This spring Miniatura is being held in the Pavilion, which is a separate building from the main NEC Piazza. Large shows are on in the main buildings at the same time. Mindful of the needs of early arrivers, the organisers have created a special indoor concourse in the Pavilion where you will be able to wait in the warm with access to refreshments, cloakroom and toilets. This could also be a good place to meet up with anyone in your party attending other shows. So, whether arriving en masse or planning to be first in the queue, a warm welcome awaits in the Pavilion at the time that suits you; the show opens at 10am.
If you are on the regular Miniatura visitor mailing list you will have received a very large postcard with a picture of a rocking horse on it. If you wish to enter the free prize draw to win a miniature rocking horse, please remember to bring the card with you, having also remembered to fill in the details on the reverse. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be, please visit the information stand during the show, we promise it will take very little of your shopping time.
There is a mezzanine level in the Pavilion where you will find the refreshment area, the workshops described in an earlier Midweek Miniatura and a chance to reconcile your bird’s eye view of the hall with the floor plan.
A treat usually reserved for the Autumn show is the appearance of the French Club Magazine with some unmissable photography, so if you are usually a Spring only visitor, you may wish to add this to your ‘must see’ list.
I didn’t dare to contact other exhibitors this week. Right now they’ll either be frantically working, frantically packing, up in an aeroplane or other wise stratospherically busy. Many years ago Hilary Spedding of the Dolls House Draper told me a wonderful story which illustrates the state of mind of the average exhibitor as the time ticks down. The Dolls House Draper has always carried a vast amount of tiny bits of miniature haberdashery, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of little bags of ribbon, fabric, trimmings and so on that have to be sorted, organised, and priced for the show, a task which is a bit on the endless side. The night before the show Hilary had just gone on packing until the dawn, the birdsong and the daylight. Knowing that her husband would be very concerned and cross with her for staying up all night working, she quickly and quietly crept upstairs, put her nightgown on and lay on the bed just as the alarm went off. Then she wished her husband good morning, leapt out of bed and carried on.
Similarly time poor, I did go to the funeral last Friday but missed the party, preferring to assemble the 24th scale children instead and got this far by midnight.
Time well spent, I think. The following morning, starting jolly early I strung the kiln experiment, here she is sitting on the pin tray:
With a bit of luck, a following wind and a lot of midnight oil, she may even have a wig and some clothes by the weekend. Meanwhile, in the last two 30 hour days the children are dressed, packed and in the box waiting to go. Here are the first few I finished:
Very cute, all under 2 inches and flexible; would that all problems were the same!
I do hope you have enjoyed the Midweek Miniatura feature over the last couple of months. If you are new to miniature art and are suddenly gripped with the desire to see for yourself, I’d like to remind you that Sunday is the public entry, pay at the door day. If you can get there, we will be there, some of us may even have slept before then. If you’re an old hand, bring the postcard, if you are a new visitor, bring comfortable shoes.
There will be another NEC Midweek Miniatura feature on JaneLaverick.com starting after the August bank holidays. Over the weekend there will be news from the show as it happens and on Friday there will be news here of a free gift from me for readers who are also show visitors.
Between now and then I hope to get some sleep, expect to get through a heap of work and believe I’ll leave more cups of tea to go cold than I’ll get hot dinners!
