End-of-year reflections

I marked the last day of miniature-making year by sorting my rubbish supplies.You know, those zillions of boxes and jars in which you save all will-come-handy-one-day things that you then forget about and never find when you need them. Boxes into which you sweep all current projects from the desk when guest are expected. Bits of wire, buttons, plastic cogs, golf pegs, broken pens, pretty ribbons. I do have well-organised Very Useful Boxes for all these things, but sometimes you are in a hurry or simply too lazy to put things in the right place. However, at least once a year...

Whether there is a symbolic significance in this action I don't know.

I have also thrown away a good deal of saved materials of the kind that are easily replaced, like champagne wire or tea lights. I have once again stated that there is a lot of stuff I haven't used so far, but maybe one day. It has happened that I found a thing useful five years after I had saved it.

For the first time in weeks and weeks I can see the surface of my workbench. For how long?

In the middle of the afternoon there is a knock on the door. It is amazing that in the UK, New Year Eve is a working day, and post is delivered. My long-awaited order from the USA.

 

It will keep me busy for a good deal of 2016.

When I re-read my blog posts from last December, two things strike me: how much I have done since then and how slow I have moved on. This time last year, the house wasn't assembled yet. I was decorating walls. I  was making the roof.

But to an untrained eye I am sure the house looks just as it did then, held together by tack and masking tape.  

I have spent 553 hours working on the house during this year.  (This does not include other miniature projects, such as furniture or dolls).

And I can see the result. I am proud of the work I have done: floors, ceilings, doors, mouldings - details that outsiders may not reflect upon but that take hours of patience and frequently hours of frustration. Most of all I am proud of the lights.

I am looking forward to another happy miniature year. Together with gardening, miniature-making gives me the energy to work and live. It gives me peace of mind. It gives me the joy of creation.

I wish a very happy new year to all friends, real and virtual, who have assisted and encouraged me, to all my unknown blog readers, to all miniature lovers. See you in 2016!