First turned miniatures

And so....

Taking one of my tiny chunks I glued it to a block of scrap pine and just decided to see what happened. A plant pot appeared from the block of wood followed my a slightly more curved one the day after.

Plant pots.  Push pin for scale.

The next day came another two minis from the same type of wood, a bowl and a deep platter which I don't have pictures of for some reason. [Correction. Making up for being a bad blogger I went and got them and photographed them.] The base of the bowl on the left is a little too thick but all good practise.

First Bowls

The next session at the lathe I used a piece of Yew wood which had cracked during drying and was no use for full size work. Broke it down and glued it up for this little pair of beauties, the wall thicknesses were getting thinner and I was very happy with these items. The little dish is just 6mm (1/4") tall.  I think yew may be my favourite wood, works easily, has a lovely warm colour and grain and finishes wonderfully.  We are lucky to have a tree surgeon amongst our group and I shall have to offer him baked good for more yew (and other woods)

Yew

Now we are almost up to date, I hit the lathe again this afternoon and after turning a spinning top (normal size) from yew as a warm up, I started with another bit of the same wood as above. Perhaps I was getting over confident and the first bowl I made was destroyed in a catch, there was still a little left so I went for another little dish like the one above but I was an idiot and made the same mistake and lost that too.

Next a piece of sapele, turned a small bowl, sanded and finished and just needs the bottom cleaning and finishing before I can photograph it but very nice. Still lots of wood left so I started a plate, which began to develop a base which turned into a cake stand, all was going well and it was just as I was finishing the polishing up that I held it wrong and it was destroyed, the top was super thin (in scale but fragile) and it would have been stunning. I was rather sad. Thin top platter with an simple but elegant pedestal in a warm brown wood.

Perhaps all of my walls today were too thin and overly fragile. That is the danger of mini work, walls less than 1mm thick and it is so easy to slip and destroy nearly an hour of work. At least I am not short of practice wood, G tells me there are more scraps to salvage in his workshop, his timber come from local joiners so they are somewhat limited in variety, hopefully when word gets around our club that I can use pieces that are firewood to them I may find myself inundated with a larger variety of woods (a terrible burden). For exotics I may have to resort to actually spending money and buying them. And hunting in the garden. We have a lot of garden.....seriously.

For anyone wondering, I am trying to get back to my blogging and the mini community in general so I would love to get set up for some swaps or personal exchanges. I would happily swap something I have made for something nice that someone else has made with love. I will get set up for better images as I do have a dslr and a macro lens, I just need to get somewhere set up with decent lighting. The next upgrade at the lathe station will be two lamps for excellent lighting and I am hoping to put together a little photostudioroombox which can sit (with magnets) on the lathe bed and borrow the twin lights for good photographs.

And maybe, in time..........an etsy shop?

And because blogs need pictures and the latter part of this blog is lacking, here is a cute kitty in a bag.

I couldn't bring myself to take the bag away.

Further Workspace update and the last of the cats.

Good evening all

So after a few more days of work on the desk area (it has been neglected for several years) the desk is now re-oriented but the top surface is still covered. A lot of other items in the house need to leave, move or be added before any real progress can be made and that will have to wait till finances allow. I will continue to work on the shelves above, on my bookcase and also upstairs and will return to the workspace with a guided tour when it is truly complete.My PC has gone but J's is "borrowing" some space from under my desk.

And to introduce the last of the bosses cats of the house, I bring you Loki. He is little younger than Freaya at around 7 and is also a rescue cat. He is also slightly evil. Not too much you understand, just the right amount of evil. The amount of evil that will steal the prawn right off the top of your ebi nigiri when given the chance. Also not the sharpest tool in the drawer. Madly in love with Freaya despite the fact she would gladly never see him again. Actually, if he left she would have no-one to give her daily beatings to. So instead he spends all of his time with Astrilde and are sometimes referred to as the opposite twins, black/white good/evil and yet such good friends.

My legs are under this cat

ALSO........this means I am going to start working on some actual miniatures, which will give me something relevant to blog about and hopefuly make some new mini friends.

Till next time, Kim.

Workspace update

So here is an update after an estimated 8 hours or so of clearing work. A lot of stuff is still piled on the desk (because apparently the sofa is for sitting on) but you can see that there is in fact a desk, and a chair too! I wasn't imagining it!

Much paper junk has been bagged for recycling and also the above desk shelf is starting to improve. Some of that time was spent filing paperwork and bank statements from the past several years and shredding any other bits containing personal information, I also found my driving licence which I knew was in there somewhere.

The PC is still in place but perhaps tomorrow I will think about actually turning the desk (and cutting off excess length). There is a little set of plastic drawers under there now and they will be re-organised and put back along with two other plastic drawer sets from elsewhere in the house. At least until I can replace them with better quality metal drawers. The lamp is currently not functioning but we will have to see whether it can be salvaged, at least until I can replace it. The CD's will be sorted and either stored long term elsewhere or disposed of.

Crafting gear is going to be split into two main categories. TOOLS and MATERIALS

Tools are durable re-usable items used to manipulate the materials into finished items. Glue is in a fuzzy grey area. Larger amounts of materials will be upstairs (fabric collection) whilst smaller ones will be located depending upon frequency of likely need. Polymer clay will always be near at hand whilst that raffia I bought for mini nativities five years ago can live on a higher shelf. Also non-crafty stationary/office supplies will have a place to live for when I need envelopes and other such boring adult tasks.

Sunday the tree comes down so the dining table can migrate back to its proper place, that just leaves the rescue bookcase which will probably go where the other plastic drawers are coming from,at least temporarily.

And for anyone making it to the end of this post I give you Freaya. This is our eldest cat at about 9 years old, she is the dominant female of the house and rules with an iron paw.

Until another day, Kim

Hello and Welcome

Good evening from rainy England.

My Name is Kim and I have long been fascinated by miniatures, how such dainty versions of ordinary objects take on an almost magical cuteness. In case anyone is wondering, I turned 30 last year.

I have made miniatures before a few years ago and enjoyed swapping with other UK based mini-ists, however ill health meant I left the group to concentrate on getting better. Several years and two major surgeries later I am back in fighting form and wanting to get back to my love of miniatures, so as part of my 2013 goals is to make minis once more. Even at my sickest I never stopped reading mini-blogs and later pinning images that inspired me, and to help me get back into the fold I am starting this blog for interaction with other people who share my interests.

Living in a small house space is in short supply, another reason that minis are a great hobby, room boxes need never take up that much space. And materials tend to go quite a long way when you make tiny things. I did start a scratch built house with basement all those years ago but I discovered that I didn't want to do whole period houses, furnished with low end purchased pieces. I have no interest in doing a mini bathroom.

I would rather concentrate my efforts on a few various room boxes in a mix of styles/themes and make as much as possible myself,swap with others and buy only metal and glass items which I can not work with. I want to concentrate on learning new techniques to create ageing and wear and on making really high quality pieces which I can then swap with some of the bloggers whose work I adore and broaden my collection. Techniques such as mold-making and casting are also fascinating and I can't wait to try them. Some day I hope to buy a kiln and learn to work with fired ceramics and glass (lamp work), but that will have to wait till I get my financial footing back and a more dedicated workspace.

My room boxes will be - in no particular order and often simultaneously

• A witches house, her name will be Belinda. Or at least the working part of the house, again, a witches bathroom doesn't interest me, or her kitchen. I want to see all her books and jars of potion ingredients, cauldron and black cat.
• A shabby chic teashop/bakery with a gift shop This will eventually be two boxes one above the other but will inhabit one box until it expands.
• Some kind of antiquarians office/library full of books and artifacts, no specific period and will be filled with various curiosities. Everything from artifacts from fantasy realms such as Tolkien (OH is a big fan) through to a miniature versions of the mars curiosity rover.

Of course this being the first ever post on the blog only a few early and/or very dedicated readers will ever see it, once I have some actual posts for people to see then I will start being more public about it.

So that dear readers is quite the treatise.

Step 1 will be workspace, turning my former computer desk (I always use my laptop on the sofa now) into a working area, and as funds allow, adding storage drawers below (hello IKEA) and boxes on shelves above for my most used tools and materials. Large fabric yardage and rarely used items will have a shelf upstairs.

And in case you were wondering about the kitten at the top? I hate blog posts without pictures and since I had nothing relevant I played it safe with our youngest cat as a kitten. Her name is Astrilde and she is now 6. She is the sweetest bundle of love you will ever meet. You will meet the others in later posts.

Till next time
Kim