Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Miniature Seafood Dishes

1:12 miniature seafood dishes

handmade by me out of polymer clay!


 Listed here -
https://www.etsy.com/listing/113640578/miniature-blood-cockles-112-scale

Ahma really likes this (as does my dad and bf, though they really shouldn't!)...each cockle is approx 2.5mm wide. This is quite popular in Singapore, am not sure how blood cockles are eaten elsewhere in the world, could anyone enlighten me?



I've shown this before, and have listed it -

https://www.etsy.com/listing/113640797/miniature-raw-oysters-112-scale

i don't enjoy raw oysters, but i think many people do?


I like this platter more, because there's tartar sauce, and cos it looks a little more colourful :)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/113641080/miniature-shellfish-platter-112-scale

will be back to listing sweet stuff after my camera battery is fully recharged!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Lighten up!


1:12 diorama (eh?)


*groans at own pun*

The lights are IN! and ON! and....finally, I have a 'proper' roombox to take product photos in! XD

Ever since the magnificent Pepper of http://mitchymoominiatures.blogspot.com/
posted a very comprehensive lighting tutorial, I had been itching to give lighting a try. I thought I could get all the materials locally at Sim Lim Tower, alas, they had nothing to scale for 1:12 T-T. I finally relented and spent countless hours scouring greedbay and googling for the most affordable suppliers (shipping to SG is often higher than the items themselves garrrrghhh) and waited patiently for them to arrive.

and then waited somemore.

worked on the roombox/diorama/scene....

waited s'more.

then i gave up waiting. cos the electrical wire arrived first (although it was the last item i ordered), but the LED lights/resistors and battery casings just refused to make an appearance. frustrated, i decided to just go ahead with whatever i had.

since i'd already 'bashed' some IKEA Billy lights for 'the challenge that fizzled out', why not re-use them?

and since i had a couple of these keychain lights from Daiso, why not use those too? I googled for some paper lampshade templates and came across this one on Instructables. OOOOOOH it made me go on a desktop laser machine video rampage....GRAGH I WANT ONE SO BAD IT MAKES MY TEETH ACHE. alas, being broke and all, i went in search of an easier one. AND FOUND THIS AMAZEBALLS MODERN ONE.

of course it had to be made in mini :D the template provided in the instructable was for a life sized one of course, and so i came up with my own...since the idea isn't mine, i wasn't sure if it would be alright if i posted a tutorial on how i made it.....then again it's all kind of 'generic'...i suppose i might ask the author for permission to post my own version for 1:12 if enough people want to know how to make it (though it -is- DEAD EASY to modify from the life sized one!)

ANYWAY



working with the lights brought up vague recollections of  hazy secondary physics (and primary school) lessons...hazy because I'm one of those terrible students who sleep frequently during classes. :-/ so armed with a dodgy soldering iron, sheer tenacity and lots of swearwords, i put everything together and SURPRISE SURPRISE IT WORKED OMG OMG OMG (and i hardly even hurt myself!)



hurhur. the ceiling was the backing of an ikea glass frame thingy that i'd kept after the glass portion broke :X battery casing purchased from a neighbourhood hardware store....i'm quite new to building and bashing stuff from other stuff lying around so it took quite a bit of trial and error (and re-reading of Pepper's tutorial a gabillion times) to put everything together, BUT I DID IT.

and after all that, i walked out of my room to discover that the LED bulbs off greedbay had arrived.

*facepalm* i have the best timing ever.

i quickly tested them out, but 2 out of the 10 LED bulbs that I purchased were duds :( As you can probably tell, I'm more of a 'glass half empty' type person. But given my moderate successes with bashed together lighting, WHATEVER.

moving along.

 test shot under all the lights + my worklamp
aaaand, obligatory shot of bf's mom's birthday gift. made a similar one for my aunt too, but ran out of time to take pics of the two together T-T it's in 1:6, and Yotsuba seems to be wondering if the orchids are edible....probably me just projecting, since i'm hungry at 3.19am now.

the pitcher/jug was inspired by Marlies' easy to follow tutorial here:

http://marliesminies.blogspot.sg/2009/03/draw-pattern-that-you-want-to-use-on.html

re-drew and re-sized the template for this pitcher closer to 1:6, might blog a little more about it since i came up with my own template etc. but it's a pretty common sight anyway, so....*shrug* not quite 'my style' but i sure hope my aunt and bf's mom like it!!!!

i'm sure i've missed out some links and stuff, but i'm just so happy i wanted to show off like a little kid who has a new toy. meanwhile, here's a sneak peek at another project Asuka and i are working on :)

(btw, Sans, that's the magnifier lamp that my brother gave me, but i broke the clamp portion while shifting my workspace stuff around QQ)

it's great to be back! hope to update more frequently now that i have one less excuse for not taking pictures.....XD

(and THANK YOU SOOO MUCH PEPPER YOU ARE AMAZINGGGGGGG)

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

another peek at my 'roombox'



very little progress, and i'm waiting on some lights/dollhouse wire to arrive (spent the last of my PP credits on them, :X) before I can proceed further. this is what i have completed so far:

- one (and a quarter) wall primed and painted. i used book board (??) for the walls, cos it was relatively cheap, and could cut it with a penknife. a saw worked better for it, but that also meant alot of sanding (and dust) involved, so i tried to keep sawing to a minimum. well, that and this stupid shoulder ugh.

- windows were made out of approx 1mm thick paper (cardstock?) and some 0.25mm plastic sheets. the frosted bits were just anti-cat-scratch film stuck on the plastic. i plan to work on the exterior too, maybe some climbing ivy, a few potted plants...a pond? am i getting too ambitious? XD

-  floor was simply vinyl faux wood sticker, stuck on black A4 paper which was first stuck on a piece of 1mm thick paper (cardstock?!? ionos what it's called) it's not permanent cos i would like to play around with this area :)

- window seat (??) ok, i'm such a failure at all the designy terms and names blegh. anyway i made it out of basswood pieces, the 'cushion' part out of foamcore and fabric. cushions were made sometime ago, and i think the colour scheme works! the doors at the base are working doors, i haven't yet varnished it cos i wasn't sure if i wanted to paint it white. looking at the photo, i think i'll keep the original colour (which will darken a shade after varnishing...hrm.....*scrunches face*)

overall, i don't think there is a 'theme' to the room, but it's slowly working out i think! :D i didn't start this with a sketch or anything, just made things on-the-fly and  hoped that the stuff i have collected so far would fit in it XD so far so good!!! i want to make a 'proper' sofa in the same fabric, and maybe a bookshelf, a coffee/side table....ionos, let's see if the painkillers don't knock me out first!

Credits:
coffee table & lamp - made by mitchymoominiatures
step ladder - gift from Sans!
rectangular shelf - Rement