Saturday 13 December 2014

KT Miniatures Has Now Closed For The Festive Season....

KT MINIATURES IS NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS UNTIL JANUARY 2nd 2015

With KT Miniatures' 18th year of trading coming to an end, and a 19th year of trading looming....it is time once again to evaluate and reflect on how this year has been and more importantly, plan for next year.   
  
THE PAST YEAR 
Am delighted to say that business has been brilliant this past year, even completely bonkers at times but I have loved every single minute.  I hope that KT Miniatures or even just this KT Miniatures Journal has brought a little bit of enjoyment into your tiny dolls house and miniature world too!  

CHANGES AHEAD 
As time has progressed, it has become clearly apparent that there has been a very real shift in KT Miniatures' working practice where creating time for the website's "Exclusive Handmade Items Section" has become hugely limited. Consequently that part of the website has become quite static of late so there is a definite need once more to give KT Miniatures a gentle nudge on a slightly different path on how this side of the business is to be organised.  I hope to implement some real positive changes early in the new year but more about that another day.....  


A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY  
 Saturday 21st February 2015
KT Miniatures will be exhibiting at this Oxfordshire annual event, as always.

MR KT MINIATURES
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to send messages with regards to Mr KT Miniatures - the latest is that although he is still rather poorly he is back home from hospital once more and being well looked after. It is unusual for me to close so early before Xmas but due to the ever changing ongoing events here just at the moment with Mr KT, he has to be my priority.  Any orders that come in whilst I am closed will be dealt with at the beginning of January.

AND FINALLY....
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you for your custom and wonderful friendship throughout this year, and wish you all
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KT MINIATURES!


From 
CeliaX

Celia Thomas


Wednesday 10 December 2014

Website Back Up & Running This Morning...

Hmmm...for most of last night, both KT Miniatures and our Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops websites were completely offline. I can only apologise to those of you who may have found this frustrating but this was completely out of my control. As I was quietly panicking last night, I finally discovered that apparently my website host 1&1 were under a massive DDos attack yesterday so in the end, they shut their whole system down- resulting in 1000's of websites everywhere going offline last night - so I was in good company!!! All I could do was sit and wait but this morning, fingers and everything crossed - all seems to be back up as normal. Modern technology eh....is great as long as it works!

PLEASE NOTE THAT I WILL BE CLOSING ON SATURDAY 13TH DECEMBER FOR XMAS
CeliaX

Tuesday 9 December 2014

KT Miniatures Closing For Xmas In Just 4 Days...So Please Place Your Xmas Order Now To Avoid Disappointment!

First up.......many thanks to absolutely everyone for your lovely messages both private and on here with regards to Mr KT Miniatures. You are all such a lovely supportive lot and have cheered me up no end! The latest news is that he has been in and out of hospital again since my last posting on here and is now proper poorly but I managed to put some rather lovely miniatures up on the website last week.....and although most were snapped up almost immediately, I will still highlight them on here for you, as I thought you may enjoy seeing the photos. 
However, at the moment of writing this, the lovely little miniature pug dog seen above is still looking for a new owner.....he is believed to be a c1910 cold painted bronze Viennese pug dog on a brass stand. I have never seen or handled anything quite like this before so have had to do a bit of research.

It did come along with some very old turn of the century antique dolls house items many months ago now and it would look fantastic in an antique dolls house....maybe in a grand hallway, corner of a drawing room or even standing outside a front door?


Ot it may make an unusual Xmas present for a miniature dog lover? From the base of the stand to the top of his ears, it measures 1 3/4" high...so quite small.
He can be found on the following page:
http://ktminiatures.com/Antique_Vintage_General.html

And now for something truly delightful....needless to say this was snapped up immediately it went up for sale....


 A circa 1920s/30s dolls house aquarium.......the celluloid stand has a real Art Deco style to it. If you look carefully you may just spot the tiny red fish in the far right hand side, peeping out from behind! The stand is embellished with tiny shells-very pretty.
As you can see from the photo above, this has a label on the back from the famous Charles Morrell toy shop of the Burlington Arcade....so this is quite something and rare indeed!  I have not been able to find out who the maker was but this is extremely well made from a high quality artisan.Truly stunning - I think you will agree!

Then there were these two little plaster Toby jugs made by Kaybot/Kays - now becoming more difficult to get hold of in good condition. Because they were made of plaster, in young hands plaster dolls house items were prone to breakages....but these two little beauties were in immaculate condition.
Unsurprisingly, both of these were snapped up immediately they went up for sale but I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures.

Ok folks....please note I will be closing earlier than normal for this time of year (for obvious reasons), in just four days time on

Saturday 13th December

Therefore....please tell Santa to put your Xmas order in before Saturday now to avoid disappointment.
Many thanks
Celia
PS. At the time of writing this posting...I do have plenty of Marion Osborne books in stock if anyone was still thinking of placing an order for any of these.

Thursday 27 November 2014

How Quickly Life Can Change!



 I suspect that most of you who know me and KT Miniatures well, had wondered why I have been so quiet of late and why very little has been added to the website recently.   

How quickly life can change! 

Much of my time since the last blog posting was put up has been spent at hospital with Mr KT Miniatures, who has been very poorly indeed. 

Last week I had the misfortune to experience my first ambulance ride ever and sincerely hope I never have to do that again! (I swear I have more grey hairs than this time last week...ha ha)!  I will spare you the graphic details but I still shake at the knees just at the mere memory.  Am happy to say that he is back home today and am now multi tasking as I delve back into the wonderful world of miniatures, but this time with my nursing hat back on.

Please note that I may well have to close earlier than normal before Xmas - at the moment I am estimating 13th December...so it is advisable to place your orders sooner rather than later. I have some beautiful miniatures to put up for sale and will highlight some of them on here, when they have been listed over the next few days.
Celia
 

Thursday 20 November 2014

Some Beautiful Miniature Irish Glassware....Stunning!


Just put up for sale yesterday was some gorgeous old miniature glassware, all over 50 years old and all were purchased in Ireland just after WW2, over a period from 1947 to 1952. 
 This has to be one of my favourites...it is truly delightful and stands at a height of 2 1/4" high. It would look rather splendid in a vintage dolls house, either 1/12th scale or in an old dolls house where scale does not matter. The little orange tips gives the impression that this is lit.....exquisite!
Then there is this all glass fireside companion set, complete with stand and four tools. I have never seen anything quite like this before. It is also believed to be Irish Glassware.
I found this so difficult to photograph as I kept getting a reflection each time I had a go....sorry but this is the best I can do....the photo simply does not do this justice.  It is amazing how the previous owner took such great care with this glassware, considering she was given this as a child. She told me that she was given all these by her father between the years of 1947 and 1952, as he used to visit Ireland a lot on business back then and each time, would bring her back something for her dolls house.
Now this glass clock with paper dial is fascinating....simply because Dol-Toi used to sell these but they were made by another company, which is unknown. So...I wonder if the glass company was Irish...who knows? But I love this little clock, is so stylish with the tubular triangular glass base.....again, this is exquisite.

These can be found for sale on the following page:
ktminiatures.com/Antique_Vintage_Living_Dining_Room.html

Various jugs, glasses etc. have been added to the following page....all useful for the vintage dolls house kitchen:
ktminiatures.com/Antique_Vintage_Kitchen.html

Why not take a peek?
Celia

Tuesday 18 November 2014

A Little Miniature Vintage Toy Shop....

At last we can reveal more of our impending Summer 2015 Workshop. So here it is....
So basically we will be making an authentic 1/12th scale replica of  a late 1800s/early 1900s miniature shop in true antique/ vintage dolls house style! We decided to interpret this project as a vintage toy shop, and included with this project will be materials and instructions to make over 30 quality toys based mainly on the later era of the 1920s/30s.
Painting techniques and some of the constructional methods used in this project are the same used in dolls house restoration, so for those of you who are very much into antique and vintage dolls houses, this particular project may have added interest to you.
You will have an opportunity to embellish your shop front and we will show you how to make your shop look decades old....great fun!
With the combined skills of both my workshop colleague Robin Britton and myself we have produced a very different kind of workshop project this time...we hope you like it.
Some of the toys will blow your socks off...but yes, you can make them too!
Take for instance, this replica of a 1930s toy Tri-ang laundry set including mangle! 
Or how about this weeny pull along miniature boat on wheels...photographed standing on Robin's finger!
 
Then there is this tiny little train. 
 
The materials used for many of these toys will amaze you...not quite what you'd expect....but then, we love to turn ordinary everyday materials into beautiful miniatures! Many of these toys would most definitely look  quite at home in a vintage dolls house nursery, so if you are a vintage dolls house enthusiast and have never been to one of our workshops before...why not give it a try?
 
 We are aiming to run this all day workshop at our Bicester (UK) venue once more, on a Saturday in June 2015 but are not able to confirm the date until January 2015, due to the venue's booking restrictions. So meanwhile, we are operaing a RESERVE LIST.  If you would like to add your name to this list so that you can be offered a priority place before booking goes live on the website in January, please do get in touch asap.

The promotional page is now up live on our Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops website, and as we get more photos, they will be added to that page.