Miscellaneous Page: 26 |
Sculpture in Progress: " You would never have a perfectly finished torso or half of the body sticking out of the chunk of rock. " I've seen a finished statue that was just like that ... it looks like the form in the stone is trying to morph out into the world. There's also a clay working tool (dunno the real name) that might make it easier to get chisel marks in the middle where the finished part meets the rough part. It's a handle with a loop of wire on the end that can be dragged through the clay. It takes a bite that's kind of like what the curvey tip of a carrot peeler will do, but does it in the other direction. Come to think of it, maybe you could just use the tip of the carrot peeler! LOL Chrissy the Hyphenated |
Sculpture in Progress: I see that no one has mentioned the king of creating emerging sculpture from a block of marble or whatever...Rodin!!!! I have seen many many of his works with hands, faces or whatever just emerging from the stone - absolutely fantastic works of art! Whoever wanted the figure to emerge from the stone I say Go for it! Heck if Rodin could do it you can. Ana |
On the subject of statues, has anyone ever done a statue of Lot's wife, turned into a pillar of salt? I read the neatest story once about a guy who supposedly found the actual pillar of salt that was Lot's wife, and how he tried to smuggle it out of the country in the back of a truck. But he got caught in a torrential downpour and it melted! There is a recipe for clay made using baking soda which might look like salt - I might try it some time. I seem to be collecting unusual antiquities lately - so Lot's wife would make an interesting addition to a rare mini collection. Back to partially finished sculptures: I could see where they could be used to signify someone stepping through a mirror, or another dimension in time - or a ghost coming through a wall in a Halloween scene. Paulette in IN |
Printables from the Netherlands: I just stumbled on a neat site for a show in the Netherlands. Lots of photos in different sections (explore all the links -- they have links under links in their menu). It also has printables -- really neat ones! Anne Gerdes |
American Girl Miniatures: A lot of people seem confused by this question :-) The American Girl Collection are not miniatures, but the AG Mini's ARE, and they are 1:12th scale. Go here : http://www.americangirl.com/ and click on shop, then Ag Mini's. They are wonderful! Sarah in Iowa |
Micro Rose Beads: Right after I hit "send" on my last post, I went to the Google search engine & typed in "Si Rose" and found it! They do sell the teeny roses, but you have to search around the page a bit. This the first link I found (there were several others to also explore). Debbie Jones |
Backyard items: Just looking at our messy backyard, and using some more messy imagination: Laura |
Styrofoam cups: The tops to a lot of glue bottles (Tacky comes to mind) look a bit like Styrofoam cups when you sit them on their closed ends. Janet in Baltimore |
Transfer Glaze: Yes that stuff is available here in SA,. It is called transfer glaze, here, and is made by Dala. Obviously you might have different brand names over there. I use it all the time to make my plates, which you can see on my web site http://www.bbminiatures.homestead.com A tip when using this stuff. The first bottle I had went a grungy gray. When I inquired, they said that it is caused by contaminating the transfer glaze by dipping into the bottle the whole time. They recommended that I always decant a small amount into a container and use it from there. This has worked for me. Barbara B in South Africa |
To make a chicken teapot: Make a squashed cone of grass green. On it place a ball of white, pinching one end (this will be the head). Take lots of doggy waste bits of unbaked Fimo, pass through a pasta machine, which will leave you with a thin sheet of many colours, all streaked. Cut 2 teardrop shapes, cut one edge of each for feathers and place on body as wings. Cut a fat teardrop shape and fringe smallest end and place on chicken's rump, bending the fringed ends hither and yon. This is the tail. With a Klemper cutter (sp?) cut a red teardrop shape from thin Fimo for the wattle. Attach to chin area of head. Make a biscuit coloured cone (beak), place above wattle. Finally cut Klemper cutter shape of daisy from red, and cut in half - this is comb. Place on top of head. Use finest glass seed beads for eyes. Place small ball of white on chicken's back for teapot lid. Bake (before your pet squashes it). Rejoice. Helen from York, England |
Miniature clubs: What exactly do clubs do? Well, it can be a variety of things. Mine generally works on a different project each month, something that can be completed in an hour's time. Once in a while, a project might span two meetings. Some of our projects have included bunka rugs, quilled flowers, finishing and decorating a fireplace, and dressing an unfinished bed. Other activities might be creating a complete house or roombox for a charity and inviting an artisan to demonstrate a particular technique. If the artisan isn't a miniaturist, it might be fun to offer the challenge of reducing his or her work by 11/12. As for promoting the hobby, there are lots of opportunities. Offer to do some demonstrations for a scouting troop. Display your miniatures at the local library, perhaps along with some of the miniature books the library has in stock. Take a booth at a crafts fair. With press releases, don't stop at the first one. Keep publicizing the club's activities. Rosemary in Cleveland |
Backyard items: : how about a fishpond, some bushes, a tree, some flowers, some tiny animals like a squirrel, turtles, birds with birdfeeder or birdbath or both, a cat or dog, maybe the cat or dog got into the flowers and turned over a flower pot, maybe some discarded kid toys like a kite or sand pail and shovel? An Adirondack lawn chair or two, a sand box to go with the shovel and pail? Once you start on this the ideas will flow. Ask your pals at work what was in their backyards when they were growing up or have your kids ask their friends what is in their backyards. Have fun!!! Linda in GA |
Backyard items: When our six kids were little, our yard was where kids came to play. We had a little playhouse my Dad built. The kids spent as much time ON it as IN it. The roof was definitely the place to be. We had a tire swing hanging from our cherry tree and a vegetable garden in one corner. In the winter, there were snowmen and snow forts. For a long time, we had one of those big wooden cable spools rolling around out there. The kids found more ways to play with that crazy thing. Always there were baseballs, footballs, frisbees, etc. lying around. Various dogs, too. My son and his friend once built a 'fort' from wood scrounged from the garage. What a Rube Goldberg conglomeration THAT was! Sometimes they would camp out in a tent. Linda in Leroy, OH |
Backyard items: Back yards need somewhere to sit. If the kids are fairly young, you may need a fence so they can't wander. Other fun stuff -- sandbox, wading pool, hose and sprinkler, clothes line for soggy towels and bathing suits, playground type equipment (swings, slide, fort), lawn games (croquet, badminton). If there's room, a good shade tree with a tree house. Mom needs a chaise to sunbathe while reading a novel and "watching" the kids. Dad will need a radio to listen to the game while he cooks dinner. You could put in a garden, but with kids, why bother? They'll just stomp on it anyway. Window boxes and patio tub plantings are my choice near a play area. You can put the flowering borders and foundation plantings outside the fence or around front to wow the neighbors. Chrissy the hyphenated |
Backyard items: The backyard might contain a picnic table and benches to go with the BBQ grill, or a potting shed, or the lawn mower left out under one of the trees, perhaps a swing set, sliding board and/or sand pile for the two kids? A wading pool? trike / bike? If she rides out through suburban neighborhoods there are all sorts of ideas! Olegator |
Backyard items: The backyard might contain a picnic table and Backyard items: bicycles - balls - buckets - a shovel - glass jars with insects - ropes - plant pots - a cart - garden chairs - garden table - a foot for a parasol - a tent (tipi for kids) - a watering can - a water cask - a garbage can - a bird's house on a (small) tree - garden shed with tools. Seasonal stuff like pumpkins, snowman etc. Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands) |
Tonight I needed to sand some wood to make it smoother before applying a coat of spray paint. Couldn't find my (probably 20 year old) tack cloth! AHA! she said to herself, as she spied her package of Swiffer cleaning cloths. (I keep them handy to occasionally wipe fuzzies off of my desk when 'furring' my animals.) The Swiffers worked like a charm to get all the wood dust from sanding off of the piece I was working on! Just thought I'd share! Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL |
Cooler: The Styrofoam that meat ( and sometimes produce) come packed with in American supermarkets can be made into neat mini coolers! It even comes in colors! Just construct a rectangular box using a sharp razor blade and straight edge to cut the Styrofoam. Use tacky glue to put it together. For the top, glue two rectangles, one the size of the outer dimensions of the cooler, one just slightly smaller than the inside dimensions of the cooler. Center one on top of the other. The smaller piece will go inside the cooler and stop the top from sliding off. Make a handle out of wire or a paper clip bent into shape. If you have any summer or spring catalogs handy, and can find a picture of a 'real' one, you can even cut out a logo like 'thermos' or 'igloo' and glue it to your cooler! Alice Zinn |
Gifting Minis: The number of times I've put my heart and soul into a gift (hand stitched quilt, crocheted work, or miniature vignette etc), only to have the recipient say something like "umm, gee. That's really umm nice". Ick. "NICE"??? After spending potentially hundreds of hours on items (and sometimes chunks of money too!) to have your efforts not recognised can be soul destroying. I've come to the conclusion now at the ripe old age of 36 that my time (and heart) belong to people who deserve it and not just anyone. I really only give handcrafted gifts to people I know will appreciate the effort involved (i.e. loved ones and fellow crafts people). The rest get bought gifts which is really what they wanted anyway. That may sound harsh, but sometimes forcing your own love of a hobby onto someone else just makes them feel inadequate, which is not the point of giving. Of course, you can through your love of a hobby teach people to appreciate the effort involved but that takes time and an open heart which not everyone has - sadly. Linda, Cardiff, Wales |
Disco Ball: I was thinking about the lady who wanted a disco ball. Some one suggested looking in car parts section for those disco ball car decorations but I thought it might be easy to make one using the following: A styrofoam ball Michelle |
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