Sunday March 17, 2024
Baby Jesuses
These little guys have been occupying my attention for a couple of weeks - and the pleasure of restoring them has slightly renewed my interest my seemingly abandoned porcelain doll hobby. They belong to my friend Chris; she does not have two full-blown nativity scenes, just these two figures handed, down through the family and making their appearances at Christmas. However, over the years they had become quite broken and her family were encouraging her to ditch them - but I thought they were quite lovely. Chris had attempted a repair with plaster of Paris (they are plaster figures) but it's not very workable and the result was ... well... awful.
So, initially, I had to carefully pick off all the added plaster without further damaging the original or causing more paint to flake off.
I moved on to mending the major breakages on the larger figure with Superfine Milliput - one set of fingers reattached to the hand using wooden pegs. The other fingers, which were completely missing, I moulded using air-drying clay - pegged them in place - and added more milliput. I did try cleaning, but I suspect he has some layer of varnish like an old oil painting and I could not seem to remove it - even using just water - without removing underlying paint layers, so his face and neck have remained a little discoloured.The smaller figure needed work on the (much more intricate) fingers, and the remoulding of a foot.
Then, there was a lot of sanding, painting, and blending using Seeley's body paint - which is great as a smooth covering layer but was hard to match to the original paint. I had to discipline myself to a "less is more" approach, because the figures are relatively roughly made, and in some places I found myself sanding rough areas that were part of the original casting. So - after all that, I touched up other areas using fine surface filler, acrylics, emulsion paint (his gown) and a gold roller ball pen! A true multi-media figure.
[Note that I looked up the plural of Jesus which agreed with what I thought on the matter, but the reference noted that " Jesus is rarely if ever pluralized" - however this would be a case in point...]
Posted on March 17, 2024 at 8:23 AM. Category: Crafts. | Comments (0)
Monday March 4, 2024
Dune 2
An inevitable outing to see the second part of the drama. Don't ask me about the plot, (almost felt I needed to read the book again - it's only been 50 years or so), but the visuals were amazing.
Posted on March 4, 2024 at 9:12 PM. Category: Art and Culture. | Comments (0)
Thursday February 29, 2024
Books in February
- Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
The fifth in the perfectly splendid DI Hawthorne series. In this book, as promised in an interview I heard in 2022, Horowitz (Anthony) varies the style in his role as "Watson" recording the cases of Hawthorne, the "consulting detective".
It seems Anthony has a contractual obligation to the publishers for another book, and since, as he explains to Hawthorne, they can't just wait for another case to turn up, Anthony persuades Hawthorne that he will write about an old case which took place in Richmond in Surrey 5 years previously. However, when it comes to it, they've agreed on a case that proves somewhat unsatisfactory in many respects, not least because Hawthorne seems unwilling to reveal all the relevant information to Anthony. Consequently - despite being warned off by a number of people - Anthony goes off on his own, investigating and re-interviewing witnesses...
Again we are treated to a fictionalised but plausibly real version of Anthony's life with anecdotes and insights into an the art of writing a novel. [Plus an opportunity for him to play with the fiction he has created: "A lot of writers say that their characters talk to them but very few of them mean it literally."].
A sheer delight.
Can't wait for more.
[Again lucky enough to be given a review copy of this novel due to be published in April.] - The Night House by Jo Nesbo
This Jo Nesbo novel was quite a surprise for me (not an unpleasant one). Having only ever read his Harry Hole detective fiction previously, I was expecting a dose of conventional Scandi Noir. I suppose, to be fair it is pretty noir, and given that Jo is Norwegian, it is also Scandi; it is, however, far from conventional.
I remained unsure for most of the novel if the genre were science fiction/fantasy/horror or if we had a case of the unreliable narrator, but whatever I settled on, I was undoubtedly gripped from the opening chapter, and found it hard to put the book down thereafter. With two (or more...) major twists to the plot, and - all important for me - a most satisfactory ending, this is an excellent book. Recommended if you can cope with weird. - The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [Read by Stephen Fry]
I have read most of the short story collections but notice, from where I left a bookmark in this last volume, I did not read all of them. So I chose to listen to ones that were new to me, and found - a surprise to me - that Doyle varied the form a little, for example, having Holmes write and narrate a story himself without Watson.
Once again Stephen Fry is an excellent narrator.
[Again I downloaded The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes from my local library, as opposed to buying the whole collection from Audible.]
Posted on February 29, 2024 at 9:15 AM. Category: Books of the Month. | Comments (0)
Cluedo 2
I missed out on Cluedo 1 but I did very much enjoy this Cluedo 2.
It's a splendidly stagey play with delightful tongue-in-cheek costumes, and apparently minimal props and scenery - but really only because of the skill of the scene changes smoothly executed by the cast almost as part of the action. Everything is colour-coded of course - with the introduction of few extra characters and a "Mr Grey".
I do have to mention that it was somewhat lacking in any real plot - but then so is the board game - and with the lovely visual interest and excellent acting, plot becomes very much an "also ran" element.
Posted on February 29, 2024 at 8:58 AM. Category: Art and Culture. | Comments (0)
Saturday February 17, 2024
Textile Sudoku
Our Guild workshop today was with Jennie Rayment - a wonderful teacher whom I would recommend unreservedly. She was extremely polished and well-organised and took us through a packed agenda, ensuring we made all our pieces ready for taking home at the end of the day ready for embellishing ("twiddling") further (if required!).
Here are a couple of examples of our completed items:
This is as far as I got with my square by the end of the lesson - all the elements are in place, so you can see how interesting it it that they turn into such delightful origami pieces once "twiddled"!
Posted on February 17, 2024 at 7:31 PM. Category: Crafts. | Comments (0)
Saturday February 3, 2024
Drop the Dead Donkey - the reawakening
We went to Richmond to see this tour of Drop the Dead Donkey, which was essentially a follow-on ("where are they now?") from the much-loved sitcom from the 1990s. It was aimed exactly at us fans of a certain age, and totally hit the mark. Great fun.
Posted on February 3, 2024 at 8:20 PM. Category: Art and Culture. | Comments (0)
Thursday February 1, 2024
Guildford
Today I met Alison in Guildford on a mission to view the available replacements for her Pfaff sewing machine, which has started to go wrong. Far from feeling the excitement of this opportunity to get something shiny and new, coming to terms with parting with the old one is very difficult. We purchased our machines at much the same time over 30 years ago and they are old friends, so I know how she feels. And even now, with the machine safely snugged into her workroom, there is a frisson of disappointment that it really offers no improvement on her old machine, and inevitably has one or two annoying quirks that she needs to get used to.
I looked at the brand new Bernina models - eye-watering prices that I could possibly afford - but I would not feel able to let go of my old (fully functioning) machine - and I really don't need two.
We lunched at the Ivy, (belated birthday celebration - though I did not stand on the chair and receive a cake with a sparkler!), and Alison gave me some wonderful sheepskin mittens that she got for me while holidaying in Norway.
Posted on February 1, 2024 at 7:28 PM. Category: Days Out. | Comments (0)
