What is your most recent purchase...and Why?

[KathieB]

26 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

Thanks, Kathie.  I had not heard of a special ceramic decal, but it makes sense.  I haven't been impressed with any of the mini porcelain items I've seen.

Remember the distinctive blue pattern on Corningware bowls and other kitchen items? Those were ceramic decals. I once toured the factory where they were made. A good bit of the shop was taken up by the laboratory where the quality control was maintained. 

I agree with Jeannine that the mini porcelain items are too clunky, not to scale, especially the handles. 

[WyckedWood]

@Jeannine take a look at these and tell me what you think. I've bought plates etc. from this seller many times in the past years. What Ive done in the past is paint the plate white and add a water slide decal, then use high gloss varnish over the top...Now that I have my kiln I'm wondering if I can take these bisque plates and China paint them and fire them ? Seems like I could but wanted to check with you first. Would be a good practice with China painting at least until I can find or make a mold for my own dishes. 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=252794092491&globalID=EBAY-US 

 

All of you Christmas house shoppers...holiday scrap book paper could be a good source for wallpapers if you can find a reasonably small print. Another thought, use plain white plates and accessorize with fabric placemats, napkins, etc in a tiny holiday print. Savings could be used on pretty silverware. I personally love the Reutter porcelain Christmas sets. 

Most recent purchase was doll molds from Parker-Levi. I bought their molds to make 6 different porcelain children about age 3-4-5, one is sleeping. You buy the body, arms and legs separately and that is the basis for all of the children at that size boy or girl, then you buy the different heads that you want, they come in sets of two. The first picture with the girls in the wicker chair I got those 4 then the next picture I got the 2 on the right. Christmas money was burning a hole in my pocket. 

Also recently found another pretty rug for Gerties cottage. 

Enjoying seeing what everyone's buying and dreaming about. 

[NellBell]

I bought a curved staircase for the Pierce I saw one in a such and liked it. I was to scared to attempt it so bought one. I cost more than the first house I built.

I hope it actually looks nice I could't see how it looks on the second floor. I also bought 2 rug patterns thought i'd give it a try even though I haven't done anything like that for 30 years . sure there will be lots of ranting.

[NellBell]

1 hour ago, WyckedWood said:

@Jeannine take a look at these and tell me what you think. I've bought plates etc. from this seller many times in the past years. What Ive done in the past is paint the plate white and add a water slide decal, then use high gloss varnish over the top...Now that I have my kiln I'm wondering if I can take these bisque plates and China paint them and fire them ? Seems like I could but wanted to check with you first. Would be a good practice with China painting at least until I can find or make a mold for my own dishes. 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=252794092491&globalID=EBAY-US 

 

All of you Christmas house shoppers...holiday scrap book paper could be a good source for wallpapers if you can find a reasonably small print. Another thought, use plain white plates and accessorize with fabric placemats, napkins, etc in a tiny holiday print. Savings could be used on pretty silverware. I personally love the Reutter porcelain Christmas sets. 

Most recent purchase was doll molds from Parker-Levi. I bought their molds to make 6 different porcelain children about age 3-4-5, one is sleeping. You buy the body, arms and legs separately and that is the basis for all of the children at that size boy or girl, then you buy the different heads that you want, they come in sets of two. The first picture with the girls in the wicker chair I got those 4 then the next picture I got the 2 on the right. Christmas money was burning a hole in my pocket. 

Also recently found another pretty rug for Gerties cottage. 

Enjoying seeing what everyone's buying and dreaming about. 

These dolls are too cute 

[Goldenrodfarm]

Karin, I like those dishes, too bad I don't have a kiln, I always wanted one.  And your new dolls are going to be great, I like all the faces and separate legs and arms will give you a lot of latitude!  I wonder if I wandered up to UMPI (U of Maine at PI) and asked if I could put some minis in the kiln if they would oblige, I actually have an Art minor to go with my Chemistry and Life Science double major and spent a lot of time there working throwing pottery and making different clay mixes.  Making porcelain mix was my final, you had to successfully mix, throw and fire plus glaze your final project.  I was in a tea pot mode and made the cutest tiny tea pot and 4 tea cups.  However not tiny enough  for a doll house!

[Shareb]

I bought some polyfiller and two little sponge rollers.  I'm stuccoing my Pierce at present.....VERY tricky!!  I so wish I'd finished the outside before putting all the windows, roof etc on!

[Thimble Hall]

Karin the dishes are Ok but they are not porcelain bisque they are low fire earthenware bisque .  If you are OK with that you will have to glaze them and fire again .

 

[Debsrand56]

18 hours ago, wormwoodz said:

I also bought a family of small dolls in 1:24 scale, they arrived recently from Russia and are thinking about moving into the Fairfield.

That is a very sweet family!  They have such nice faces.  I think they would love to live in your beautiful Fairfield (although I can't remember whether you did a nursery in there).

[Debsrand56]

6 hours ago, KathieB said:

Remember the distinctive blue pattern on Corningware bowls and other kitchen items? Those were ceramic decals. I once toured the factory where they were made. A good bit of the shop was taken up by the laboratory where the quality control was maintained. 

This has been a fascinating discussion.  I never knew how they got the designs on china.

[Thimble Hall]

Deborah some china is hand painted but most commercial dishes even the very expensive ones are decals,it is china pint though.

Well I just broke down and bought some white ceramic glazed blanks in Thailand and China I have had them in my e bay basket for a week hoping I could find molds but no go so far. I bought from 2 sellers, both with a decent feedback but it is always a gamble and a long wait. I will add a gold rim and either hand paint and fire or use a decal and fire. I got cannisters too. They are described as ceramic, not porcelain but having said that they may be, fingers crossed.

The sellers names are                        wowminiatures and                     li.felice

[grazhina]

I bought clay bricks. While making my last 3 projects I suddenly decided, each time, that I needed a brick floor or sidewalk, but I didn't want to wait a couple of weeks for them to arrive, so I made them out of basswood strips. Now that I'll have packages of clay bricks, watch them sit, unused for months and months, because I'll have no need for bricks.

[wormwoodz]

1 hour ago, Debsrand56 said:

That is a very sweet family!  They have such nice faces.  I think they would love to live in your beautiful Fairfield (although I can't remember whether you did a nursery in there).

Ah no, I didn't exactly plan to have dolls in the house and I think I've cluttered the place a bit too much to fit a nursery at this point hehe. I guess I'm more of a fan of the dolls by themselves, when I place them inside they seam a bit out of place and all the small diferences in the scales of objects stand out even more than usual. Not a fault of the dolls themselves, just everything in comparrison. I don't notice this so much with miniature animals. 

 

I've never tried to decal miniature porcelain but I've seen those around, they look very cute. Prety much a lot of comercial porcelain is decal, I usually prefer hand painted but it can be quite expensive. It took me several years to collect a full dinning set (real size not miniature) of hand painted porcelain, very pretty but they aren't machine friendly or ideal for daily use I guess. Luckily we don't have to worry about washing mini dishes too much, hehe. I imagine decals with metal would have to be fired yes? Do they hold ok with regular everyday use?

[WyckedWood]

5 hours ago, Goldenrodfarm said:

Karin, I like those dishes, too bad I don't have a kiln, I always wanted one.  And your new dolls are going to be great, I like all the faces and separate legs and arms will give you a lot of latitude!  I wonder if I wandered up to UMPI (U of Maine at PI) and asked if I could put some minis in the kiln if they would oblige, I actually have an Art minor to go with my Chemistry and Life Science double major and spent a lot of time there working throwing pottery and making different clay mixes.  Making porcelain mix was my final, you had to successfully mix, throw and fire plus glaze your final project.  I was in a tea pot mode and made the cutest tiny tea pot and 4 tea cups.  However not tiny enough  for a doll house!

Wow that's impressive Barb, I think you should just go ahead and get your own kiln lol (were all enablers you know) and think of the warmth the kiln will throw off  

Thanks for taking a look Jeannine. Interesting. 

The dolls that I got..that size will be great for so many scenes...trick or treaters, Hansel and Gretel...

[Thimble Hall]

Ashley I am not sure what you mean about decals with metal, do you mean putting a decal on to metal or do you mean decals that have a metal content like gold or platinum

 

My everyday china I use is  a Royal Albert pattern, it goes through the dishwasher everyday, it takes a couple of years but eventually the gold comes off, so when it fades a lot I use a gold eraser and take the remaining off.

 

Ashley I would love to see what design you have in your hand painted china