Workshop results coming in!

I think I mentioned before that I had done a workshop for the "Artists Who Care" program at the local Arts and Learning Centre back in November. Marijke H. assisted which was very helpful. We had 10 participants in the work shop and the theme was a pioneer vignette that would utilize the pieces that Marijke had taught back in June while I was away.

Basically, the project consisted of a corner of a room, done in pioneer style. The skills taught were aging and distressing of wood for the walls, using egg cartons to create a "stone" fireplace, and using a picture to represent the perspective of an outdoor scene. All participants were close to finishing their walls and fireplace at the end of the day-long class but needed to do the final details at home. I have a few pictures to share with you from the class itself and two pictures of completed vignettes.

Here I am showing one of the prototypes before the class began. This was the outdoor option. Everyone decided they would prefer to do the indoor option to better utilize the projects they did in June with Marijke.

At the end of the day, Mary Lou W. stopped to let Marijke and I see her progress on her vignette. Her walls are almost completed here.

Subsequent to the workshop, we have received pictures of two of the vignettes that have been completed. This first one is by Jeanne C. who decided not to put a window in hers. Well, okay, truth be told there may have been a little error in cutting which kind of made the decision for her but it all worked out well in the end. She did a great job. I especially like the stonework in her fireplace. She was able to capture the colours very well. All she has left to do is decide whether to put down a wooden floor or have it resemble the dirt floors of the early pioneers.

The second finished vignette is by Beth McI. who decided on the wooden floor. She also added a little hearth to her fireplace and even has little flames showing inside. Nicely done Beth.

Leading beginner workshops is a good way to introduce newcomers to the hobby. Several members of our F.A.M.E. club will probably be providing our services for beginner workshops throughout 2017. In particular, we will be working with the local libraries and the Girl Scouts to offer occasional classes for children. We plan to get them hooked young - best way to grow this hobby and keep it alive for years to come!!!

So, it's New Year's Eve and this is the first year that I can remember that DH and I are sitting here at home instead of celebrating with friends. Everyone in our "circle" seems to have opted for a quiet night at home this year. Does that mean we're officially old now? Regardless, I hope you are all enjoying yourself, no matter how you choose to celebrate, and that you all have a wonderful 2017! TTFN!! - Marilyn D.

Catching up with catching up....

Well, a very busy September morphed into a very busy October...and November's not looking too relaxing either. So - time to catch up so I can move on to the fun stuff.

September started with our F.A.M.E. club taking part in the annual Fall Expo at C.F.B. Gagetown. As I mentioned in the last post (yes, I know it was so long ago you don't remember!), each year the nearby military base holds a day where many groups come together to provide information to newcomers to the area so they will have an idea of the activities available in the area. The exhibitors ranged from sports clubs to service clubs to hobbyists, exercise classes available....you get the idea.

It was an extremely warm day but Marijke, Louise and I persevered and made it through the day. We set up an exhibit of some of the work of our club members on two long tables. We attracted a lot of attention since we were very different from any other exhibitor present.

On another table nearby I set up the Irish cottage that I have been neglecting and spent the day applying a stucco finish to it and talking to anyone who stopped by to ask questions.

We received a couple of requests to do children's workshops and/or displays in the new year. We'll fit them in as we get time - they're good ways to spread the word of our hobby and, in particular, our club.

Later in September came my favourite - Camp Mini Ha Ha!!! It was a really neat looking project however, as usual, by the time I was finished making my alterations to the original design, it bore no resemblance to the intended project. But the good news is -- I think I'm going to love it when I actually get it finished (more on that a little later).

So, 31 Campers attended this year. The Annapolis Basin Conference Centre is the perfect spot for our annual Camp - large work room, good food, great company - what more can we ask for!!??

This year's theme was cats. Some of the costumes on Sunday night were really great - everything from cats, dogs and mice to crazy cat ladies and a "puss in boots" ...or, in our case...a puss in sneakers.*smile*.

Overall, I have to say my favourite was the three blind mice with their seeing-eye dogs....Strike out the "Crazy cat ladies" comment and just call us all crazy ladies in general!

As usual, my friend Louise had her project concept completely thought out before arriving at Camp and had many accessories already made in advance. Her finished project will be a Via Rail station with a Tim Horton's on the 2nd floor (remember the doughnuts, cookies and bagels I made her for her birthday in March?)- can't get much more Canadian than that!!! Unless she then builds a Canadian Tire store to go next door with a poutine restaurant on the corner! In the picture below you can see the work in progress. She does have the elevator doors in on both floors but doesn't have the upper floor and Tim Hortons in yet in this picture. I will be sure to get a few pictures of it when she's finished it. So far it looks amazing - she's my hero!

What's that you say - what's my project look like?? Well, it doesn't have the intended shape of an industrial loft. I had new walls cut to my size and shape. I chose the 1/12th scale kit but am building in in 1/24th scale so I would have more room. Tomorrow I will show you the progress on the front and back walls, which will bring me to the end of my September catch-up. Wow - I feel like I'm moving right along at the speed of...well...the speed of government services maybe?? No offence to government workers - it is, after all, a process....with lots and lots of roadblocks and hoops to jump through along the way...just like the way I work! TTFN. - Marilyn

And peace reigned throughout the land.......

It's my fairy tale - I can end it any way I want! Yes, our little guy went home to his Mom and Dad this morning. And yes, we were sorry to see him go. However - I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning and to the temperature of my kitchen to rise a couple of degrees since the fridge door won't be constantly opening and closing.

Last night our F.A.M.E. group had our monthly meeting. Only four of us were able to make it but we really enjoy getting together anyway. We all work on our own thing usually but last night I also brought along some kits to make miniature brooms for anyone interested. The tutorial is one from Casey's Minis site. I printed out Casey's instructions, (making sure it was clear where they had come from), and bagged up the materials needed along with the instructions. Here are the kits I put together and, in the second picture, Louise and Mary Lou are concentrating on putting them together. Okay - Mary Lou is. Louise is talking. Go figure. (insert smiley-face here, ha ha)
See the brown paper bags in the centre of the table? They are holding our "tidbits". We keep them secret until the end of the evening, then draw names and each person chooses an anonymous bag to take home (after opening it in front of us, of course!). We'll talk about that again in a moment....Back to the broom-making:

Two of us used the wire wrapping as shown on Casey's site and two decided to use leftover threads from the Penelope cloth to wrap the upper part of the broom head to make them look more "rustic". Here are the finished brooms:

After completing the brooms we all went back to working on items we brought with us until it was time to draw for the tidbits. In response to my last post where I had a "spoiler alert" because I was showing what I was making for this month's tidbit, Alayne asked how our exchange works. Basically, mimicking the tidbit exchange from Camp Mini Ha Ha, each month anyone attending our meeting will bring one small item that, if it were on the retail market, would have a value of around 3 to 5 dollars. Hand-made items are always highly coveted but, given the range of experience and skill sets, ready-made items are also welcomed. It's just a way of encouraging people to find the time to do a little bit of mini-ing each month - no matter how crazy their life has gotten! Plus - we really look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. I showed you what I was making - a basket with a set of towels and bottles in it. Since that photo, I continued with the basket by dry-brushing "straw" coloured paint over the whole thing to tone down the dark brown a bit, then I sprayed it with a matt-finish spray to seal the paint. After that was dry I arranged the towels and bottles, bagged it, and it was ready to go. Marijke ended up with my tidbit. I got a great set of fabric bolts from Louise - absolutely perfect for the quilting shop I will be working on this year.
One last note about the basket set I made - If I were to do the same thing again I would make the towels first, decide how I wanted to set them in the basket, then adjust the basket size accordingly. Well, live and learn!

We also took some time to finalize plans for the Miniature and Doll Show and Sale we will be hosting in Fredericton on October 22nd, 2016. The information and the application forms have been drafted and will be sent out to targeted people and groups that we think might be interested. If anyone reading this would like to be included in the mail out, please let me know and we'll make sure to get it to you.

Along with the show and sale we are planning on doing two free workshops - one for adults and one for children. Numbers will be limited - especially for the children's workshop. I received a package from Maureen H. of St. Albert's Minis. She sent me a number of templates for making chairs out of folded paper (and fabric if you wish to glue it to the paper). These will be perfect for an item in the children's workshop. Thank you so much Maureen. I brought them to our meeting last night and everyone was thrilled with them. Personally, I'm also thrilled with the lite brite pegs you sent me for making bottles out of. I can hardly wait to give them a try!

As I mentioned in the last posting - this next week is "Irish Week" for us, leading up to St. Patrick's Day, and we will be very tied up with events we are involved in so postings may be a little sporadic. I will do my best to check in as often as I can. Until the next time - TTFN!!!

Work in progress...

Sometimes I think my whole life is a work in progress. Remember the cute little sign you used to be able to buy and hang up in your child's bedroom? It said "Please be patient with me...God hasn't finished with me yet". Well, I think that's a great mantra for all of us!

Besides being a work in progress myself, I have a lot of works in progress that span a number of different crafts. So, taking the bull by the horns I decided to cull some of these out. Determined to cut down the mounds of craft materials I have stored in boxes, bins and bags, I sat myself down and gave myself a stern talking to! From that conversation with myself I came up with the crafts I feel I will continue to be the most interested in over the next several years. Of course minis was top of the list, followed closely by cross-stitch. So I then went into my workroom and started the cull. I got rid of all my scrapbooking material (but kept any tools as they would be useful for minis too), and got rid of all my fabric from quilting and regular sewing, except any pure natural fabrics in tiny prints - minis again! Then I hit my yarn bins. Oh, my goodness!! I had so much yarn in so many different weights... all gone now. My DH took all of these items to our local Value Village for donation. Then I gathered up all my quilting books and gave them to my sister who is an amazing quilter. Whew, I feel lighter already! So why is my workroom still such a mess? Minis - how does a hobby that's all about little things take up so much room? Having gotten rid of all of the other stuff, I will continue to organize and clean until I feel I can show a picture of my work space. Right now it's too frightening.

Moving along, just to show you some of the great stuff our group of "makers" has accomplished, here are some more pics of our exhibit at the 2014 Fredericton Model Railroaders' Show. So, now may be the time to discuss the difference between a "collector" and a "maker", at least how I perceive the difference anyway. Everyone probably has their own opinion about this. For many years before I actually started to actively pursue my mini hobby, I had collected so many pieces of mini furniture and accessories. Anything that caught my eye made its way into my collection. However accumulating many mini things does not make one a collector. In my opinion, a collector is someone who painstakingly gathers beautiful, handcrafted mini masterpieces for their beauty and perfect craftsmanship, often searching out well-known artisans in the field for the purpose of acquiring one of their mini pieces of art. They will often commission someone to build very special dollhouses or room boxes to properly showcase their collection of artisan works. A "maker" is more interested in the creation of the pieces and wants to do it all themselves. They collect building materials, accessories, patterns and plans and they are continually on the lookout for everyday items that, when looked at differently, could be useful in making minis. I am a maker. I get my thrills through the crafting, not the hunt. Sure, it's great when you can find those little things that bring your room or scene to life but it is even more fun when you can make them yourself. Don't get me wrong - even a maker needs to consider when it makes more sense to buy than to make. For instance, I know nothing about working with polymer clays and the learning curve, for me, would be too great to bother with learning just for the sake of a few pieces of food or other mini items. However, within my own club we have Marijke H. who does incredible work with clay and sells for very reasonable prices. Why would I try to make what would surely be an inferior product when I can buy a beautiful one from her for very little outlay? Same as Christmas items - Mable M., another of our members,(Mable sells under the name "Mable's Minis" on Etsy) makes the most incredible Christmas trees, ornaments, gift bags, etc. that I have ever seen. The trees take a lot of work and are absolutely loaded with the most beautiful hand-crafted ornaments so can be a little pricey but I will definitely be saving up to buy these items from her rather than ending up with an inferior product of my own making. So, generally, I am a "maker", not a "collector".

One last picture for you - Want to see my first major "make"? Here is a finished view of the Camp Mini Ha Ha project from 2014 - the first one I attended. In my next posting I will give more details on that project, from beginning to end, and provide more views of the fun stuff inside. Tip for today: Okay - this tip actually comes from a conversation Marijke H. and I had the other day. Since I am still relatively new to the hobby, with only a couple of real "builds" to my name, she gave me a very good piece of advice which I will now pass on to you.

Our memories are not always the best and this hobby will be one you'll have for years. When the time comes for our children to decide what to do with all of our mini builds and the leftover mini stuff, it would be so valuable for them to know some history - the stories behind the builds, the origin of the pieces leftover - which are from major, well-known artisans and therefore more valuable than the other mass-produced ones. So, right now, if you don't already have one, go out and buy yourself a journal - better yet, buy two. One will be used as a kind of running inventory to record when you buy something, where or from whom you bought it, the price at the time, and perhaps a little picture of the item, the other will be to document your projects, start to finish, story behind it, a description of the materials used and the items included in the scene/room/building. Yes, you can do this in an electronic file, making it easier to include pictures, but if you choose this route, make sure your children, or designated person, always have access to an up-to-date file. Fingers crossed, none of us are going to be hit by a bus tomorrow but, we will be prepared for anything!

So, until the next post - TTFN!

She's Baaaaacckkk!!!!

Okay, it's been over two years since I first tried to start a blog.. So - what happened? The short version? Technology happened! For some reason, after I posted the second entry, I was unable to load any pictures and my computer kept jumping out of the screen when I tried to type an entry. My computer was really old at the time and I guess I didn't have everything on it that would make it work properly with Blogger. Well, cut to the present - new computer, new opportunities!!!!

So, what's happened in the last two years, mini-wise? Well, where do I start??? First - I made the acquaintance of Louise McS. She had been to the Montreal Miniature show where she met Liz Dielman of Grandpa's Dollhouse. When Liz heard where she lived, and the fact that she was doing minis all on her own, she gave her my name because I had been a customer of hers. When Louise got home she made contact with me, I told her about Marijke H. (pulchinellascellar.blogspot.ca) because I used to work with Marijke's husband so knew his wife was into miniatures. Again, long story short, we all got together, along with Susan P., a miniaturist Marijke knew, added some more members....and the rest, as they say, is history. Since that initial meeting we have formed our own club: F.A.M.E. (Fredericton Area Miniature Enthusiasts), we meet monthly just to get together, work on our own things, and bounce ideas off each other.

Thanks to Marijke's encouragement, Louise and I, both "newbies" in this hobby, along with another new member of F.A.M.E., Lynn M., joined her and Susan P. at Camp Mini Ha Ha at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre in Nova Scotia in 2014 and again in 2015. We've met so many new "mini" friends there and learned so much. We're all getting ready to send in our registrations for Camp Mini Ha Ha 2016 and can hardly wait!

In 2014 and 2015, FAME participated in the Fredericton Model Railroad show where we displayed some of our projects and introduced more people to the 1/12th scale hobby. The model railroad club was uncertain at first but we persuaded them to let us in since we had so few opportunities to show off our work. They ended up being thrilled by our display and invited us back for 2015.

So, bottom line, I will be posting much more regularly now. To start with, I'll share some pictures of the two projects from my Camp Mini Ha Ha workshops as well as provide an update on how my "wish list" of projects has changed since my first posting. Hey - I'm female! I'm entitled to change my mind! I thank you for being so patient and will catch up with everything over the next few postings. TTFN!