ACT show

Hi all. Happy midweek! Some photos of my table at last weekend's miniature show in Canberra:

The food they provided was amazing. This was my delicious chocolate cupcake with white chocolate frosting:

It was only a small show, and not a lot of people through, but it was a fun day and I sold a few things. Also got a lot of encouragement and positive feedback. I should be attending the Sydney show too, at the end of next month so lots of prep work ahead for that one! I hope to have more of my kits listed within the next week, including my new cottage kit.

Hope you are all well. Enjoy the rest of the week and have a safe and happy Easter, if you celebrate it.

I would use the term 'progress' in this blog post, but.....

I feel like I am going in circles. Today is the first time I've seriously questioned my career change. I threw a piece of laser cut ply across the room, and because it didn't break up enough to satisfy my anger, I had to pick it up and scrunch it into tiny pieces. Next time I will throw a bigger piece with more weight to make it more efficient. The upside - I must be learning something at least......

I have about a week until the Caberra miniatures show, and not too much to sell there. I just can't seem to get the cutter working at it's most efficient. Add into the mix slightly bendy ply and an inexperienced user with high standards and you have a fight a-coming. I keep buying ply and I am lucky if I get 50% success rate. Oh well, I guess everyone starting out has these teething problems. The cutter really needs a good service and some parts replaced too, which doesn't help. I will be working all day and night between now and next weekend! 

Anyway, a couple of pictures to show that at least some of the kits are working out. 

One of my shadow boxes landscaped and in need of some accessories:

The cottage stove all painted up:

All that's left to say is I hope that your week has been more successful than mine. Bring on the weekend!

Tiny dollies!

A quick post of some tiny dolls I made yesterday. Well, I only finished off the big doll, and she will go in my 1" scale doll shop. The other tiny ones will stay in this 1/2" doll shop.

Trials and tribulations of the novice laser cutter

Well, it has taken me considerably longer than I would've hoped to get more kits up for sale but I am slowly getting somewhere. I think. The laser cutter, laptop and myself seem to have fairly different world views. There have been quite a few scraps along the way, the laptop had to be let go in favour of a much newer version and I have learnt a lot about myself and the way that I want to be able to run things. I have even redesigned (or rather in the process of redesigning) all the cabriole legs on my furniture pieces. So what I have photographed below won't be the final product. I am excited with my new work, and although many of the kits I had almost ready to go may take a little longer, the finished product will be far superior (famous last words??).

I installed the doll shop cabinets and some more little pieces of furniture.

Little owl having a lonely tea party:

View of the entry, which is about done I think:

The kitchen and salon:

A closer view of the fireplace, with my poor attempt at marbling:

I have two versions of this fireplace. This one is for rooms where there is no room for a chimney breast, and it has the metal cover on the front (no actual opening/hearth). The other has an opening/hearth for when there is room for a chimney breast. You can also see the cabriole legs on the green table. I am in the process of changing those out for better ones.

I am really struggling to get materials also. Australian businesses just don't stock much in the way of miniature timber supplies, so I have resorted (at least temporarily) to buying from the US and UK. I wish it was easier and quicker but that's the way it goes.

Hope your week is going well folks.

Prototypes for little scene boxes

Hi all. Welcome to a new week and a new month - gee it is going quickly. I have been working on some little boxes for scenes which could be used in different scales and also as cross-overs into general crafting. This is the first set (part of, as I think there will be a third smaller box to come) with a woodland theme. I have some ideas for decorating these, and hope I get to finish one over the next few weeks. For now, I need to slightly refine the file (maybe add tabs and slots) and give the option of top or bottom opening. Although I have allowed for a sliding acrylic front, I think the openings will be too small to decorate or change the inside. By having lift-off top options, people will have easier access to the interior.

Also, if you are relatively local, I have booked into my first miniature show! So come see me at the ACT miniature fair on 19 March 2016 at the Weston Creek Community Centre, Weston, ACT. Lots of work to do between now and then!!!!

Take care everyone.

Link to my store

Hi again. Will try to post a link....

Red Cottage Miniatures

Hope this works for you! Have a great day everyone. We're having a warm week, which I am pretty happy about.

First batch of kits up for sale!!!

Hi all. Just a brief post to let you know that I have listed 5 kits for sale on my Etsy store:

www.redcottageminiatures.etsy.com 

They will be ready to ship by the end of the week.

There are an additional few available soon that need just a couple of additional parts. I anticipate having more available shortly, once I have purchased some more supplies and mastered my laser cutter! I hope this will be in January, subject to businesses remaining open to sell me supplies over the Christmas break.

Thanks again for your interest and encouragement everyone. It has taken me far longer to get here than I wanted, but better late than never! There is just so much to learn and I am making constant improvements to my designs all the time. Enjoy the rest of your week!