Chuffed.

Hello to my 8 followers out there! Although I just started this blogging thing, it was very exciting when I was notified that I had a new follower - each of you, even my family. :) SO... Hello to Daphne, Beany, Catherine, Mieke, Minnie Kitchen, Jenn, Ben, and Alex!

I've been looking for jobs and working on minis to keep my spirits up. Unfortunately, my productivity has escaped documentation. This is a bit of a long one...

Firstly, I have been working on the Japanese system kitchen. While the original is a sort of off-white color, I wanted the unit to be blue to match some paper I'll be using in the kitchen. After tons of sanding, I was able to paint it with Krylon gloss spray paint in "Blue Ocean Breeze." I taped off the drawers and sink cabinet so their insides would be gloss white. The white was painted in another step. The taping didn't work perfectly. There were some leaks and wobbly paint edges, but I'm satisfied for the most part. I bought a piece of scrapbook paper a while ago with multiple shapes of different yet coordinating patterns. Among these was the check paper I will be using as drawer liners. I had about a 2.5"x4" piece of the original, which covered the bottom of one drawer and the cabinet. I scanned it to make a piece for the other drawer. I think I'll be printing some on fabric later for tea towels, curtains, or something...

The whole kit and caboodle. The door is not hinged yet, but is attached via the magnets I installed in the cabinet and doors.

The handles are 3 staples still stuck to each other. They were painted with chrome spray paint in the fastest painting project in the history of the Earth. I'm quite chuffed about the color combination.

This image shows the handle better.

 The next few images show my sink progress. I had a plastic jelly container from a restaurant previously. I don't know if it's me or what, but the containers seem to be much thinner than years ago. When I spray painted it, the thing got all misshapen and warped. It never really dried either. SO... Plan B... One of my favorite, favorite bloggers - Brae at otterine.com - made a sink for her Newport with balsa and painted it with some glossy paint. It looked pretty good, so I'm using a variation of that idea. Mine is made of basswood because I have a programmed prejudice of balsa from architecture training. Brae talks about some practical and very valid uses for balsa on her blog that are surprising to me. This is mainly, I think, because I've never heard anyone say anything positive about balsa. I digress... The sink surround is basswood with a center cutout and shaped edges. I plan to eventually spray it attached to the counter so it looks like it is one piece of metal. We'll see how that goes... Until that stage, I've painted it a thousand times with gesso. This is in the process of painting and sanding to get some rounded corners and edges.

I forgot to take pictures before I started painting, but the structure is just a bass wood box with a rectangle piece of wood for the surround.

I pre-poked the drain hole.

Lots of gesso... I'm still doing the gesso-sand-gesso-repeat thing.

 On the side, I've been working on some smaller projects. I bought a couple of kits from Carol Kubrican of True2Scale (http://true2scale.blogspot.com/) at a show here in Orlando. One was the "French Blue Pillows" and the other was the "Marigold Flower in a Milk Carton." They were both excellent kits - very precise and high quality final products. Easy too... My only criticism is the fabric for the pillows is really thick. This does not impact it aesthetically at all. However, these need to be stitched with really small stitches, and I didn't want to use a big needle. I used the tiniest I had without a thimble. I can't sew in a thimble... As a result, my finger was really irritated following. This is really my problem. Also, I couldn't use pins to hold the pillow panels together because it left holes in the fabric. As you can see, the kit goes together fine even with these difficulties. These are not any reasons to prevent one from buying the pillow kit. All in all... Pillow Kit: A-.

French Blue Pillows kit from True2Scale

As for the marigold kit, I'm super happy with the result. I used Prismacolor markers instead of paint. These are alcohol-based, I think. They bleed a lot, so I just used one swipe, and the ink soaked through the papers. My genius boyfriend suggested adding color variation with colored pencil. It turned out quite well, if I might say so myself. Once again, I'm quite chuffed. Marigold kit: A+

True2Scale Marigold in a Milk Carton kit = chuffed

One day, I'd love to get my hands on a laser cutter. I think I could do some serious damage with one of those... Until then, I plan to get some more True2Scale kits in the future. When I spoke to Carol at the show, she referred me to http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php to see a red version of the flower. At that point, I had bookmarked otterine.com, but I hadn't gotten around to reading it at all. I looked it up when I got home, and I was so hooked. Brae's work has inspired me in a way I can't really express. I have Carol Kubrican to thank for this discovery. Thank you infinity! 

I just have to say that my favorite miniaturists are: Joanne Swanson (http://joannswansondiyminiatures.blogspot.com/), Kris Compas (http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/), and Brae Oktober. I check their blogs obsessively. Few things make me happier than a new post by any of the three. I've probably posted their blog addresses before, but these are must-visit sites.