Caught in a Trap [and I Can't Walk Out!!]

Hello folks, 

Something about the miniature world just captures me, and sends me on little trips into a fantasy world. That is how I felt at many of the booths at the Seattle Miniatures Show this year.    While the show has suffered over the last few years, both from vendor attendance and attendees, it is beginning to build again, and many wonderful artists bring their work. I wanted to share with you all a little of that experience.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and spent just enough to feel slightly guilty about it. Hence, this post acts as my confession!  

Of course, I took lots of pictures, and came home with about two that were decent.  I really need a new camera!  Mine is at least 15 years old, which was the dawn of time for digital photography.  Oh well, I am going to share the two that came out decent, because the projects were way cool!

Country Maid by Bespaq - Shawn Flading

My favorite piece of the day was actually at the Bespaq Table, and they were kind enough to allow me to take [many!] photos of it.  They actually took off the dome so that I could get a picture without the glare, I took enough photos that they offered to charge me for the privilege (yes, they were joking!).  In this case, the many attempts to take a decent photo paid off, and I actually got a picture that worked!

I really loved the scene, it connected with me, the little country maiden taking a short rest surrounded by all her work implements.  For me, miniatures are all about these little stories, whether they contain the mini people or not.  If you can see the story, it works for me.  This one definitely worked!

You'll be able to see the price tag there too.  Ehh-hemmm!

'Tea Tiny' by Shana Stewart

Here is my other real favorite from the show.  Luckily, the two favorites, I was able to come away with pictures of!  They are not perfect, but at least somewhat usable.

This little party table really spoke to me.  Actually, the mix and match chairs echo the dining "set" in our own home, so this was a shoo-in for me. I loved the play of color and shape used in this piece. Everything looks as though it goes together, and there is nothing that is the same in the entire piece.  I thought this was very well done and it really appealed to my personal aesthetic.

The rest of my pictures remain rejects!  So that is the extent of the "Seattle Miniatures Show" that you will see on MY blog!  :0((

As I said, I did spend just a tiny tiny bit while at the show. . . thus the title of this post!  Here are a few things I was able to purchase.  Most of these will not show up in the blog again for some time, but are being hoarded for future use.

Here are a couple of beautifully Steam Punk Picture Frames from 'Mini Masterpieces' owned by Dick & Irene Hines.

Also by 'Mini Masterpieces" some wonderful little kitchen items.  A meat grinder, a cheese grater, and a truly exceptional serving dish with a patterned lid.  Unfortunately, the detail is totally lost in the photo above, especially the meat grinder.  It is a wonderfully detailed piece. 

Beautiful Buns!  :0) 

I loved the items this next vendor sold.  Her work was minutely detailed, and each piece is layered so that were you to cut into the pieces, they looked like real cut pieces.  She had several cabbages that were layered piece by piece so that it truly looked like a real cabbage when cut.  I purchased the two loaves of bread pictured above, but I wanted to buy just about everything.  

Unfortunately, she didn't have the name of  her business on her receipt, so I cannot tell you who it was that did this.  If you ever sell things, PLEASE include your business name! Right?!!    In looking through the dealers at the show, I was unable to identify this dealer. That is too bad, because you all would have really loved her things. 

This black metal hall tree was from Country Store Miniatures.  I loved the metal detail and the delicacy of the piece.  Jim and Carol have a shop at home, by appointment only, and it is within reach of my house (only a 4 hour drive!  ha!)  I may have to stop there some time in the future as I travel through!   They had a WIDE array of miniatures, from very fine to mainstream, and I actually spent more time at their table (think shop!) than any other place in the Show.  They had a lot of those 'itty bitty" things that every miniature house needs! 

Faucets, Pipes, Door handles, Enamelware, and architectural goodies!

As you can see, I succumbed to the temptations.  They had BOXES of little things that you had to sift through, but there were some wonderful things in there!  You'll see a few of these show up soon on the blog, because most of them were bought to help finish out some of the things I have already done. 

Here is a Steam Punk Weather Vane that I picked up from one of the vendors, another vendor that didn't put their business name on the receipt.   They had a few Steam Punk items, all of which I liked.  The weather vane is SO far in the future in regard to "use" that I think I probably should have just left this one alone, but it "fit" my ideas so well, I couldn't walk away from it!

Remember I told you I don't like skulls on things?  Well, this vendor had a grandfather clock I really liked, but it had skulls on it.  In order to get them out, I would have had to take the whole piece apart, and I wasn't sure I could get it back together.  So back it went. One trap I managed to walk out of!

This is the favorite piece that I was "trapped" into buying by my "sinful desire".   It is a Bespaq piece from Shawn Flading that I absolutely love.  

Every door and drawer works, the shelves are glass with a mirrored back to set it all off.  It is a truly incredible piece.  I bought it for the Grand Parlor, that wonderful little space beside the fireplace. Remember?

Hah!  Oh the things that might have been.  The piece was twice the size of the space it needed to fit in.  I will have to keep looking for a piece to go there, because this one was totally overwhelming in that spot.  It BARELY fit in the footprint, and looked totally out of place.  But never fear.  It WILL find a place in the house.  :0) 

Unfortunately, size matters.  :0(  

I got so intrigued by the next three items that I plopped the money down and purchased them from Newton's Apple.  Price was right, story was great! Purchased from an estate sale.  Loved the pieces.

  

This one has a working cross bar.  The bar swings up for baby's convenience.  

This is my favorite of the three purchases from Newton's Apple.  I can just see a chair of this style in one of the rooms. 

Unfortunately. 

They were all out of scale!  I got them home and started playing with my new toys, and discovered that I had forgotten to think about scale.  Sigh.  Live and learn.  I may be able to rescue the chair above, since it is proportioned such that trimming the legs down may allow it to "fit" scale, but I am afraid that it will look chopped up.  Jury is still out on that.  Luckily, the prices were not too terribly high, so it is not too much money down the drain! 

There are a couple other odds and ends that I was able to pick up, but not particularly noteworthy, so I've not included them in this post.  You'll see them show up over time, I imagine. 

One of the greatest pleasures of the Show for me was to get to meet Elizabeth of Studio E and Janine of Minworks.  I made a total fool of myself.  You see I have this little problem.  It is called hearing.  I may not LOOK very old, but I am!  :0)  So when Elizabeth found me, I of course couldn't hear her name, so I had to flag her down again and make sure I knew who she was!   Slightly embarrassing. But, in this case, I was so glad it happened because I got to meet a new friend, Janine, who was at the show with Elizabeth.  

There is MORE to that story, believe it or not!  Somehow, I had Janine confused in my mind with Elizabeth.  I had been to both blogs, and seen Janine's picture on hers, and somehow assigned it to Elizabeth, who does NOT have her picture on her blog!  So if it had been left up to me, I would never have found either of them most likely!  Thank goodness for small favors!  

In spite of my buffoonery, it was a real pleasure to meet and talk a bit with both of them!  It is so good to put a [real] face to the names of my blogger friends! 

I also got to meet and talk with Sylvia Rountree, whose work you can see at the Good Sam Show site. We had a pleasant chat and I enjoyed getting to know her a bit. 

All in all, the show was a wonderful experience, again.  I look forward to the next!  

My own work has suffered mightily from real life in recent weeks.  So my next post may be a few days (maybe weeks!) out.  

Until then!  

Doug S