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.

Old Ruins.

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!

I bought this vintage WWI German field service postcard (Feldpostkarte), depicting ruins in Arras; a town in Northern France. The town was close to the battlefields and subsequently suffered heavy damages.

Although this particular postcard didn't saw any use, it does contain a printed quote on its back from the German writer, poet and philosopher Schiller, which I find very beautiful and telling.

"Das Alte stürzt, es ändert sich die Zeit,

Und neues Leben blüht aus den Ruinen."

Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)

"The Old crumbles, Time changes,

And new Life blossoms from the Ruins."

The untold human suffering and loss of life of WWI trench warfare has always captured my imagination and made me somber. And although a century has gone by since it all happened, I feel that those tragic events should never be forgotten.

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.

Working on an old lamppost.

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!

I'm currently experimenting on a prewar vintage lamppost, which lacked its light and wiring. The post is meant to be used as part of the scenery of 'O gauge' toy trains.

So what I did was to find a miniature spot light that would match with the 'industrial' style of the lamppost. Then I weathered the spot, otherwise it would look too new, compared to the aged look of the post. 

The spot was then fitted to the lamppost in a temporary way, just to get an idea of how it would look like (see above image). When finished, the electrical wiring will run through the inside of the pole, so it won't be seen. I will also add some kind of hook or chain to hold the spot light in place.

Note that I'm not trying to make a copy of the original lamppost, but am creating a variant of my own that will work.

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.

Halloween 1919: The Spade Girl

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!

On this Halloween 2019 Day, I'm introducing to you my latest project: Halloween 1919: The Spade Girl!

It was Halloween Day of 1919, that saw the birth of a spectre of unusual blood thirst, that became known and feared as The Spade Girl. 

Inspired in part by Nick Cave's song "Needle Boy", I created this ghost with a very dark and gruesome past. More about her will follow, but for now, these pages offer a detailed guide of a shadow box that I made for her.

I hope you'll enjoy it..

The shadow box measures roughly 13 x 18 x 7 cm, or 5 x 7 x 2.8 inches, and the spade girl is only 5 cm ( about 2 inches) tall.

Great attention was given to detail: from the shrubbery and dead wood in the corners (above image) to the hand-painted background.

Above: the shadow box positioned inside one of the rooms of "The Centennial", my oldest, 100-year-old dolls house. To check out a previous blog about this beauty Click here!

Below: The Spade Girl's Lop Rabbit Halloween mask and spade. Like everything else, these were hand made.

Above: as is standard practice with all my shadow boxes, a brass label was applied to mark the completion of the project.

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. 

The arrival of an 'Ascot' kitchen boiler (1:12 scale).

Hi all, I hope you're doing well!

I just wanted to share a miniature kit I just got, and that I definitely will enjoy assembling.

It's a 1:12 scale 'Ascot' kitchen boiler of the type that was used back in the day to heat water.

It's made of white metal parts with a resin barrel. I'm sure it will look the part in an old kitchen once it's done!

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. 

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.