A Little Boat

A little boat rests perched on a wall cap inside the Centennial dolls house. I'm sure she's sharing her adventures with the miniature steam engine that chose the same spot to relax.

 

© 2023 José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Birds

Mommy, the garden is full of birds! They're all dancing, and singing a song..!

 

 © 2023 José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Sneak Peak

Below is a 'sneak peak' of one of the rooms of "The Centennial," which is my favorite dolls house. She's over one hundred years old, and my first dolls house of that age, hence the name I gave her. 

I have more "centennials" in my collection, but this one, which I got as a gift from a nice elderly couple in Amsterdam, definitely holds a very special place in my heart!

 

© 2023 José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Elise and the shadows.

As King Winter reigns over the Northern hemisphere, the days are short and the nights endless; the wind is chill and rain abundant, while the temperatures hover just above the zero mark. Sometimes, the landscape gets covered with a thin layer of snow, as if to make a point that it is truly winter.

Inside her home, little Elise enjoys being cozy and warm. "Let the wind howl and the icy rain drop like needles from the sky," thinks Elise, "I'm all nice and warm inside! With my dolls houses and fresh croissants I think I can weather the winter!"

I hope you liked this blog. If so, leave a comment, and see you next time. Thank you!!

 

© 2023 José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

 

The Green Vase

 Enjoy your Saturday, everyone!!

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

While you Sleep

Your picture ignited a poem in me.
A brusque stirring of the soul,
a thunder, and then, finally,
the words came crashing down like rain.
Oblivious of the conquest your image achieved,
you sleep.
Will you answer my heart's muffled scream?
Will you meet me, in a dream?

José Pereira Torrejón

 

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Anthropomorphic taxidermy

Anthropomorphic taxidermy is an art form that was quite popular in the Victorian era. As author Rebecca Burgan writes in an article titled Anthropomorphic taxidermy: How Dead Rodents Became the Darlings of the Victorian Age:

"The practice of taxidermy allowed people to honor their precious pets by stuffing and mounting them for eternity. Preserving dead animals also satisfied scientific curiosity, as well as the desire for protected beauty." (Rebecca Burgan, published in Atlas Obscura, December 5, 2014).

 

This particular art form, which is derived from 'regular' taxidermy, and which, I must admit, may appear morbid to many of us today, shows stuffed small animals engaging in human activities like reading, playing cards or musical instruments, having afternoon tea, etc.

The rat "reading a book" pictured above is from my own collection. It's a contemporary specimen which I bought some time ago. Apparently, the process of preparing such a delicate critter for display is not easy and quite time consuming, which makes it rather expensive. This particular example is mounted in a straight position underneath a glass dome. It is shown reading a book which sits on a book stand.

I'm pretty fond of my 'pet rat,' and that may be the main reason for sharing her with you here. For those interested in the subject I highly recommend Rebecca Burgan's article which you can access on the Atlas Obscura web site by clicking HERE.

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Haunted Houses

There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

 

 

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

Extract from "Haunted Houses" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

 

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Waiting for a Train

All around the water tank, waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home, sleeping in the rain
I walked up to a brakeman just to give him a line of talk
He said "If you got money, boy, I'll see that you don't walk
I haven't got a nickel, not a penny can I show
"Get off, get off, you railroad bum" and slammed the boxcar door.

 

 

 

He put me off in Texas, a state I dearly love
The wide open spaces all around me, the moon and the stars up above
Nobody seems to want me, or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixieland
My pocket book is empty and my heart is full of pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home just waiting for a train.

 

Song by Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933), recorded in 1928, released in 1929 by Victor Company.

You can hear the song in a rare video of Jimmie on YouTube by clicking HERE

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Little damaged bot

My fascination with vintage robots in sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's is evident from the below image. Here we see a battle damaged little bot flanked by the remains of two of its less fortunate peers. 

I made them a while ago using different materials, and as a matter of fact they have already featured in a previous blog, which you can see by clicking HERE.  

Have a great week ahead!

 

 

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Little Rascal

She's one of my smaller dolls; a barefoot cutie, 8 inches tall, and despite her small size, has quite a personality too! 

When I pick her up, she gives me a certain 'look', as if saying "Put me down now, I'm not a baby, you know!"

 

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Rust & Steel: Lights and Shadows.

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

A Spade for a Girl

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!! 

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy for me, and the weather has not been very helpful either, but nonetheless I managed to work on a few things.

Apart from the big, long term "Sad Kitten" project which I'm currently involved in, I did a small, Halloween-themed shadow box in between.

I won't reveal much of it right now.. after all, it's not Halloween quite yet! But I can tell you that I'm quite satisfied with this little shadow box, and that it only took me three evenings to complete!

However, it being a bit off-scale (meaning not in a specifically defined scale like 1:24 or 1:12), it was hard to find miniatures that fit. One of the things that I needed was an old spade, which, of course could not be found in the required size (not even a new one, for that matter). So I decided to make one myself, which you can see here.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out, considering how small it is! I made it out of aluminum and wood, because I consider those 'natural' materials, unlike plastic, which I try to avoid as much as I can. Below is a close up pic of it in the shadow box. On Halloween the whole box will be revealed. It's definitely not a 'one-off' project, because the main character will feature in other ones!

That's all for now, folks! Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author. 

The Centennial: a Magical Dolls House.

On a rainy evening in September, I set course to Amsterdam to pick up one of the most magical dolls houses I've ever seen. It was huge, one hundred years old, and it was being offered to me for free!

'The Centennial' sitting on my drawing table.

The friendly couple welcomed me in their beautiful apartment, and there it was, sitting on the floor, ready and waiting to be picked up! I couldn't believe my luck to see such a one-of-a-kind dolls house 'staring' at me! And to think that I might just as well never have seen it, were it not that I learned of its existence only through my curiosity!

'The Centennial' sitting on the living room table, shortly after arriving in her new home. I hardly managed to get it through the front door!

The lady of the house, Mrs Lona, was selling the dolls house's furniture, and had put some pics of the items online, but there was no mention of any dolls house. Yet, looking at the pics, I was actually drawn more to the background, than to the furniture on sale! This background revealed a bit of what appeared to be an mysterious, weathered room box. So I inquired further, and the lady said that it wasn't a room box, but an entire house, and that I could just come and pick it up if I wanted it! I had not seen any pictures of it at that point, so all I knew was that it was very big, and very old, a century old, to be precise!

So I took my car and off I went to Amsterdam, not knowing what was in store for me! Crazy as I am for old, weathered dolls houses, this one was like a dream come true! I didn't know where to look, or how to feel... and as 'cherry on the cake', Mrs Lona knew the interesting story of the house's origins...

At the beginning of last century, a man with three young daughters made this house for them to play with. That is the reason it opens up on three of its sides, so they could play with it all three at the same time! A very smart solution to keep the three little scoundrels busy! I could picture them playing with the house so long ago, and found the thought very endearing.

Later on, back home, I studied it in more detail, and saw that the house had been through some changes during its long life. Someone, at some point, had added things to it, like drawing pins to uphold some of the curtains, a few pieces of furniture of a later date, including a plastic shelf, and maybe new wallpaper in some places on top of the original one. But even this 'new' paper had faded and grown old with time, just like in a real house!

Needless to say that 'm totally in love with the house, which I called 'The Centennial' for obvious reasons! I have several other houses, vintage ones, some of them in their 80's, and I love them all like children, but none of them is as old as this one, nor give me the feeling of awe that this one does! It's all wood, cardboard perhaps, and glass: basic, natural materials which I love to work with myself! And although it's not 'fancy' or posh or anything, it definitely has a soul that makes it beautiful!

And it was born out of the love of a man for his three little darlings, so it has a certain 'aura' around it which I can literally feel, but not describe.. 

None of them are alive today, yet I really hope that they come to visit their house from time to time, while I'm asleep, and play with it as they did a century ago...

The images you see here are but a beginning. The house will surely feature in future photo shoots! There is so much to see and photograph! By the way, it's shown here with its side panels removed, to allow you to look inside, but the panels are there, the house is complete!

I cannot thank Mrs Lona and her husband enough for this wonderful and generous gift! They know that I'll take very good care of mister Willemsen's beautiful creation, for that was the name of the dolls house builder: mister Willemsen.

An engraved glass panel above the front door.

Above image: the house has ancient light switches in most of the rooms, so you can lit them individually. Having no switch of its own, the bathroom is lit with this one, which also services the kitchen.

Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author. 

Rust & Steel: Tri-ang dolls house N0 61 [1937]

Hi everybody, as always, I hope you're doing well!

Today I'm sharing images of my recently acquired vintage Tri-ang dolls house No 61. It's my very first dolls house by the famous English brand, and I'm totally thrilled with it!

The house is very, very old; in fact this particular model is an improved, 1937 version of the original model which started production in 1932, making this lady at least 80 years old! Needless to say that it shows its age, which is exactly why I love it so much! It looks like a time traveler from another era, another world actually, when one realizes all the events that took place around us since the house was built, and how different the world looked back then!

This blog will show you 'No 61' in exquisite detail, so sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Above image: the house shortly after arrival, sitting in my workshop. Note the unusually large horse shoe above the front windows. Traces of two smaller ones could also be found above the garage door and the porch, but those were long since gone. And although I usually don't change anything, that big horse shoe had to go too!

You can see the run down state the house is in: the paper covering the roof is peeling off, the wood shows cracks, and one of the garage doors is bended, probably due to storage in moist or damp conditions. In sum: she looks like a dream to me!

The above image shows the horse shoe already removed. But instead of trying to erase all traces of its existence, I kept the ghostly impression it left on the wall, like a scar of sorts (below image).

Above image: the porch to the left of the house. Below: a close-up of the rose bush painted on the front. As you can see this was done by hand, so no two were the same. It does look very pretty!

Above and below:  a study of the window box which was added in 1937 as an improvement to the original, 1932 version of the house. This addition is mentioned in the catalogue, a caption of which you can see at the bottom of this blog.

Above and below: the blue garage doors showing their age. As you can see, the dolls house is finished rather 'crudely', compared to today's standards. I guess one of the reasons for that, is the fact that they needed to be tough and safe for children to play with. Today's dolls house builders target a different audience, namely adult collectors, who deal with them in a very different way. It's also worth mentioning that each dolls house is unique, as it was hand made. These houses were quite expensive too. So much so, that they would be prohibitive for most families back then.

Above: close-up of the garage door knob and door hinge. Below: the window box at the front of the house, seen from the inside. Note the clips securing the metal windows to the wooden wall frame.

 

Above and below: a sneak peek inside the house, showing the decrepit floral wallpaper and a light bulb.

Below: the house misses the original hook that secured the hinged front to the main structure. A make shift replacement hook using a piece of metal wire was made at some point in time, which is pictured here. My intention is to replace it with a fitting hook.

Above and below: the paper covering the roof suffered with the passing of time, making it look a bit like dried skin. But this makes the house the more beautiful and interesting!

Above: the Tri-ang paper certificate underneath the dolls house. Below: the battery holder shows some slight signs of corrosion...

Above: a fine study of the beautifully shaped roof of 'No 61'. Looking at it, I realize how lucky I am to have found this little treasure!

Above: concluding this tour, here's an 'artistic impression' of House No 61 in the 1937 catalog, that at the time still mentioned the name L. B. Ltd (Lines Brothers Ltd). They were the founders of the company that later became known under the brand name Tri-ang.

* * *

Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.