A family heirloom

In 2001 I signed up for a two year City and Guilds course called Victorian Heirlooms, where we learnt how to re-create many Victorian crafts and techniques as well as learning about 19th century history and famous people alongside it. The Pre Raphaelites, The Arts and Crafts Movement including William Morris, William de Morgan. Authors such as Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens; designers and gardeners Edwin Lutyens, Paxton and Gertrude Jekyll to name but a few. Fabulous course which has stayed with me forever.

As a final piece of work we had to produce an heirloom using many of the techniques we had used during the course such as embroidery, paint effects, ageing and distressing paper, wood and fabric. I decided on a doll house but one with a difference as it was to be a shop and this shop would be a replica of John's grandfather's shop he owned in Histon, Cambridgeshire in the early 1900s named J.T. Marshall - General Stores and Tobacconist.

I bought the house which I had to put together and paint, tile the roof, added chimney pots, plastic windows with adverts on, put up shelves and skirting boards, laid fake linoleum to the floors, lighting and so on and so forth. It was fun and I spent many hours and many pennies furnishing the shop area with suitable pieces to scale.

(please excuse the quality of the photos - I had to take pictures of photos in my folder)

I tried to replicate it as much as I could from this one photo

It was very fiddly trying to put all the groceries out on show. 

I made all the fruit and bread with a polymer clay

 and also all the sacks and carrier bags from paper and linen

as well as the shop sign and adverts for the windows

After my coursework and the house/shop project was completed (which I passed) it went up into our loft. I didn't have time to complete the house part as I was going on to do my History degree and simply didn't have the time.

So, what to do with this now you may ask. Well my three youngest grandchildren who carry on the family name aged 8, 5 and 2 years old have just taken possession of their great, great grandfather's shop together with a potted history of his life.

 It was a picture on Christmas afternoon to see their faces when I uncovered it -

and a delight to know it will remain in the family for the foreseeable future.

Have you got any heirlooms to pass down to future generations?

Have a good week.

The life and times of Rose

Welome to my new follower Betty. It's lovely to meet you and hope you enjoy what you find here.

 

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With Christmas on its way and children eagerly awaiting their presents from Father Christmas, I thought I'd introduce you to Rose who has been in the family since Victorian times and was given to me at Christmas when I was five years old. Rose was made in Germany in the mid 1890s (she has a mark on the back of her neck) and made her way to a toy shop in France where she was given to my maternal grandmother who was born in 1899 in the town of Valenciennes, France

 

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Alice, my grandmother was an only child of Alphonse and Victorine Mercier (born in the 1870s) and they owned the local Boulangerie in Valenciennes. During the first World War Alice met William Wells, my grandfather who was stationed in nearby Mons. They married in 1921 and moved to England where they had my mum Stella and my Uncle Jack. Mum remembers visiting her French grandparents every year and on one trip in 1931was given Rose to take back home with her and she had to be wrapped in a blanket for the rough ferry ride home.  There she stayed with the family for many years cherished and played with by my mum who would often take her out in a pram. On one such occasion she was spotted by the lady in the local wool shop and asked if Rose would 'model' some knitted toddlers clothes in the shop window. The customers loved her and she stayed there for several months.

Mum and dad married in 1946 and we moved to Canvey Island in 1950 where Rose was introduced to a new life by the sea and new friends. I too pushed her in my pram.

Her body is made of a kind of very hard papier mache which has been painted and glazed and her limbs are jointed and strung together, as is her head. She is 30 inches long and really isn't a baby doll at all. Us girls made a huge fuss of her - she was taken here and taken there;  shared with friends; taken to the shops - simply treated like another member of the family and at times was to be found plonked on top of a box of toys. She really wasn't treated too well I'm afraid - hence a few missing fingers and chipped paint on her limbs.

and her head is porcelain with real hair

After I married in 1970 she was sadly put in the loft. I brought her down about fifteen years ago to find that all the strings had rotted and she was literally falling apart. I sent her to a Doll's Hospital where she was put back together. My children weren't too keen on her - thinking she looked too human so she was once again relegated to the loft. One day no doubt she will be passed on to my grand daughters, who I'm sure will love her as much as I have.

Rose came down from the dreaded loft last weekend (she's been up and down like a yo yo over the years) and when I think of all she's gone through and how much she was played with for nearly 120 years my heart goes in my mouth. But she's come through it okay don't you think?

Have you got any family heirlooms you'd like to share?

 

 

Have a great weekend