More of the Same and A Bit of the Old

More and more designs for Festival are being cranked out. These 6 teasers aren't even all that were made in the last week!

I also finished up the fox quilt and Bejeweled, the hexagonal table topper.

AND I went to Miniature club on Thursday! We made tiny clutch purses.

Time for me to head back to sewing... after I find some dinner. Tomorrow's another long day capped off with more Christmas!

Art Studio in Miniature... Work In Progress

Last week I started working in earnest on some ideas I'd been playing around with in my head. The first was a mock up of an easel. I couldn't find a tutorial on one I liked anywhere, so I winged it. This one is done in balsa wood. 

It's been stained, had paint smeared on it, and been aged with a black wash now. I'm missing the current picture of it. I'm putting it into one of the Attic lamps after it's varnished. Waste not want not.

The second easel is done in basswood, It's slightly different, as the sizes of wood strips I had on hand were different than the balsa. I made a hinge for the back leg out of fabric that's stained to (sort of) match the wood. There is a length of chain from an old necklace keeping the leg from flipping too far out.

I've stained it with cherry. The top "thingy" that holds the canvases in place will be added once I get a canvas on there. I need to start a painting on a canvas so it's a work in progress.

Speaking of the canvases I made a few of them and a handful of brushes as well. There's a palette that still needs one side varnished too.

A while back, True 2 Scale Minis did a tutorial on a plein air watercolor painting set up. That got played with too.

Yesterday I made some labels for spray cans and tubs of gesso. Hoping to get those worked on today and Monday. The palette needs finishing, including paints added to it. I'm thinking this easel needs some paint drips, but perhaps not as many as the prototype received. Also need to throw together a table and or stool for this scene. And then there's the paintings themselves... Hoping to get it all finished by Tuesday afternoon... Wednesday at the latest. 

Wish me luck!

Illuminating Additions

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! FH are heading home today and it can't come any sooner for me.

I'd hoped to make this week's post about the minis going into the storefront, but that didn't happen.  Too busy getting ready to travel and we had company over Monday evening for FH's birthday. I did stumble across a quick project whilst cleaning on Monday and set it aside for Tuesday.

It's nothing fancy... and silly me forgot to take a "before" shot, but here's an aged brass candelabra that used to be bright and shining.

The destination? The Attic Corner Lamp. I also unearthed a tiny lamp made from a plastic "turquoise" bead as I cleared off the buffet. It had been living on top of the real lamp, but someone (probably Artie) knocked it down and it became lost in the clutter. Both pieces are safely tucked away now.

The candelabra is behind the old chair. Someone has knocked it into the chair leg. My money is on the squirrel that's in the fake Christmas tree. Check the picture above to see him. ;-)

Here's the tiny lamp. I'm not sure if it's going to stay there or not. I might re-position it.... or perhaps the squirrel will.

That's all for this week. Hopefully I'll recover from the holiday fast and can get back to work on the store and its contents by tomorrow.

New Build!

I've started on a new building. This project is just for me because it sounds like fun. Something to celebrate being done with the Festival dollhouse and ease the disappointment of not finishing the Aquarium quilt in time for the contest.

As for what it's going to be, I'm saving that for next weekend. ;-)

See you then!

May the Road Rise to Meet You

This week I said farewell and good luck to someone who has helped me dust off my ethereal pieces and start rebuilding. My therapist for the last few years has retired after dedicating a good portion of her life to helping those who need it most.

I wanted to do something special for her, as not only a thank you, but to mark the end of a long chapter in her life and celebrate the beginning of the new. It needed to be easy to transport and not take up too much space since a cross country move was in store.

After I bit of hunting through various shops, I found this little cake plate dome. It's about the size of my favorite teacup, so I knew the size would work.

Then I started pondering and designing. This is the final result.

And here it is inside the dome.

So thank you for everything, Jean. May you enjoy this next chapter and have many happy days.

An Early Start

Not on the day, but for a workshop/project I'm teaching next month. The local mini group will be making 1:12 scale green velvet cakes for the March project. I spent time this past week getting a few things ready for them. [Oh and I hope everyone had a nice St. Valentine's Day!]

What took up most of my time was the cane of candy I designed for them to decorate the cake with. In fact I haven't even gotten the cake part started beyond deciding on colors and making notes for the handout.

But the cane is finished and I've gotten half of it rolled out and baked!

I still have about 3 inches of the unbaked cane to roll out and bake. I will probably try to come up with a few other things to do with it.

I've already made lollipops and stick candy.

And of course there are some teapots made from bits trimmed off the cane ends after stretching.

For fun, I tried out a cookie jar type thing with a chunk of cane end, just to see how it would look. The bit I used was at the first end I trimmed off when I started stretching the cane, so the shamrock design isn't quite all there, but I'm actually quite taken with it and will try doing another one or two.

I'm not going to have the mini group members actually make the cane at the meeting. It takes way too long. But they are getting the instructions and design in their handout in case they'd like to make more at a later date. They're also each getting a piece of finished cane to use for their project.

I'm also planning on putting the finished project instructions up on my Etsy page as a download for a couple of dollars at some point. There may be someone out there who would like the instructions.

That's all for this week. I need to get working on the little cakes so I can get pictures and finish writing up the handout.