A final flavour of Miniatura Autumn 2010.

There is so much to tell you about the Min. I thought this time the exhibits were so wonderful it’s a problem to show you the show in such a small space. Each year some visitors do try to see everything, which, considering there are regularly between 250 and 300 exhibits, is ambitious to say the least; you would never visit a town, planning to see everything in 250 shops in a day, would you? Although this is only the third online Min report, already large numbers of readers are using this resource to get the best out of the show; if there are ways you think I can help to enhance your visit in the future, do let me know.

This time I’ll try my best to show you things you couldn’t know or see without me. Stand holders have been incredibly patient with me popping up asking stupid questions and getting in the way when they were trying to set up. Talking of the set up, one of the facets of the show that has always amazed its inventor, Muriel Hopwood, is the dedication of those exhibitors who place by hand hundreds of individual miniatures, so that collectors can have the one they choose from many. Having the chance to own many unique collectables made by skilled professionals is an aspect of the hobby that distinguishes it from all others.

We last caught up with Anne Dalton of Ottervale China when she was starting the daunting task of placing her fine bone china ornaments on her stand assisted by her daughter, Jo. Jo, who deserves a medal or at least a big kiss if you see her helping at a show, counted all of these for you as they put them out, because once I asked the question they had to know themselves just how many items there were. Here’s Anne with Jo, behind her, nearly finished, early on Saturday morning.

Have a look at all the bone china miniatures made by Anne.

Such as these houses, first on to the stand. Can you spot them in the middle now that part of the set up is complete?

This is only half of the front of the stand

all of it looks like this and there’s another bit round the side. The miniatures are small. I shoved my finger in the shot so you can see just how weeny we’re talking about.

You can get some idea of the detail and the reasonable prices. So, how many items do you think there are? The answer is at the end of the article.

On Friday we also had a quick look at Tony Knott getting ready to set up his new range of furniture. If you are a miniaturist who likes to live in the past, you’ll probably be well acquainted with Tony. Here are two views of the latest furniture, each piece has at least 15 layers of finish after which this is also the sort of handmade miniature collectable where you can be sure that yours is yours alone.

Great stuff. Tony also had a new range of lighting with candles hand dribbled by experts.

Ho varlet! It makes you realise just how individual each miniaturist’s miniverse can be.

Jane Davies, for example makes the most quintessentially English porcelain dolls. Here is something you’d never normally see – it’s Jane setting up her dolls. They are so like her

don’t you think?

How are you on English nursery rhymes? Who do you think this is with a rocking sheep?

Keen readers of this column will have noticed me banging on about Terry Curran, virtuoso potter. It looks as if Lewis Curran may follow in his father’s footsteps, he has already produced some fireplaces that are true tiled miniatures but here he is appearing for the first time selling at Miniatura on his own stand next to his father.

And here is the fireplace in question.

It’s very like the Curran’s own full size fireplace. If it looks like yours and you wish you had something posher, then you may take note that miniatures is a way of having the stately home you feel you deserve without having to have hundreds of visitors trooping through it each day. Unless of course your name is John Hodgson, in which case you most certainly will have hundreds trooping past your tester bed and ogling your bergere chair. In fact, let’s join in:

Susan Bembridge now supplies many of the textiles for the Hodgson’s furnishings and very splendid they look too. Or would the Blue State room be better with stripes?

Yours would probably be better without the giant Jane in the mirror, taking the photo. It’s like wandering around a very upmarket antique shop, isn’t it?

John and Sue Hodgson now have an entire range of furniture cast in resin from John’s original carvings. As John is arguably one of the finest miniature furniture makers and carvers in the world today, this brings the possibility of the very best eighteenth century meubles in reach of the hoi polloi like you and me. This is very nice; I have entire days when I feel I should be sleeping in a bed like this:

attended by gilded flunkeys.

In miniature, it could really happen. And so to bed,

perchance to get up at crack of dawn to show you something you could never see without me. When I took this photo, very first thing on Sunday morning, the only people in the hall were Bob Hopwood, a security guard and me.

Crikey, space the final frontier, though artisans began arriving soon enough. Here they come, can you see them just appearing up by the information stand? Take a good look because I am only getting up at half past night on a Sunday morning to show you this, once.

The final day brought visitors like drowned rats, who quickly dried out, the NEC being the day out, indoors, that is so well suited to the British weather.

As you may recall I share a table with Bettina Kaminski, maker of the world’s smallest teddy, whose son, Kristof, came to help her for the second time, having saved up his pocket money to do so. Kristof is getting a very good eye for miniatures, when asked by his mother of there was a little present he wanted, he immediately homed in on this miniature automaton from the St Legers stand.

No wonder his face is lighting up like a beacon, this is possibly the best miniature automaton Lawrence and Angela have ever made. When his mother found out it cost £100, she speedily informed him there was absolutely no chance, though she did buy him one of the others, which start at £20. Didn’t stop him wanting it, though I think this is the closest he’ll get. There’s Angela in the background.

This miniature was a commissioned item, however, Lawrence and Angela did request that they be allowed to make a few to sell themselves. They produced ten, which took three weeks, time spent laboriously making minute springs and drilling tiny holes very exactly in metal, which, for Lawrence and Angela, usually means recycled baked bean tins. The full sized artefact they are reproducing so faithfully is Robert Houdin’s Orange Tree. You can see Paul Daniels with his version and learn about influential French conjurer Robert Houdin here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ht_afydffk

Lawrence will now do some even better magic for you. Goodness knows what it would cost for Paul Daniels to pop round your place and do the trick but here, Ladiesngentlemen before your very eyes:

This very automaton, shown on the actual hand of Lawrence St Leger, when wound by the winder will, on this actual tiny tree

bring forth at first flowers and then

fruit and finally

the butterflies bearing the silk handkerchief. And that’s magic! (No it isn’t, it’s the St Legers, which is much the same thing.)

I collect St Leger automata, at the end I’ll show you the one that got away from me which I’ll collect next time. But first please meet Miniatura visitor Cynthia Micklewright with her latest acquisition.

Cynthia started collecting Miniatures by the St Legers when she got a mini house in 1987, buying a lot of brushes and household items, for which Lawrence and Angela are also famous. Then she got started on the toys, collecting at the rate of about ten a year. Her ambition is to collect more automata than a very famous lady collector who used to run the London Dollshouse Festival and has a huuuuuge collection. Cynthia, working hard at it, had 103 St Leger automata when I caught up with her, though that number is possibly out of date by the time you read this. Incidentally if you feel you cannot live without the wonderful orange tree, Angela has just rung to say there are two left. Do you feel fated to have one? Is it Kismet? Opinions are divided but some people think that the death of Nelson involved the saying ‘It’s Kismet, Hardy’. Others, such as Lawrence and Angela are certain they heard him say ‘Kiss me Hardy’, so, in their working model of this scene from history, he does.