Home is where the heart(h) is: 5a. Firedogs or andirons?

Hello my friends,

This is already  the fifth episode in a little series of posts concerning fireplaces. :-)

An empty fireplace looks bare and uninviting. And in the period Huis ter Swinnendael will be set in, it was still the main source of heat in a room. Besides the kitchens there will be no lit fires because the scene is set in the summertime. But it is only natural that the fireplaces that go into the house should be furnished for that task as soon as summer ends and the evenings get real chilly.

A while back I made two posts on firebacks and one on curfews that I made for some of the fireplaces that wil go into the house. I also shared with you a post on the first, but not the last, dummy board that could be placed into an empty fireplace in the summertime when heating was not required.

Because the house is supposed to be around 150 years old by the time it is 1806, I have, as with so many other features of the house, the luxury of different styles and periods to play with. Today I want to show you a few decorative examples of firedogs or andirons that I will use. The main use of firedogs is to keep the firewood off the ground so the air can circulate, and at the same time keep the burning logs inside the fireplace. 

In kitchens they could have added hooks to carry spits for roasting meat and even cresset cups to hold fat to baste the meat with. In the more formal rooms, especially in the renaissance and onwards, they could be highly decorative objects. These irons could be adorned with brass, silver or even gold for the grandest of rooms. From simple forms into elaborate items with little vases and statues that followed the changes in fashion and taste of each period.

The first pair I want to show you is large and will most likely go into the fireplace of the Great Hall. The decoratieve base is made out of card stock adorned with the mask of a "Green Man". The curly foliage around his face is not as leafy as many other green men but stil it is one. A Green Man is to some people a spirit associated with forests and trees. Perhaps it is not nice of me to use it on andirons holdings logs to burn to ashes... 

Oh well. You may know that the oldest depictions are found in Roman temples dating from the 2nd century AD. And it has never really left us since then. wether it had a spiritual meaning or was merely used as an ornament. Through the ages it can be found in churches (corbels), classical gardens (fountainheads) or in interiors. 

But back to my Andirons, I cut the horizontal supports from a scrap of mahogany. And filed the edges to give it more the look of wrought iron.

 

The top is made by arranging and glueing a few beads on a toothpick. The top two beads are repeated at the end of the horizontal rest to prevent logs from falling of. The 'melon'shaped bead works quite well to add some interest to it. This is a design populair in Holland and England from the early baroque during the reign of Charles II and through the reign of William & Mary. 

In the picture above you see them painted in gun metal gray paint. They will not stay this way. The horizontal bars and the beads at the back end will be painted black to imitate blackened iron. decorative fronts will be covered in silver leaf metal. Some of the grand andirons in this period were made of silver, and in this case I think it will look way better than gold. 

But, I do not have leaf silver as yet. So these will be finished in the coming weeks as soon as I have bought a booklet of silver leaf metal.

Not all Andirons can and should be so big as the previous ones. The size should be in proportion to the size of the fireplace where they will end up. The firedogs in this picture are made using stampings I bought from Elisabeth Elsner von Gronow through her website. She has a great collection of stampings. This lad and lady could fit in either a Baroque or a Rococo interior. For these I have a Rococo interior in mind.

I like to use stampings like these because of their sharp details, just as with my miniature firebacks, these stampings can be very crisp and fine, and higly detailed. These two mythological creatures are extremely good examples of that. 

I used cheap mass produced andirons, bought in a store instead of building up the back section from wood. These are cast in a soft metal alloy. I snipped off their tops because they would be partly visible if I left them on. Next I filed down extruding parts on the the fronts of the snipped andions in order to glue the stampings onto them more easily.

The creatures in question are tritons or a similar tuype of creatures living in the waters serving some rivergod or seagod, spending their days splashing around in the water and blowing on their shell- horns et cetera. Such fun! 

Perhaps water creatures seem a weird theme for a fireplace but when you look at antique examples you will find that almost every theme goes. Even fishes as you will see below.

These tritons are very baroque with there fish tails for legs and a handfull of reeds. Strangely enough the male triton is made of brass while the female triton is made of copper. That is not a big deal however because they will be gilded with gold leaf metal anyway. If you look closely you can see that they are not the mirror image of each other. As I said, one is male while the other is female. And their legs/tails are draped and curled the other way around. 

As soon as I saw them I wanted to make firedogs out of them. because they are 2,5 cm tall I thought they would be perfect for the rococo fireplace of Alison Davies I marbled in a workshop of Simone Kasbergen in Arnhem. The fireplace itself is quite large but the opening is somewhat small because of the insert. 

The different metals used for the male and female triton are not the only thing that sets them apart from eachother. Oddly enough one stamping was cast solid the other was stamped and thus hollow. But that posed no problem for me. I filled the hollow one up with fimo clay, baked it in the oven and painted the backs black. 

When all had cooled down and hardened, I glued the metal support onto the tritons. When the glue had dried I gilded them using gold leaf metal. In the picture above they stil needed some cleaning and the removal of little loose ends. I did that after taking this picture and now this pair of firedogs is finished. I really like how they turned out!  And here I used stampings, but every suitable decoration in plastic or resin or wood will do just as well.  

But why stop there? And why 'steer' away from the nautical theme? I saw firedogs with classical dolphins in an antique shop a while ago. So when I found these stampings of stylised  classical dolphins somewhere on Etsy, I wanted to use them to make firedogs out of them. I glued them onto thin card stock which I let stick out at the bottom. This leaves room for the base to be glued on. 

The base is made from scraps of moulding of which I have cut away the lower half. After the glue had dried, additional wooden parts were added for the horizontal rest for the firewood. The excess card was now cut off flush with the wooden moulding. 

The raised ends on the back consist of a little turned wooden spool and the head of a dress pin. The excess of the pin sticking out of the spool is cut off. For it would only split the wood of the horizontal rests.

Like the 1:1 set I saw these will just be painted black to resemble wrought iron. The heads of these dolphins are bigger compared to the antique ones I saw. They were slimmer, but I still like the result very much.  Three coats of black enamel paint gave them the final look. Perhaps I want to dull down the sheen on them but other than that I would not change a thing. 

To compare the height I put them next to the Andirons of the fireplace of the Hall.(those are 6 centimeter in height) I am not sure where to put these yet. But I will find the right room for these. 

The last one I want to show you all is not really a firedog but rather a fender. What is the difference? Both help to keep the burning logs inside the fireplace. But the fender does not raise the fire from the hearth floor like andirons do. 

Fenders are usualy in the form of a railing of some sorts. This one is made of a stamping depicting a classical ballustrade with an urn with flowers on both ends. This will fit in a more classicist room like the Louis XVI style diningroom that I have planned. 

This fender is another brass stamping I bought from Elsner von Gronow. I filled the hollow back of the stamping up with fimoclay and baked it in the oven like I did with the previous ones. It was a little fiddly to remove all the excess fimo between the ballusters, but I got there in the end. A craft knife, a tooth brush and some patience was all I needed!

Before painting the back and the bottom rail at the front black I baked the fimo in the oven. Here I did not have to make supports to let it stand upright. Just a small slab of fimo at the bottom provided a stable base preventing the fender to fall forward constantly. 

After that was finished I painted the bottom and the back with (my trusted) black enamel paint. My favorite go to for wrought iron fireplace accesories. :-) 

The front and the sides of the balustrade were gilded. Unfortunately I damaged the gilding afterwards but only noticed that after taking the picture below. So that will have to be repaired soon. But I like the result so far.

The types and shapes of Andirons through the ages are numerous. These shown here are not my last projects. I have plans and materials for at least two more types of andirons to make. Different styles and shapes from the ones in this post. However, that will be for a future post. Since I have already started on them but I have not yet enough progress made on them to show you.  So that will be for episode 5b. :-)

Apart from posts on dummyboards, fire backs, and curfews, I also showed you the making of the two tableaux you see in the picture below. I received them last week. They have been fired for the last time now and are finished! They will go up against the wall of the fireplace soon!

Stay well!

Huibrecht.

 

Peaches, Plums & Peonies

Hello my friends,

Already a few weeks ago, I visited Ilona from the blog MinimumLoon. We had not seen each other since the last dollshouse fair in Arnhem before Covid swept over the continent. We have stayed in contact over the phone and via mail/whatsapp in these last two years. But until recently we had not seen each other these last two years. It was great seeing and speaking one another in the flesh after such a long time.

As she has said on her blog: she is well but has no energy or inspiration at the moment to work on mini's. You may recall that she has made a basket filled with fruits which she has showed on her blog in 2020. I am now happy to say that she made that commission for me. 

She had woven a basket around a painted porcelain plate after examples on 17th still life paintings.  The finely decorated plate was made on Ilona's request by Henny Staring-Egberts especially for this miniature set. On the fair in march 2020 she showed me the tiny bottomless woven basket and told me her plans with it. I fell in love with it immediately and she agreed to sell it to me, filled with fruits yet to be agreed upon and made. 

But what fruits should one choose? We've discussed it a few times and agreed on using the fruits visible on this 18th century painting by the frenchman Jean Baptiste Oudry. The different fruits make a nice selection. 

Those of you who know Ilona's work know how important it is for her to get the details right. Just look at these plums. The flesh of the fruit is somewhat opaque like the real fruit. Besides the red and the blue plums, she also made these delicious looking peaches.  And apricots. The pears are real gnarly.

The rows of perfectly formed and uniform looking fruits and vegetables we can buy at the grocers or in supermarkets are the result of generations of improving them. (And wasting yearly tons of fruit and vegetables because they aren't pretty enough! Luckily that attitude is changing.) In the old days uniformity was not an issue. It was practicaly unachievable. And this was our aim for these fruits. Ilona did a fantastic job on these fruits. I could never make miniature pears like these!

Last but not least. To bunches of grapes. One green wit the compact shape of summer and with vibrant green leaf. And a blue autumnal bunch. Where the stalks have grown longer making the bunch look more loose. And with autumnal leaves. By the way. The loose grapes have not come off (luckily). They are meant to be seperate from the bunch to put on a plate or help put it in a realistic scene. 

Oudry has painted a blue bunch. But Ilona observed that here the fruits are layed out on a light ground. But in the basket this can get a bit too dark, especially with the dark plums. So she made the geen bunch for me to choose between.

It will probably not surprise you, dear friends, but I could not choose... So I bought the second bunch as well.

To finish it off one of the pictures Ilona has used on het blog. Does it not look great? I love these fruits and the basket. Every hand made piece is so delicate. Even the stones in the plums and peach that are cut open are formed as much after reality as is possible. The plum stones have a smooth surface. While the peach stone has a structured surface.

After we had a lovely and long chat with tea and cookies, we looked at the presentation boxes she uses when she goes to fairs. And there I saw the peonies. I had fallen in love with them at the last fair in Arnhem where Ilona had shown them. But on that day I had blown by budget on other miniatures already so I could only look at them in admiration. I was sure that, that would be the last time I would see these peonies.

Luckily for me however... that did not turn out to be the case. Although she had sold a lot of her stock during that fair, these were as yet unsold! You will probably forgive me for not spurning them a second time! Just look at that colour! Such a deep and velvety purplish red. Just like Ilona did, I show them in a blue and white vase. 

But by the time you read this post the fruits and flowers have all been carefully packed away again. Waiting for their rooms to be made...

Yes, I can here you scream behind your screen. "But whén will he finally finish á room!?!"

Well, that is my next project. There are changes coming!!!

Huibrecht 

An auction for a good cause

Hello my friends, 

A little while ago I stumbled on an auction promoted by Chiqui Cueto via Facebook. Several miniaturists donated miniatures for auction. The proceeds will benefit the ... de Asturias. It is a shelter for dogs. As you have read in my post on...... I have a hound (a Chart polski), named Tara as a pet, together with a Malinois Sheperd. But once I had two dogs, Pita & Lorca who were saved in spain by a shelter like this one and adopted. 

So you understand that the cause for this action directly apealed to me and I wanted to do my bit. That the lots that were to be auctoned comprise of miniatures only made it harder to say no (to myself). So I said yes. :-)

On the moment that the auction closed I had won 3 lots. The first is a lot of artisanal breads in different shapes and sizes. I love these. And they will look the part in different rooms of huis ter Swinnendael. most will go into the kitchen and the store room, but one or two may find their way into other rooms. 

The second lot were these two miniatures. A bergere and a side table you will recognise as Alison Davies pieces. The were decorated and upholstered. I love the finish with the subtle gold details. I will change the upholstery on the bergere because these two pieces are destined for the dressingroom. I want to use the mustard yellow cotton I have already used on the cushion for the windowseat. And which I will use for the curtains for this room. 

The third and last lot I had won was this beautiful gilded mirror made by David Iriarte. I love his work! I will have no trouble finding a place for this miniature.

I feel lucky having won these lots. And the money is well spent. Shelters like the... can use every amount to help rescue and relocate animals in need. I am very happy to have helped in a small way. I have learned since that this auction is repeated each year. I will be there next year!

I turned my attention to the table & chair. The pale green used on the two pieces is greish and cool. The green on the walls of the dressingroom is a warm yellowish kind of green. However I do like the combination of the two colours. What I do not like in this combination is the fabric with which the bergere is upholstered. So this had to go. 

Prying the upholsterd seat and bach of the chair frame away from the painted resin was a bit nerve wrecking. An excelent glue was used. But due to sticking a thin hobby knife patiently and carfully between the different pieces finaly seperated the two with only some minor damage to the paint. 

The seat upholstery is a bit too large in my opinion. I like it to have a little setback form the edge of the chair frame. The upholsery was fixed unto resin inserts. After I removed all remnants of glue and fabric I sanded them a little smaller, Just a half millimeter around. This way I did not have to cut a new template out of cardboard.  

The new fabric is the same mustardy yellow cotton I used on the cushion for the windowseat. You may recall that it is reclaimed from a waistcoat I have grown out of. I started with the back panel. First I glued  the piece on the back. Fixing it on the thin sides of the panel with fabric glue. Taking care that the glue is applied thinly so it will not bleed though the fabric. 

Next, I glues a piece of cotton on the front. Making sure it is a tight fit. Again glueing it on the sides of the card. When all was dry I glued it onto the backrest. 

The seat was done in a similar way. with the exception that the underside is not covered because it is hidden from view. When the glue had dried I glued it down on the seat of the chair. It is finished for now. I am still debating with myself if I should add a little trim around the edges. I think I will, but I am not sure yet. 

The problem with altering a miniature is that it leads to new ideas. Although I love the paint job on it, I will retouch the gold paint here and there to make some rubbed places and lines more crisp again. And, as if that is not enough,  I might add some upholstery to the armrests as well. What do you think?

Huibrecht