The Next Chapter

Well here it goes. This is a decision that I've been toying with for a long time. I'm very sad to say that I am getting out of miniatures as a business and turning it back into it a hobby again.

Those close to me know that I've been healing from some pretty gnarly stuff over the last few years.  A huge part of that healing has taken a lot of spiritual work, meditation, Reiki and looking into the shadows of who I am and who I've always thought of myself to be. The change has made me realize what I want and don't want in my life and what I am willing to do.

Being involved in the world of miniatures has been one of the many the survival mechanisms that have helped get me through life over the last several years. It's put me in contact with some of the best friends that I could possibly ask for and taught me many new skills. I'm so grateful to everyone who has supported me in my miniature journey.  This warms and breaks my heart at the same time.

Miniatures and being in the miniature business has helped me realize a lot of things about myself like:

I'm just not motivated to work for myself, I'm a total people pleaser.  

I really don't like 3-D printing with resin because of the fumes. The machines are pretty finicky plus I'm allergic to the resin. I get a terrible rash up and down my arms when I work with it. 

It's really lonely working by yourself every day. It makes it so you're in your head all day long...WAAAAAAY too much time to think.  I'm an introvert, but I'm also a libra which means that I have to have connection to the outside world and people.

The Miniature business is definitely makes you hustle!

I'm ADHD which means I need structure and routine...I don't like it...but I need it.

I don't give up easily.

It made me challenge myself and my design skills.

I know that I CAN make miniatures my business, but I don't really want to.

Even small things can take over your life and your house.🙃

So what does a woman in her 50's who is starting over and never followed her dream do? Take the path not taken before.

When I was in college, I wanted to change my major from Fashion Merchandising to Interior Design, but I didn't.  I wanted to go back to school to get the credentials and licensing later, but I decided not to. I've regretted it ever since.

Back in the day, when I sold home dec textiles, I got into miniatures because my house at the time was basically finished and I wanted something to decorate. What I love about making miniature furniture and accessories is the design process and staging the scenes. 

I also love to paint. I miss painting murals for kids rooms.  It's really heart warming to see a kid's face light up when they walk into they're own little fantasy room.

So, I guess my dream job would be a Spiritual-Interior Designer-Painter My hope is to at the very least get pretty close to that and be able to make a good living at it.

I will be taking some time to finish decorating my own house and finishing up some miniature pieces that I already have started.  Over the next several weeks, as I learn new skills and take some classes, I will be posting them for auction on Ebay. I will also be paring down and selling some of my personal miniature collection and lots of supplies.  The best way you can support me on this endeavor to follow my dream is to please bid on my miniatures! 😁

Wish me luck😉

Synchronicities and Starting Over

Well...it's been a long time since I 've blogged let alone blogged on this platform.  Anyway, To update you on my miniature journey, I quit my full time job to be a miniaturist.  I'm terrified to do this, but they say nothing worthwhile is easy.  I originally quit my job to do this back in 2020..  I was just getting going and seeing progress on my sales then I decided to divorce my husband of 24 years. So, lets just say that life got in the way, I got a full time job, moved, and became an empty nester.  What a bunch of life changes all at once, am I right?

Anyway, I'm finally feeling somewhat settled in my "new" life.  It's like I'm 25 again and starting life over, but with a lot more wisdom. I bought a mid-century ranch home on my own, been doing a shit ton of healing from the marriage and life in general, got diagnosed with ADHD (yet another healing story).  My real life house has this really cool 2-sided fireplace, lots of windows and a big yard (which I'm actually not a fan of-more on that in another post).  I also quit my job again over a year ago to be an artist/miniaturist.  I have no idea what I'm doing, I've been pretty unmotivated to work for myself, but I also know that nothing comes easy and I feel like I'm getting signs from the Universe that things will be OK.  One of those signs is that back in January, I got a random email from Redfin Magazine asking for my input on Mid-century Modern decorating.  Here is the link to the article.  Mine is #24. I was thrilled and surprised to have this opportunity. Then in February, I got an opportunity to show my miniatures at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. They were doing a celebration of Colleen Moore's fairy castle.  I still haven't seen the castle in person, though.  I hear it's spectacular. I'm taking these as signs from the universe that I am where I am supposed to be.  There's a whole lot more about signs and  synchronicities, but I don't want to get all woo woo on you.🤣 Here's the thing...I'm broke, but I haven't been this happy in years.  There are days where I feel stuck, want to drop it all and go get a real full time job.  I even updated my resume.  But for some reason, I just can't give up on this dream...at least not yet.   

Brick Issues

In a nutshell, I'm really unhappy with the bricks on the Mid-Century Modern build.  

Since this is a four sided building, each end of the house will slide up so that you can see the inside. As you can see, the bricks are just not working with the transition from wall to base.  Not to mention that the bricks simply look like crap.  You can see where the bricks are made from each carton.  There isn't enough texture change.  I should have just laid them one by one and mixed it up.

So I tried painting the brick...You can still see the bad texture and it also started to bubble.  I must not have had those spots glued down well.

You can see the transition between the wall and the base is worse on this end.

So as I see it my options are: Peel it all off and place the bricks one by one, Peel it all off and make it limestone like the Atomic Bungalow or peel it all off and make it stucco.  I don't think I like the idea of the stucco though because that doesn't seem very Mid-Century modern to me.

The good news is that I'm almost done with the front door and I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out.

Any input or suggestions on my brick problem would be greatly appreciated!

Mid Mod Brickwork

 I was going to do stone work like on my last mid-mod build but I didn't want to be a one trick pony and do the same thing.  I also didn't want to do regular bricks. Then I remembered a real life mid-century modern home tour that I went to a few years ago and my favorite house had ivory straight stacked brickwork. So I decided to make longer straight stacked bricks. 

I painted egg carton lids and ivory color that I got at Home Depot then cut the bricks with the laser so that they would be consistent.  Then I decided that was a crap ton of bricks to glue on individually and would take seemingly forever to get them evenly spaced and straight both vertically and horizontally.  

 I still cut them with a laser, but didn't go all the way through so they would stay in tact and easier to keep straight. The bricks look a little dirty from the edges being singed by the laser, but hopefully I will be ably to touch them up with paint later....then I ran out of egg cartons.  The front facade took about 13 cartons to cover. I thought I was going to have to eat a lot of eggs.

Then I tried my home made stone trick but it turned out either too thick and lumpy or too thin, plus when you paint it the paper absorbs the water and gets wavy.  You can't cut uneven surfaces on a laser cutter.

 Ebay to the rescue!  I remember reading something about how you can sell things like crayons and egg cartons on Ebay so I thought I'd take a look.  Apparently you can get anything on Ebay.  I bought 25 cartons with flat lids for $15.00. I'm just waiting for them to arrive.

Craftsman Cabin Turned Mid-Century Modern Ranch

Ever since I sold the Mid-Century Bungalow a few years ago. I've wanted to do  another Mid-century modern build.  Here's what the MCM Bungalow looked like:

As you can see it's similar to the HBS Craftsman Cabin which is this year's Creatin' Contest kit.

I finally decided to start the build even though I have three unfinished projects that I'm "working" on. I haven't decided if I will enter the contest this year.  I guess it depends in whether or not I actually finish it.

 I've made quite a few changes to the kit.  First I closed up the front door, picture window and the window on the back side.  I also cut two new doorways and all new windows.  

 I moved the front door to the other side and put an addition on the left to make a bedroom and bathroom. I also made a triangular window much like the MCM Bungalow.

 It will have a sunken living room.  I cut a square in the floor and put one inch supports under the area where I cut.  Since the kit has a raised floor this worked out perfectly.

 I used 1/4" fiberboard for the addition because I can't find 3/8" anywhere.  The windows are a little deeper than the walls so I will cut some mat board to thicken the walls a bit.

 The angled roof line will be extended to make a car port a lot like this one.

I really wanted to use these mini concrete breezeblocks from Mini Materials for the realism, but I think they will mage it a little too heavy and I would need A LOT of them.  I will just do my best to make them with the laser cutter. Wish me luck!

#HBSCREATINCONTEST2017

Tiny Tea Light Tutorial

On Friday I was doing a bit of cleaning and when I emptied my husbands trash can in his man cave and found these little metal pieces that looked just like the foil holder for tea light candles. So of course I went digging through the trash to find more.

These are small pistol bullet primers that he uses to make bullets.  These are the ones that have been used.  I can't stress enough that if you want to use the same things to make tea lights...make sure they are used.  Other wise you could get seriously injured.

Any way I used a pick and removed the little anvils that are inside of them.

Which leaves the primer cup.

We then used polymer clay to fill the cups, 

 and used a little bit of mono-filament fishing line for the wicks.

I baked them in the oven then trimmed down the wicks and...

Voila!

Bishop International Show 2017 - Two Weeks Later

Once again as I told myself I won't go this year...I went.  Chicago is about a 3-3 1/2 hour drive from where I live so it's really hard to resist.  The lessons I learned this year are: bring more cash....a lot more and suck it up, just take a day off of work and buy the preview tickets. My plan was to go to the Three Blind Mice show on Friday and the Bishop Show on Saturday.  Which I did.

The Three Blind Mice show was mostly basic things.Here's what I found there:

Fabulous Gerber Daisy kits (my favorite flower) and great bird feeder from...Darn I can't remember the name.

 The most amazing detailed humming bird feeder with a humming bird and shepherds hook and some very detailed birds from Mini-Gems. She also has 1:24 scale and other small animals.

And this little cactus-I can't remember the name of the vendor.

 After the Three Blind Mice show I had some dinner at Ikea - Those meatballs! We don't have one where I live yet, but we're getting one in the fall! 

Then I did a little local shopping and didn't buy anything.

Saturday, I got to the Bishop Show a bout half an hour later than I expected.  I headed right to Patrizia Santi and bought my first pair of her shoes...they're amazing! I am so in love with them!

Then I rushed to Ulus Miniatures and ogled for a little bit.  I didn't bring a lot of cash and I knew I could buy some of his stuff online So I waited to see what I could spend.

Then I met up with Brae who informed me that there was a third show...of course right down the street from where I stayed the night before...wouldn't you figure.  Anyway she said it was worth it to check it out so we did....and she was right!  I so wish I had realized that the show was going the day before. I would have spent a lot more time there.

Here's what I found there:

A couple of kits from Art of Mini

An amazing egg timer and a couple of outlets (although they are more European looking than American) from Minifanaberia

This ashtray with burned cigarettes from Cinen

This super cow hide. I love the print and it's really hard to find a print small enough and nap short enough to look real in 1:12. Unfortunately, I forget the name of the shop.

We went back to the Bishop Show and had lunch then we went on our ways.

Here's what I found there:

 A super cute Mid-century modern T.V. from D-Tales Miniatures

 I went back to Ulus Miniatures and bought this electric can opener and Zippo lighter.  The details are amazing.. Even my husband commented on the detail.

 A little pack of smokes and a little votive candle from A little More in Miniatures.

 and these gorgeous papers from Miniatureboekbinden .  I plan on making modern art work with these. They're amazing and the perfect size.