Sale at Minisx2

Just FYI, Patie is having a 20 % off sale at hew Etsy shop Minisx2

For thise who are not familiar with her work, she makes amazing mid-century modern furniture mostly in 1/12 scale.

Here are some of my favorites:

 Her work is excellent quality and her prices are quite reasonable.

Would visit her shop and get the goods while you can.  They go quickly!

Mod Fireplace

I've been working on making a mod hanging fireplace for the 70's A-frame that I'm working on. I hope it will look something like this:

 

 

As you may know, I'm a little bah humbug about the commercialism of Christmas, but there is one good thing: cheap Christmas ornaments that you can make miniatures out of.

I found this ornament for 88 cents.

 

Cut the end with the hole off. Then filed and sanded the edges smooth.

  Then I cut a piece of PVC pipe my husband had laying around.  It wasn't easy getting the angle just right. Then I glued them together.

 

 

I will hang like this.  I will paint the inside a flat black and add some logs.  I'm contemplating making it light up.  I'm not sure what color the outside will be.  Probably orange.  I'm pleased how it is turning out

 

Undersized Urbanite Update: 70's Style

I have now decided on a house for the Undersized Urbanite contest.  I found this A-frame dollhouse kit on Ebay some time ago.  It was basically in mint condition except that the wood is very old and brittle.  I've gotten a lot of splinters putting this together.  The  wood was so brittle that I thought of just using it as a template, but I was able to use the main pieces.

Most of the wood looks like this with pieces that have chipped off.

Here is where I'm at now.

 

I replaced the end at the left with a solid piece so that I can have a wall without windows to put the kitchen and bathroom on.  I will most likely make a new spiral staircase.

 



I want to some kind of funky hanging fireplace like the one shown below.  I'm thinking of somehow transforming this lemon juice bottle.

 

I'm leaning toward going something like this with the curved sofa.

 

I bid on this curved wooden sofa on Ebay, but was out bid..  :-( It would have been perfect.  Now I have to figure out how to make one...

Happy Halloween!!!

As some of you already know, Halloween is by far my favorite holiday.  I didn't get a chance to do a Halloween scene this year. But you can see some great ones on Kyle Lefort's Blog.  Anyway, I just thought I'd show you some of my most treasured Halloween Town buildings.  They were sold at JoAnn Stores many years ago and are now very hard to find.  They are in miniature, so I thought it would be appropriate.

Not a good picture, I know.  The little dead tree is in the way.

 

 

They all have lights in them, however most of them are flashing lights so it was difficult to get a picture of them lit up in the dark.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!!!

Undersized Urbanite

I've decided to do some building for fun rather than making miniatures to sell (although I still have a ton to sell).  So, I'm going to enter the Undersized Urbanite contest.  I had written off contests, but since this is for fun and not so much to win I think I will do it.

Living in Indiana, I've seen a lot about the Miller house in Columbus.  It was designed by Eero Saarinen for the Miller family.  You can see and read more here.  I've wanted to tour the house for some time, but I still haven't had the opportunity to.

I'm going to use the Miller house as my inspiration, but I'm going to add a little 60's-70's shagadellic twist. I just love the sunken living room. 

 Maybe some things like this:

 

Now, I just have to figure out I'm going to use as a house.

 

A Scary Sale

I'm having a sale at my Etsy shop Modpodminiatures.  Enter the code SPOOKYSALE13 to receive 10% off.  the sale is until October 26th.

These are just a few of the things I currently have listed.  If you are interested in something and it's not listed yet, just message me.  It's probably still available!

 

Thanks!!!

I just want to thank you all for all of the wonderfully encouraging comments about the Indy show and the miniatures I have been making. I'm even considering doing the show next year! 
 

Mini Heywood-Wakefield

Since I have a fondness for the real Heywood-wakefield furniture, I decided to make a version of a "dog bone" bed.  It's named for the shape of the foot board.  In real life I have the dining chairs from this collection...in my dining room of course. I would LOVE to have one of these beds in real life...king size.

One thing I really hate about using tacky wax on walls is that it leaves little greasy spots on the wallpaper as you can see above the dresser on the left side.

The abstract art is by Lyssa at Can't Have it Big? Make it Mini.  She also has an etsy shop.  The dog is from my swap with Mandy at Mini Modern Mind, the flowers and orange area rug are from my swap with Annina.  I made the retro cat art, the yellow chair, the lamps and the bed with the bedding.  The dressers are by Streets Ahead.

 

Te lamps are lit with a 9V battery connector.  I just hid the 9V battery.

 

Even this one, the battery is behind the chair.  I also made the bullet planter. I like the pattern the lamp leaves on the wall and ceiling.

 

These are mostly things I made for the Indy show a couple of weeks ago. Some of them are listed in my Etsy shop and on Ebay.

Indy Show = Learning Experience

As you may know I decided to do the Indianapolis miniatures show this year.  It was a sort of a bust.  So to make this short, I'm making a list of pros and cons about doing this show.

Pros:

• I met a lot of very nice and helpful people.
• I learned a little about "selling the sizzle, not the steak".
• I did at least make my table rental back...just barely.
• Hopefully, I opened some eyes to the idea of doing something different in miniatures.
• I did get one small custom order.
• I have a bunch of stuff to list on Etsy and Ebay.
• I had many compliments on the furniture I had at the show.
• This gave me the inspiration to make some of the things that I have been meaning to make but just haven't had the time to.

Cons:

• I didn't sell much.  A total of 7 pieces of furniture, some pillows, one driftwood sculpture and a lamp.
• I have to unwrap and find space to keep all of the things I made for the show.
• I have to clean my house that I have ignored for the past six weeks to make miniatures for the show.
• I hear from other vendors that they didn't sell a lot either.
• People (at least in Indiana) may not be ready for modern, mid-century modern or colorful miniatures, at least not yet.

That all being said here are some pics from the show.

 

 

 

 

Also some of you may know that I have a real fondness for Halloween.  Here are some pics from Wildwood's Witches Shop.  It's amazing!

 

I think this spider web door with the spider handles is my favorite part.

Take a look at the feet on the table.

 The green glowing table and the green goo in the cauldron create such an eerie atmosphere.   The fireplace under the cauldron works of course.

Everything a mini witch could want.

So overall, the show wasn't bad.  I learned some things and met some great people.  Will I do the show again?  Not likely.  I think I will stick to Ebay and Etsy.