Monday 26 November 2012

Miniature 1/12th Scale Wheelchair



Another finished project...
Just finished this order for a lovely, lovely lady who has made me giggle on more than one occasion with her fantastic emails.  This is a mini 1/12th scale replica of her hubby’s chair, and now she has seen the pics and indeed the chair has made it safely to its destination I’m sharing the pictures with you.

I really love this creation, I enjoyed working on it even though every single section of it had to be made and glued separately and I had to wait 24 hours every time I glued something somewhere lol.  I made the wheels from scratch because I couldn’t find them at the correct size with double spokes so I made these spoke by spoke. The castor section moves around like the real thing and for this I had to work out what materials I could use to hold the castor unit together that would also allow it to move and turn just like the real thing.  This was a bespoke order so personal touches were needed and for this l made a mini under-seat tool bag and a tiny penknife that sits in a tiny pouch on the side of the chair.

Because I made this chair in the same design as the real life chair and I had to hide a little wire here and there to help make it sturdy as the standard frame of a real chair is connected only by one single crossbar which transferred to a mini does not offer much stability but the wire helped a lot.  The spoked wheels are attached to a section on the frame that is a smaller version of the same section on the real size chair and this too caused the brain cogs to do a bit of extra turning lol.  All in all this was a fantastic project to do and best of all, the new owner and mini owner is pleased and that makes me happy!







Had to tell her not to do wheelies although she says its very "wheelie-friendly" Ahem!
Alegra tests it out for size and comfort.



Saturday 24 November 2012

The holidays are coming



Well I’m up late finishing off orders with the hope of getting away for a few days.  I’m off to the middle of a forest, and while I shall miss you all, I am really in need of a little time out before the big Christmas clean up begins.  Yes it’s fast approaching, yet another Christmas and yet another new year.  Sometimes I’m so busy it feels as if I’ve only just started the year before suddenly I’m wrapping presents at the end of the same year!! I do so love Christmas though, and I know people say it’s a time for children and I’m meant to be an adult but somewhere in my heart, and even in my head, at Christmas I become very much a child again.  

When I was small, my grandma used to make a little Christmas snow scene at the base of the tree.  At 6 years old I thought the tree was HUGE then I later realised it was smaller than me and stood on a coffee table!!  The winter scene always begun with tinfoil, then cotton wool on a roll would cover most of the foil except for the part that was to be the frozen pond.  Next to this would be placed a Santa and a snowman made from a loo roll covered in cotton wool.  I LOVED it!!! 

I know we’re not quite in December yet but I thought I’d share a couple of pictures of Christmas past...

2011 and there were more pressies than this, the big ones didn't fit under the tree lol

2010 and again there were more pressies than this.


I got accused of buying too large a tree last year so I pointed out that at least it was not as big as the one from a few years back, which looked like this...

 Now this was a HUGE tree, I had to cut a foot off it to stand it up and then I had to trim branches so it would fit in the corner and not sit filling the room from wall to wall lol.

This was when it snowed and the fridge was full so we improvised!

All lit up.
Note that Scrooge is on the telly box, very festive! 
Oo I can't wait now lol.  However it is still November and I've still a couple of orders to get out before Christmas so I'm off to bed to catch up on my beauty sleep before starting work again early tomorrow.

Talk soon xxx
 

Friday 23 November 2012

Room Corner

Well I decided to make a few room corners... I wanted to make something that could be added to, and I didn't want 'stuck down' minis in them mainly because I have a pet hate about that and I like to move things about and arrange them myself.  I really love and I don't know why but I just love the really grimy lived in look so I made a little shabby room corner, not sure there is much chic here so I'm leaving it at 'shabby' lol.  Here it is...




For this I didn't want to make lovely cakes that were all pretty, I wanted something simpler so I opted for just pastry and a few cutters.  I probably would have done a lot more in this kitchen but I didn't manage it because it sold.

I've made some more room corners, they are simple to make because one can get wood cut to size at the local DIY shop so I just worked out measurements, purchased the wood already cut to the exact size and I stuck it together, easy!  This helps to keep costs down because there is less time spent on cutting and shaping (I'm rubbish at woodwork) and I can then set about decorating instead.  The corners, when dressed will sell for about £10 and in this way I can make them affordable, which I like to do wherever possible. 
It's a nice change from my prams, which I love to make but they do take a considerable length of time and I have so much imagination and so many ideas that it’s just nice to do something a little different from time to time. I’m still working on orders of course but I always like to have several projects on the go because this saves me time when waiting for paint to dry or glue to set.  
 
Well I think my glue has set on the piece I’m working on so I’m off to glue something else to it.  

Every project is a learning curve!
 Have fun! xx

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Artist Appreciation Day



Good morning... 
 
I think we should have a world ‘love your artists day’ because there are so many truly amazing artists out there who work so very, very hard for next to nothing and their reward is simply a smile and the joy they bring to others.  I truly think it is important to buy things from other artists too, I am always happy to show my support to those who, like me spend their time working for a pittance making things that bring pleasure to others.  Just yesterday I got a gorgeous doggie, hand crafted by a lady called Maria he is just soooo cute and even though I could make my own I love to get things from other artists, plus I just fell in love with him.  I love looking at other people’s work too it gives me inspiration and causes my mind to think up new ideas and take new directions.






Perhaps it’s about time that the world stopped taking advantage of the struggling artists out there and actually paid closer to what they are worth, before they kick the bucket lol

Have a great day whatever you are up to and do leave a comment or drop me a msg from time to time, it’s always lovely to hear from you.
xxx