Sydney miniature show #2

Monday again! How did that happen?? I am tired and not very coherent, so I will post photos of some of the exhibits at the show with little text, so I don't have to think too much, and you don't have to read!

I didn't capture the maker's cards for most of the exhibits, so my apologies to the makers. 

Warren Barnard designed 1:48 house built during a workshop:

Chell Oldfield's cute kitchen cabinet also from a workshop:

Adelaide Cann's beautiful courtyard garden:

Real fountains!!!

Ray Powell's cool Victorian:

And his little French house:

View from the bleachers:

Enjoy your week everyone!

Sydney miniature show #1

Hello all. I had a great weekend in Sydney, attending the miniature fair for the first time. I did pretty well with my sales, enough to cover my costs and buy a few goodies, plus got lots and lots of oohs and ahhs, which is always positive! Had the chance to meet some people I hadn't met but had been in contact with over the years, which was really great (hello Linda!! It was so nice to chat!). I hear that numbers were down though, and some traders didn't do so well. It's such a shame and also quite hard for me to believe - the standard was so high with some really amazing things for sale. Here is what I purchased:

Some tiny paper clips (squeee!):

Some ladies toiletries and two fans by Di (no website unfortunately; her stuff was so beautiful and well-priced):

And a tiny sweet little teddy (made by Di's friend), a tiny teapot and a beautiful Margaret Crosswell bust: 

Had I had more money, I would've bought many more items. I didn't look around too much at the tables as there were just so many beautiful things, it was too heart-breaking!! I ogled Kim's Miniatures table, which again was really reasonably priced (and needless to say stunning) but given my money shortage, no purchases. However....... My husband, unbeknownst to me, also was very impressed by her dolls and bought me this as a surprise!

Being behind perspex in a little box, she is quite hard to photograph, but she is really exquisite. I feel extremely spoilt! Next time, I hope to bring her home a little Kim's Miniatures friend. I took some photos of the exhibits so will post those shortly. Have a great day everyone!

Little chairs finished

Hello everyone. Wanted to post some photos of my little chairs now that they're finished. I upholstered the seats and added a frill.

I have also, at long last, finished the other cabinets for the doll shop! I made the front panel of the cabinet so that it pops off for interior access, and the whole inside of the counter pulls out. I meant to photograph this but forgot. Anyways, they need a few more accessories, but otherwise I am quite happy with the way they turned out.

Might need to try making a 1/24 cash register....

Last pic - a sweet little lidded jar by Elizabeth Causeret that I purchased at Kensington a few years ago. Such amazing detail, what a clever lady.

One last thing: I finally got my husband to figure out how to switch on the reply to comments function, so can now reply to individual comments! Have a great week everyone.

Exceptions to architectural rules?

Hello folks! I am up early today, as our daylight saving finished last night, and it's a lovely sunny morning worth getting up for. 

So the reason for this blog post is Australian homes. I generally think Australian architecture is very different to most American (and other) architecture. We do have a lot of California bungalows, which I absolutely adore. Also some of the Tudor style homes built in the 1920s are very similar. Other than that, there aren't a lot of other similarities. Last night, I was looking through some internet photos of Australian Federation homes, and found this Gothic revival home:

I think it is in Tasmania. Anyway, I was struck by how similar it is to the American Gothic architecture. It's really not something you see much of here. It lead me to think that there are always exceptions to rules. And cross-overs with architecture.

I have put together my Sid Cooke Coxwolds kit and paperclayed the exterior. I was going for a Cotswolds stone, but then at the time I was doing this, I saw a lot of photos of old stone houses in Tasmania, and thought it could be Australian instead. Yet to decide.

On that note, I will sign off. Hope your weekend has been good so far. Take care everyone.

A mini break-through

Hello all. Happy hump day. I had a minor break-through over the last 24 hours. I finally got a little carver chair finished. This is one I have been working on from the start, one that I just couldn't get right. It's not 100% how I want it to be (it is in my eyes a tiny little bit too tall) but it is as good as it's going to get! I then altered the design to make a side chair (no arms) and a settee/bench seat. Now that I have this design done, I will be able to use it as a basis for other styles of chair without too many worries. I hope!

 

I can't wait to see the settee painted with a pretty seat cushion on it!

My plan between now and Sydney is to get the other kits I have up for sale in my Etsy store and finish off the almost ready designs (such as more furniture for the doll shop, the French canopy bed, an armoire and a few other pieces). 

Thanks to all those who have posted comments over the last month or so. Your encouragement has been gratefully recieved and appreciated. I feel like I am starting to get somewhere! 

Happy Easter

Hello everyone. I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying your weekend, whether you celebrate Easter or not. We are not religious and therefore don't really celebrate it, but I do make sure that in the lead-up to Easter, I've stocked up a year's worth of Cadbury Creme Eggs!

Here are some pictures of my little chocolate shop, (partially) filled with Easter items. Stuff I've either made or metal minis I painted. I need lots more bits yet. I had a heap of tiny eggs but can't find those. 

I took the photos at night, so they're kinda crappy, but you can see the gold embossing on the windows.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

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!

Little laser cut kit update

Hello all. I thought I'd give a quick update so that the people who were interested in my little French shop kit would know what is going on. And why I am much later having them ready than I anticipated! The husband was taking too long to put the test kit together, and didn't follow my instructions anyway, so I ended up finishing it off myself. And finally got the instructions completed. I decided to have the kits cut from a lightweight ply rather than MDF, as this will significantly lower the weight of the kits. My cutting service then needed to order in extra sheets to cut the kits. Then there were issues with the little tabs which hold pieces in their sheets breaking, so I needed to redraw the parts to make them all wider. So now finally the kits are in the courier on their way to me! I still need to cut the window and mirror acrylic pieces, and when that is done, the kits can be shipped! My laser cutter also arrived at looooong last, so I need to attach the extraction fan and do a little more test cutting and I can start to produce some furniture kits! Pretty happy about it all. I think that progress with new designs will be much quicker now.

I will have 10 kits available initially. As I now have my own cutter, I hope that I will be able to produce more kits as needed in a shorter time, but I will need to obtain some materials myself. But all in good time! 

I have almost opened my Etsy store, which is where you will be able to get one. I will post the address when they are listed. I will also try to get some furniture kits up there when I can. I have also been working on some little room box kits, which I'm really happy with. They could be used in different scales and will have different themes/front designs (the first ones are forest themed!!). So many ideas and so little time!

I hope everyone is well and that your preparations for the holiday season is going well. Sending love to those who find the season tough - ours is always tinged with sadness, but happy memories also.

Ooops

Hello everyone. So I have been thinking for ages, just put the salon walls into the French chateau shell and get moving with this. So I did. Mistake. I never even thought about the wiring issue. So I tried out the wall lights I was going to use in here, and they are too big, so will need to make my own I suppose. And also I need to try to drill the wiring holes now with the walls installed. Not that smart. Sigh.

Anyway, here is a pic of the walls all in place. I need to add the cornice moulding, do some filling of the gaps and install the flooring (which I'll laser cut shortly).

The doors at the back will be fixed in place and the doors at front will need to be hinged. More trouble.

On a positive note, my laser cutter will be here either this week or early next week! (Longer than I was told it would take but better late than never) In the meantime, I've ordered 10 kits from my cutting service, so will have them up for sale soon.

Have a good week folks! Hope it's sunny where you are.