couple of weeks is investigating Butterfly's work in detail.   As I did so, it occurred to me that it is time to introduce readers of this blog to the Czech curtain hook in more detail.

I am often asked what are the most necessary tools when making miniatures.   My reply is toothpicks, clothes pegs and a really good glue.   I now have to add the Czech curtain hook.   Not so much as a tool but as the most versatile object I have yet come across for creating useful things in miniature.

These are English curtain hooks 





So far the only thing I have been able to make out of them are taps.... 

All very well in their place, but not terribly exciting.......

But let us now consider the Czech hook......

It's a veritable treasure trove of possibilities.   I've been counting and so far between us Butterfly and I have come up with at least 9 distinct uses and I suspect I may have overlooked some.   I leave you with some photos, and with the challenge to find all 9.....I'm afraid there are no prizes on offer though!   And the last of them gives you a little glimpse of what you might expect to find behind the doors of that old house in Paris.....

A clue- in case you can't find nine separate uses - two of the photos have more than one in, and don't forget you can click on each photo to make it bigger.

Thank you for following thus far - if you have any more ideas as to what we can do with the Czech hooks, do please let me know.  For that there might even be a mini-prize!   See you again soon I hope.....

Shortest post EVER!

Well from me anyhow.....

Once again just a pointer for those following the fortunes of Small Worlds, this time to Butterfly's final post on dolls houses for this season.  I hope you have already had time to enjoy her Tudor Tavern and the Opera Singer's House - known in Small Worlds for short as the Diva Dum, dum (long o, as in doom) being house in Czech.

Those of you reading her posts will understand how grateful I am that she is willing to use her skills in the service of Small Worlds, which would be a very different place without them, and how much I am going to miss her for the rest of the summer.

I cannot do better than to take a leaf out of her very own book and say, with her hero: 

"I can no other answer make but thanks,
And thanks, and ever thanks"   ~William Shakespeare

Mini, mini, mini.....

That's what this post is going to be.....

It's intended to just be a pointer to Butterfly's blog, where she describes her adventures with the second of her major projects of the past few weeks - the Opera Singer's House.

And if you missed the first of her projects, the Tudor Tavern, you can find it here, and  my last post, which describes our first day this season, is here.....

Butterfly has one more dolls house related post to come, towards the end of this week, and then normal service will be resumed!

Open again!

A really easy post for me today - it won't even be graced by a single picture.  Just a brief report on yesterday's opening and then straight over to Butterfly for the first of her three reports this week on the stunning work she has been doing here for the past five weeks.

As regular readers know, she and I came over to the Czech Republic at the end of April, to get Small Worlds ready for its second season.   My inability to resist buying dolls houses meant a complete reorganisation of the available space - you can read all about that here.

Then we each worked on separate houses and after five weeks of intensive labour, headed back to England so that Butterfly could resume her "normal" life.    I stayed a week and then sped back here, doing the journey faster than I have done since my knees started playing up about six years ago.

The speed was necessary - the school in Bavorov celebrated 100 years of existence yesterday, with all sorts of festivities around the centenary, and there was also a Farmers' Market which takes place right next to Small Worlds.   So I definitely wanted to open for the summer season on Saturday 14th June 2014.  I was even prepared to work to Czech time for once and we opened the doors at 7.45 am.....I shan't make a habit of that though!

I was delighted with the number of visitors.   Fortunately my very skilled young helper from last summer was able to be there as well and for six hours we barely sat down, or stopped talking.   Some of the people who came had been anxiously waiting for Small Worlds to reopen so that they could see what was new; others were there for the first time and from what they were saying, they'll be back too.

I had planned to take a few photos during the day - in the event that simply wasn't possible.

However Butterfly more than makes up for my lack of pictures with her fascinating post on her makeover of the Tudor Tavern.   So I would urge you to make haste to her blog and enjoy the tale for yourself.   And you can do so in the knowledge that, as I said in my comment below her post, in this case you almost get a better view of the wonders by seeing them in close-up photos, rather than in real-life.   

But don't let that put you off planning a visit to Small Worlds one day!   It would be lovely see any of you - and this is a very beautiful part of the world, well worth a holiday visit.....

The final straight.....

I write this post on our way back to England, Butterfly to stay there for the summer, and I to do a quick turn-around, to head back to the Czech Republic by 14th June, just in time for the opening of Small Worlds for its second season.   I shall, of course, have another carload of stuff, hopefully including the woodworm-ridden house I spoke of in my last post.  

At the moment we are staying with our friends in Bonn, a necessary airlock between our two very different lives.   This morning we visited a delightful flea market at the local Waldorf School (better known as Steiner schools in the UK) and I had to keep my hands firmly in the pockets of my jeans otherwise our car would have been full to the brim of tempting toys.....

Time to review what we have been doing in Small Worlds.   As I looked back just now through the photos of the past six weeks I am amazed at what we have accomplished.  






Just to remind you - this is Small Worlds in last season's attire





Mostly we have worked separately on houses and Butterfly will be posting about her deeds on her own blog shortly.   I shall do the same, so this post will be mainly shots of how Small Worlds looks now, with details of work on the individual houses to follow in later blog posts.   To whet your appetite, I will reveal that four houses have been completely transformed and work on the 1920s department store is well under way......




In my last post I already showed the rearrangement of the green display counters - now, when you come into Small Worlds this is what you see 

Butterfly had the inspired idea of climbing the (new, very safe) stepladder for an aerial view






The area I think of as Triang Corner - although it also houses a Lundby house, and others, - has now been slightly rearranged and tidied up 

as has the room divider which shelters the Children's Corner 

The Children's Corner itself, which we have been using as a storage area during the past five weeks.......

...has been restored to a tempting play place ......

The large thatched cottage, which used to be on the far windowsill, is now sited by the entrance...







with a very ancient bookcase taking on a new life on the wall next to it.......

I shortly have to hasten to German ebay to try to secure a Mini Cooper to grace the garage of the Art Deco house so I shall leave you with some last shots of Small Worlds and the promise of more to come in the not-too-distant future - thank you for still being with me on this exciting journey!

Déjà vu

Butterfly and I arrived back in Bavorov the Friday after Easter.   On Saturday morning we went straight to Small Worlds ready to begin work - and we have barely stopped since.     And that's my reason for not having updated my blog since we got here.   We get home and collapse and I'm afraid that the last thing I feel like doing is reviewing all that we have got through during the day.

And my second excuse is the pitifully slow internet connection we have been dealing with until today.   Unlike me, Butterfly has been posting on her blog but she hasn't stopped bewailing the length of time it has been taking to upload photos.   Today we got a new, superfast internet connection (which is also going to save me about £20 a month so huzza for that) and having had my heart in my mouth for much of the afternoon whilst an agile young man cavorted on the roof installing it, I - and I hope you too - are now about to enjoy the benefits of his hard work.

For those unfamiliar with Small Worlds, and indeed to remind those of you who haven't seen it since last year, this is what it looked like when we arrived 

It didn't take us very long to change all that!   Why should we do that you may ask?   Blame six months in England when, having recovered, more or less, from moving house, I had time and energy to trawl ebay ......

The result of that was three large new dolls houses, to join the one large one that had been donated to Small Worlds last summer, and which was still sitting in the spare room in Bavorov, waiting for attention.  One of these you have already met.   The second, a very large, typically English, double-fronted detached house, which I simply could not resist because it reminded me forcefully of the house we had just moved out of, turned out to be riddled with woodworm.   So it has been thoroughly treated and is currently sitting in storage in England.

It has made up for its woodworm-riddled state by being a sheer delight, beautifully made, and clearly modelled on a real house.   It will hopefully appear, restored to its full glory, some time next year.

Like the Art Deco Triang, the last one I acquired at the beginning of this year is a house I have had my eye on for a long time.   A Bodo Hennig Classic Landhaus.   Very much out of my price range, even second-hand, so when one appeared on ebay, collection only, with a low starting price and very close to where my brother lives, who was I to resist bidding?   Especially since I was the only bidder and so it has joined the collection for the princely sum of £25. It wasn't actually labelled Bodo Hennig so that may have been why I was so lucky.



Since January I have been trawling both German and UK ebay to try and collect some Bodo Hennig furniture since I should like to keep the house true to its maker.   



There was a pleasing haul waiting for me when I got to Bonn in April; most of what I bought came from German ebay.

Like the other two houses, the Bodo Hennig is huge - fully three feet across - and at the moment it has now taken up residence in the spare room, while Susanne's house has moved across to Small Worlds for renovation.

"But where will you put them all?", I hear you cry.  Because Small Worlds already seemed full to bursting last year.   Butterfly and I have been mulling this question over for some months.   One idea I had was to see if there is a small store room in the same building so that I can shift houses in and out, thus creating an ever-changing display.   Another idea is to offer houses to some of the museums in nearby towns. My thought was that each house could go on display with some brief publicity material about Small Worlds, thus increasing the footfall and the space at one stroke.

However, the first thing to do was to see if we couldn't improve the layout in Small Worlds itself. So by the end of our first morning there the place looked like this 

There's a children's corner buried somewhere behind here!

 And here....

Our idea was to use the BBC archive cupboards (remember them?) to create bays and see if we couldn't gain space that way, without having to buy too much extra in the way of shelving or worktops.

All the houses went on the move again and Butterfly performed prodigies of strength hefting the weighty counters around, not to speak of shifting most of the houses solo.   Without her, none of this could have happened.   

By the end of the first day we had a layout, and by the end of the second, every house had found a new home - and most importantly, so too had two of the new ones. And there is still a bit more room to manoeuvre when the other two are ready.  

 One of the bays....

 and the second.....

An unexpected bonus is a passage way right at the far end of the room - a sort of semi-bay - which allows us to make proper use of the large window sill.  

After all that heaving and hoving, Butterfly worked her usual magic and created two separate workstations for us, so that I can be as messy as I like whilst she can work in an orderly manner.   She started work at once on the Tudor Inn and I yet again found myself facing many shoe boxes - back to the tedious task of sorting them all out so that the contents can be easily found.

Ah well, I have only myself to blame - I not only spent many hours on ebay whilst in England but I also haunted the local charity shops....





So that was the end of our first couple of days back in Bavorov.   Butterfly has been working wonders not only on the Tudor Inn, but on Susanne's house.   I have been at work on the ballet school (now based in France) and the North London bedsits.   She will be blogging her achievements on Words and Pictures in due course, but not, I think, until after we leave here in two weeks' time.   

Watch this space for news from me about "An old house in Paris, that was covered in vines......"    I promise not to leave such a long gap between posts this time.   Thank you for following me so far, and see you again soon I hope.

Too late......

I fear I am just too late with my promised Easter post to legitimately wish everyone a Happy Easter.   Packing and travelling events overtook me, and I am now sitting in Germany, well en route to the Czech Republic, and all the work that awaits in Small Worlds.   This will not only consist of getting on with the renovation of a number of houses, but also the complete revamping of the layout in order to accommodate the four large houses that need to join the collection.

More of all that shortly, but in the meantime I should like to bid farewell to England for the time being, by finishing what I started in my last post.

I left you with a reminder to take note of the roundabout and roads so that's where I shall begin.....with a very ordinary piece of oilcloth 

which my son and daughter-in-law (known to many of you from her blog), transformed into what would become the nucleus of the Playpeople Town road system. 












Our real-life move to a much smaller house has meant, as you learned last time, the packing away of the town for the moment.   I kept the road out though, thinking that from time to time my grandchildren might like to bring out one or two of the buildings to play with.   I had not, however, reckoned with the wholescale invasion of many tiny animals, most of which you met in another recent blog post.


These hordes of animals could not, of course, all live in the Art Deco house - particularly since that is now en route to the Czech Republic and is one of the houses we are going to struggle to find a space for in Small Worlds.

Almost without knowing it, I found that I had acquired a few buildings for the animal families.   And where better to set them out than on the road complex?

It is, at the moment, somewhat less populated than the Playpeople Town, but give us time!

Living in Sylvialand - apart from those who have recently been made homeless from the Art Deco house - are many rabbits who have taken over the biggest house, which they are sharing with a few squirrels. 

There seems to be a doctor amongst them, or maybe Papa Rabbit has not had time to get out of his working clothes before saying goodnight to his many offspring? 

Mama Rabbit has clearly been patronising the little bakery at the other end of the town - 

probably just as well if she has to feed invading squirrels as well as her own colony of baby rabbits.









The bakery, set in the old watermill, is very popular with the residents of Sylvialand 

They visit regularly to stock up with freshly baked loaves and scrumptious croissants.










Just off the roundabout can be found the toyshop, specialising (of course!) in dolls houses.  

Some years ago the town had a small cafe, where the young courting couples could meet and become friends - or more.   Recently, however, it has become clear that there is a much greater need for a creche to take care of the results of these meetings and so the former cafe has now been transformed into just that.   

As you can see, the young meerkat in charge more than has her hands full!

So that is Sylvialand for the moment.   I am on the hunt for a hotel to house the currently homeless, and a caravan or river barge to take up the slack.   Though I suppose a barge would also mean adding a river.....it never stops!

Towards the end of this week Butterfly and I should arrive in Bavorov so all being well, the next report should come from Small Worlds.   In the meantime, thank you for following thus far and I hope to see you here again soon.