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Chat
picture by Heather Gilson
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Very sad news
I've just been in contact with the UK magazine Dollshouse World to confirm the fact that their editor of long standing, Joyce Dean, has sadly passed away.
Joyce was a brilliant editor and became a valued and trusted friend to many, always supportive and open to new ideas. She was charming, funny and kind to all and will be truly missed as a personal friend by me.
My thoughts go out to her husband Dave.
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Wow, the Miniature World hits the Art World.
Figures by Jamie Carrington
Neale Albert's collection of miniature figures will be on show in New York at the
Visionaire Gallery, 11 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10013. 212.274.8959
From March 18th - April 26th 2010
Thank you Neale for including my work.
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NEW PROPOSAL
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With collections getting larger and space getting smaller many people are turning to 1/24th scale. Buildings and furniture are becoming more available as are workshops on creating them.
Now it's the turn of figures. I'm planning workshops on how to do them.
Victorian Lady
The Canterbury Tales
Pictured against a one pound coin (7/8th inch high) you can see how small they look. Difficult? Not half as hard as you think. I'll be posting more characters very soon so that you can see what fun you can have creating them.
Interested? Let me know, email me on jcarrington@dsl.pipex.com and tell me what you think.
A bit more about this on my blog www.jamescarringtondolls.blogspot.com **********************************************
LEATHER NEWS
Don't know about you but I've been finding it really hard to get the perfect thin leather skins for ages now, but, oh joy I've found the perfect suppliers. Pittards!!! In fact I've sworn by them for years but they've opened a new web site and you can get it on line. http://www.pittardsleather.co.uk/index.php
will get you through to them.
Sadly...for the Americans...they aren't able to process the order outside the UK because they use DHL for their shipping and the cost would be prohibitive. They assure me though that if you email them they will try their best. Have a feeling that the may be deluged.
The skins I've got are the 05 - 06 mm thin ones, limited stocks at the moment but, again they assure me, that more is coming in.
The skins have around four square feet in each and even the C grade is wonderful. They also do bags of trimmings and you'll fine small but fantastic pieces in all sorts of unusual colours and textures.
And, yes it gets better, they deliver before you've even had time to breath.
Thank you Pittards!
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CLAY NEWS
Living Doll by Sculpey is finally available in America
www.polymerclayexpress.com has it in stock and is ready to serve you with this amazing clay.
I'm so pleased about the news, I can finally teach with it over there without having to import it back into the country.
For those that haven't yet tried it it's fantastic. It conditions almost straight of the block, it's strong when baked, doesn't darken with repeat baking - just make sure the clay cools between baking - and the colour - Light - is perfect for our scale.
Two things that came up in class, One, to polish the clay before baking. Pick up some talcum powder on a small nylon brush and polish the clay lightly but thoroughly, you'll find that finger prints and shallow scratches just disappear. An old technique but well worth trying. Two, and Wilma at Polymer Clay Express is horrified at this, when baked, very lightly wash the clay with acetone on a cotton bud. I do mean lightly it takes off the surface of the clay and lips and eye lids can vanish with a heavy hand. We had a slight oops in Castine this year when darling Nancy Quinby found one of her figure's hands had got over baked and went dark. Very bravely she washed the hand in acetone and it restored it back to colour instantly. Thank you Nancy, I'd have never dared to do that.
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ARNHEM SHOW
March 27th and 28th 2010
I'm very honored to have been invited to this new show as one of three special guests. The other two are Ronan-Jim Sevellec and my old friend from years ago Paul Ki-Kydd. My goodness, does that mean I'll have to behave?
Paul used to make fantastic furniture under the name Escutcheon and just wait till you see the breathtaking room boxes that Ronan does. His dirty windows are the best ever!
The show will be opened by Paul Rem of Museum Palace Het Loo in Appledoorn and will be held at Eusebius Church conference centre.
Rika and Marcus, who will be running it with their usual style, have very carefully, selected the professional artists and shopkeepers whose range will suit all pockets to inspire all those attending.
The show is on line at www.arnhemshow.com
The opening times will be
Saturday 12.00 - 19.00 and Sunday 10.00 - 17.00
Looking forward to seeing you there.
And it was fantastic, such a wonderful setting. Like selling in a medieval market inside this beautiful church.
The Dutch are the warmest people ever and understood my sense of humour. As they entered our room their eyes caught the 'Grandma's Still a Showgirl' group and burst out laughing.
Rika even managed to get me to go into the glass lift with the tease that there were workshops up there. I have vertigo and the lifts were just like those horrors at The Marriott in Times Square, though, of course, not so high.
Guess what? I'll be holding a workshop up there next year. The two rooms have a feeling of Harry Potter about them and I think they'll be fun to teach in. Well done Rika. Mind you if I were to keep drinking the Dutch coffee like I did I don't think I'll need the lift.
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