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| Miniatur Puppenwelt Wengen |
This is the second year I have attended the
MiniaturItalia fair in Milano. Last year I did go and my husband and I made a weekend of it so we decided to do the same this year as well.
I really didn’t make a ton of purchases last year but since this year I am pretty well along on the Japanese project I had some very clear ideas about what I needed and didn’t. I also have been surfing the net and seeing the prices that are out there and felt that some of the artisans at the show really did deserve the prices they were asking. I mean if I cannot make something as well or as beautiful as an artisan, why shouldn’t I make an exception and purchase their work? I cannot really afford a lot of objects but each one is pretty much the make or break detail that is needed in my own piece of art. So, this time I was a little more open with the wallet even if I am still laid off at work. What the hell. You never know when the next opportunity may present itself.
Miniatur Puppenwelt Wengen was the first table I hit as it was in fact the first table when I walked in the first room. They had a nice selection of some resin vases as well as a beagle dog. I cannot resist beagle dogs. Anyway, I am gathering materials for my second project (once the ryokan is finished) which is a normal 1/12 scale so I decided to get a few unique little things. I liked the block vases with the Florentine giglio on them. I also liked the little terracotta pot with the mold growing on it. And of course the dog who will be part of the diorama. I also splurged on the stove. It is really quite lovely and will fit into the tea room area. I’m going to have to finish it differently but it’s just too cute to pass up. I ended up spending around €40.00 here.
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| Miniatur Puppenwelt Wengen |
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| Angie Scarr |
My next stop was at
Angie Scarr’s table which is usually impossible to approach. I hit it just right tho. I was looking for some fish and she did have a few that I will be able to use in the irori firepit - final details - to finish that room. I also got a nice slab of salmon for the kitchen block. She didn’t have any of her books left but did inform me that she will be offering ebooks on her site (yay!) for download. Her stuff is still pricey but you cannot deny that these fish are super realistic. The pic of the salmon doesn’t do it justice. I spent around €14.00 there.
I wandered round a bit in this room but the objects were not what I needed so I went into the main hall. We did our voting then I made a direct line to
Elisabeth Causeret’s table. I bought some ceramics from her last year but this year she had outdone herself. There were so many exciting little things! The teapots and tea warmers! I couldn’t resist making some serious little purchases here. I think my favorite is the decorated jug with the little wooden spigot. I also managed to find more bowls and tumblers for the ryokan. The 1/20 scale makes it difficult to find pottery for the table settings. Elisabeth’s tumblers and bowls are prefect! I even like the grey rustic looking tumblers - they look Japanese in manufacture! I spent around €48.00 here too.
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| Elisabeth Causeret |
I had seen some bonsai trees last year and thought it was an excessive purchase. I did end up getting a 1/12 tree from another site but it’s just ridiculously too big (yet I will be able to use it in the other project) so I broke down and got a bonsai from
Manuela Ferraresi. I was looking for the kind of bonsai that drops down over the edge of a table but also had to be deep green - like a pine of some sort. Well, she had one. I took that plus a small table decoration with tiny plants. She packaged up the tree in her own little bonsai carrier - the cutiest damn thing!! - with such love and attention. Definitely one of my favorite purchases. They had tables for the bonsai as well as small scrolls but those are things I am sure I can make. The bonsai and the little decoration cost me €27.00 total.
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| Emaniraresulfare - Manuela Ferraresi |
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| Emaniraresulfare |
As I was leaving the bonsai table, there was a table with baskets. I had never seen such perfect little baskets! Usually the string or twine or thread most use still looks like normal thread or twine. These did not.
Genziana Bellé Miniature makes baskets of all types and all scales that look to scale! They truly look like the reed used in actual baskets. What’s more, in chatting with her, she is someone who likes a challenge. She made a baguette basket in a 1/144 scale that was perfect! I am looking for a baguette basket that looks like a cornucopia and she had never heard of it so immediately was asking me to send her a pic so she could give it a try. That’s what’s great about this hobby. If it becomes just a business - making the same things over and over - there’s no more challenge or fun in it. I just may have her make me my baguette basket!
My last two stops for purchases was to be an English miniaturist but she wasn’t there this year. Instead I bought a small pub toy from
Jane Harrop. You would think the UK tables would bring lots more pub stuff (although I did find an Italian table with limited pub like objects) but perhaps they had sold out by the time I got around to them. I then moved around to a table with lots of small metal stamped grills. No one had a round grill. I have been trying to figure out a way to make a small table kettle heater for the ryokan but I need to find a grill cover. I just may have to make it. But I did find a few little objects at
Le mini di Pierluigi . I picked up a grill for another hibachi which I will make for the back garden and a trivet which I can use as a grill perhaps if I make my tabletop heater from fimo or something. Always ideas.
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| Le mini di Pierluigi |
So the show was nice. There seemed to be a few less tables and less people but I got there right after lunch on Saturday and usually there are lots more people in the afternoon. The voting for the roomboxes and the dollhouse was very limited this year. But perhaps the theme wasn’t popular for the box and I can appreciate the fear of having to bring your precious dollhouse into a large setting like that. I can’t imagine entering my ryokan and leaving it there for two days! I’d be terrified people would steal stuff from it or break something! So bringing a full house is understandably a risk hence there were only two houses to vote on. Anyway, all of them were very nice!
My husband and I then enjoyed our weekend in Milan. We had pouring rain all evening but we still managed to get to the zone of Navigli which has all kinds of canals. There were tons of shops and little clubs. We hit a few for cocktails, then spritz, then a burger. It’s easy to get around with the metro. Had it not rained so much it would have been funner. The next day we met up for lunch (by chance!) with my work colleague who was going to the show again (she had gone in the morning and was going back) and we exchanged info about our purchases. Anyway, it was a good weekend. Too bad that two days after I got home I came down with a fever and am now being treated for bronchial pneumonia. Never had that in my life. WTF. I don’t think it was the rain tho. Just metro, train and bumping into sick people. Shit happens as they say.
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