The Attack of The Birds

I made a vow to myself that I would not start working on my 2014 Philadelphia Flower Show entry in the Miniature Settings until I cleaned my workspace. After all, it is how many months since the March 2013 show? I was still unpacking (or just looking forlornly) at the bags of stuff I brought home from that show, so it was time to move on. Now, this may not look totally cleaned and ready to you, but you should have seen the pit that it was! So the surfaces are (almost) cleaned off, the drawers organized with tools and paints, the mini accessories put in protective boxes, furniture in drawers, wood and paper supplies standing in recycled poster tubes.

Here we go!

This is where I actually build the setting. I have a few sketches done on my computer but I will do some hand drawings before starting. I have a book of photos from the movie as reference. The light piece of wood (partly covered by the sketching board) is the correct dimension of the setting and it helps to have this always in view. The cherries in the bowl were very expensive but I deserved them for all the cleaning I did!

Miniature accessories and props are store in plastic thread boxes (from Michael’s)

Cardboard poster tubes hold the small pieces of wood and the larger trim. Paper supplies are rolled up or placed on shelves.

I’ve been collecting props and accessories for this project in a drawer until I was ready to start. I have other project drawers for other mini settings I may do in the future.

The big advantage to cleaning was finding things I needed, thought I had, but couldn’t figure out where the things were. Here was the dilemma.

I have to build a school playground from the movie:

Playground equipment with birds

I went to several miniature shows and every online site I could find, looking for playground equipment. No luck, at least not anything that looked like my playground from The Birds. I know I can build it from wood dowels but couldn’t find anything that could be used for those joints, especially the ones of the swing set. But then I found this kit in my workspace rubble that confirmed I had once (years ago) seen something that would work. It was a kit for putting straws together:

Egg Drop Challenge Kit from a project for my son’s school. Seems every middle school does this science project. But as miniaturists, we look at those beautiful blue pieces in a different way.

I found a dowel to fit but it was an old one and I only had one. Not a good sign. I will have to go searching for more.

My only fear is the scale is a bit off so now I will try to find other kits like this. But it is a start and at least I know something good can come out of the cleaning.

Janit Calvo’s New Book

Coming out July 1 is Janit Calvo’s new book on Gardening in Miniature. She has a very nice online store with great mini-garden accessories as well as quality plants.

You can pre-order the book on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to work

I have been planning my 2014 display for the last several weeks and I am about ready to get to work. I have been shopping for supplies, took a workshop on making molds to replicate small objects, have tinkered with some 3D models of birds that I need to print with my 3D printer, took a 3D printing workshop, and went to Chicago International, the famous miniature show. I will show my progress on the new miniature setting in the next few blogs but first I want to talk about Chicago.

I had always heard that this was the most prestigious show and therefore had the best artists and vendors showing. I certainly saw some wonderful things there but I feel that the Philadelphia Miniaturia show (coming up November 1-3, 2013) is equally impressive and just as big if not bigger. Maybe it is just regional pride but I also like the I.G.M.A. Guild show inNew Jersey in August and the First State Mini Club show in Delaware each year (next in March 2014).

At Chicago, I saw some wonderful artists I had not seen before (mostly from Europe and Asia) and some I had enjoyed at other shows. There were a lot of displays of artificial flower arrangements which were beautiful but we can’t use them in our settings so I resisted the temptation to buy them. I am also not as interested in 1/2″ scale and 1/4″ scale as many other miniature artists and collectors are, maybe because I find it hard to work so small. But they were very popular at the Chicago show.

Carrying only my cell phone camera because I was trying to travel light (so I could bring more things home!), I am not happy about the quality of the images (not the best way to photo miniatures). But the images are at least a reminder of the value of going to miniature shows, no matter how large or how small: you always see something inspiring.

Some of my favorites:

CAROL SHERRY MINIATURES

Carol Sherry was a delight to talk to and she convinced me to but one of the kits to make punch needle rugs. Can’t wait to try it.

CARABOSSE DOLLS

These exquisite porcelain dolls from Spain were amazing in their detail and naturalness.

MINIATUURBOEKBINDEN

Beautiful books by Dutch artist Tine Krijnen were among my favorites. I bought several kits, including one to make the magical books shown here. I also bought some eel skin “leather” which is supple and very thin, perfect for miniatures. I bought two kits to learn how to bind books properly and promised to do them in the correct order!

The pop-up books were also fascinating.

SHANNON MOORE

I had seen Shannon Moore’s bookboxes before as well as the work of other artists who make miniature setting within books. As a book artist who has manipulated and constructed books for years, I find this an appealing approach and hope to try it soon.

PENNY THOMSON

Penny Thomson’s fantasy building was wonderful and full of fun details.

BRIAN AND KATHY TEPPER

The Steampunk artifacts of the Teppers are beautifully detailed and are right in keeping with Steampunk aesthetics. I had a nice conversation with them about their work. Steampunk is not the only style of work they do and all their creations have quality craftsmanship.

Tutorials and plans

There are some miniature blogs that provide wonderful links to tutorials of all sorts. One I found is  called “true2scale” and in March they listed 100 different project tutorials. It is amazing how many people there are out there willing to share their expertise in creating miniatures.

Check them out here: 100 Miniature Spring Tutorials

I also found some plans for Mission-style furniture at a site called “Stan’s Plans.” It is actually providing plans for full size furniture but they are easily scaled down to 1:12 scale because all the measurements are in inches.