Finding my focus

Here I was beating myself up because I hadn't done much in the way of minis last month (you know, despite the usual summer heat sapping my energy, a couple of weeks fighting something off (which, as I wander through my archives, seems also to be a late-summer tradition) and then, finally, succumbing to several days in bed to finally see it off. Oh, and that small fact that this is supposed to be my hobby, not an obligation...)

And then this evening I downloaded my Instagram photos and discovered that there had, indeed, been a stream of miniatures through my life over the past couple of weeks.

First up was the arrival of what I have now dubbed The Boomerang Box:

Which contained (amongst other treats) a custom rubber stamp (which I knew about), and a miniature Shopping Sherpa tote (which I didn't!).

In true Pepper-always-the-eye-for-detail style, itcontained a miniature wallet to pay for the miniature shopping that was going to be put inside...

Later the same week, J&M and I went to a Friday-night event at Gorman Arts Centre and stumbled across an intriguing-looking exhibit by Tom Buckland at CCAS:

Titled Constellation, each peephole contained a tiny scene.

 (Which turned out to be very difficult to photograph well with a phone camera!)

There's a much better photo of the scene below on Tom's Facebook page, for instance,

 and more photos of the scenes on his Instagram page.

The eagle-eyed amongst you (hey, if you're a miniaturist, that's all of you), will have noticed some of the peep holes had small buttons beneath them. If you pressed the buttons, there was light and/or movement in the scenes.

Once again, I did the best I could with the camera I had:

Finally, speaking of videos: I had two sightings of dolls houses on screen in the past week.

First up, was in the children's bedroom of the (rather excellent) movie Hidden Figures, which I took myself to see last Friday afternoon.

And this evening I spotted this beauty in the hallway of a house in the first episode of the 70s/80s TV show Sapphire and Steel (which I remember loving as a child, when I found it cheap on DVD at latest Lifeline Bookfair):

(See it for yourself at around 18:50 of this video on YouTube)

So, as I stare at the range of bits and bobs on my desk (accumulated since the beginning of the year, and waiting to be dealt with now that it's cooler (and I'm better)), I've decided that I need to stop being so hard on myself and just try to have fun. 

(Because, really, what says 'fun' more than a glittery guitar, a flying duck, a slightly cross-eyed owl and two fried eggs? Especially when they're small enough to stick in your pocket?)