Almost finished....

The pharmacy's drawers have all got their handles, 110.... Luckily, they won't open! I have also added a few bags on the floor. But this pharmacy is definitely too tidy, LOL, compared with the real ones.

The cabinets'shelves are almost full. A few more bags to make.

Upstairs, everything's fine and quiet...

You can go and take a nap while I go shopping to fill the cupboard's shelves. It looks a bit empty!

The room above

       First and above all, I want to thank all of you who read my last post and left a message, Catherine, Giac, Catherine/ Mooghiscath, Anna, Dada, Maureen, Patricia, Marisa, Genevieve, Drora, Lila, Pilar, Neen and all the other friends who left messages on my Facebook

I enjoy sharing with you my project but it's great to hear from you too.

So, the cabinet of the pharmacy are slowly but steadily getting filled with jars of medicines and of bags of herbs.... Can you belive there are more than 100 little glass bottles.

The pharmacy will be over as soon as I receive the drawers pulls from....South Korea!

The foundation powder does really well for dust. Try it the next time you want to create an attic or a dusty atmosphere.

         The room above is the pharmacist's room. Only one room to sleep and to cook. 

In Thailand, most houses didn't have a kitchen. In the countryside, people still cook in the room where they sleep. And often the bed is just a mat on the floor with a pillow and a bed sheet if it's cold....I mean less than 29 degree Celsius!

I made a bed as I wanted to add a mosquito net ( made from a double layer of gauge for dressing. It's a simple bed with 4 posts. A thin mattress (always) I need to do some cushions.

Not much furniture, a bench for the cooking utensils, a clay pot on a wood ?? stove? (every house has one),  a kind of wok to cook Tum yam, the traditional spicy soup, a chopping board to cut all the herbs and vegetables.

 There are also pots and ladles and two ripe mangoes (they're delicious with sticky rice and coconut milk!)

Some fishing traps hang on the wall. Even in Bangkok, people like fishing in the Klongs and in the Chao Praya river. They like to cook catfish. They grill them, i.e. the grill on the left.

I long thought about a way to make a tiny garland of flowers to add to the altar with the Buddha. I made one is with ...wool.

On the other side is the a cupboard to keep food away from mice and ants. We'd call it un "garde manger" in French. The middle section is covered with chicken mesh so that air can circulate.

The 4 feet are standing in pots with ...water to prevent ants from climbing up. This is something I have often seen in houses here and it seems to work. It's a bit to large. I'll try and make a smaller one, thinner.

At the back a high bench to keep their clothes. Unlike most of us, Thai people do not have much furniture, even today. Only what they need. No table and chairs, they dine on the floor. No couch or armchairs and coffee table, and, and, and....Life is simple.

The walls are yellow with a lot of smoke stains because of the cooking.

I can feel this project is almost finished and I really enjoyed doing it. I am already thinking about the next one.....

Thanks again for your kind comments. It is really important to hear from people who share the same hobby/passion, whether the comments are good or bad, they help to go forward.

if I don't post anything before Christmas, I wish you all and all the people who share your life a

Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

Patrick in Thailand

The Chinese pharmacy

That was a big challenge as the project had only started with pictures of old buildings I had photographed in old Chinatown in Bangkok. 

Today the interior of the shop is almost finished. This is what it looked like, an empty box.

 To get the "aged" feeling, I sprayed different shades of grey on the walls and the floor to get the aspect I wanted.

When the paint was dry, I used black shoe polish with a shoe brush. After a while, it started to look like old cement

I sprayed black paint on the different pieces of furniture, but now the cabinets looked like furniture from Ikea, LOL

As my intention was to create an old pharmacy, I looked for a way to age the different parts. 

For facades, I use different layers of acrylic with a sponge but I felt it wouldn't work here. 

And I had this idea, I wanted  dusty cabinets, so I used brown foundation powder with a soft brush and it worked. 

Now the cabinets look old and dusty. It's just perfect, it looks like dust but it's not!

It took me a while to fill all the miniature glass jars with different powders I found in the kitchen. Now salt, sugar, flour, pepper, herbs have become Chinese medicines. I also noticed Chinese pharmacy were filled with packets wrapped in brown paper. They must contain herbs and strange powders. I have to make another thirty brown packets to fill the shelves.

As you can see, I didn't have enough drawers pulls ( I needed 100!) but luckily Rosa  from Taiwan contacted the factory which makes them and I should receive the missing ones this week!

I didn't forget a representation of Buddha on its altar. Everyday, the owner will offer fruits and incense to their God.

Another characteristic of shops in Asia are the pictures of the King, Rama 4 here and of the ancestors of the owner that are always displayed in the shops

Unlike our pharmacies, Chinese pharmacy are quite dusty and messy with bags and trays with plants for sale everywhere. I'll'll have to add more. But the smell is already there with the odour of cloves (though it reminds me of the dentist's clinic)and herbs.

The counter is covered with things you really see in pharmacies. each prescription is prepared on white paper. The paper is then folded and given to the patient. I need to find a proper scale and an abacus of course. Any ideas?

By the way, the mortar is far too big and it is not the right shape or texture,. They are carved in grey granite. This one is to make sumtam or papaya salad (one of my favourite Thai dishes)
 I need to make a smaller one with clay when I have time and this mortar will go in the kitchen corner in the room above.

The wall outside is showing now Thai old posters but I haven't worked too much on that side of the building yet.

Now this is what the building looks like.

 Felix, the new cat (the 4th stray I adopt) is very proud of it and always try to get inside!

When night falls, the Chinese lanterns give another dimension to the building

Next, the room above...
Thank you for reading my post and wish you all the best.

Patrick in Lopburi, Thailand