Rust & Steel Photography: SNCB Class 12 engine 'La Douce'.

 

 Hi all, I hope you're doing well! 

Today I'm posting an 'atmospheric' pic I took this evening of a very nice 1:160 scale train model, just for fun. It represents the beautiful Belgian Railway Company 'Type 12' steam engine.

This class of 'streamlined' engines was built between 1938-39, and remained in service until the 1960s. Only 6 were built, and of these engine No 12.004 is preserved in Schaerbeek, Belgium.

Just to illustrate how she looks in real life, I'm adding a picture of '12.004' here. Copyright belongs to the owner.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for visiting, keep safe, 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.

 

Adorable Teddies series: Archy!

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well!

Here's someone I want you to meet. His name is Archy, and he has been one of my foster bears for a few months now.

Hand made by the lovely Dutch 'bear maker' Marrie van Vliet, he's destined to be picked up by his adoptive mom: miniaturist and dolls house guru Rebecca Micallef, from the beautiful Mediterranean island of Malta.

But until that happens, little Archy is staying with me, along with his sister Pebbles and other bears of my own. Here you can see him sitting on what I call the 'loading platform' of my latest dolls house acquisition. I think he's totally adorable, don't you??

That's all for now!  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.

 

Transforming a little chair.

Hi everyone, I hope you're all well!

Today I'm sharing a little 'project' I just did, just for the fun of it.

It came as a by-catch with some miniatures I bought recently: a wooden chair wrapped in some 'silky', pink fabric, indicating it was probably part of some 'wedding' theme of sorts. In any case, the fabric was stained, and even if it weren't, I found it pretty ugly anyway.

So I removed it, and found this rather stiff looking chair hidden underneath it. I didn't know what to make of it, so I decided to turn it into something of an old 'kitchen chair'; the type that had been witness to many conversations throughout the years; the type that knows stories of joy, of sorrow, of love, happy times, less happy ones, and even the casual domestic quarrel.

I sanded it down, and as I went along I gave it its distinctive weathered look, including a slight 'depression' in its seat.

 

 

At some point, the whole thing fell apart under the violence of the sanding and the dremel, but I put it back together and finished it just the way I wanted. The images here show the chair through its different stages of transformation. And to be honest, I'm pretty happy with the result!

 

 

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for visiting, keep safe, 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.

Annabella.

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!!

Introducing Annabella. She arrived here very recently from Germany, and was welcomed by her new family of little dolls. 

But before she actually joined them, she spent one night in my oldest dolls house, known as "The Centennial."

 

It is said that the old house has walls that whisper, but, being such a young child, Annabella wasn't bothered by any of that. In fact, she was quite happy to see the three little girls coming out of the walls, and stand around her cot to welcome the new arrival. Their eyes were bright and their facial expressions were a mix of delight and curiosity. Annabella looked at them, and smiled. Then they sang sweet lullabies to her, until she fell fast asleep.

And so the first night passed for Annabella in her new home. Now she's part of the family. She belongs.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for visiting, keep safe, 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 Washstand.

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing well!

  

This a small posting, just to keep things going here on this blog. Have been quite busy with my latest "Conservatory" project, which by now has reached its final stages of completion. Soon I'll publish another blog about it, plus some 'sneak previews' as well. But for now I'll leave you with this nice image of an old, German washstand in the "Centennial" dolls house.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for visiting, keep safe, 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 Conservatory, part I: the first steps.

Be welcome, dear reader, I hope you're well!

This is the first in a small series of blogs about my latest project, titled "The Conservatory."

I have published some stuff on this subject here before; mostly pics of items around the project (accessories), but not really on the conservatory itself.

Well this blog is gonna change that, so let's get started.

The project is based on a (discontinued) kit by The Dolls House Emporium. Above is a picture of the box with an illustration of a finished example. Between you and me, and if you promise not to tell: I don't like one bit how it's done! So mine will look totally different.

 

Above and below: images of the kit (more or less) as it came out of the box (and seen here resting on a pizza box). Thankfully, it was partially pre-assembled. Considering the amount of work needed to be put into this thing, this came as a bit of a bonus.

The roof** came like a game of Mikado, and the assembly instructions were not very clear either to a dummy like me. But, luckily, I could draw on the knowledge and advice of my good friend and famous dolls house guru Rebecca Micallef, who had built a kit just like this one some years ago. So here comes the old saying "a friend in need..." really into play.
** More about the roof in a separate blog.

The below images show the conservatory walls sporting their first, very thin coating of paint. Inside rests the roof, still in pieces, but also showing some paint work. Nothing spectacular, just a first touch; there's gonna  be plenty of additional painting and weathering applied to this thing before I can call it done!

If you look carefully at the below image, you'll see that the exterior trimming already misses some of its 'teeth.' This isn't a manufacturing flaw, but yours truly already attempting to give the poor conservatory a look of abandon.

That's all for now! Part two will follow soon! Thanks for visiting, keep safe, 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.

Social distancing.

Welcome, dear reader, I hope you're doing well!

During these strange, Covid-19 days, one hears a lot about "social distancing," which means keeping a safe, 1,5 meter (about 4,5 feet) distance between yourself and any other person you may encounter.

This may be somewhat challenging to some, but not so to these two ladies, having an informal evening chat in The Centennial dolls house.

You see, in the old days, those fashionable, wide dresses, apart from being beautiful, came with a generous, built-in 'social distance protection' of their own.  Just imagine them getting entangled in each others dresses for getting too close..

That's all for now! Thanks for visiting, stay healthy, 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.