Philadelphia Miniaturia, 6th -9th November 2014

Crowne Plaza Hotel
Route 70 (Marlton Pike)
Cherry Hill, NJ

(Miniaturia is hard to type when you are used to miniatura)

So where do I begin with such a mini fest.

We were flying into Philly from Naples, Forida and the second leg of our flight was slightly delayed.  Never fear, being a truly committed mini nut, I made my husband screech to a halt outside the entrance to the hotel and I did a commando roll from the vehicle and dashed in to find the Terrace Room and ....

NAME invites you to join other miniaturists in the Terrace Room for their annual NAME gathering from 7:30 – 9:30 Thursday evening November 6th.  Goodies, roundtables, demonstrations and lots of fun for all Philadelphia Miniaturia attendees!    You do not need to be a NAME member to attend, and it’s all free!

How incredibly kind of people to give their time and materials, 

 (not to mention fabulous ice cream) so anyone can see and even have a go at making, various minis.

By the time my husband had checked us in and taken the bags upstairs it was way past nine and we had to go and get dinner after a long day's travels.

We were able to spend Friday taking in some sights such as the Liberty Bell as the Preview did not start until 6 pm.  Again this was accompanied by nibbles but I was too keen to get to the vendors to remember.  This is my serious buying time and I focus on the the vendors/items that I have written down before the show.  I took the whole three hours to just get around about eight people.  I do my best not to natter too much on this round!

There were a lot of wonderful workshops you could attend starting as early as 3rd November so you (and your tutor) could finish up in time for the show itself.  I got in a lift with a whole European Christmas market made up of several beautiful Market stalls and their owners (Sue Herber's class).  This prompted me to drop in at a couple of other classes that were finishing up.

The fantastic Geoff Wonnacott inspired his students to make this gem - yes, this is a student's work.

Louis XVI Parquetry Gueridon 
A fine example of Louis XVI furniture with the original attributed to Martin Carlin, a Parisian cabinetmaker best known for small refined pieces of furniture. From a prepared cutting list of timber and veneer each student will construct the table, a drawer will be made and legs will be shaped. The circular top and drawer front will be veneered with lozenge parquetry. A fine pierced brass gallery will be fitted to both the top and the burl veneered lower tier. The finish will be the applied and the hardware fitted. A reasonable ability and steady hand would be an advantage.

The venue for the show is excellent.  I love staying in the same hotel as a show so that is the first big plus for Philadelphia.  It is one you could fly into and out of (even on your own) without ever having to go any where else as there is a restaurant and a corner cafe and whatever you need under the same roof.  

The show filled three rooms - a ballroom and a long chandeliered gallery room and a room off the reception area.  With 172 vendors listed in the program there was a lot to go at but you never felt squished.

Ballroom prior to the show opening

There were displays by NAME and IGMA.  Later the IGMA items were auctioned off.

A really nice touch was a children's only room where they could buy things and try their hand at making minis.

NAME had a presence throughout the show as well as the 'come and play' welcome the previous day.They had a room with special exhibits of work under the banner of The Stuff of Dreams.  You were invited to vote for the best one.  Very difficult as they range from very tiny vignettes through to a whole Cadfael castle.  there was some wonderfully inspiring work to look at.

Saturday was a full day to go at if you wanted to.

9am - 10 am the preview

10am - 5 pm the show

I was up bright and perky next morning for the pre-show preview hour starting at 9 am trying to remember what it was I wanted to go back to. It always takes me more than the hour so the show is well underway whilst I am still doing my serious shopping.   

By 1pm you could take a break and join others for High Tea until 2.30 pm.  The serious shoppers among us just snacked a salad and a drink and ploughed on.

We did get some feet up and meal time for a few hours after the show before it was time to be sociable.

8 pm - 11 pm

Social time in the Pavillion

This photo was taken at 8 pm so folk were just arriving.  Nibbles to eat, favors on the tables along with puzzles and quizzes, music playing and a singer - how very civilised.

Sunday began with the IGMA auction at 9 am until 11am, though it was pretty much done and dusted by about 10.30am.

Throughout the show there were door prizes being offered many of which were incredibly beautiful and valuable and would make a collectible all on their own.

Off to shop again for me at 11am (show closed this day at 4 pm) but this time I was able to natter to all and sundry and catch up with people I see from show to show and some I deal with on line.  The vendors are remarkable at remembering you, which always astonishes me and also makes it a real pleasure.  I met a couple of people whose names I knew from Quarter Connection and from NAME  so I now have faces to attach to names.  I was thinking later maybe one of the reasons I get so much pleasure out of visiting shows is that it takes me back to my fifties childhood which is how our daily lives were conducted (with our moms) at our local shops.

I have no way of choosing favourite things so I have stuck an imagined pin in the album and picked just three as a sample.  Please go and look at the web album if you want to see some of the goodies that were there. It will be in a very raw state for a while as I have a lot of RL chores to do right now.  Basically the vendors name mostly precedes their work.

It goes without saying that I arrived at the show saying there really wasn't much I needed or wanted as I had been on something like a shopping binge prior to arriving in Philadelphia, and still ended up buying quite a few things.  I will blog about those tomorrow and over the next couple of days so its not all too much at at once. For now I am sharing the last item I bought as it was unexpected in all kinds of ways.

I had come down to the sales floor to take some last photos.  As I took my first step inside the door I spotted about six packets of two designs of Grandt Line 1/48ths that I had seen fairly recently on line.  I had considered Grandma's shed but decided against it as it was a sort of unknown and here it was in real life at half price - $20 instead of $40.  Being cavalier about these things I thought it was worth picking up for just the components in the pack - siding, shingles, plants, fence, windows, doors, animals etc etc - well worth $20.  Bit by bit I have fallen for the finished object and am pretty sure it may end up something like this one day.