Candles from IKEA

I was recently visiting my "local" branch of IKEA intending to buy a small bookcase, when the idea suddenly popped into my head that I would like a candle in a glass container. I'm not sure where that one came from, as I rarely burn candles apart from the occasional Price's Chef's Candle to reduce strong cooking smells. IKEA certainly has plenty of candles, including a number in glass containers, so I had come to the right place. Needless to say, given the attractive prices, I left with more than just a candle in a glass. (And a bookcase.)

From my earliest memories, candles had been a component of special celebrations -- normally birthdays and Christmas. They were expected on top of birthday cakes and featured prominently during the season of Advent in the excitement of the lead up to Christmas. The warm, soft light and flickering flame held a fascination for me, verging on the transfixing. Part of the wonder of my childhood.

In teenage years, experiments with home-made candles and miniature hot air balloons caused at least one significant wax spillage on the bedroom carpet -- thankfully without fire! Having had at least one close call, I assume I must have learnt my lesson and candles then became something to be enjoyed only at Christmas (and avoided at birthdays) on visits home. (I am happy to watch manned hot air balloons float above me in fine weather, but untethered Chinese Lanterns drifting above the local countryside fill me with concern!)

IKEA prices seemed so reasonable, that it was easy to add more items to the shopping  bag. Apart from the lime-fragrance SOMMAR 2018 candle in glass, I came away with a number of unscented pillar candles (not all shown), and three different packs of tea lights. I could not resist the quirky, stackable chunky glass tea light holder, and grabbed a number of them. (At 37p each, how could I not? They really make a difference with standard tea lights.) It should take me a while to get through this lot!

Most of the candles shown here are made for IKEA in Poland, and all the ones I have tried so far have been good or excellent, and definitely good value for money. (I wouldn't have expected otherwise.) The product labelling shows a number of safety-related pictograms (e.g., Do not leave a burning candle unattended), so it is worth working out what they all mean -- a set of sensible guidelines before lighting. One of them suggests that the wick should be no longer than 1 centimetre (10 mm), but in practice a trim to 4 millimetres before lighting has given me reliable results. (I use a slice of plastic drinking straw as a collar over the wick when trimming with nail clippers to get fairly consistent wick lengths.)

The labelling also shows a burn time in hours, e.g., 4h for a standard GLIMMA unscented tea light. I suspect this is a minimum for continuous burning with a stable flame. I have achieved longer candle life by using shorter burn times, followed by wick trimming before the next session. I suspect that with proper candle care (regular wick trimming and a melt pool covering the entire surface of the candle before extinguishing), it should be possible to extend IKEA's advertised burn times by 20 percent or more.

I have never been a fan of scented candles, and most of IKEA's offerings are sweet-smelling and/or fruity which is not my thing. However, in tea light form I have not found them to be too offensive. (I understand that the size [diameter] of the melt pool influences the strength ["throw"] of the scent.) I am aware that scented candles from other sources can cost big money and are truly luxury items. A case of getting what you pay for, I suppose?

Ironically, what set me down this path has been the least satisfactory. Despite trying a number of different wick lengths and burn times, I was unable to get my SOMMAR 2018 lime-scented candle in glass to form a melt pool all the way across, and it has exhibited classic funnelling. Either the container is too big or the wick too small -- a design or manufacturing fault? (I reject the idea that candles have "memory" -- utter nonsense and a feeble excuse!) Additionally, the lime scent took on a different character once heated by the candle, and lost its freshness; to be replaced by a more sickly, creamy fragrance less to my liking. I don't think I will be buying another one of these, but I might just try a peach SINNLIG in the small glass on my next visit to IKEA...

Watercolour reference cards

Perhaps this is something that comes with experience, but when starting out with watercolours, something that made the learning curve a little steeper for me was the difficulty in being able to correctly identify dried paint colours in their pans. Dark colours especially can look very similar when dry. Winsor and Newton now print colour names and pigment information on their exterior of their pans -- which helps somewhat -- but even then, this does not show when the pans are in position in the palette.

One approach might be to arrange the pan colours in specific locations in the palette, so that with regular practice it becomes instinctive as to where a particular paint is located. However, this scheme discourages the use of new and alternate colours in the course of skill development and experimentation.

My solution has been to produce "watercolour reference cards" to fit inside the paint box. This serves a couple of purposes. Firstly, the card clearly shows the position of each pan colour in relation to the others. Secondly, it acts as a (small) colour swatch, permitting decisions to be made on whether the paint is a good starting point for a desired colour.

I use a small pad of Cotman 90 lb Not paper to make my reference cards. I measure a strip to fit inside the Cotman Sketcher's Pocket Box, and then use a stencil cut from a strip of clear plastic (long sleeve shirt collar packing) to draw a number of square swatch boxes in HB pencil. (This saves the trouble of measuring and marking out the squares individually -- see the photo.) I then label each box with the paint it will contain, and then paint the swatch in each.  When all the swatches are done, I cut out the strip to make the reference card and place it inside the paint box.

Even with 90 lb paper, I have found that it is possible to paint swatches on both sides of the paper. So if you are organised enough to have a couple of combinations of  preferred pans, it might be only a matter of flipping over the reference card to ring the changes!

Caesar's Gate

The box art of a surprising childhood survivor! Despite some six moves of home in the space of 20 years, this Airfix playset was somehow spared the culling and disposal that unused and/or unwanted possessions inevitably suffered in the process. I'm sure I must've spent hours assembling and marshalling the figures contained within once upon a time, but that is now too long ago to remember clearly. The box probably hadn't been opened since the mid-1970s.

The dramatic picture shows what seems to be a small skirmish between Ancient Britons and Roman soldiers -- about to be reinforced by a larger force of Romans sallying forth from a fortlet (milecastle on Hadrian's Wall?). Presumably, we cannot see the main body of the Ancient Britons? All designed to stir the imagination! (It obviously worked for me.)

If you look carefully, you can see that the original price is written in pencil either side of CAESAR'S GATE: both 13/6 (thirteen shillings and sixpence) and 67 1/2 p! Given that decimalisation of the UK's currency didn't take place till February 1971, then this box must date from before that.

Remarkably, the contents appear to be complete and undamaged. Even the original instructions are still present, hiding under the snap-together buildings. (I was brought up to take care of my things.) The outer lid shows the expected signs of use and wear, and also some staining at the top where it must have got damp or wet. (Oh dear, I don't know what happened there!)

I have been interested in the Romans for many years -- I still am -- and even at the tender age of ten or so, I knew that the fortlet was a fairly good representation of a Hadrian's Wall milecastle (albeit that the defensive walls would be thicker and the precise ashlar masonry construction would be considerably rougher on the real thing).

My reluctance to part with my old possessions has apparently made this a collector's item now. A quick scan of the internet suggests that it might be worth around £60 (at early 2018 prices) -- although I have also seen examples listed for €150! I would be happy to see it go to a good home if someone would like to make me a suitable offer...

Camera testing

My camera of choice is still the compact Canon Powershot S95, as it is capable of taking some delightful photos in challenging conditions: its small size means it is comfortable to carry around and does not draw attention to itself unlike bigger ``enthusiast'' cameras.

The digital camera market continues to evolve, and the technology enables things that were not possible when film was king. (Usable photos hand-held in near darkness!?) One development that caught my eye is the Micro Four Thirds system -- cameras with the controls and features of DSLRs, as well as a range of interchangeable lenses -- but without the same bulk. The all-important sensor is 30 percent smaller than Canon's APS-C sensor (as used on consumer DSLRs), although this is not as bad as it seems because the aspect ratio is 3:4 rather than the wider 2:3 of the DSLR. So when I became aware of what seemed like a good deal on an Olympus PEN E-PL1 camera package at Jessops in the autumn of 2012, I was curious and unable to resist.

The kit came with the camera and two lenses. The camera has few external manual controls and is clearly aimed at the compact camera user looking to upgrade. However, once you get into the menus, there are a bewildering number of options and things that can be adjusted -- on par with consumer DSLRs. The supplied lenses included the standard wide angle to short telephoto (14-42 mm) zoom for everyday use, and a longer telephoto (40-150 mm) zoom for additional distance. Both lenses produce very acceptable results.

Some five years later, I find that I have taken fewer than 500 photos with my E-PL1 (and around 50 of those were test shots), while my S95 has notched up nearly eight times as many in a similar period of time. Despite the bigger sensor on the Olympus, why would this be? I suspect that it is a combination of the basic point-and-shoot nature of the E-PL1, and the default colour of the E-PL1 -- which I initially found a little overpowering!

Nevertheless, I think I may have finally tamed the colour on the Olympus camera. The image above is the result of a number of incremental adjustments over a couple of years to picture mode, saturation, contrast, and auto white balance correction. Having mounted the long telephoto zoom lens, I set the shutter speed to 1/500 second, aimed the camera and pressed the shutter release button. This is the result -- the first time I have used this lens on a moving subject. (An HST at speed heading west on the former GWR mainline near Denchworth Bridge, on a glorious winter day on 28th December 2017. I understand that the OHLE is not yet live: it looks as though the contact wires need to be tensioned, but this may be an optical illusion?)

I think I need to take the Olympus PEN E-PL1 out with me more often!...

Para's Progress 2

If it is not already obvious, then it should be apparent from these photographs that I am not an expert miniature figure painter! The hobby of miniature figure painting is an absorbing pastime in its own right, and there are a variety of resources available on the internet to provide inspiration and instruction. (Not to mention a number of excellent publications in print.) This however, is another update on my quest to paint an original Airfix 1/32 scale military figure.

Our journeyed figure starts this installment adorned with a grisaille of dry-brushed grey and white over a base coat of black. The next stage is to apply layers of thinned paint that are translucent enough not to cover up the shadow and highlight details. (Some people refer to this technique as Stain Painting; it is essentially the same process as was used to colour Victorian and Edwardian picture postcards.)

Coloured paint will start to bring life to the monochrome figure. General wisdom suggests that it is best to start with the inner layer -- often skin -- and work outwards. So the face and hands were the first things to tackle. I like to start with a pale pink layer (White and Red Ochre), and then glaze that with a pale orange-brown layer (White and Burnt Sienna), possibly finishing off with a glaze of pale milk coffee brown (White and Burnt Umber) to suggest time spent outside.

Using artists' tube paints, I take a small blob of white on the mixing palette and thin it as I see fit with my glazing medium (Galeria matt medium diluted 1:8 by volume with water). To this I add a minute amount of colour to tint it, mixed well, along with a little more glazing medium. I apply the paint sparingly, with a Pro Arte Acrylix size 2 round brush, preferring to wipe it over the surface with the sides of the bristles rather than the tips. If necessary, I will touch the brush to a piece of facial tissue first to ensure that it is not overloaded with paint.

That is the theory anyway. As you can see, I was guilty of (a) using Mixing White (transparent) rather than Titanium White (opaque), and (b) having the brush loaded with too much paint so that it flooded shadow detail and flowed where it was not wanted -- such as on the rifle and between the fingers. The transparent white resulted in poor coverage of the face and hands: I redid the Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber glazes using Titanium White once I had realised my mistake, but it is lacking the pale pink glaze. I am hoping that darker colours will sort out the unwanted white on the rifle later...

A simple method to test the covering power of the paint, is to use a piece of unwanted printed paper (black type on a white background), and brush over a word of print with the mix first. If the outline of letters can barely be seen, then the mix is too thick and needs to be thinned. Conversely, if the letters are still distinct after a layer of paint, then the mix is too thin and needs more paint. It should be possible to get a paint mix to cover adequately with one application, but achieving the right consistency is easier said than done. It is better to err on the side of too thin and apply at least two layers for even coverage.

The figure's lips were carefully painted with a glaze of dark purplish-pink (Titanium White, Red Ochre and a touch of Ultramarine) using a size 0 Acrylix round brush. I ducked out of doing anything fiddly with the eyes as they are just below the line of the helmet, and are mostly in shadow anyway... A couple of glazes of Burnt Umber with a dash of Titanium White helped suggest brown hair below the back of the helmet.

The battledress trousers are supposed to be British Army WW2 khaki, which is actually a woven blend of green and brown threads, and explains why sometimes it looks green, and sometimes brown. I struggled to mix a satisfactory colour, and tried four different thin layers, applied with an Acrylix size 4 round brush. The last glaze was a slightly thicker mix of Galeria Olive Green and Liquitex Raw Umber, which seemed closest to what I had in mind. But of course the earlier layers will influence it too. I am not going to lose sleep if the colour is not spot-on: it is the impression that I am after.

Things will only get more complicated from here on, as a later installment will reveal...

A white elephant?

On 24th October 2017, the City of Oxford reopened its Westgate Shopping Centre after several years of rebuilding and redevelopment. (Not to mention all the traffic problems and chaos for long-suffering users of public transport!) Apparently it had been nearly 20 years since it was first proposed; demolition and reconstruction did not start until early in 2015. The main mall has been given a makeover, the adjoining 1970s multi-storey car park has been demolished, and in its place the mall has been extended and linked to a new John Lewis store. The first photograph shows a three-quarter view the day before the reopening.

But is it what Oxford really needs? Is it ten years too late? Initial reports said that retail occupancy was around the 50 percent mark, but that was expected to rise in time. There has been a general decline in shops in Oxford city centre since the 1990s, especially of independent businesses catering for more specialised items.

Despite the potential benefits, it has not happened without more heritage loss to the city. The former St Ebbes district, which was levelled in the 1960s to create car parking, has had much of its archaeology obliterated -- including the site of the medieval Greyfriars friary -- when deep foundations were dug for the new developments. Ironically, the early 1970s concrete car park itself is also gone, despite featuring in one of the Inspector Morse episodes! And loss of a number of mature trees did not go unnoticed.

Predictably, some businesses from the main shopping street, Cornmarket, have already relocated to the Westgate Centre, leaving empty premises and boarded-up entrances. (It took years for the site of HMV's large store to be reoccupied.) Every week, Cornmarket Street seems to look more and more down-at-heel -- surely not a good impression for the thousands of tourists who flock to Oxford every year?

It is well known that Oxford City Council does not like motorised vehicles, and discourages them from the city centre as much as possible. (Which would be great if we could all afford to live in Oxford!) It then seems a little curious that a traffic-generating project like a revamped central shopping centre would be given the go-ahead. People tend to prefer to put their shopping in their cars, rather than wrestle with public transport. Or they go somewhere where they can more easily park and shop...

If you think that this sounds like the City Council does not do joined-up thinking, then you could be right! I would like to be proved wrong, but I predict that the refurbished Westgate Centre will not reach its full potential, and Oxford city centre will continue to look shabby and be a second-rate place to shop. Such a waste of potential!

Para's Progress

A brief update on the painting of the Airfix 1/32 scale Second World War British paratrooper figure unearthed nearly four decades ago...

As mentioned in an earlier blog posting, the single primer coat of Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain was left to dry for at least a week. It was very glossy. It was followed up with a single coat of matt black acrylic car paint from an aerosol can, and left to dry for a further week. (This was sprayed outside in a well-ventilated garage: not a good thing to do inside a house.) Despite being matt black, this also turned out glossy! This was the base coat, forming the shadows. So far, so good, none of the paint had shown signs of cracking or flaking off.

The next stage would be a more challenging test. Using a 1/4 inch flat Pro Arte Acrylix brush, Warm Grey from the Daler Rowney System 3 artists' acrylic paint range was dry-brushed from the head downwards over the entire figure. This formed the mid-tones. The following day, grey was replaced by Titanium White from the same range, and dry-brushing was repeated more lightly to produce the highlights. The figure should now be reminiscent of a black and white photograph.

As noted above, the glossy black shadow finish made adding the grey and white layers more difficult with less of a key to work with, but remarkably the black undercoat remained intact! So the use of quick-drying woodstain as a primer on this polythene-like plastic seems to have been a success (so far).

One downside of the dry-brushing technique is that it shows up any blemishes in the figure -- mould lines, flash, and moulding defects.