Dawn's Miniature Village

Dawn Weaver, of Cary, North Carolina, has graciously allowed me to make this post about her awesome Miniature Village project.

She says : The houses and shops, are from the Liberty Falls Collection. I started buying them in the fall of 2012, sometimes a single one, other times a grouping of 7 or 8, all on eBay. When I finally got them all in place I found I did not have one duplicate in the entire lot of 60. 

#1...Shows the jigsaw puzzle boxes that I used to make hill. There was a larger one at one end to give more space for the farm type buildings. The fawn/light brown material is one of those body wrap blankets that were so popular a couple of years ago. It was soft and gave some body to the green material that went on top.

#2...Shows some of the roads on the lower level. Note the people and cars that viewers put down where they thought appropriate. (once the full Village was up)

 
 

#3...More roads and the beginnings of the park that will hold the skating rink and the Village's Christmas tree.

 

#4... I put the wires between the green and the fawn colored covers as I did not want to cut the blanket. It was quite easy to put my hand down to the slits I had cut in the green material and pull the wiring through to the back of the Village.

 

#5...Shows a lot of the wiring laying on the fawn colored top. I did no more than 5 lights to one wire and most were two's and three's. One set of streetlights got lost in customs in NJ and did not arrive on time .I will be rewiring for next year

 #6...The roundabout where the important Village buildings were. The Town Hall, Library, etc. I put different street lights here. I took apart some others and used them in these lights. Worked very well, but the lights could have been brighter. All the lights were 3 volt.

 

#7...Downtown with the shops and service buildings

 

#8...The completed village. You can make out some of the lights

Miscellaneous: The roads were made of black foamcore which is 1/4" thick. I cut short slits in it for the streetlights. This gave me more body to glue them in. I also put some grommets down at the base of the lights to make them look more realistic.

The only figures that are glued down are the ones at the skating rink.

I made the Christmas tree from chenille stems. Am not satisfied with the lights on it (powered by AA batteries) so will use the 3v lights instead next year. Probably will use 20 lights in groupings of 4 lights.

These lights are powered by a coin battery. The lights themselves should last hundreds of hours so all that is needed are some extra batteries which also last a long time.

What's in YOUR Genes?

Nancy Noble Day made this wonderful desk for her brother and commented:
"I scattered printie genealogy papers/forms and photos on the desk and in the slots. I may re-do it, my brother is probably more tidy than I am. I have a glass paperweight, if I can find it and I'm wondering if I need a pencil cup and pencils.
A glass paperweight and family photos. Using the 'print index' feature on Picture It, I edited small versions of photos of my grandmother, recently discovered photos of her father and my mother's father and printed them on photo paper. By trimming most of the background out, it made them more in scale. I glued a couple of the same photos, untrimmed, in the top drawer to surprise my brother."

Here is a closer look at the contents.


What an exceptional gift and so meaningful!

Smokin Needles Tatoo Parlour

Take a look at the unique project Chris from All Things Mini has created! The basic plan for the structure has been uploaded to the club so members can make up their own "room and a half'.

She said: These 2 give a fair representation of the whole thing. I actually won an online competition with this some years ago and these were the 2 photos submitted.

what gave you the idea for the project?

DH and I used to have a ceramic studio. In the early 90's part of our income came from attending tattoo conventions where we sold ceramic fighures that we made such as Native Americans, Wizards, Dragons etc. So, I got to know quite a bit about a tattooists setup. I had never since this theme before or since and so was inspired by the almost unique theme. It was my first full size project.

did you make all the items from sctatch?

Absolutely everything is made from scratch. Every page of every album is filled with tattoo artwork known as 'flash'.

which item is your pride and joy?

The whole scene because it was my very first full project. But, particularly the medical couch and stool. DH drew up the plans for these after studying lots of online photos. The stool can be raised and lowered by means of a screw.

I would eventually like to try to recreate this in smaller scales but it is something that will have to be put off until I retire.

Regards,

Chris

Laundry Sink

Susan made this fantastic laundry room in a soap box. She has a post showing how to make the sink unit on her blog:
http://minicrochetmad.blogspot.com/2010/06/laundry-sink.html

Fishy Business!

Karin wrote: I've been working on Greenleaf's Springfling contest that just closed today....so couldn't show any photos before now.
The original kit was a garage with attached shed & an additional "house". Well, I had a 20s garage all planned but the building decided otherwise! It decided that it looked more like an old time fishing hut with an attached boat house. So I had to switch it ....and it really makes more sense since I live on the shores of a lake.

The buildings are raised up onto a foamcore "foundation" to allow "waves" and "water" to flow underneath the dock and into the boathouse. Either side of the building is foamcore carved into "stone & rocks" then painted, planted and the remainder covered in sand. The roof is made of corrogated cardboard gessoed & painted to look like an old tin roof. The chimney pipe is made of the cardboard section of a heavy duty wire coat hanger and covered with the foil from a coffee can seal. I used some of the coat hanger wire to make the hangers for the sign and the boathouse light.
The only things not made by me are the flowers in the window, the barrel and the wooden pail. In the pail are tiny clams that I beachcombed from our lake.
The 3 seagulls are thanks to an idea given to me by Leslie from About.com; the fishing rod is thanks to an idea from Doreen Playter. The worms in the can, the sign, seagulls and the light fixture incl lightbulb are fimo clay.

Wish me luck! The contest asked for 3 only! photos and is based on originality. In addition a 2nd contest piggybacks onto this one but closes on July 4th. So that'll give me time to finish the inside and then enter again.

http://orrlakemusings.blogspot.com/
http://minitutesfromorrlake.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/teenytrew

For more fishy ideas see the fish page in MTW.

Devilled Eggs? Nah, make mine Jewelled!

Sandra Manring does wonderful miniatures.

These unfortunately aren't real eggs....I tried at first using them but ended up breaking them, so I started using the plastic ones from craft stores. I sand a lot to make them smooth, cut holes or whatever in them and then coat them with several layers of nail polish....they have such wonderful colors now that they could be wonderful. I then colored lace with a gold or silver pen and applied rhinestones. ..the tiny figures are RR figures and sometimes men that I cut the legs shorter , apply a dress and hair and no one ever knows.

Sandra's photo sites are:
http://community. webshots. com/user/ britishrose101
http://www.picturet rail.com/ abritishbrat

Mid-town Laundromat

Tanya has struck again with another wonderful project.
Her laundromat is so detailed and perfect.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/5815043

Office to the Max!

Doreen has been creating the last room in her dollhouse, a study room. In this blogpost, she discusses how she is fabricating the computer pieces the kids need.
The picture here is not the final outcome.

Look at the post in Doreen's blog:
http://doreensminiatures.blogspot.com/2010/01/computer-for-study-room.html

Also Fluffy Bricks has some electronics on her blog:
http://fluffybricks.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-modern-minis.html

All Boxed up!

Fern Rouleau wrote:
I have wanted to do this one for a while and finally decided to get down to it. I found a pretty hand made box from India which was on clearance and cut the front open and put my scene in there. The table is made from pieces of wood and the mats on the floor are from pieces of samples from Lowes. The food is either made by me, some swap items or bought at mini shows. The vases are beads and the two Japanese art displays I picked up a few years ago.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2923072260055119879stEfJq

Thinking Outside the Boat

A retreat for a sailor or an explorer? Jene Bondi says: It's a retired captain boathouse. Where he is no one knows. Perhaps out fishing? Looking for a lady love? Having a drink at the bar or having quiet time in the bathroom like most men.

Jene shows a wonderful way to think "outside the boat"! There are many detailed pictures, and no wonder Jene took 4 years to complete the project. You just gotta see her webshots album!
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/566118399mDowdY

Bakin' a Cake?

Fern Rouleau's quarter scale bakery, a 144 scale project.
She says: "the cook is an O gauge train person whose legs I cut off (I can still hear him screaming in pain) and repainted all white. I used masking tape to make a chef's hat and painted that white."
Check out her webshots album for more details.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2918708820055119879gTDnCn

Vacation Dreamer

Sand, sun and water seem a long way away in the winter, don't they? If we can't BE there, at least we can dream......
Chris Pecherzewski is very proud of her young grand-daughter Anna, who made this wonderful beach scene (her first mini project!)



See more detail in Chris's Picturetrail album.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/listing/user/chrispycritter

Bar none!

Ana DeLacerda made this fabulous bar.
The details are so well done.

Mini Gifts for Non-Miniaturists

Marjorie Wannamaker wrote:


I would like to share with you two of the three hutches I made as gifts for my quilting buddies. They know I make miniatures and I decided for our Christmas exchange gifts that I would share my love of minis with them tying in quilting with the accessories put into the hutches.
I started with the wooden $1 hutches that Michaels sells. I stained them instead of painting to save time. I wondered if the glue spots would show up but not many did.
As you can see, I did each hutch a little differently, trying to match personalities and likes to each one. Different colors, themes, etc. I made the iron and scissors pink in honor of one of the gals who fought breast cancer last year and won.

The Christmas plates are Chrysnbon with paper printies glued on and then sprayed with gloss sealer. The Candle is a large white straw glued to a bell-shaped base, some Grrrrip glue dabbed in the top and a piece of black thread stuck into glue for wick. I also dribbled a little glue down over the side to look like melted wax. Doesn't show up in pic, but it's there. The Sleigh card holder I made using index card and wire. The cards in the sleigh are printies.

The Basket of quilting notions I made using perforated paper, a small square of used hankie for the drape and misc paper, index card, and printies to make the accessories. The little Christmas trees are tiny sissal trees from Michaels covered with beads and fly tying tinsel. They were too tall so I cut off the round wooden bases, shortened the trunk and glued the bottom of the tree to a round of index card for stability and ease in gluing in place.

The Christmas Stocking was a picture from a magazine printed onto fabric using my ink jet printer and one of the commercial fabric printable sheets. I spaced them far enough apart so that I could fold them in half on the fabric after printing and glue the edges together so that Santa can deposit his gifts. Then I put tiny lace around the tops with two holly leaves and a few red "berries" using no-hole beads.
For the Bolts of fabric I folded a piece of fabric wrong sides together and wrapped it around a piece of index card. The Batting is made from some heavy flannel, with a printie label I made wrapped inside a clear baggie (light weight sandwich type). Tacky or Grrrip glue will adhere the plastic - just be patient for it to dry.

The poinsettia plants were made using a pattern from a Nutshell News magazine from the 1980's. I had forgotten how long it takes to cut out 42 petals and six leaves per plant. LOL To say nothing of putting the flower together. Again, patience for glue to dry.

A Clean Sweep!

Inspired by Disney's film Fantasia, Karin Foster from Orr Lake, Canada (an hour North of Toronto) made this broom from polmer clay.
An awesome job!




Her blog is: http://minitutesfromorrlake.blogspot.com/

Maharajah's Palace

San from Singapore has a wonderful blog, where she is creating an Indian delight!
http://sansdollhousediaries.blogspot.com/search/label/Palace%20Interiors


Sumaiya Mehreen makes Fabulous dolls.
http://exoticdolls.blogspot.com/

Melanie's Sewing Roombox

Melanie used batting and fabric to make her project look like a sewing basket.
A wonderful original idea.
See her Picasa album for more pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/melanie8383

A Mini Wiki - Share your ideas

This wonderful blog is full of information and offers a new way to share your work with others.
http://minitreasures.blogspot.com/

This is a list of ideas for different projects. Some are for Barbies and other dolls, not minis (IMHO) but some lead to magically talented artisans. They are grouped alphabetically.
http://minitreasures.pbworks.com/projects



Cheryl Miller's site is listed under Ateliers.
http://miniaturesmuseum.org/Monets_Studio.htm

Today's Headlines

Want to make a newstand, or store? The images above are from Google.

Here is a site to download the front pages of regional papers. Make sure you scroll down past all the American papers to find different countries.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/main.asp
Oldies, American Content
http://www.classicheadlines.com/catalog/item/1086293/1140721.htm

Want to make magazine covers personal?
http://www.writeonit.org/magazine-cover