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!