Workshop prototype finished

I have been stressing quite a bit about this workshop prototype and workshop in general. I had to have it finished earlier than anticipated so didn't have time for a trial run with a group. I wanted a 1-day workshop, but there is too much to do, so 2-days it will have to be. I struggle with pricing so not sure where to go with that. A couple of small details got dropped off along the way due to running out of time. I think one or two details could be changed, but they are very minor and I will see about that later. It's not quite how I was picturing it, but I am pretty happy still - I anticipated it being more rustic, but it turned out a little fancy! Never mind. Hindsight is a wonderful thing....

Mid winter post

Kinda boring. It is cold, I'm cold, I'm over being cold, winter's just started, blah blah blah. On the upside, I have some new kits coming out very soon, and will be at the Melbourne Miniatures Fair on 9 and 10 July. Come and say hello if you are there.

Here are some pics of new kits being developed:

A little fridge:

A firescreen:

An armchair that will probably not be ready for Melbourne:

The kitchen for the Carmel cottage:

And lastly, if you are a Facebook fan, I have started a page: 

https://www.facebook.com/redcottageminiatures/

Come along and 'like' and I will do my best to keep it updated. Hope your week is going well and that you are also getting some mini work done. Take care everyone xx.

Carmel cottage kit

Hello everyone. Just wanted to give an update regarding my Etsy store. I have listed another little house kit, the Carmel cottage, based on the gorgeous Hugh Comstock cottages in Carmel-by-the-sea, California. I love these houses, as well as the beautiful little town they are nestled in. I didn't get much of a look there, but enough an idea of the character. Another visit is definitely on the bucket list!

I have since mounted this little cottage onto a base with a turntable, and done a fair bit of landscaping. I love how this has turned out!

I am working on a French sofa/armchair set as well as armchairs for this cottage but they are proving difficult. There are too many curves in too many directions necessary for a good design, not to mention the fact you can't really laser cut too many foams. Anyway, hopefully by July I will have something ready. Take care 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.

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! 

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!

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.

French shop update

Hello all. Thought I'd show some pictures of the half scale French shop, as I've almost finished the exterior. It really only needs the shop name panel (which I painted and then lost) and door handles (which are cut and just need painting and gluing on).

I cut the roof tiles with my paper cutting machine. They are smaller than I intended (something to do with the exporting of the .svg file) but I still think they look OK. Once glued on, I sealed with a matte varnish, gave them a black wash and then dry brushed white over the top.

I have also had little handles cut for the commode and I'm quite happy with how these came out. Here is the chest finished with a smaller version of the commode and a small trumeau mirror, both of which will be available when I sort things out.

Some other things I am working on: (you can't tell but these turned out way too large and also I have changed the design quite a bit to make them a bit more realistic)

And a French canopied bed: 

It needs a little reworking, but overall I am happy with how it is going. 

I am having trouble getting the people who are selling the laser cutter to actually get it crated and send a request for payment, which is quite frustrating. It would only take about a week to get from America to Australia. Until I have the cutter, I am using a cutting service. It has it's benefits but I am restricted with the materials they will cut with. So I think most of the furniture kits will need to wait until I get my own cutter so I can use the materials I want to use. 

I also was considering making a castle as the third kit I design (the second one is almost done and will be a cottage). Are people interested in something like that? If so, what type/style and how big? I'd appreciate your views on this. If possible, post a link to pictures in your comments. 

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

My tiny teddies

Hello all. I spent today working on the shelves for the half scale doll shop. This is the prototype and the parts were all wrong, so I cut bits up and cobbled them together and it came out OK. I printed out all the little pictures of curtains and furniture to add some detail. Here is the shelf almost finished with some tiny doilies and lace. A few more structural pieces to add but these will be added when the shelves are filled and installed.

And here is a pic with some of my handpainted minis.

All these pieces are the white metal ones. I undercoat them in a regular water-based interior undercoat and then paint with acrylics. Here are some closeups.

I landscaped this little house with that stretchy model railroad vine stuff and bunka cut into tiny bits. The hedge at the front is also bunka, but kind of hard to see at this angle. The bunka looks hilarious enlarged to this size!

I have put together a kitchen to fit into this house and it includes the wall tiles. The front of the wall cabinets comes off so you can access the inside. It needs a few basic modifications but overall I am happy with how it turned out. The tiles are the same pattern as the splashback behind my cooktop in my real life home! A tap set is still to come.

Here is the other side of the island bench:

And an overall view of the living room, with a chest which is about the only thing that was all right the first time! I have designed a fireplace to go in this room, which will probably go where the chest is, which is why I haven't finished the skirting. 

And lastly, a picture of the bedroom progress, with a little silk curtain over the doorway. I can't wait to see my little bed in here (but I still need some parts cut before it can go together).

I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures and that this week is kind to you! See you soon!

A little painting progress update

Thought I'd quickly show the little French shop now that it is aged a bit.

Looks much better I think! I might add a little white to lighten it marginally but will see. In case you were interested, the paint was Folkart Almond Parfait and antiqued with Jo Sonja's fruitwood stain gel.

Here you can see the difference between the painted and the aged finish - big difference!

Have a great day everyone!

Partially decorated 1:24 shop

Happy Friday! I hope your week has been a good one. I have spent some more time working on prototypes and instructions for my laser cut kits (with mixed success) and decorating the French shop. Here are some photos, with paperclay almost done. Just a little more painting, roof tiles and then some aging. I had thought I was about done with the design on this kit, but even now, having put it completely together, redesigned parts and had them cut, putting it back together, I am still figuring out slight fixes that are required. Frustrating but worth getting right.

I keep hoping the design process gets easier and quicker but not sure about that! I seem to take two steps forward and one back, but it is fun and engrossing. 

Have a great weekend everyone.