The Reptile Show

Sorry about having to take a month to post this, work + a small business + life = The blog takes the back seat a lot, but I get to it when I can.

While I'm at it: I would like to thank everyone who's left nice comments under my blog posts - I read all of them, but lately I've been so busy I just can't respond to every comment I receive. I do appreciate all of them though. I love it when someone takes the time to let me know I'm not just talking to myself here. XD

Ok, so now the much delayed post about the reptile show
- The Buffalo Niagara Reptile Expo!
- It was interesting. (I mean that in a good way)

First the setup;

As I said earlier, I was really at this show to help out Nate. I did bring some of my own art/mini work, but it was off to the side and I forgot to photograph it once that portion of the table was set up (oops). Look how many displays this kid made though.

I don't really have much to write or say (other than recommend you go to the one next fall, you will see some some cool stuff, I promise ^_^ ), so here are just some of the odd/fun highlights I managed to also take pictures of;

The table right next to me was a case full of pythons. The people running the table had no problems letting you hold these guys.

Some of the friendliest snakes ever, I've been told. Actually, I've held these kind of snakes before, didn't have any problems. But still, table full of snakes 2 feet away from me all day. I did not hold any snakes at this show (just because), but my mom did, which is a big deal for her since she doesn't like snakes at all.


There was this guy;

I would've tried to get clearer photos, but despite being in this building for hours, after this turtle person walked by once, I never saw them again...

And one thing that I really wanted to bring home with me (but sadly didn't),

Baby Tortoises!

Baby tortoises are so cute because they act like big old tortoises, while still being adorably small. And I do like great big tortoises too, so please no comments about how irresponsible it is to buy a pet when it's a cute baby and forgetting that it will grow. :P Maybe someday when I can afford one I will add a new reptile to the family....

And there you have it, The Buffalo Niagara Reptile Expo!
Honestly, I don't know what else to say - If you live in the area, I recommend you check it out next time, and if you don't live nearby go to the reptile house in your nearest zoo or something - Go see some cool snakes/turtles/lizards and such. Maybe there is even a show like this near you. ^_^

Not So Much Blogging, Very Much Busy Working

Packing things up for the Buffalo Niagara Reptile Expo (May 3rd, 9:00am - 3:30pm); https://www.facebook.com/events/723840184374069/

My main purpose for attending this show is to help out Nathan Lefort ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nathan-Lefort/667222623368680?fref=ts ) so if you like riker mounts/display domes/pretty butterflies/creepy bugs (and you're in the WNY area) - Stop by my table.

Along with Nate's work, I will also be bringing this pile of handmade miniature riker mounts, mini hedgehogs, what's currently available from my Mini Patchwork Dragon Series, a few assorted mini plushies, art postcards, and every metallic art print I have in stock - Including the [finally available in print] Yellow Spotted Salamander illustration I've had floating around online for the past couple years. ~ I have a long day ahead of me, should be fun though. Might take pictures, so stay tuned.

My Prize From Fabulously Small!

So a few posts back, I mentioned that I somehow managed to win two different blog giveaways in one week (such a lucky week-anyone know how I can do that again?).

I did receive both prizes at the end of last week (Thank you), but the one from the Shopping Sherpa still needs to photographed. So, each prize is going to get it's own post. (seems fair)

About 5 minutes after hitting "publish" on my last post, I was working on something in the kitchen when my little brother going through the mail asks, "Who's sending you stuff from the Netherlands?", to which I jumped up and replied, "Yay, my prize from Monique"! I got a weird look from him, but he stuck around to see what I got. (I put up with his bug hobby, he puts up with my dollhouse hobby, and sometimes the two hobbies lock arms and skip down the street together...metaphorically speaking).

All the way from the Netherlands came a lovely prize from Fabulously Small;

Click here for her post explaining the giveaway

No specific locations given, but Google maps says that my lovely state of New York is roughly 3,000 miles away from the Netherlands, and unfortunately somewhere along that long way the package took a beating. Luckily though, most of the damage was just things falling out of their wrappings(if a package is damaged, but everything inside is relatively OK, it means the package did it's job, btw). The smallest white candle has a little dent and the lotion top popped off, but I'm so used to working in miniature, these are easy fixes.

 

Thank you Monique, I love these. Whenever I put in for a blog giveaway, I make sure it's something that I can find a use for (don't want to waste other peoples' hard work/talent), and these will be perfect in my rehabbed Van Buren, just as soon as I finish rehabbing it. XD

An Interesting Week

A list of things that happened last week, worth mentioning;


1. Not long after I posted the latest riker mount set on Etsy,

I got a request for a custom order. Which I gladly accepted.
On the left is a 1:12 scale tiger swallowtail (see above photo for size reference), and on the right is the custom version;

Apologies for the unfocused WIP shot,
but it wasn't photo-shoot time and these are really small.

No cases, but I'm still in the middle of water proofing them for terrarium use. I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to make these work for my new client, but, with the exception of custom orders, I think I'm still sticking with 1:12 for regular shop items. (I like my comfort zone)

2. I won a giveaway on Monique's blog, Fabulously Small, and then another giveaway  at The Shopping Sherpa blog a day or two later. Two wins in one week, after months of not winning, I must have had a lucky streak. :)

3. I have a friend who has an aunt that's into miniatures. Every once in a while she'd make the comment that she needs to introduce us, but since I'm in the U.S. and her aunt's in Australia, that probably wasn't going to happen. Well, thanks to an off-hand comment on Facebook, I at least got to talk with her online. (Hi, again) As it turns out, online she knows some of the other Australian mini bloggers that I also follow and talk too. Its surprising that we haven't run into each other online before this, but who knows maybe we have. It's not like we knew eachother already, right?

4.  I'm always on the look out for type boxes, shadow boxes, or really anything that I can use for future miniature displays. Well my friend's mother (different friend than in #3, btw) found me this at the salvation army;

Can I use this? Yes, I can.

 5. My little brother showed up the other day with a terrarium for one of his spiders, cork wood, and some moss. After repeatedly insisting that I drop everything and make a mock environment for his spider, I did;

We've made one of these before, with a rock ledge, so the cork wood setup really didn't take that long. Supposedly, the spider has since moved in, but hasn't calmed down enough to build a web yet. If it looks cool when it does, I'll post a photo. :)

6. While out for a family birthday party, my little brother, one of my older brothers, and I ended up spending most of the day wandering through the woods. Out in the woods, in the middle of nowhere people tend to dump junk that they can't easily dispose of. So, it's not surprising when you come across a steep slope covered in old tires, broken glass, metal, and other random junk that looks like it's been piling up there since the 50's, which is what we ended up walking through. This wasn't my idea, can't say it was fun, and at one point I slipped and the only thing that stopped me from sliding down a pile of broken glass was the thorn bush I grabbed onto. But it was memorable and the whole scene was pretty cool looking, in a sci-fi wasteland sort of way. Didn't have a camera, but I did pick up this small piece of scrap iron,

I feel like this somehow needs to find it's way into a dollhouse

And I'm pretty sure that the thorn pricks on my hand will stick around for a few more days, so I'm not likely to forget that birthday party. XD

7. I blogged about my interesting week. The End. ^_^

Updates: Weather, Undersized Urbanite, Etc.

It's 2 am, but I feel like it's time for a new post, and I'll sleep better not putting off some things so it's list time again;

1. What is April doing? One day, it feels like summer, then it rains. Fine. Then it's summer again and sunny (^_^), BUT THEN-

Weather, please get your snow out of my sunny day.

Granted, it is really pretty, but I'm done with the cold, thank you.

2. Went to a baby shower, about 1 1/2 hours away, and on the way back was basically antiquing with my mother again, except it was more country stores/gift shops this time. Ended up with a few things, that will probably show up here someday, but my two picks would have to be,

Another witty sign, it's a Dr. Suess quote that you can't argue with.

(This is sign #2. That's it, no more room. Please remind me of that if I post a #3)

&

This ginormous pendant necklace! It's so heavy, it actually hurt my neck to wear it. It was on sale, probably because it's so distractingly big and heavy. Not planning to use it as jewelry. It just seemed like something interesting I could put some where in the Steampunk house. Or save for one of the other houses. It was too cool of a found object to pass up, ya know?

 

3. Undersized Urbanite Update-Last update was me just announcing that I was spending a few days putting together all the finished pieces. It was progressing, but then I got to sections that needed to be painted, or something else that had to be done before the next part could go in. And then I realized that the kitchen/living room didn't have much room for guessing when it came to cutting the wallpaper, and I needed to make doors and floors and back splashes. No I didn't get overwhelmed and end up behind, actually I made a ton of progress, but with most of the gluing happening on the exterior, the inside looks more disheveled than I though it would've at this point;

Double checking the layout here. 

The walls should all be in place next post.

Look, new doors!

Oh, and did I ever tell you the plan for the bedroom? No? Well that's because today was the first day I actually put any real thought into it. Don't worry, I had that mini-panic attack 3 weeks ago (ha-mini XD) but then I remembered that I made some twin beds as part of a temp scene for the Cubebot Challenge that I decided to save just in case, so half the furniture is already done (bunk beds coming soon).

As I said, I'm cutting out the wallpaper for the kitchen/living room and it's a tight fit. The scrapbook paper's 1/4 in. too short, and there's a faux-worn spot that I was planning to cut out of it, which makes it more like a full inch too short. I knew that from the beginning though, and I was also planning to make a backsplash for the fireplace, which would fix everything. So along with making the rest of the doors, that was today's mini project;

It's the same paper I've been using for the roof singles, cut into much smaller pieces.

A little paint, and we're good to go.

4. While I was working on the Steampunk house, my little brother was doing yard work for a neighbor, found some garden snakes, decided to move them out to the nearby woods where they wouldn't bother anyone, but first-

He brought them inside to show everyone...yay...

 

5. The Curious Concepts Project is 89% Funded! 

So, so close. Just $64 short but only 11 days left, so it's really coming down to the wire now.

I'm just going to link to my DA journal for this update (I just posted it); http://kyle-lefort.deviantart.com/art/Only-11-Days-Left-The-Curious-Concepts-Project-367138420

 

And if you haven't found your way to the project on Kickstarter yet, I encourage you to follow this link and check it out; http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/690850738/the-curious-concepts-project

Thank you!

6. ...Is there a 6? No? Ok, well I guess that's it for now. Looking forward to sleeping. Tomorrow's another work on the Steampunk house day, there have been a lot of those lately, and oh hey, it's 3 am now, and I'm just rambling, so bye. :)

Miniature Riker Mounts

More progress on my entry for Undersized Urbanite, but first a bit of a context;

Nathan, my little brother (he's been taller than me for years, but still) is really into 'Creepy Crawlies'. I have no idea what his online rep. for this is, but I know that people with doctorate degrees sometimes ask him questions, so it would not surprised to hear a lot of people know him. Anyway, he's been obsessed with Entomology (the study of insects) long before he could even correctly pronounce the word, "Entomology". To be fair, he is also really into spiders and reptiles, and small mammals. When alive, these creatures tend to be pets, but when they eventually die, well, he has a lot of display cases full of preserved specimens. And it's not surprising to see him recieve dead animals as gifts. Yes, he is an odd one.

How odd exactly? Several years ago, he had a Praying Mantis egg sack (an "Ootheca", btw) in a little container, which he carried around everywhere for weeks until the eggs hatched (he even hand braided a strap to keep the container attached to his arm), WHICH I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT until he brought it up the other day, because in the years after this egg hatching venture of his, there have been soooo may other weird experiences that my brain decided it wasn't so strange that it has to stick in my memories.

I have a couple of friends who are shocked by how calm my family and I are about all this, my parents have always been encouraging when it comes to our interests, and honestly after years of babysitting Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, getting in to arguments that started with, "I told you to keep you Scorpions away from my Laptop", and a parade of strange creatures handed to me over the years- I think I'm just used to it. Btw, I've seen, that weird spider thing from Harry Potter, in person.(completely harmless)

And putting up with it all, does have it's benefits. Like say, I decide that my Steampunk dollhouse's observatory room really could use some Riker Mounts along the back wall;

(still WIP, but already pretty awesome)

Not only do I know what they are called and how they should look when they're done (these still need some acetate and paint), but I also have free access to several perfectly displayed bugs to photograph and scale down. And since they were already the dead ones I didn't even have to touch any of them. (woohoo!)

Well, my brother did tell me that the size ratio isn't quite 100% (it's close enough though), one was a gift that hadn't been properly pinned (made a point of saying that wasn't his fault), but otherwise I didn't do a terrible job.

I can name about half of these...

I cut out the photos and folded their legs/wings before gluing them in place, so that they'd look more like real bugs. To make my life easier, I stuck with the bigger bugs. How big? I roughly measured the larger ones at around 5 in.

Told you so.

And to give you an idea of how small my little cut outs are;

Real butterfly vs. My mini version.

And while I was looking through my brother's bugs, I found an Egyptian clay Scarab Beetle bead that I had loaned him for a project (it had gotten lost in the shuffle), which reminded me that I had a mummy bead that might look good in this house;

 I also found a broken metal flower pin that might work as decor, 

and did I show off the new skull beads yet?

I bought/found all of those at a rock & gem show that my family goes to/volunteers at thanks to one of my other brothers.

So for future reference, weird family = awesome resources, and one more thing crossed off my Steampunk house to-do list.

Which is good because while I was working on the roof this week, I heard a small *Thud*, which turned out to be the basement ceiling;

Again.

It's not even that heavy. Looks like I need to re-glue it, and remember to leave the clamps on overnight his time (I knew I rushed through it last time).