Excavating The Past

As things have it, I am in the process of moving a lot of things into storage at the moment, hence the lack of actual model making going on. In doing so I have been digging into the backs of cupboards, wardrobes and places that have probably been more secure than a tape locked away in Davros' office.

Two things that have emerged recently are these: 

The 1980s Doctor Who logo jumper mum knitted for me back in 1987 following a pattern from the Doctor Who Knitting Book. 

1987 vs 2019 same me, same jumper

I have posted photos before of some of the things mum and dad made which probably inspired some of my creativity, so I think I'm going to set up a gallery page for them and another gallery page for...

The Doctor Who tapestry, that I've also posted about several times before. This is one of the two projects I am continuing with during this current upheaval. 




The other thing I found was this huge role of 14 count aida, that is the cloth used for the tapestry work. 

I bought it many many years ago when a local haberdashery closed down. The current project is Classic Doctor Who, this role of aida will be the start of the next great work, a tapestry dedicated to the new world that was born back in 2005.

Karl free for a day

The dedication in the front of  "Karl - Birth of Mystery" reads:

"Dedicated to Mum and Dad,

Doreen and Joseph Kettlety."

Today would have been mum's 85th birthday, and for today only, in mum's memory, the Kindle edition of the book will be available to download for free. 

This is a time limited offer and as Amazon operate on Pacific Standard Time, regional variation will occur.

Remember, you don't need a Kindle to read Kindle books. A free app is available to download from Amazon for computers and iphones/ipads. 

Sorry this offer has now expired -
Link to Amazon UK

Country Cottages, Fireworks and Fur

After boxing up some of the recently finished parts of the ruined castle and the ghost town to give me more working space, I uncovered a box of partially completed models.

This included two of the country cottages, I have four completed, pictured here – but I found another two packed away for whatever reason in a just started state.   I’ve dug these out and now intend to finish them off.

 

Regular readers will have recently seen a tribute piece I wrote for my parents. Once again I must credit mum with two great ideas which feature dominantly on these cottage models, in fact I’m sure it was these ideas that fuelled my drive to use as much recycled materials in my models as I could.

These models start life like most of the other buildings with a foam board skeleton, and cardboard roof.  I was buying a lot of balsa wood sticks to build the models, and then following one Guy Fawkes Night mum retrieved a rocket stick from our garden. Instead of throwing it away she brought the stick in, it was a bit harder than the balsa wood but certainly very similar that it could easily be used in the model construction somewhere.

Now, for the last few years I take a stroll around the streets of Dagenham on the morning following the Guy Fawkes celebrations and gather up as many sticks as I can find. This annual horde provides quite a collection of different sizes and thickness of wood all very suitable for model construction with just an occasional clean up required for a few burnt ends and paper bits glued on.

(Need I emphasise here the firework code, about not returning to lit fireworks?  These sticks have all fallen from the sky once the fireworks have gone bang and all that remains is the wooden stick.)

Last year's horde of sticks

Most of these cut with the craft knife like balsa wood, some of the thicker or harder wood sticks I use a small hand saw. The front of this cottage was built with balsa wood; the other three sides which I completed this weekend have been constructed from firework sticks.

Once the wooden frame has been stuck to the foam board I fill the areas between with the good old modelling favourite the wall filler.

I know from memory that the original cottages were made using the mix it up yourself stuff, but this one I’m now finishing off has been filled using the same ready mix product I’ve been using on the castle ruins.

Now comes the next idea from mum, the thatch roof. I tried a few ideas for thatch none of which appeared to come close – then mum suggested an old (fake) fur hat that wasn’t wanted anymore.

We cut this up and glued it to the roof of the cottages, then cut across the fur in bands to give the fur a layered look. After that the main effect came from the painting.

This time I’ve used some craft fur bought from the hobby store. I’m hoping this is going to come out just as effective, at the moment it looks a bit like a bad wig.

You glue the fur on in separate pieces, one for each side, ensuring that the fur hangs downward on both sides. Using a straight edge I ran a blade along the fur forming layered sections, not cutting right into the fur but enough to make it appear like the fur is like layers of thatching.

The next stage is to glue on the chimney and the capping stones seen in the finished models before giving the whole model a clean up before painting. The true effect of the thatch comes with the paint work.

But that’s next week. Country Cottages The Thatching

A tribute to two very special people.

Doreen Kettlety 6th June 1928 – 16th April 2008
Joseph Kettlety 3rd October 1924 – 26th November 2009

I have been painting figures and building models now for many years, and I’ve certainly inherited this creativity from my parents, I think it must be in the blood.

Today is a sad day, it is the third anniversary of the day mum lost her battle with cancer, and having been married for sixty years that took its toll on dad, and he passed away eighteen months later from a heart attack. So today I would like to pay tribute to both of them, and share some of their creations which live on, along with loving memories.

When I was a kid, the school had its annual fate, and mum along with my then neighbour would always be found running the handicraft stall, having more or less completely populated that stall themselves with knitted gloves, scarves and hats, cuddly toys, tea cosies, dolls clothes, puppets – you name it they made it.

You may have guessed by now that I’m a fan of a certain TV programme, Doctor Who. Mum knitted both the multicoloured scarf and the burgundy variation made famous by the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker. In fact – and I’ll post when I find the picture – mum made the entire original costume for me and it has served me well for many fancy dress parties.

When it came time to update the costume mum’s knitting skills were put to the test by knitting the 7th Doctor’s question mark pullover worn by Sylvester McCoy.

We examined photos of the costume closely to get the pattern right stitch by painful stitch.  I’m sure you’ll agree from these photos mum did a very good job of the whole costume.

I said the craft comes in the blood, and dad’s gift was working with wood, which my brother has inherited. He always said wood work was his best subject at school.

Here you’ll see samples of the display cases dad built for me, from wall mounted cases for the lead figures seen here with some of my Doctor Who figures, to large free standing model cabinets, with plate glass shelves for my many fantasy collections.

Dad also turned his hand to display cabinet draws, when I needed something that extra bit special for a special collection.



When I was very young, dad built a mini store for me, and then for a later Christmas my first Hornby Train Set, complete with a village layout – now guess where my love of building scenic layouts and models came from.

Although today does have sad memories, whenever I think of my folks I’m left very warm memories, and I thought today would be appropriate to share some of them.

Thank you.