Sunday 31 January 2010

The Search for the Mountain Hare

This morning despite the freezing temperatures and the early hour, myself, my husband and my son Elliot all got up and went out. We were in search of the elusive mountain hare and thought we had a better chance of seeing it in the early hours of the morning. The Derwent near where we live is the only place outside of Scotland that you can see them in the UK. This is supposed to be the best time of year to spot them as the snow has almost gone but they still have their distinctive white coats. Unfortunately we did not get to see any hares but we did see some truly beautiful scenery.



What a great start to a a Sunday!


I have been doing some work on my 144th scale garden room this weekend. I have built some furniture for the garden. Having decided that the original bench and table were just the wrong scale to go with the furniture I had built for the interior, I have made some new pieces. I used bits from 2 different kits that I bought from http://www.insomesmallway.co.uk/ . The kits I used are designed by Susan Karatjas of SDK Miniatures. I used two chairs from the kitchen table set and an end table from the little round tables kit. I painted them black once I had built them to make them look similar to wrought iron furniture.




That is an english penny next to them for scale.


Then I set about painting the grand piano to go in the room. I can imagine sitting at the piano playing it whilst looking out through the open french doors into the garden. It was quite a task. This is the first time I have even attempted to paint detail on any furniture let alone 144th scale. I am quite pleased with the result although the keys are just a bit wonky!!!!



Again the penny for scale.



I have been doing a lot of planning on my 24th scale french house. I have decided on the design of the exterior and am hoping to make a start on it this week. I have got some Realistic Brick Compound and am going to have a bash at using it for the quoins down the sides. So you never know fingers crossed the next post will be a picture of those done.

1 comment:

Joey's Dream Garden said...

Hiya Claire!
I didn't know that you got mountain hares up there! but then, it's pretty high up there. You wouldn't have wanted to go this morning, it was freezing and that's in the city centre!
The furniture is (as always) just too cute!! You've done a grand job on the piano (sorry! I promise that pun wasn't premeditated!!) I know how tiny it is!!
Joey xxxx