A miniature gueridon tutorial: 2. Adding a plinth and a crown

Hello dear friends.
Thank you for all your kind words on the last post. It has been almost a month now. Because of a lot of thinks in RL I have not spent half as much time on miniatures as I expected to be able to. The two rooms I am building are progressing but progress is really so terribly slow! A bit frustrating. But oh well. what can't be done today, may be done tomorrow.

In between I picked up another project that was lingering in a box for quite some time. Back in august 2019 I showed you the first part of the transformation of two spelter cast angels who used to adorn a wall clock into a pair of gueridons.

Remember these little rascals?

Now we are already halfway into 2020 and so it is high time to finish this project. It has taken so long (in part) because I could not decide how to make the base. Would I cut up a picture frame with the right profile? I scoured the second hand shops but never found a frame in the right shape or size. I could make one myself using wood and or clay. But wich of the two?

 Both as it turned out. I had made a few sketches to see how I want the crown and base to look.

For the base and the crown I cut out several circles and octogons in different sizes.  I've built up the basic form of the base and crown in different combinations until I was happy with the result of both and glued the different discs of wood together.

                           

Then I used airdrying clay to fill up the gaps and now the final shape finally emerges. with some shaping and moulding I added some decorations into the clay. When all had dried I gave the base and crown two thin layers of paint. White for the bases and gold for the crowns.

You can all probably guess where it goes from here. The crowns will be gilded (eventually, have not learned that yet.) but for now gold paint will do. And the bases will be marbled in a blueish grey marble imitation.

Now it was time to bring the different pieces together. I drilled holes in the base, large enough to be able to screw in the figure. Then I glued on the crown. And made sure that the top of the crown was level.

Et voila, a gueridon with a dancing putto! On the picture below you can see that they have practically the same height as my pair of gueridons made by John Hodgson. It worked well. I am pleased with the result and will make the second one soon.

Well, that is it for now. I hope that you have enjoyed this little post and till next time!

Huibrecht

My self decorated miniature porcelain. (No workshop due to Covid-19) :-(

Hello my friends, As you all may know I love porcelain. As well as 1:1 as in miniature. Today I would have attended my fifth workshop given by Cocky Wildschut. I have learned so much from her, but there is a lot more to learn yet. 

However, todays workshop was cancelled (well in advance) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Having lost a good friend to Covid-19 I take this disease very seriously. I totally agree with the cancelation of the workshop, but when my calender told me  that today would have been the day, that made me a little sad. 

So what to do? Without anything new to show you, I decided to make a little overview of the items that I have decorated in the last 4 workshops I did attend. Memories of four happy days! 

In the first two workshops I decorated the items in the picture below. They are partly chosen by Cocky in order to teacht certain techniques. The plate with the bird and the blue bowl were pieces I decorated myself using those techniques.

 

The bowl and two plates on the left were assignments to learn the basics of  porcelain painting. The bowl and the plate on the right were my own choices. The small polychrome plate was the first miniature plate that I decorated and in the back of my head I had that nagging feeling that I had seen the plate before. I could just have asked about it? Cocky would have told me. But when I was rummaging through my books on miniatures I came across this familiar photo!

The little plate with the red flowering tree and the little blue stream is a design based on one of the plates that stand on the mantle shelf in the large kitchen of Petronella Oortmans babycabinet in the rijksmuseum. Petronella has 9 of these plates on that shelf. They are called Arita ware or Kakiemon ware which is a type of Japanese porcelain. And then I knew that I wanted a series of those little Kakiemon plates for Huis ter Swinnendael!

The blue and white decorated porcelain is very classic and desirable, but it is not the only porcelain that was collected.  I wanted to make a small collection of these Arita plates. In the third workshop I asked Cocky if I could make more of this type of plate. But I did not want to make six more plates that look the same as the first one. So I took the Original design where the tree stands in the middle, (named M.) And drew two alternative designs in the same style. With the tree on the left (named L.) and with the tree standing on the right (named R.)Than I drew a few more of these basic designs to get it in my fingers.

And here is the result. Seven plates with three basic designs. The biggest difference between them is the placement of the red blossoms on the branches. They differentiate the look of the plate and on the first glance they all look different although they have three basic designs. This is also the case on the 17th century ones. I am happy with the result. I plan on placing them on the mantle shelf of the fireplace in the stewards office.

The next item is this large plate. The photo was taken just before it went into the pottery kiln. It has a decoration of a deer and a stag and is heavily decorated. In the left pic I put on the decorations with pen. In the second I filled certain surfaces with the brush or used the brush to add shades.  The shading was done in the fourth workshop after the penned design had already been fired in the kiln.

The remainder of the workshop I used on decorating a few vases. They are not ready yet, I have to finish them in a next workshop but you can see where I am going with these. I had a lot of fun following the workshop . Cocky, her husband Rien and the other participants are all so very nice. It was another well spent afternoon.

I hope that a vaccin is found soon so that the world can become normal again. And when the workshops are resumed, I will have a lot of ideas for new items. :-) 

Well that's it for now. I hope you have enjoyed this little post. Till next time!

Huibrecht

A visit to Het Poppenhuis (Arnhem)

Hello my friends,

I have been painting and gluing in order to build up the first wall sections for the first rooms. I will show you the progress on that next week, when there is really  something to show.

A few months ago I had to go to Arnhem for my work. A good friend of mine works in the same field as I do and we had agreed to meet and catch up prior to the meeting. Unfortunately we had to reschedule that cup of tea, so what was I to do with my morning?  I had a visit to the 'Het poppenhuis' in Arnhem on my miniature wishlist so It may have been fate, or just a coincidence, but I made an impromptue visit to the shop that morning.

Rika gave me a warm welcome and we drank a cup of tea while talking about this hobby we share. What I did not know, was that attached to the shop, was the office of DHN magazine. Naturaly I did not decline the invitation to visit the office and the studio where the pictures for the magazine are made.

After looking at Rika's private collection it was time to go to the shop. She mainly sells hand made miniatures. So there was a lot of great stuff to see. Since my time was limited, I still had to attend the meeting in the afternoon, I had to linger less and focus more. :-)

It is often difficult to choose, but choose we must. Every coin can only be spent once. I bought these two  hand painted vases. one can never have enough porcelain in my mind :-0 Next to it are four apothecary bottles and two tinware candlesticks.

I also bought this painted plate. Within the garland you see an orange tree and the text "Vivat Oranie" It is old Dutch spelling for "Long live Orange" from the 80 year war into the revolutionary period at the end of the 18th century the Princess Van Oranje Nassau were Stadhouder and held the highest (military) office in the republic. They were Princess but did not rule as kings. The faction in society that thought that the House of Orange should rule the Dutch Republic or at least hold the highest office, liked to show their political stance. Crockery and porcelain was one way to show this allegiance. Originaly it was meant as a show of gratitude, the House of Orange led us in the 80 year war to free us from the spanish crown and the opression of protestants. In the revolutionary periode at the end of the 18th century, having this kind of earthenware almost amounted to an act of defiance or treason. In 1795 the revutionary patriots had driven out Stadhouder William V, who fled to England. Therefore this plate needs a place, albeit an inconspicuous one, in Huis ter Swinnendael.

But there is more. I loved this baroque bust of a whig wearing gentleman in quasi Roman armour.  Is he a member of the Zonneschut family? Who knows, nothing decided on that yet, but he will get a place in the house. And then there are a set of 6 glasses and 2 glass goblets in the manner of the 17th century. All made by Gerdt Felka. I really love them. And since I will set the house in summer there was no reason not to pick these charming roses. You can almost smell them, don't you?

Lastly I bought these lovely two items. A stool and a tray. Both painted in a lovely way. It was the decoration that did me in. Especially the little stool. I love the light blue base with the rust and cream coloured decoration. I will try to imitate that colourscheme for the washing attic. That is where this stool will eventually end up. The serving tray is quite pretty. It can really end up anywhere in the house. I'll find an apropriate place for that tray.

Well, that is it for now. I hope you have enjoyed this little post and till next time!

Huibrecht