Finishing a few (workshop) kits

 I haven't updated my blog for a long time, but I am slowly getting back into the swing of things.  My "old" dolls house is now as good as finished. 

I have also started on a new one, but will dedicate a separate blog to that house, as I have done with my Florist and Witch's Cottage.

In the meantime I have finished a few smaller projects that were lying around in the form of kits, bought or saved up from club workshops, and a bigger project that is to be framed.

Since I haven't been doing miniatures for a while I have gotten out of the habit of photographing details, so the frame was nearly finished when I remembered to take pictures.

Luckily I have 2 or 3 stages:

It's all done with card and Styrofoam with some railway greenery added and items that I had lying around.

The bird house, the pot in the left bottom corner, and bird bath were all items that waited to be used.

The bird bath with the doves on it I have painted, as it was a plain white item.  The ivy on the wall hanger was a kit; the watering can is made of paper and treated with some rust-from-a-bottle. ;-) The name plate is printed in black on acetate with some gold added for effect and fixed to the wall with real little nails.

I am quite happy with the result and would love to make more of those kind of frames, but.... time

is always in short supply for me, so I don't think that'll happen... ;-)

Of the kits I had in my stash I have made and/or finished the following:

A water lily in a tiny pond

A Poinsettia

A toolbox kit that I have bought in 2015, but needed help with because the instructions were missing.  Finally got this help recently (2024) and was successful putting it together. 

Work not done by me,
but I would like it to look like this in
the future, complete with the tools

Made the T-shirt only yesterday.  A very 'old' kit that once was given to me by the group of friends-in-miniatures in the Netherlands.  This was initially a Yahoo group that graduated to real meetings. I missed out on most of them, of course, living in Australia, but was often given a kit or item that they had shared during those (workshop)meetings.  Many beautiful memories!  

"Minivrienden" T-shirt, and a similar
 one in the drawer from Katikati, NZ.

A cookbook

Sewing box kit - original and painted (2015)

The box in my sewing room

Sawhorse - a possible future workshop at the club

Next a few items that needed a coat of paint and some repairs.  Furniture for a mining cottage that I never built, but will use the items that I made somewhere else in the future.

Cot with sliding front and dresser with
tiltable mirror and opening drawers

And that is it for the time being.  I am trying to start my Dutch dollshouse.  I will start a blog on that soon and will post the link at the top.

The pinball machine finished

Finally, after three years, I have been able to finish my pinball machine.  It still needs to be hooked up to a power source, but otherwise it's done and looking good, even if I say so myself.  I put on the finishing touches last night, so that I could go on with hanging the doors of my dolls house today.  However, a picture first:

The pinball machine
(flipperkast in Dutch)

In all honesty, I didn't build this from scratch.  It was a workshop/kit which I started in the Netherlands, but needed further help to finish it.  It's very tricky with all the electronics inside (for sound and light) and the fiddly little bits at the top.  Now I have to think about fitting surroundings...

Workshop enamel spoon rack

This is roughly what you need:
metal ruler
fine paint brushes
pencil
shaping tool
mouse mat or other soft surface
scalpel or sharp hobby knife
pair of scissors
wire cutters
pliers
wire (0.6 mm ø)  piece of 65 mm long
hole punch (ordinary household punch with hole of 5.5 mm ø)
cutting mat
piece of card or very thick paper
paint of your choice including black
tacky glue
tweezers

Save the above image onto your computer and from there print it onto card.  The pattern itself should measure approx. 38 mm from top to bottom.  Cut it out around the outside black line.  Cut a strip of paper approx. 30 mm long and 2 mm wide.  Punch out two circles.  Cut a piece of wire approx 65 mm long.

The second black line is not shown on the above cut-out but you should try and shape your wire into the shape of the black line on your card. When done it should look like the wire in the above picture.

With your shaper (I use a glass one, but metal will do as the glass ones are hard to come by) follow and indent the black line carefully.

Place the wire in the indented line and glue in place with tacky glue.  I know this is not the conventional way of making enamel spoon racks, but it shows up nicely at the front and it stays.  Just indenting the card with the shaper is not enough as it would loose its shape.

Turn your work over and follow the contours of your wire on both sides.  Go carefully so that you don't crinkle or split your card.

Get a skewer or something else that is round and not too thick and roll the bottom of your card carefully around towards the front.  Roll a few times till the card keeps its shape.  You can now also glue the strip of card at the top.  Measure the length from the outside of the wire from one side to the other.  Make the two folds approx. 2 mm deep and glue outside the wire.

Next cut the two circles in half, but just above the halfway mark, say at approx. 3 mm. and glue them on the outsides of the curled up bit at the bottom to form a sort of a gutter, like in the picture below.

If you want to you can finish off the edge at the bottom with a length of thread or wire, but I don't find that satisfactory, so I shape a very thin edge with tacky glue and paint over it.

Paint the rack in the colour of your choice and with a bit of black and/or brown paint make the enamel look chipped at the edges here and there.

Also have a look at the white one in the picture below, which shows up better than the dark green.

Below are the spoons and other implements that I have made from a Dutch workshop, which you can find here if interested: http://minimarilo.punt.nl/?gr=791430

And this is the result of an afternoon's work:

Have fun and if you have questions, just ask! :-)

Bye for now.

While waiting...

  
While waiting for the hinges to arrive (did you notice I didn't mention the word 'patiently'?) I decided I could finish another project that has been sitting on my desk for too long.

Remember I did a workshop with Ann High back in March at the Arnhem show?  Well if you don't, look back at this page: It's been a long time.  I showed you this picture amongst other photographs:

That was the beginning of my wood carving experience.  Now I have finally plucked up the courage to finish it, and after a lot more carving, detailing, glueing, staining and waxing, this is the result:

14th century chest

I am quite proud of the result and rightfully so I hope. ;-)  Now if anybody could point out to me where I can buy steamed pear I would be thrilled, because then I could do some more of this wonderful work.  I have really fallen for the carving.  Love it!!

And before I go I would also extend another warm welcome to Lady Jane, who's my latest follower.  Thanks to Rosamargarita I now know she has a blog: For the Love of Miniatures.  Go and check it out.

That's all for today folks.  See you next time.

And another workshop? Yes!

Yes, indeed.  Another workshop, but first another meeting with miniature friends (or is it: 'friends in miniatures'?)  Anyway, a meeting with likeminded friends.  Who could ask for more?  Frank and I made our way to The Hague again to meet at Else's place.  I knew Else from our email group and had met her briefly during my other workshop in The Hague. Else had invited a few people with which she usually meets to her miniature crafts and/or workshops.  So I met Els (whom I've also known for a few years now), and Clasina and Leny whom I both know from the email group.  How nice it always is to meet 'internet friends' in real life.  Sometimes they look like you've known them for years, sometimes they even behave like you've known them for ever, and at other times they are nothing like you expect.  I won't elaborate here, it doesn't matter.  It's just great! I had brought them also the little present I'd made for everybody: a souvenir picture book about Australia, but I received so many unexpected presents in return that I felt a bit overwhelmed.  My little book just couldn't compare with them...  I got a series of little craft items that I will be able to use for workshops at home, beautiful fabric, a kit to make a table lamp, a kit to make some books, and a number of items that had been left for me during a meeting of the email group a few years ago.  I don't have time at the moment, but I promise I will take pictures later (perhaps at home) and show all those wonderful gifts, also the ones that I have received earlier during this holiday.

Unfortunately I forgot again to take pictures yesterday, but hopefully Else will send me one or two of the piccies she took yesterday...

Of course we chatted a lot and Else showed me around in her house and let me have a look at all her houses and roomboxes.  One I remembered: "Maison de la Rue"!  I knew the story behind it and it was lovely to see it for real.  Later Else had lunch ready for us and after that we chatted a bit more and then got ready to go home again.  Well, not all of us.  Leny invited Frank and me over to her house as well, and since I had seen most of her miniature scenes only on photographs too I accepted the invitation.  It was great to see her work as well for real, though we didn't stay too long, because we still had to go home and going home during peak hour from the 'Randstad' means slow going...

In the end we made it home shortly after normal dinner time, so it wasn't too bad.  However, we had to make almost the same trip, albeit a bit shorter, today for my workshop in Rotterdam.  This was going to be the pinball machine.  It was a workshop I had been looking forward to for a long time, because I had seen (and heard!) it at my friend's place in New Zealand.  Yes, it's a small world. :-)

Luckily the traffic wasn't too heavy this morning and we arrived in Rotterdam quite early where Anneke received us with a cuppa.  We chatted a bit and then we got down to the real job, soldering all the parts for the workings of the pinball machine.  I must admit I had underestimated the work that would go into it and not having soldered anything for a while it took some time to get into it again.  It was hard work and from time to time I had to repeat my effort, because I hadn't done a good enough job.  However, in the end I got somewhere, but not without the help of Anneke's son, who helped me out when I got too tired.

All in all, after lunch and a lot of talking (miniatures of course!) we got to the stage that everything was working and I could pack everything away to finish it off at home.  It's the story of this holiday: workshops to be finished at home!  At least I won't be bored for a while and eventually I will have lots to show...

One picture for today though:

Pinball machine in parts

And that's all for today, folks, and probably the last update for a while now, because next week we're going away on a trip through part of Europe.  We've got a motorhome and will be travelling, so no time for miniatures until the fair in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck at the end of May.  We hope to be visiting the fair just before the end of our trip shortly after.  Till then.

And another workshop...

It’s probably starting to sound a bit boring for you, but it wasn’t for me! For this workshop I had to travel to Zoetermeer again where we were received by Bert and his wife Jacqueline with a lovely cuppa. It was going to be a busy day for Bert, because he had to do part of the catering as well as his workshop. Jacqueline had broken her foot and wasn’t as mobile as she would’ve liked to be.  Besides, Frank was going to help Bert with a few things on the metal lathe and it all had to be fitted into the one day…

After coffee and a bit of a chat we went upstairs. Bert was going to teach me how to make a piano and in order to do so I was going to use various machines. I love working with wood, which was one of the reasons I had chosen this workshop.

The parts laid out

Bert had laid out all the parts of the piano and we made a start. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I got to use the table saw, jig saw and router with router table to make and fit the various parts. When a piece of wood was a bit too thick I also had the use of the cutest little thicknesser I have ever seen in my life. I would just love to own this little toy!

Small size thicknesser

It works just the same as the full size one, like every other machine does, but too me it looked just so special…

Lunch wasn’t forgotten and since it was again a lovely sunny day we had it outside and chatted away amicably. After lunch I still had to work very hard to get it all done. I seemed to be a bit slow, because I had problems getting the fence of the table saw set to the right measurements and when working in mms it is of course most important. Anyway, I got there steadily:

Getting there

Halfway...

When it finally looked like a real piano I had to do the most difficult part: wood turning on the lathe. It was at least 12 years ago since I had touched a wood lathe and done my first (and temporarily last) bit of turning, so I had forgotten more than I had learned. Eventually I ended up with two somewhat identical turnings and it was high time we’d say our goodbyes and let those two lovely people sit down at their dinner.

Me turning

The turned part

For us it was a quick bite to eat on the way home and a short evening till it was time to go to bed. An end to another very satisfying day…

Bye the way, all my workshop items I will eventually show of course.  I just don't get the time right now to finish everything.

Another workshop

This time we're in the Hague where Loes teaches us how to make easy chairs.  A perfect day again with excellent catering.  Oh, how I love the Dutch treats....  But hey, that's not what we're here for!  So, what are we doing? Well, Loes is telling us all how to do it right, Anja is working in 1/24th schale, Andrea is making a chair with 'crackled' leather, Bianca is using lovely fabric and Marion ordinary red leather, but when the chair is finished it won't be ordinary red anymore if she can help it....  It will be a well-worn red leather chair!  Anja is the only one working in smaller scale, the others stick to 1/12th.



Else (far left) visiting the workshoppers



Anja, Andrea, Bianca and Marion listening to 'teacher' Loes



Anja talking or working?  One guess!



Marion enjoying herself

Has anyone noticed the toll this 'working' holiday has taken on me?  I've gone quite grey of late!!! :-)

Of course you want to see the end results as well.  Here goes:



12th scale: Loes, Bianca, Marion, Andrea
24th scale: Anja

I will publish a better picture of my chair later when it's finished.  I didn't quite make it, although I have suprised myself by going home with a nearly finished product.  We all have been given enough material for a second chair, so my chair won't be lonely once it has found a room in my (still to build) Dutch house.  I've also bought a 'smoker's' side table that I couldn't resist.  Loes has made it and it even ahs ash in the ash tray.  I find that quite a treat for people who don't smoke!



Dont' worry, the ashtray isn't crooked

Don't worry, the ashtray isn't sitting on the top as crooked as you think.  I don't know how I did it, but it's just the way I took the picture.  Don't you just love it?  There's even a burnt matchstick next to the matchbox....

And you know what?  Loes organised this workshop especially for me because of my visiting The Netherlands. I just felt like Royalty!!! Loes, thank you so much for a most enjoyable day.