Jane of the Attic: The Lament of the Nightingale.

From her attic window, Jane looked over the garden, which was bathing in the pale light of the moon. Hearing the lament of a nightingale, an old, forgotten poem came to her mind. Below is an extract of that poem, titled: "In the Garden the Nightingale laments", by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819-1892). Scroll down for the English translation.

Im Garten klagt die Nachtigall
Und hängt das feine Köpfchen nieder:
Was hilft's, daß ich so schöne Lieder
Und wundersüße Töne habe –
Solange ich mein grau Gefieder
Und nicht der Rose Schöne habe!

Im Blumenbeet die Rose klagt:
Wie soll das Leben mir gefallen?
Was hilft's, daß vor den Blumen allen
Ich Anmut, Duft und Schöne habe –
Solang' ich nicht der Nachtigallen
Gesang und süße Töne habe!

In the garden the nightingale laments
And lets her fine little head hang down:
What's the use of having such beautiful songs
And wonderful sounds-
As long as I have my gray plumage
And not the rose's Beauty!

In the flower bed the rose complains:
How should life please me?
What's the use that from all the flowers,
I have grace, fragrance and beauty-
As long as I don't have the nightingale's

singing and sweet tones!

 

I guess there is a moral to this poem, but I'll leave it up to you to figure out...

That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great one!

© 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 little green colander.

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

Here's another 1:12 scale miniature that I want to share with you: a cute little green enamel colander that I just finished working on!

I love doing these small 'projects', because their limited scope allows me to focus and complete them relatively quickly. This can be helpful when one has limited time available, or lacks the energy to embark on a big project that can take weeks, if not months to complete! 

So I worked on the little colander, and made sure to give it that 'weathered enamel look' that I like so much! I think that it worked out pretty well! 

Just imagine this poor colander spending years rusting away in an abandoned house, until someone discovered it and made the pics shown here....

But it didn't start like that. In the beginning, the colander was a simple copper miniature which didn't even have any real holes in it. So I drilled some holes, then polished the brass.. I mean, the copper, as shown in the below image.

Then came the paint job to make it look like enamel. It took me quite some time and lots of patience to get it as I wanted, but when I was finally done it was 'party time', meaning time to have some fun photographing it!

The above pictures were taken in an old and dilapidated, metal dolls house that I have. I think the rusty floors match perfectly with the colander!

Then I took it to the 'Centennial' dolls house and placed it on the kitchen counter, right next to the coffee grinder which I also finished recently. I think it looks the part there, don't you agree?

That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great week ahead!



© 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.

Geschützwagen / Panzerzug World War I

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

Today I used a coffee stop at the McDonald's on my way home to work out an idea I had in my head for my next project.

It will combine my love for 'O Gauge' toy trains with my fascination for old military hardware, specially of WWI vintage. During the duration of the Great War (1914-18), most -if not all-  countries involved in the conflict used armored trains to transport men and supplies to and from the front lines. These vehicles were heavily adapted locomotives and wagons with thick armor, and armed with all types of guns and cannons. 

The Germans called these awe inspiring war machines "Geschützwagens" or "Panzerzugs", which means "protected cars" and "armored trains" respectively.

My project won't be a scale recreation of one of these machines, but rather my own interpretation, inspired by them. So, basically I'm creating my own "Panzerzug"! 

In line with the 'toy train' tradition, the armored rail car will be detailed, but definitely not a replica of one of those 'unearthly' machines that rolled across Europe more than a century ago.

That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great one!

© 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 skull for a 19th century doctor (1:12 scale).

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing well!

In the past few days I've been busy working on an odd miniature; a 1:12 scale 'old skull', which will be added to a project that my dear friend and fellow miniaturist Rebecca Micallef is currently working on.

You see, Rebecca creates stunning room boxes and miniatures for Life & Style, a Maltese TV show where she stars bi-weekly. So, when she told me that she would start working on a Victorian doctor's practice, I immediately thought of 'contributing' in a small way with a 'doctor related' miniature. Hence the idea to produce a human skull, so she could put it on a shelve or something.

This image: the skull resting on my hand palm for size reference.

Honestly, that was easier said than done. Skulls are not easy at all to make, specially if you want them to look a bit convincing. The last thing I wanted was to produce a cartoon-like skull or something of the sort.

So I did a bit of research first; in this case a basic study of the anatomy of the human skull, and started modelling later.

Not that my aim was to produce an anatomically perfect skull, but at least it had to be one that would look convincing at first glance. Remember that I consider myself an impressionist, not a realist! The material used was Fimo, a polymer clay type that I'm not very comfortable working with, but what the heck, I gave it a try anyway.

I'm sure this specimen would raise eyebrows with a real osteologist, but hey, what are the odds that one is watching?

In any case, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out! The thing looks old, and weathered, as if it was dug up from a collapsed, ancient tomb (images of the famous Hammer studios horror films of the 60s and 70s immediately pop up in my mind).

Using a bit of imagination, it could also be that the skull belonged to someone with a pathological condition of sorts, an unfortunate individual who in the 19th century would commonly -and cruelly- be referred to as a 'freak'. 

Whatever the case may be, the skull turned out better than I expected, so I presented it to Rebecca with a certain sense of pride. 

Then I placed it behind the glass of an old, wooden cabinet which, interestingly, I got from her some time ago, and took some pictures of it, like the one below.

Today, still playing with the old skull, I placed it on another piece of dolls house furniture; this time a vintage dresser. I think it looks pretty cool here too!

The below images show an anatomy note book which I made to go with the skull. Perhaps it originates from the time when our doctor was a medical student, and he made notes in it while attending lectures at the university.

   

Finally, I couldn't resist doing a bit of 'photo magic' with it, to give it more 'personality' I should say. The below two images are testament to that! People, meet Sheldon..!

It won't be long before the skull and I part ways, as he embarks on a journey to his 'final resting place' in Malta! It was fun hanging around with you, Sheldon! Please don't become a stranger.

That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great one!

© 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.

An ancient water wheel, touched by the autumn sun.

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well!

These late autumn days bring me lots of joy. The light of the sun is quite different than during, say, the summer months. It's warmer, richer, more... golden. And the sun 'hangs' lower in the sky as well, projecting its light into my apartment in an almost horizontal way, sweeping through the rooms as a search light that mimics the celestial body's trajectory through the afternoon heavens.

This sweeping light touches every object in its path, covering it with a beautifully subtle,  golden glow, and a sense of peace and tranquility.

One of the objects 'touched' by the sun is this ancient water wheel. I totally love it when this happens! The water wheel can be attached to a steam engine to make it work. Just look at that light....magical!


That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great one!



© 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.

Rain: "Glück"

© 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. Extract from "Glück" © Lunar Aurora.

The transformation of a little coffee grinder.

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!

This past weekend I've been quite busy with all sorts of miniatures related stuff. And one of the things I'm most happy about, is the work I did on a 1:12 scale coffee grinder.

You see, I have a beautiful, old coffee grinder, which serves as some kind of 'prop' in the kitchen, for looking totally cool, albeit broken. So, when I came across a nice, miniature coffee grinder, I decided to subject it to an extreme make-over treatment, to make it look like his big brother as much as possible.

The miniature grinder was made out of wood and metal, which is good, but otherwise boring as a bag of beans, at least to me! The below image shows the 'before and after' look of the little bugger, just to give you an idea of the extent of the 'metamorphosis'.

I'm not going to run through the details of the make-over process here, but rather give you a pictorial account of how it turned out, and how it compares to the real life one. 

Enter the big, fat coffee grinder and his 'mini-me' version!

The above picture illustrates the additions to the miniature quite well: little 'pillars' on each corner, and small legs underneath (where else?).

The below shot shows how I made the grinding mechanism look rusty like the original. And yes, I know they're not exactly the same, but at least one can say that they're family!

Anyway, when finished, I put the cute little grinder on the kitchen counter of my 'Centennial' dolls house as shown below. I think the little guy looks happy, don't you agree? As if he has always been there.

That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great one!

© 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.