The Silk Weaver's House

A new project has landed in Irene's Hobby Room and I'm calling it The Silk Weaver's House.

Background

In May 2017 my sister and I visited London for the Kensington Miniature Fair (and various other little excursions).    One of these was to The Dennis Sever House in Spitalfields, an area well known for all the Silk Weavers operating from there in the 1700s.

The Dennis Sever House is unique in the fact that it is purely the creation of Mr Sever (who believed he was born in the wrong century) and charts the rise and fall of an imaginary Silk Merchant in the one five storey building.  


The aim was to make it look as though the family had just left the room.   There was peeled fruit on the table, a fan on the dressing table, a wig on the chair and spilt wine.    There were sounds and smells - all very obvious as visitors are instructed not to speak during their visit.  It is more of an "experience" than a museum.   Mr Sever's mantra was "You either get it, or you don't".   (Click the link below).

Dennis Sever House, Spitalfields

The Property

We had no sooner left the building after a fascinating visit and our purchases of the DVD and book, looked at one another and said, simultaneously, "what a great mini that would make".     So, on my return home with all that in mind, I set about hunting for a property that could fit the bill.    The best one, in my eyes, was The Kensington by Barbara's Mouldings.

The Details

I mentioned in my previous post that I was awaiting permission to use a couple of images and that has now come through.    I am very grateful to Ben Rea* for allowing me to use his drawings in this blog as I think they explain the exterior/interior of my new project far better than I could by just describing it.     Thanks Ben.

* Copyright Ben Rea

Progress to date

Work has already started on the basement area and I have removed the front six inches (15.24cms) to bring it more in line with the style of the RL building.   (It also fits better on my cabinet!).   The railings, porch and balcony will also go.    So far I've paved the front area and created two cellars below.

This project will run along the lines of my take on a previous project The Tenement where I recreated an original building in 12th scale using, mainly, the Guide Book as reference and the fact that I was a Volunteer at the property and able to nip round and check details.   If you click on the image of Gladstone's Land to the right of that blog page you will see the original.

One of the best bits involved in recreating an existing building is in trying to track down an exact 12th scale piece as found in the original - I'm really looking forward to that.   So far, I've got the kitchen chair!