Mission San Jose

Today we visited Mission San Jose and the attached Mission Museum.









Who's the funny guy in front there? Has Robert gone and taken Holy Orders? Is that a monk's hood?










These items were among many in the museum. Loved the tabernacle. That's a silvered baptismal shell in the centre, and an olive oil bottle in the last photo.
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This is a shot of the interior of the mission in miniature - made by a miniature club of which our friend Barb Jones was a member. The miniature mission was donated and lives in the Mission Museum now.

California - 20 March 2010 - cool and rainy.

Barb Jones took us to the chapel at Stanford University. Robert loved it. He got to show off some ecclesiastical knowledge. I was fascinated by the mosaics - I have never seen anything like it. We had depleted batteries in the real camera and I am not sure how my camera phone shots came out yet... I have no idea what's on for this afternoon - but I think it should be reorganizing the luggage....

Violet - before and after...

Violet - before and after her 'unicorn-ectomy'... that little bit in the center was a bit of surgery to make her shorter. I gave her a bit of paint and made a skirt for her. She needed to be holding something so I gave her a dog to hold. I even did something with those wings...I'll have to take a picture.

Violet's Waterbed

The painted Lady has a name - "Violet’s Villa"!!!!

Violet is the single mother of twin daughters, Rose and Lily. (Are you catching the floral theme here?) Violet is a ‘free spirit’ and Rose and Lily are following in their mother’s footsteps. You never know who will turn up in Violet’s house... there are often drop in visitors who forget to leave.

I decided Violet needed a waterbed... The fabric is from an old tie I got at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. (I knew I'd find a use for it.) The bed itself is made from a scrap of MDF and a scrap of black Perspex (Plexiglass) leftover from a kitchen project.

The oversize pink tweezers in the background are 'cheater' chopsticks...very useful for furniture placement.

The Pink Bedroom

You may recall (if you have been following my hippie house saga) that I made a pink chair and footstool... And now to go with them I have made a bed and floor mat to match.

And as I have been enjoying this project so much and have more 1:24 furniture than I need or know what to do with... I bought the Gothic House at the Reject Shop today - on Clearance for $20. Oh - how could I resist?

Take one resin fairy....

Subtract one unicorn,













add some paint and cushions...















And voila! Hippie chicks.

The Orange Bathroom

After scouring the 'dollar stores' I decided that I'd have to make my own bathroom. So out came the polymer clay and using a 'champagne cage' to make the legs I first modeled the basin. The handles are very small faceted beads. Then came the toilet... that was tricky, but after two attempts I achieved something approximating what I had envisaged. The shower is constructed from the plastic from a box of cookies. The back walls were painted orange and the front was left clear. Still work to be done on it - I have to think of what to use as a shower head.

The bathroom will actually be viewed through a doorway -it really is just a little cubbyhole of a room... The wallpaper is gift wrap I got for 50 cents... I spent most of yesterday working on this... oh yeah - and the boring task of painting the ginger bread and railings on the house exterior. Second coats - not even as interesting as laying down the first coat on bare wood where you can see your progress. I still have to put the second coat on the roof... I'd rather watch paint dry. (Sorry, that was rather bad...)

At any rate - I got the scale right... the loo looks just about the right size for Gramps.