The Centennial: a mysterious view of the kitchen.

© 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.

 

Family Portraits.

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

With the conservatory project nearing completion, it's time to add the final details to it. Those come in very gradually, because I want them to 'grow' in place, as if they've always been there.

One of the latest additions are a few old family portraits. I remember growing up seeing these at my parents home, that is, the full scale version of them. And in fact they're part of the very few surviving portraits of that era. 

From left to right you see my mom when she was a few months old, my grandparents, and then my mom again, when she was a little girl. The gentleman on the right is the iconic tango singer Carlos Gardel (1890-1935), whose songs I love. 

So, in the end, this project ended up being a tribute to my mom and her parents, that is, my grandparents. I never knew my grandma; she passed away very young, when my mom was only 5 years old. From her portrait I can see she was a beautiful lady, very sophisticated, and played the piano very well. In fact she was a piano teacher. My grandpa passed away some 40 years ago already, but I was lucky to be his 'favourite grandson' for most of my childhood. He claimed having met the famous 'Che' Guevara and shaking his hand, when the latter visited my home country in 1961. He was quite proud of that. I still miss him very much.

 

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.

 

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.