Traeth Mawr -Painting Season, (mostly)

[ChrisN]

I nearly laid some more track today, but not quite.  The problems I had with varnish last week arose from the fact that as you will know from a previous post I had backdated four ladies to 1895, three with the puff sleeves that were the height of fashion.  I had asked Andrew Stadden about melting points of pewter as I had used Fimo and needed to bake it.  He asked, quite reasonably, if he could see the finished article.  So here we have four young ladies who will grace the platform at Traeth Mawr.

 

The first picture is how I held them to paint them.

 

 

Not very dignified.  The lady in blue was painted using a matt blue and black but came out shiny, although the varnish did sort that out.  I painted the buttons on the lady in brown a more subtle shade after looking at my wife's fawn coloured coat.  I nearly changed them to something darker as in 4mm subtle does not really work at a distance but I decided not to as it does work in super blown up pictures on RMWeb. 

 

The only real points to notice are that I decided to paint their faces with white primer to give a paler skin but that proved almost a disaster as the tin is enormous and I felt it wise to do it upstairs away from where I usually work and, 1) I put too much on and 2) where I did not I lost the ability to paint the flesh as a wash and use the shading for features.  Oh well, obvious really, but I cleaned a lot of it off and grey primer went on.

 

The lady in brown has a scarf to hold her hat on so I painted her hair and her hat first and then painted her scarf with Humbrol 74 Linen.  Where the scarf was tied was still in white primer.  I did dust them and at 3ft they look fine but closer up not so good, but I present to you my four ladies.

 

 

We have from the left,

Mrs Ellen Winchester

Lady Harriet Dorset

The Honourable Mrs Sarah Faulkes

and Mrs Winifred Bentley.

 

You may ask what these four ladies, two of which are minor aristocracy, are doing on a cold March day in Traeth Mawr.  Well the answer is that all four were part of the first sixth form intake to Lady Eldin's school.  Lady Eldin had connections and managed to persuade, (cajole) Lady Dorset's father into sending her with the promise that she would be the Senior Prefect.  The was a role she fulfilled admirably as she was quite capable of bullying instilling discipline into the younger girls.  We will gloss over her academic achievements.

 

Sarah Faulkes' father sent her when he heard Lady Harriet was going after a promise that she would be Deputy Senior Prefect, and the fact that two 'ladies' were going made others more comfortable to send their daughters.  Ellen Winchester had been Head of Cadir Idris House, and Winifred Bentley Head of Yr Wyddfa House.  These four girls were the prefects for the first two years of the school.  None of the girls went on to university, although Ellen Winchester matriculated with ease, as their fathers thought it a waste of money and wanted them married.

 

So here they are, having brought their husbands with them for a grand reunion.  I suppose now I shall have to find husbands for them.  No, not match make, just see if I can find where they have wandered off to.  The Railway Hotel I expect, if it is not the Red Dragon.

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

Edited August 25, 2015 by ChrisN

[MikeOxon]

when I was reading up on Victorian fashion, I came across this passage: "I was placed, at the age of fifteen, at a fashionable school in London, and there it was the custom for the waists of the pupils to be reduced one inch per month. When I left school at seventeen my waist measured only thirteen inches, it having been formerly twenty three inches.".  I wonder if Lady Eldin pursued such methods with her young gels?

[Penlan]

......

Mrs Ellen Winchester

Lady Harriet Dorset

The Honourable Mrs Sarah Faulkes

and Mrs Winifred Bently.

 

You may ask what these four ladies, two of which are minor aristocracy, are doing on a cold March day in Traeth Mawr.  Well the answer is that all four were part of the first sixth form intake to Lady Eldin's school.  .....

Do you think they were promised to attend a 'Finishing School' in the Alps,

but disappointed to find it was (near) the Welsh Alps, not Switzerland. 

[ChrisN]

when I was reading up on Victorian fashion, I came across this passage: "I was placed, at the age of fifteen, at a fashionable school in London, and there it was the custom for the waists of the pupils to be reduced one inch per month. When I left school at seventeen my waist measured only thirteen inches, it having been formerly twenty three inches.".  I wonder if Lady Eldin pursued such methods with her young gels?

 

Mike,

I think I have read that quote as well.  Lady Eldin was more concerned that her young ladies had a proper education, but of course she was part of her age and culture and all the older girls wore corsets, but I have never enquired about her corseting regime, or if she had one.

[ChrisN]

Do you think they were promised to attend a 'Finishing School' in the Alps,

but disappointed to find it was (near) the Welsh Alps, not Switzerland. 

 

Penlan,

I think secretly she was but dare not say so.  Lady Harriet was being brought up by her father on his own and was quite at a loss as to what to do with his teenage daughter.  Although he resisted at first he was really relieved at the suggestion of Lady Eldin of sending her to school in Wales as he at least knew where she was going, and it was (marginally) easier to get to than a Swiss finishing school.  It was sold to him and her, although she did not have much choice, on the basis that it was very Avant garde to go to a 'proper' school, and that basically she would be 'Head Girl' although she would not be called that.  Lady Eldin also let drop the fact that there was a boys boarding school in Traeth Mawr and the thought of testosterone filled young men stopped any further arguments that she may have had.  She of course was disappointed as Dr Jeremiah Higgins, the Head of Darnley College, was horrified at the thought of a school full of young ladies no more than a mile away from his young lads, and he with Lady Eldin worked very hard and imposed severe discipline to stop any 'unseemly behaviour'.

 

I have of course had the fortune to be able to talk to all the young ladies to get their stories but also the Library at Traeth Mawr has a fund of historic documents and books, none of which I am afraid are available on Amazon for 1p.

Edited August 25, 2015 by ChrisN

[Penlan]

As corsets are not normally visible (to almost anybody in Victorian times), presumably this topic will not be sullied with the results of searches via Google Images for 'Victorian Corsets'....

 

Oh Damn, given the game away

Edited August 25, 2015 by Penlan

[ChrisN]

As corsets are not normally visible (to almost anybody in Victorian times), presumably this topic will not be sullied with the results of searches via Google Images for 'Victorian Corsets'....

 

Oh Damn, given the game away

 

Absolutely not! 

[corneliuslundie]

I don't know if you are aware that there was a girls' boarding school not far from Barmouth on the road to Dolgelley. I knew someone who went there. She seemed pretty normal. You only need to move it a few miles.

 

I suspect that that quote above about waists is a figment of someone's overworked imagination, though people were definitely slimmer then and small waists were certainly high fashion for a period before the First World War. I wouldn't try modifying one of Mr Stadden's ladies as she would probably snap in half. I think the photos of the Royal Family we see in books etc are probably a lot more representative of High Fashion.

 

Chris, despite your misgivings, your figure painting is streets ahead of anything I will ever achieve.

 

By the way, there has been a long discussion on problems with Humbrol paints on another thread here (Wright writes).

 

Jonathan

[ChrisN]

I don't know if you are aware that there was a girls' boarding school not far from Barmouth on the road to Dolgelley. I knew someone who went there. She seemed pretty normal. You only need to move it a few miles.

 

I suspect that that quote above about waists is a figment of someone's overworked imagination, though people were definitely slimmer then and small waists were certainly high fashion for a period before the First World War. I wouldn't try modifying one of Mr Stadden's ladies as she would probably snap in half. I think the photos of the Royal Family we see in books etc are probably a lot more representative of High Fashion.

 

Chris, despite your misgivings, your figure painting is streets ahead of anything I will ever achieve.

 

By the way, there has been a long discussion on problems with Humbrol paints on another thread here (Wright writes).

 

Jonathan

 

Jonathan,

Thank you for you comments about my painting.  All it takes is a large lit magnifying glass, reasonable brushes, leaning both arms on the table and touching one finger from one hand with one from the other, so that any shake is in unison, and a steady nerve.  Also I like the figures.  I sometimes wonder if I have the railway just to put the figures on.

 

Thank you.  Lady Eldin's Academy was thought of about 20 years or so ago, long with Lord Darnley's College. At the time I did check that it was not too early and that there were girl's boarding schools at the time.  However, when I started to look at what other schools might be in the area for who might be on the trains I came across the school in Dolgelley.  A bit close for comfort really but that school was funded by charity monies and was trailblazing as I think it started in 1870.  Lady Eldin's school was her own pet project funded by her late husband's fortune for the good of the local girls, as well as attracting girls from all over.

 

The 1890s were the decade of tight lacing and I think if you started young enough waist reduction could be quite large, or rather small.  I have no intention though of trying to reduce the waists on Stadden's figures, some of which have quite small waists anyway.  (I believe he always works from photos of real people.)  Now reducing the waists on Dart Castings figures is a different matter, although not always easy.

 

I may pop over and look at that thread although I am not keen if it descends into slagging Humbrol off.  I find each colour is different, some are very good and others, like Flesh, are 'gloopy'.  Having said that I read somewhere that Tamyia was the most wonderful paint ever, and then another review that said they were awful.  Most of my paints are quite old, well no, some are as I am buying new ones every time I go near a modelling shop and can only stop myself by not taking a list of those I have already got as I know I will double buy.

[Mikkel]

Hello Chris, I'm catching up on your thread on the daily commute home, everyone on the train looking tired and trying not to think of the dark months ahead, and then these delightful figures from the past crop up on the screen and people are no doubt wondering why I have this stupid smile on my face all of a sudden!   

 

Your Stadden figures have turned out so well I think - despite the initial agony - thanks to great painting and choice of colours, as others have said. I really like those puff-sleeve ladies, and am very pleased to make their aquaintance! 

 

Like others I am also lagging behind on my Stadden figures (although I did take some primer to a handful on Sunday), but it's great to see you leading the way. Perhaps there is scope for a family tree of Andrew Stadden figures, I'm sure I saw a younger cousin of Mrs Winchester at farthing the other day 

[ChrisN]

Hello Chris, I'm catching up on your thread on the daily commute home, everyone on the train looking tired and trying not to think of the dark months ahead, and then these delightful figures from the past crop up on the screen and people are no doubt wondering why I have this stupid smile on my face all of a sudden! 

 

Your Stadden figures have turned out so well I think - despite the initial agony - thanks to great painting and choice of colours, as others have said. I really like those puff-sleeve ladies, and am very pleased to make their aquaintance! 

 

Like others I am also lagging behind on my Stadden figures (although I did take some primer to a handful on Sunday), but it's great to see you leading the way. Perhaps there is scope for a family tree of Andrew Stadden figures, I'm sure I saw a younger cousin of Mrs Winchester at farthing the other day 

 

Mikkel,

Thank you for your kind comments, and I am glad I brightened your commute.  You are a lot further north than I am so your days will be shorter than mine soon but it is not long to Christmas and then the days lengthen again.  I think I have made a rod for my own back as although the ladies I have already painted will not get any additions to their sleeves I think the 'posher' ladies will have to even though they may have smaller additions representing older clothes.  I was going to put up who I thought their husbands are but I think now I should paint them before I do.  Well except for these two as I am certain about Winifred Bentley looking lovingly up into her husband's eyes.  He seems a bit peeved in this photo but actually he is smiling and looking at her.  I am fairly convinced about the other two it is just the aristocratic pair I am thinking about.

 

Thank you about my choice of colours.  Sometimes I check with my wife but often not although it is a joke between us that I have no sense of colour based on the fact that 1) I do not and 2) I painted the walls of my flat chocolate and cream.  The fact that the colours do not clash is pure luck.

 

I may still have more Stadden figures unpainted than painted.  Maybe the members of the family should write to each other, no perhaps not.  My eldest son thinks I should have a blog written by the people of Traeth Mawr saying how the coming of the railway changed their lives but I probably have more important things to do, like modelling.  I also am going to buy some HO figures to give a variation in height.  I have the model of Stroudley and he seems quite tall so I would like a really little woman to stand next to him.

Edited August 25, 2015 by ChrisN

[Simond]

I suspect that Mssrs Dean, Churchward, Collet and Hawksworth realised that chocolate & cream don't clash. Inspiration, perchance?

 

Simon

[ChrisN]

I suspect that Mssrs Dean, Churchward, Collet and Hawksworth realised that chocolate & cream don't clash. Inspiration, perchance?

 

Simon

Simon,

Inspiration?  Absolutely!  It was more the amount of chocolate as compared to cream which was the problem.

[Simond]

Sounds like a cheese omelette (bear with me, it's not the colour...)

 

Some cheese is good. More cheese doesn't make it better.

 

[Sasquatch]

Hi Chris.

 

Will be doing my best to read though this topic from the start when ever I get computer time. I'm quite fond of model railways with period settings especially those modeled on lines in Wales, Scotland and the South East.

Apologies, as I don't know how I've missed this. It's fascinating and well put together!

 

Regards Shaun.

[ChrisN]

Hi Chris.

 

Will be doing my best to read though this topic from the start when ever I get computer time. I'm quite fond of model railways with period settings especially those modeled on lines in Wales, Scotland and the South East.

Apologies, as I don't know how I've missed this. It's fascinating and well put together!

 

Regards Shaun.

 

Shaun,

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to any posts.  I am afraid it jumps around a bit and somewhere in here I am trying to build a railway but I do not like to be upstairs on the track when my wife is home so I do the other bits.  Massive side track at the moment, but hey, we are supposed to enjoy what we do and my imagination has been fired again by my figures.  Need to build a station building soon and I really want to make a Welsh dresser, love those things.

 

All the best,

[Sasquatch]

Long time since I built Welsh dressers. I once worked on a production line, the oak Welsh dressers sold like hot cakes and must have assembled 100s back then.  That's a skill unto itself!

I take it yours will be 1/76 scale huh?

Looking forward to the station build. (6 are needed on Queensbury )

[ChrisN]

Long time since I built Welsh dressers. I once worked on a production line, the oak Welsh dressers sold like hot cakes and must have assembled 100s back then.  That's a skill unto itself!

I take it yours will be 1/76 scale huh?

Looking forward to the station build. (6 are needed on Queensbury )

 

Shaun,

Yes there will be a Welsh dresser in the kitchen of the cottage which will carry on as a side project but I spent this evening priming figures.  It will drive me barmy eventually and I will have to get back to cutting plastic.  Actually, thinking about it I do not have to wait until the platforms are built to start on the station building, now that's a thought.

[Edwardian]

Again, lovely colour-choice and subtle definition.  Keep 'em coming.

 

Apropos Greenstuff, I used this, to a very basic level in my Yoof.  I was never competent at sculpting figures, but I could manage basic cloth folds, which is all you need.

 

I have very few photographs of these Antediluvian exploits with which to illustrate the point and no work in progress shots, but, to show how you can make a real difference with minimum skill and effort, I post below 1 shot (taken randomly from the interweb) of Games Workshop's Gondorian Archers as manufactured in plate armour and helm, and, 2 shots of what I managed to do to these figures armed only with a sharp scalpel, Greenstuff and a dental tool.

[ChrisN]

Again, lovely colour-choice and subtle definition.  Keep 'em coming.

 

Apropos Greenstuff, I used this, to a very basic level in my Yoof.  I was never competent at sculpting figures, but I could manage basic cloth folds, which is all you need.

 

I have very few photographs of these Antediluvian exploits with which to illustrate the point and no work in progress shots, but, to show how you can make a real difference with minimum skill and effort, I post below 1 shot (taken randomly from the interweb) of Games Workshop's Gondorian Archers as manufactured in plate armour and helm, and, 2 shots of what I managed to do to these figures armed only with a sharp scalpel, Greenstuff and a dental tool.

 

Thank you for your kind comments.

 

Warhammer, ah yes.  My younger two sons were heavily into Warhammer which in the end was the modelling that they did.  Even the layout which had been bought for one of them as he wanted it was used as a base for battles.  Your figures look very good.  I will have to try Greenstuff.  I have used Milliput but I think with time it goes off as it was very dry last time I mixed it and did not stick too well, unlike the first time when it was very sticky.  Using it I added a beard to a figure that does not have a moustache although it looks a bit clumsy.  When it is painted I will put a picture up which at my rate of painting progress will be about a month's time.

[Edwardian]

Thanks, in the meantime, I found a WIP shot showing some very basic attempts to add hats and beards to white metal figures.  I don't see why it wouldn't be as simple to do it in the smaller scale.

[ChrisN]

Thanks, in the meantime, I found a WIP shot showing some very basic attempts to add hats and beards to white metal figures.  I don't see why it wouldn't be as simple to do it in the smaller scale.

 

I have tried making hats, and they are alright except that they are too big, I can never get them small enough with clay.  Having said that Mrs Griffiths on the left and Henrietta's hats were made from DAS I think.

 

 

However Edwina Plunkett's hat is a plasticard brim with a DAS top.

 

 

Mikkel on his blog has added moustaches and sleeve extensions so it is possible.  It is probably down to how new your clay is.

[Mikkel]

I may still have more Stadden figures unpainted than painted.  Maybe the members of the family should write to each other, no perhaps not.  My eldest son thinks I should have a blog written by the people of Traeth Mawr saying how the coming of the railway changed their lives but I probably have more important things to do, like modelling.

 

Ah yes, these figures have a way of taking on their own life, a little bit scary I think!

 

Edwina's hat and general appearance is very convincing, I think. Nicely posed, and balanced just so. A single well-made and well-painted figure like that can add a lot to a layout, even on it's own. 

[ChrisN]

Ah yes, these figures have a way of taking on their own life, a little bit scary I think!

 

Edwina's hat and general appearance is very convincing, I think. Nicely posed, and balanced just so. A single well-made and well-painted figure like that can add a lot to a layout, even on it's own. 

 

Mikkel,

Thank you.  This figure is one that is fairly easy to convert and I have a couple more but more likely they will be inside carriages.

[MikeOxon]

Ah yes, these figures have a way of taking on their own life, a little bit scary I think!

 

...................

With your 'cast of thousands', you are going to have to keep a careful diary of their individual life histories (as they do for soap operas), so that we can't catch you out over 'continuity errors' .  I find it a hard job, just trying to keep track of Blanche's activities