Sunday, 23 February 2020

A nautilus(y) cup

Hello my friends, last week I hit the mark of 50 followers. Welcome Anne-Mie, Linda and Gonda. I am happy that I am not the only one who enjoyes my little endeavour in the world of miniatures.

Today I want to share with you a little miniature that I made. It is a miniature cup that pretends to be made with a Nautilus shell but is in fact just an ordinary snails shell. Found in a border in a local park. I found a few workshops in Dollshouse books and magazines that I have collected. So why not give it a try?


You may know the renaissance phenomenon of the Wunderkammer. Collections of rarities put together by monarchs and nobility. Entire rooms filled with collections of colourful, exotic and rare specimen of shells, horns, et cetera. These were the so called Naturalia that showed the marvel of Gods creation. 


Opposed to that there was the collection of Artificialia. The excuisite objects that showed the craft and ingenuity of man. In the Netherlands the wealthy burghers liked to display their interests, knowledge and good taste by amassing similar collections but on a smaller scale.

For Huis ter Swinnendael I want to make two early baroque collectors cabinets. One for the Naturalia and one for the Artificialia. By 1806 these early 17th century collections have become rarities themselves. Many pieces are valuable and therefore are kept. But the later collections of paintings, porcelain and antiquities have by now become much more important for the family to show their refined taste.


But back to the cup. Many shells have very different shapes from a Nautilus. This snails shell is not a perfect match but goes a long way. First of all the snails shell was cleaned and painted with mother of pearl nailpolish. I did not give it a basecoat of white paint because I hope that the natural colours of the shell wil enliven the colour of the nailpolish from underneath. 

Then I saw that the rim of the opening with this type of snail runs crooked. With the nautilus it does not. I took out the needlefiles and gently started to file down the edge to improve the Natilusness of the shell. After that I needed to repair the rim and other damaged area's with more nailpolish. 


Now it was time for the stand or foot of the cup. I shoved some beads I have in my little collection onto a toothpick. I then filled the cavities with airdrying clay and cut off the excess toothpick on one side. I added some small stickers used for making and decorating cards. After the clay had fully dried I gave it a coat of bright red paint. Lastly I aplied a coat of gold paint. I want to gild the base but I have not yet come around to buying the stuff needed for gilding. So paint it is for now.


Finaly it is time to add the shell itself. Here I also applied some of these small stickers to simulate the addition of gold on the shell itself. I removed the remainder of the toothpick and glued the shell on the card and let it dry.


And there we have it, my first attempt to make a nautilus cup. I enjoyed making it. I hope you have enjoyed reading about it. I do want to try and make one with metal as a challenge for the near future. As you can see I have a few more snail shells to pollish.

Those of you who have read my earlier posts may have noticed that in this picture there are a few new miniatures. The picture frame is a modern silverplate frame that I have painted gold. It wil be gilded eventually. The Bernini-esque bust was bought at Het Poppenhuis in Arnhem. A lovely visit of which I will show my new treasures in another post. And finaly the bronze statue of a Roman figure. It is a signet stamp used for wax seals. An antique I found on Etsy. 

Well, thats it for now, be well and u til the next post! 

Huibrecht 

19 comments:

  1. Felicidades por tus 50 seguidores. Tu tutorial de la copa en miniatura Nautilus es genial , parece de nácar auténtico gracias por mostrarlo. Las esculturas y el cuadro son preciosos, seguro que lo encajarás en tus proyectos.Feliz semana:-)

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    1. Gracias Rosa Maria. Me alegra que te guste el nautilus en miniatura.

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  2. Hi Huibrect, I love your Nautilus cup, it is simply wonderful and thank you for sharing how you made it. I can understand that you want to gild with metal but for now, the painted gold finish is simply wonderful.
    Anna

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    1. Thank you Anna, the wooden base will suffice for now indeed. Perhaps I made it one bead too high, but I still like it very much.

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  3. Jouw Nautilus schelp is goed gelukt, Huibrecht, een geschikte schelp hiervoor vinden is inderdaad niet gemakkelijk, dat heb ik zelf ook al ondervonden. Ik ben het met je eens om geen witte onderlaag onder de parelmoer laag aan te brengen, dan gaat het transparante er vanaf, is (ook) mijn mening. Het resultaat is echt mooi geworden, iets om trots op te zijn!
    Ook jouw nieuwe mini aanwinsten zijn stuk voor stuk pareltjes, geniet ervan!
    Fijne week toegewenst.
    Groetjes,
    Ilona

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    1. Hoi Ilona, Ik ben blij dat je ze mooi vindt. Zonder de onderlaag blijft de schelp ook dunner met alleen de nagellak. In de twee laatste foto's zie je, als je goed kijkt, dat de kleinste een grijze tint heeft, de grote heeft een roze tint, en de schelp op de voet heeft een bruine tint. Die corresponderen ook met de kleur van de schelp onder de parelmoerlaag.

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  4. Wat leuk om zo'n ruimte met schatten te maken. De schelp is schitterend geworden.

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    1. Dank je wel Mieke. Er komen nog meer schatten aan maar dat is voor een andere post. :-)

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  5. Ooo wat leuk en goed bedacht.

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    1. Dank je wel Gonda. Maar ik heb het niet zelf bedacht. Ik heb het originele idee wel wat aangepast.

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  6. Wow wat mooi is de schelp op de voet geworden wat een goed idee!
    fijne dag,
    groetjes van Marijke

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  7. Congrats on reaching the landmark of 50 followers - I'm sure there are many more to come. ;O)

    I really enjoyed the making of your nautilus cup, a very clever way with stuff you had at hand and with a terrific result in the end. A very decorative piece in itself but of course also a piece with a historic background for your project. I liked the explanations about collecting art and nature relics and that this will also be found in your mansion.

    Greetings
    Birgit

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    1. Thank you Birgit. I am glad that you like my little explanations. Just to show I am not completely mad. :-)

      It was fun to do this. I am looking for some more and different types of shells to look if they give a good result.

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  8. It is always so much fun to read your posts full of historical facts, great miniature decorative pieces and a successful project that you have painstakingly created! Soon that 50 will be 500 and I can say I knew you when! :O)

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  9. Hallo Linda, blij dat je ze mooi vindt. Ik ben er zelf ook heel blij mee.

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  10. Thank you Jodi, 500? Help. :-) Well we'll see. But for me the fun lies in the sharing itself. I am happy that you like my little historic footnotes as well. They help me to create the history of the house.

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