Masters Miniatures

About three posts ago I confessed to having the equivalent of a shopping-at-a-show spree, but on line instead.  Since then my thinking has been....  

For a few years I was lucky enough to get to six or more shows a year, in the UK and the States.  Admittedly I did not spend lots of money each time, being on a somewhat restricted budget.  The shows in themselves were much of the pleasure and we always turned the trips into little mini breaks of a couple of days or so.  I can't get to shows any more so it seems OK to spend what I would have done there ..... plus a bit more as we aren't spending anything on travel, accommodation, meals etc;  so my initial order with Masters Miniatures became two.  I only owned one of their pieces which I bought as a bit of a treat some years ago.  The haul that follows is quite a bit beyond naughty.

That said, I think their prices are excellent for those of us who can't afford Beith, Escutcheon,Tarbena et al, all of whom are the stuff that dreams are made of.  Masters Miniatures make many fine pieces and it is lovely to have something which is that bit above the ordinary.

The box came this morning and I was truly like a kid with a new toy (or toys).  I promise you my photographs do not do them justice.  I have made them look a bit clunky and they are certainly not that.  They are dainty and their finish is excellent.  I am thrilled.

I ordered four, then two..... so yes, I have six of these.  The braid trim is a row of exquisitely teeny tassels.

This is a Canterbury and was originally designed to hold sheet music.  Perfect solution for my music room.

I have a nice House of Miniatures kit for a music stand which almost cost me what this cost but their finish is much nicer than I can achieve.  This one also has little three little brass bars in the centre, so sweet.

Same again, I have a similar HOM kit for about the same price as this but this has been made for me to just drop in place and, again, made so much better

There is a lovely inlaid top to my wine cooler

The actual finish on this wine cooler is so much better than this photograph shows.

It has perfect little hinges and even the inside is finished beautifully

My Regency square piano

I need to add a little colour over the indentation for the stick to support the lid.  

Complete with tiny castors so my little people can keep it against a wall when it's not 'in concert'

If you happen to be worrying about such dainty things arriving safely

House of Miniatures Cellarette (plus windows)

As I have thirteen windows still to do, and I am not really enjoying it, I decided the best approach was do do one floor at a time and then take a break and make up one of the kits that I have waiting for the house.  Well, I managed to do three out of the ten parts needed to complete the top floor of the house before getting fed up and turning to a kit.

Windows

Make paper template for half a window

Cut out (at least) ten for the top floor windows.

Dry fit... one will go on outside window at the top.....

one will go on inside window at the bottom

This is the glue I use for fixing windows.  You need very little, it is super strong and dries absolutely clear if some does 'escape'. 

I managed to complete three half (inner) windows before I got hugely bored.  Pretty ugly right now but they will have window sills added.  I did buy a ton of trims to go around the windows and the realised I would cover them all with curtains so it seems a bit pointless.  Every time I come up with one of these brain waves I discover it has a knock on effect which then creates more jobs.

The Cellarette
Here is the delightful House of Miniatures Hepplewhite cellarette

Check all the parts are there

I have discovered a jolly good glue for any wood that will have a dark finish.  If you stain parts and then glue it doesn't always make for a good strong joint.  If you glue and then stain (my preferred method) you have to be super careful with the glue as the stain will not cover any areas that have the slightest bit of glue on it.  As you can see this is a tinted glue which purports to solve that problem in that the glue will be brown and so not show as a bare patch.

There was a momentary panic when I realised the glue was a silly wishy washy pale colour when it left the pot (see top right blob).  This was soon allayed; as you can see it dries pretty much mahogany coloured.

I had a real issue with the stupid hinges for the lid.  They are teeny tiny and the screws almost microscopic so I realised I was on a challenge with them. 

It began with being instructed to cut out 1/32th inch (!!!!)  grooves to take the hinges in the lid and in the back edge of the box.  Much fiddling around with a couple of different shaped Xacto knives and it was done - not a work of art - but done.  The instructions also stated that the hinges were to be flush with the back of the box, not sticking out.  I spent a jolly half hour screwing the hinges to the lid - four teeny tiny drill holes to give the teenier tinier screws a purchase hole and then moved on to the back of the box.  Quelle horreur! the wood wasn't thick enough to allow me to screw the hinges in.

Three options as far as I could see.  (1) Remove the hinges and make a pair out of ribbon or leather strips, (2) glue a thin batten of wood to the inside top edge to make it wider, (3) set the hinges back so the actual hinge part was outside the box. 

Seemed a shame to go for option one when I had these cute little hinges, if I did option two there was a possibility the screws would land almost between the proper wood and the added batten and wouldn't hold well enough so it looked like option three.

I unscrewed the hinges from the lid, reset it in the new position and put the screws back in...... that was tons and tons of fiddling about and superglue came into play as the wood just wants to splinter here there and everywhere.  This basswood behaves remarkably like balsa.  I then fixed the other half of the hinge in the back of the box which is just about thick enough to allow the screws in without splaying out and splitting every which way too much ....more superglue help here.  OK, I had a fastening - not very good looking by now but probably the best of a bad job.  I closed the box and thought there was movement, this was confirmed when I lifted the lid and the hinges just pulled away, breaking out of the wood and glue easily.

I cut the hinges in half and reglued each half to the original place best I could and made an actual fastening 'hinge' across the back (inside) from a piece of gauze ribbon which has taken the woodstain very well and barely shows.

Here is the built piece.  There is a drawer for any drink implements you might need - wine coasters, corkscrew etc.  There is also a sweet pull out tray at the top for you to stand your glass on when you are pouring the drink.  The internal cabinet measurement is about an inch so it is possible for it to contain wine though this one, for this period, was much more likely to contain 'digestifs' such as fortified wine, brandy, liqueurs etc for the gentlemen after dinner.

 This shows the first staining.  I now use gel stain and am very happy with it.  It goes on nicely, not smelly and is water based so makes for an easy clean up.  I did a fine sanding and a second coat the next day and decided that was enough.

 I always struggle to find a successful top coat to give a subtle polished wood sheen and have used many different silk/gloss products including various acrylic forms and wood finishing varnishes.  They all have varying degree of success.  In the main they don't go on smoothly enough and don't lend themselves to rubbing down and doing a second coat.  I thought I would have a go with this.  I suppose any similar oil would do - we just have this in our real life cleaning cupboard for some natural oak furniture.

It did an OK job; no worse than the other things and at least there are no lumps and bumps with this.  I may add some brown shoe polish some time - we don't have any right now.

I was hugely lucky a couple of years ago to come across these transfers.  They are made for this cellarette.  Basically in England the piece of furniture would have remained plain but the ones in America often sported fine inlay - especially Southern furniture.  I imagine this was to differentiate itself from the English.  By the time of this piece in 1790 the Americas had only just begun to recover from the revolution and, I imagine, were determined to eschew all things English; or, at least, to make it their own.

Sadly, I soon discovered this was a skill beyond me.  I tried just one tiny transfer and gave up.  

Cleome - Ladies Mile Miniatures

I absolutely love making plants.  I barely ever find it frustrating or annoying.  It is one of those tasks that I slide into happily; radio four drama (or two) to keep me company and an afternoon or a morning is whiled away allowing me to feel omnipotent and able to create a 'living' plant.

Ladies Mile Miniatures offers a fabulous choice of kits if, like me, you don't have the requisite punches and such like to work from scratch.  The service is excellent and prices good and quality top notch.

I chose a Cleome (Spider Flower) for my dining room vase.  This was a bit of a daft choice as this is a three to five foot high shrub and is rarely used as a cut flower because of its size.  Hey ho, I like them and I don't have any outside growing space because my house is part of a row of Georgian terraces so they are going to have to go in a vase.

This is how my blissful afternoon went along .....

Always a nicely packaged and presented kit with absolutely perfect instructions.  I won't do the step by step thing as it is done so well in the kit but I thought I would share some moments which might add something to your understanding of what's going on if you are doing your first flower kit and show you what 'tools'  I use to complete them

First thing is to take your wire stems and add a blob of glue.  The photo is to show you what I work on.  I have a glass tile - a few pence from B & Q years ago.  As you can see it is handy for any small amounts of glue or paint.  When it gets rather full it just goes in a wash basin of warm water and soaks for a  little while, then a bit of a rub and, voila, brand new again.

This photo is maybe a handy tip.  All my wires are poked into a bit of styrene.  I couldn't find my spare piece so I just grabbed the one I use to keep my drill bits in; but you get the idea.

I then discovered the blobs of glue were sort of running down the wire slightly so, with a bit of ingenuity, gravity was inverted.

This is a share in case you ever see one of these any where.  It is just the best way to keep glue handy and ready to go.  I used to keep my glue upside down in a mug until I had this.  The downside of that method is that the cap is always full of glue when you take it off.  This little stand allows the glue to stand in its own little puddle of glue without a cap and that seals it nice and airtight.  It comes free easily when you want to use it.  Absolutely ready to go at all times.  I can't help with buying one of these stands as it was bought at an American show years ago and I was told it was the last she would have.  I am sure some of you can make one like it for yourself .  The glue stand part of it just has a support and a base with a small groove in it for the nozzle.

Often the glue blobs are painted yellow to represent pollen coated stamens but cleome just have a bud filled centre so it needed to be painted a matching pink.  So the tip here is to just google and check out your real life plant to be sure you are on the right track.  I had some very, very, pale pink, acrylic paint (paint samples) so (here comes the next handy tip) I just mixed in a little red water colour to get to the right shade.  Both paints are water based so they mix just fine.  I couldn't paint the glue blobs with water paints as they don't have the sort of pigmentation and durability to do the job that acrylic has.

Pink bud centres all ready to go.

Tweezers are useful when making plants for picking up and placing things.  These are the three I own.  Any would do, but the bottom pair is very much the best for this task if you do have to buy some. 

From now on its a simple case of threading and gluing three lots of petals.

A small amount of glue behind each section.  The photo is to show you the tool used - a cocktail stick.

Left to right - three with three layers, three with two layers and four with the small first layer

How the flowers look when finished, now for the leaves.

From the left, top row; one side pale colour, the other side darker green, and the third shows lines drawn for the veins.  Bottom row of two leaves turned over to the right side.  On the left hows the indentation made near the stem and the right shows the stalk bent back ready to stick to the stem.  Using a mouse mat you make indented lines on the reverse of the leaf (all in the instructions)  I am mentioning it because I usually do this with a very sharp coloured pencil just a shade darker than the leaf colour.  I know it is on the underside but it can sometimes add some 'interest' and reality to the finish.  It looks crude in this photo but remember you are seeing the leaves much bigger than they are in real life.

They are a bit OTT but I love them.

I am feeling a very sad that I won't be making any more flowers when I have done the next two kits as this is to be my last project.

If you are considering having a go I would say a good rule of thumb is, if your eyesight and dexterity are good enough to thread a needle, you will be able to make plants and maybe enjoy it as much as I do.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are reading this across the pond - when I spent half my year in the States I used to buy from SDK Miniatures LLC which are also good to do.

A day late

Apologies for being a day late with this week's post.  I spent my blog time yesterday fiddling around making a digital book to record Bentleys (a previous build).  More of this when it comes to fruition but suffice it to say it took much, much longer to do than I imagined.

Meanwhile in dribs and drabs throughout the week I managed to get the Rec room and the Mud room sorted.

These are the terrific boxes I keep my 'dressing stuff in.  They were sold as bead boxes for a couple of dollars in Wal Mart.  I try to collect things for one room in the same box so I don't forget what I have and duplicate things.

That worked really well with the three cats I seem to have acquired.  At least the quality improves as I go along.  All I can say is that I once owned a cat as ugly as the first one here.  He was also extremely stupid and quickly earned the name pudding, so I have something of an attachment to the ugliest one.  I suspect Mrs Perky on the right will get to inhabit the house.

A couple of the mini objects in this house sort of work.  The jukebox lights up and plays a couple of songs and the washing machine in the mud room is a Miele (can't find them any more!!!) and it lights up, the drum spins, it makes washing noises and then makes a spinning noise followed by a beep when the washing is finished.  The door also opens.  Such a nice piece of kit.  I used to have their cooker too in a previous project and that had hobs that lit and made cooking noises.

I am especially fond of this little basket of sea shells as they were all found by me during my time in Naples (Florida)  I had a sort of challenge with myself to find the smallest shell possible each time we went to the beach and I ended up with a zillion very teeny ones.  They are miniatures in their own right.

  

These must be the world's tidiest teenagers - biscuits on a plate and liquorice allsorts in a bowl!!!  What can I say.....I train my children well...... especially the resin ones.  Incidentally every sweetie and every biscuit is a loose separate item.  Such talented people around.  For non-UK chums each of these biscuits is a recognisable product.

My favourite object here is the cute little stapler.  Needs a bit more 'stuff' yet

Pretty much a shell collection going on here.  Indeed there is a box open with two new shells in that haven't found their home yet.  Again it needs games and stuff for the empty shells.  The china piggy bank is in memory of one I had for many, many years called Daisy Grunter.  Spot the mobile phone.

.....   and so the room goes back together......  I need a couple of posters for the back wall.  I am just not sure what to have.  Might go retro and have something to represent what my kids liked .....Star Wars? and....?

A few nice details in the mud room such as the whiteboard weekly planning sheet with pen on the wall, the smoke alarm, the alarm system board for this part of the house.  There is cleaning stuff left out as Simon has been cleaning his skate board.  Apologies for the poor quality photo, it was taken late in the day and in poor light.

I have just added a couple of things in the dining room since you last saw it.  I love the tiny glass horse on the huntboard, bought when I was doing quarter scale.  This photo reminds me that I need to clean up and re-trim the chairs.  They had some very flashy gold braid round them that I unceremoniously ripped off.  I really need to get down to filling the cabinets and dressing the tables - I actually have more than I need to do this.  I keep sort of hanging on in hopes of making another huntboard which is silly as that in itself doesn't prohibit dressing what's there.  Apologies for the BFG in the mirror.