My first miniature person

My first major challenge was assembling my first miniature person. You can see her here unassembled.

The directions seemed easy enough to follow. The only part I didn't like was when they instructed me to wrap the upper arms and legs with yarn. It just didn't sound right. Fortunately I had found a website awhile ago that talked about putting miniature people together. I opened that site and set out to build my lady. The first problem I had was the pattern they provided to make the lady. If I followed it her legs would have been way to long. I had to figure out the correct proportions myself. I used a combination of the websites instructions and the ones included in the kit.

Next came wrapping. Obviously I wasn't going to use the yarn. I followed the instructions on the web page for making the padding out of cotton balls and sealing them with glue. It was a long process but it turned out looking alright. Fortunately the parts would be covered up with clothing so I wasn't to worried. I left her to dry overnight. The next when I checked to see how it had turned out I realized this process wasn't going to work. The glue, of course, had made the legs and arms stiff. There was very little pose ability. I had to clip and pull the glued on cotton off. No fun task let me tell you. So there I was back at the drawing board wondering if there was a way to cover those parts in cotton without making them stiff when I glued down the ends. Then my mother suggested gauze. I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. After just one leg I noticed the difference. It was so much better. An added bonus was the gauze made it look like she already had bloomers on. She does have one arm that I would like to redo but I'm going to wait and see how it looks under clothes. After all those hours of building the actual body I know that was the easy part. I still have to paint her face and give her hair. I am not looking forward to this. Ah well, that's life.

Procrastinate? Me?

So it's been a lot longer then I intended. I did have plans and things to write about sooner I'm just not very good about getting them done. So here we go better late then never, right?

I don't have a house yet, or even a room box but I've already started collecting furniture. Dollar store furniture can actually be petty good. This first piece I actually got from the dollar store.

The one pictured is not actually mine. I was very eager to get started and forgot to take a before photo. My chest of drawers was missing one foot so I knocked them all off. I also took off all of the handles. My goal is to make it look like an old map drawer like you would see in a library.

The next piece I found at a thrift store.

Someone had painted it, very thickly and badly I might add. There appeared to be a slight gap between the doors that and I hoped that meant they actually opened. They did! (on a side note don't use acetone to take paint off. It takes forever and doesn't remove it all. I gave up halfway and have purchased paint remover to finish the job.

I later discovered that the armoire was another dollar store piece. You can see what the original looked like here right next to the cheat of drawers. I would really like to get some of the other pieces in this set as well.

I currently have no definite plans for the armoire. I've thought about giving it a shabby chic look but I'm not sure yet. One step at a time I guess.

Third Times the Charm

At least that's what I'm hoping. I've had two blogs since the start of the year. They both lasted exactly four posts. I'm crossing my fingers I can do better this time. So what exactly is it that I'm going to be writing about? One word, miniatures. Within that word lies a world so large that it seems to challenge its name.

I'm going to be trying to make as many pieces as I can myself, or at least refurbishing pieces to make them my own. I'll also be posting links to blogs and miniatures resources. So, stay tuned and cross your fingers for me. Let's make it mini!