what do breakfast, power tools and cleaning supplies have in common?

Well, not much really - if anything - but in this case: they're making an appearance in the same miniature-scene 😁

So, what is going on here? Looks like someone's having breakfast with fresh coffee, fried eggs, tangerines and doing some work in the kitchen.

Okay, something's up. Let's investigate...

cr(e)ating the old to make space for the new

When something is late for one occasion, it may be just in time for another. Well, that's what I decided it to be in this case 😉.

too big for comfort?

Hey there! I've been making little steps of progress the past year with the working blender and the scene to present it in when finished: I só look forward to be able to make a real miniature smoothie!! 😋 It's just a simple (scrapbook+printed on cardboard) mock-up type scene (see all the way down for some overview shots), since it's just to showcase a miniature. Because we'll need a bit more patience for the blender, I thought it'd be fun to show one of my kitchen miniatures I really like, while I always enjoy having a little photo-shoot. And any excuse to take out awesome miniatures from my stash and see them in a scene ;).

But although the scene is sure to not pass any building regulations (please don't report me to the 12th scale building commission 😉), I think it still looks pretty cool and fine for its purpose. The espresso machine though? Well, turns out that's a ...

some flies you catch with vinegar rather than honey - (tiny) experiment

Wow, that's been wayyyyyyy too long! Again... 😊 Buttt... I didn't forget about this place, in fact, I've really wanted to post stuff, but same old story. And you know how I like to find ways to do something without needing much, soo..

.. a while ago I thought of something that translated into something miniature that's simple and doable for me and maybe interesting enough and worth sharing. To me anyway. Took a lot longer to be able to photograph and it's not even summer anymore, but it's spring in our southern hemisphere and isn't that like summer's foreplay? ;) And I think it's just fun, if only to see some of my treasures displayed in a scene and maybe also for anyone of you still around 😇.

it's about the fly catcher as you may have guessed from the title

'ambition is a dream with a V8 engine' - Elvis Presley

a little engine-inspiration to title this post :D. So, it's time to let you know what I'm making with my not-so-V8-micro-engine ;). I actually gave a hint about it in the blogtitle of my previous post, 'blending crafts'. Now I've given away that hint it's probably not hard to guess anymore: it's a blender! And the photo might have given you some idea too ;).

the setup with the parts I have so far. At least it already looks like a blender ;)

I e-mailed Leo Reinders, a Dutch miniature glassblower (Arnhem fair), last year some photo's and measurements to make

blending crafts

hi there, thanks so much for stopping by. I thought it might be nice to get my ass back here a bit sooner than last time ;). For my newest project I needed help from another miniaturist, because it involves a glass part. I'm willing to try new things and make myself somehow figure out how to make something and the way I want, but attempting to blow a glass miniaturepart didn't seem like the best idea to begin with 😉 let alone being able to make it in a way that would be halfway decent. Sometimes you just need to ask a professional right? But I will try something new for it myself. Not nearly as impressive as blowing glass - or at all - but something I look forward to doing.

the micromotor at the top is what I'll use, the other one is the one I used for my fan

what this new project will be?

I made a 1:12 scale working tablefan with tiny working switch!

hi everyone, I'm so happy to say I got the tiny switch to work!!! So finally a succesful fan-tastic challenge, yay!

of course you have to see a miniature like this in action so I made a video of it: enjoy!

don't ask me how I did it though. A while ago (after lots of trying, exploring unused parts of my brain and trying some more) I had reluctantly

Murphy's law and serious test in patience..

didn't plan any update before finished because I've been at the verge of that since my last post (since before actually), but feel like it with what happened today, again. I was literally finishing the working switch a couple of times over the past 2 months when something happened that brought me back quite a number of steps of the fan itself. Then today it fell on the floor, because the wires got stuck in my sleeve when I tried to comfort my cat who was in a bit of distress (she has dimentia). I didn't notice until it fell. Doesn't sound too bad and thought I could fix that quite easily despite the delicacy of the thin metal I used and not easy to handle either. But wasn't too worried, just kind of annoyed. It didn't go how I thought or expected however and might mean I need to make several parts again...

here's the last photo's before that happened:

how it looked before it went wrong the last of several times

making miniatures I'm used to challenges, like we all are. Comes with the territory right? They're fine and part of the fun, no matter

fan-tastic challenge - almost done..

I finished my fan, yay! I just didn't get it to work with the switch, yet.. Little tricky that is, haha! I did get it more or less, just not how it should be. Meaning I have to press the connection with tweezers while holding the fan upside down ;). But I really want to show the fan finished, just without a working switch for now.

 

 the tiny switch (the black and above it is the switch, the rest is what's inside the base):

fan-tastic challenge

hi my lovely people, long time no see, hope you're doing well! I'm able to enjoy the small but for me big joys of life the past 5 months again which is (like last year) the reason miniatures have had to take a back seat even more than ususal. But that doesn't mean it's of my radar! Thanks for your patience and for me not falling of yours ;), I truly appreciate you being here.

I wanted to wait until finished, but too excited about it, so I'd like to show where I am with the latest

I'm feeling a bit green ;)

nope, not seasick :D. But as you might have noticed this scene, as did my last two, has a green background (although the last and this one not very noticable, while they're quite green in person), so I guess I'm a bit in a greenzone. I've always loved green, mostly the mossy and olivekind of shades, but never used it in mini-scenes before recently. I like it!

the wooden fruitbowl - it's maple - is not what I had in mind for this scene as you can see below. But remembered having it again and finally having some fruit because of that other bowl, just wanted to try this one out too. It turned out I liked it even more..

sugarsweet

I made this working sugar pourer! Well to be exact: I made the spout. From tealightmetal and it's of course the part which basically makes it one :D. The rest is a glass miniature-perfumebottle* & a closed metal jewelerypart (endcap) that I made a hole in for the spout to go through. It can actually 'pour' the sugar (with a little help by tapping the bottle), the 'sugar' being regular white sand I've grinded to get it very fine. It's so fine, that to the naked eye it looks like powder, but as you can see in the photo on the right, they're still 'sugar'chrystals. Just very tiny and - probably - about the right size for miniature.

and as I've done with my other working miniatures, I've made a video of it being used! I have so much fun making those :D.

video of working tissuebox

like last post I have another oldie for you that I made a little video of. So you can see it can actually be used!

besides some music - starts after a while - it also has some sound, so make sure your volume is on/open :D. I hope you'll like it, enjoy!

 

makeover fridge

yes, yes, as mentioned in the preview of this recently, I'm só guilty of wandering off with this :D.

but it was guiltfree and great fun. Yesterday I could finally finish two things for this scene that had been ready for a while, but I hopelessly failed at that, haha. Won't be able for a while to do it the right way, so here it is without after all. You won't miss them and I'm so satisfied with the whole scene that I don't either :D.

a mini partyscene for a big occasion !

yes, I have a good reason to show - of ;) - a select part of my miniature collection creating a little partyscene kind of thing because.... :

tutorial papernapkins

thanks for your interest in a tutorial on my napkins

oh napkin, my napkin

hi dear blogfriends, it's been a long time, too long.
I still haven't been able to work on my laptop or desk, but miss working on mini's a lot and I got to think of - and making - something (very) simple that is within my current possibillities. Which might not even be worth showing here, but I do anyway, since I do think it's realistic and nice and might interest at least some of you.

soapish delight

do you know the handsoap bottles 'stones' with actual little stones on the bottom? Well, whether you do or don't - not sure if it's sold outside The Netherlands... - I just finished a miniatureversion of it and am quite proud of it!

 

the basket-case..

.. or the case of the rectangular basket. I'm waiting for some supplies for the laptop and something else I'm working on, so I painted a basket I made a while ago from white electrical wire. I wanted a rectangular basket like a real one, but had no clue how to do that, since you can't just start weaving it like you can with a round one. But got the ol' brain working for a bit, got an idea, made something for it and there it is: a rectangular basket like a real one. Me so proud :)

 

in the bucket

this has just been waiting for a final polish & coat of paint, but I'm going to show it anyway. So there it is, and later I'll put in a photo of the endresult. Because someone that saw it thought it was a cap of a bottle with a metal wire (a compliment I think): it's not, I made it from scratch and was nowhere near as easy to do as it might appear. Don't know if it shows well enough on the picture, but it's tapered, like a real bucket would be.

Bottom I made of the bottom a yakultbottle (because that has that little pointy middle that buckets also have) with a very fine strip of the aluminum of a tealight for the rim of the bottom. I used a plastic sheet for the 'wall' of the bucket that I formed around a simple mold I made from clay, glued together and sanded it very well to get rid of the seem and make the edge of where the 'wall' meets the bottom nice and round and is if it were one. I glued a ring of sheet plastic on top, that I made bigger than necessary and sanding it really well in order to make it fit and let it become a part of the rest of the bucket. And a piece to go around that with the pieces for the holes where the ends of the handle go. The handle is metal wire from my beloved sandwichbagclosethingies, because it so fine. The shammy (='zeem' for Dutch readers, can imagine that many - like me - don't know the english word..) is from a 1:1 one, but then a very thin warn part of it.