Undersized Urbanite- Yay Progress!

First thing I see when I log onto blogger today, Christina posted the March update for the Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse Contest, I recognize all of the entrants this time, which means I must have finally gotten everyone added to my reading list. Some of the houses look like they're done or getting close, so I'd better get moving.

The thing I've been working on, but can't loudly announce until it launches was up for approval this week, and after 2 1/2 days of nervously waiting working on the dollhouse, I received an email saying that it was approved...Of course this weekend is Easter and I can't compete with that, so I decided to hold off until sometime next week (excited that it got approved, now I've got to do some real planning). Here's hoping that I can finally have some useful purpose for my illustration work, again.

Now back to the dollhouse;

Repainted the door/windows on Monday. The insides were their original pink, the outside was a splotchy awful black, but now both sides have a muted gold base coat, better suited for a Steampunk house.

I tried gluing in the basement ceiling, even used these scary clamps, but they couldn't reach all of the warped spots and I think I took them off to soon anyway. It's not going to fall down again, but it looks a little sketchy, so I might try this again. The floor isn't getting any glue until I'm 100% done with this room though.


I actually had to go and look up when I last mentioned the kitchen counter (February). It was just a paper template then, but now it's almost done;

This why I had to make my own tiny gears

The house is pretty compact and while I wanted the kitchen and living room to be on the same floor, I had to come up with a way for everything to magically fit. I remembered watching some room make over show on HGTV, they fit a dining area into a tight space by combining it with the counter. Up against the wall for a counter, rotated out into the room for a table. Well I have even less space to work with, so the table, "When not in use" (like people really live here, I'm a dork :P ), overlaps and becomes part of the counter top.  (above photo)

When the tiny residents need a place to eat, they just turn a crank on the side of he counter, and then the gear/pulley system will rotate the glass mosaic slab out 90 degrees into the room. (no the gears don't actually turn, but I'm pretty sure this would work if they could) 

The top part isn't completely attached yet which is why I'm holding it up in the photo. The counter can actually support the table section on it's own though. It's hollow and made out of light wood scraps and used to fall over if the table wasn't sitting on top of it, but after adding a wider base, and some rocks, it stays in place.

Wasn't kidding about those rocks.

Now I just need to make some bar stools.

I'm going to try using these plastic bottle caps

And on top of all of this, I managed to start and complete a large portion of the top floor observatory. 

I have this half sun pin that I wanted to incorporate into the interior design of this room, but after making a wall template, I realized that it was just too big and heavy for such a small space. So I drew up a small paper version, and with a few coats of acrylic medium, it will be a neat sculptural element for the room.

See that little arch that I penciled in between the sun and the doorway?

Well, after some thought, I decided to make it bigger.

And made a Popsicle stick floor.

And built a small door before turning in for the night on Tuesday.

I wish I could be this ambitious with the dollhouse longer, but with Easter comes cleaning up for a family party, and my minis have to be packed up so the little kids can't get to them. It's not a pleasant process, most of it was shoved into a spare room, not sure where I'm putting this house yet. The only plus was that I had to go through a few boxes of things and ended up pulling out some stuff I might end up using later for this project. 

Lamps and candlestick holders were on ebay, alligator is from a church rummage sale, mouse and doorknob were salvaged from the Van Buren,  mouse trap came from a co-op in North Tonawanda, found the metal seashell somewhere, the metal people moved here from a gift shop in either Salem or Boston (I want to say Salem), and the unpainted wooden books were a gift from Neen.

Not saying that all of this will end up in the house, but it does look like the kind of stuff that you would find inside. And now I know where everything is.

I think it's safe to say, I'm back on track with this project.

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Just a quick note; Based on some of the comments I've read, I'm guessing that the copyright notice/privacy policy on my blog has spooked some people. The notice is just to clarify some things and to let you about third party stuff. I know this is a blog and that the internet is for sharing ideas. If you actually read the notice (link in the sidebar) you'll see that you can re-post some of my blog stuff, most of it if you ask first.
Also, anyone involved with Undersized Urbanite, you're welcome to re-post things related to the challenge, just link back, no need to ask.

Thank you, and Happy Easter

Catching Up

13 days, no posts, I know.

Still working on stuff with nothing finished, but my house for Undersized Urbanite is supposed to be a blog challenge, so I really need to keep posting about it.

As I've mentioned, I'm working on some other things that are really eating up my time. Realized that I actually went a week without working on my little Steampunk house (not good), but I had computer things to do...

...Or at least I did until I tried to install an update for a certain freeware video file converter(never again). Used it for years on a couple different computers, never had a problem, but this time I got a notice about "Complimentary third party software" being auto-installed (uh-oh). Then AVG pops up saying stuff about viruses (great), and after three attempts lets me know that it couldn't remove the threat (disconnect the wi-fi and shut down the laptop-quickly). Restarted and ran a full computer scan with Malwarebytes: anti-malware, which both found/removed the Adware/bad cookies and gave me 3 1/2 hours to kill while it did that. I don't know if anyone else has ever tried this, but when I'm frustrated with work, life,or anything really, I go work on a dollhouse. Pretty sure that's what I used to do when I was little, but it still works. It gets you away from the stuff you can't control long enough for things to work themselves out and you end with a cool looking dollhouse. Win-win situation.


This time it was finishing the mortar on the two large side exterior walls, and I figured out how to do the chimneys;

Cereal box bits, graph paper, and more egg carton

A few weeks ago, I took the black corrugated paper from the Michaels sale, and started cutting it into shingle pieces.

Now that the chimneys have been worked out, I can shingle the roof.

I have run into a few problems though.

The double-sided tape I used for the basement is holding the walls in place really well, but the floor and ceiling, not so much;

Looks like it's time for some glue.

The gears and such I have are actually way too big to work as gears in a 1:12 scene, so I made some at the sizes I need;

Paper, acrylic paint medium, gold metallic paint, & Polycrylic

(they should work)

And what I think is the most interesting issue so far, the living room carpet. It was some remnant upholstery fabric that went well with the scrapbook paper walls. Knowing what it looked like, I color matched some paint to it for the furniture and other things, from memory. This week I pulled the fabric out of storage to see if the furniture still matched the color;

Oh yes, it matches. It's practically camouflage!

Luckily I planned on tile by the fridge, so it's going to be on the opposite side of the room, and the fireplace is getting a few more coats of paint-darker paint. Glad I checked.

I'm getting close to finishing the exterior. I thought that, because it's outside, the mortar needed to be darker than the ashy, gray-ish brown I used in the basement, so I ended up using the same color that I painted the stone pieces. Most of it looks good although I went back an scratched out some super dark spots and have to touch up a couple of light spots too. The space around the emblem stone detail got some gold paint, but the end results of this paint job look a little flat. Since back when I sketched it all out, I've been thnking that it needed another color, like green or something. Sounds like a weird choice, but with the metallic parts, a tarnished metal type of green might not be such a bad idea. Anyway, here's where I am with the exterior;

(it can't sit upright until I tape down the siding)

Doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself. Needs some more work, mostly paint though. The door/windows are not staying that splotchy black color, the edges of the walls probably shouldn't be white, and then there's the green that I just mentioned (maybe).

You have now been caught up (yay!).

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And just a follow up on my birthday-The party was on Sunday, I got my pudding, and all was well (like I knew it would be). A couple people commented on my statement about not knowing what season to expect, saying that it is Spring, and that the weather was going to act like Spring. Well it did on Sunday. I was walking along the canal without a coat, it was nice, but then it got cold again and it's been snowing pretty good for the past couple days...I know my March.

Time Waits For No One

It's been over a week since my last post, and when I promised to get back on track with blogging. I followed through with the already planned posts, but clearly I'm preoccupied with something. Well it's a few things.

Firstly, which I have to keep getting reminded of for some reason this year, my birthday is on Tuesday. It's weird though, because I tend to feel down about it. I like birthdays, but it's something about the time of year I guess. Crazy weather, not really winter, not quite spring yet. My brain can't figure out what to do, and due to my family's schedule this week, celebrating keeps getting moved to different days (kind of hard to get excited about sketchy plans). I kept being told Monady until this morning, my birthday dinner is now tomorrow. Oh, but when I was asked what I wanted for my birthday, I said pudding. Gift/dinner doesn't matter, I would just like pudding. I'm pretty low maintenance like that. Supposedly, I'm getting a batch of chocolate and vanilla-awesome. My plan is to sit in the kitchen for the next day or two until this birthday thing happens, I'm sure that my family will figure it out.

I've also been a bit light on work lately which means I have to spend more time talking to potential clients, until I find someone with design needs that match my talents. March must be my slow season because this happened last year too. Anyway, to combat this annual funk I dove into what I hope will be a successful attempt at getting my illustration work going again. More on that once the project launches, hopefully sometime this week (thought I'd have it up two weeks ago, but learning experiences always taken longer than you think they will).

My Steampunk house for Undersized Urbanite is also understandably falling behind on the to-do list. I did get a chance to work on it a little, but there's nothing finished enough to show off. In terms of what the new thing I'm trying to start is going to do to this challenge: I'm trying to plan it out so that any major new projects won't start until this ones is finished. Fingers crossed that I'm timing everything right.

And actually I wasn't even going to post this weekend, I've been cutting back on everything lately, but I received a package in the mail today!

It was from Neen. I was one of the first 5 to try and help identify her mystery house, so as thanks for the help(if anyone can ID that house, please let her know), she decided to send me a blue elephant and a white CB2 igloo chair, AND two wooden books AND some bottles, which I didn't know about until I opened the box. So thanks for the gifts and the surprise Neen, I know that you didn't know about my birthday, but your timing was non the less impeccable.

I made a quick set up with Billy and some of it's furniture. That elephant goes really well with the colors in this house and my still unfinished doll seems to like that chair. I actually tried to buy one from CB2 months ago, but my order got screwed up, and it never panned out, until now (thanks again Neen). Must be why he likes it so much.

I really need to do something with his house, it's still Christmas in there. Luckily, I could just slide it all to the corner and cover it up with a room divider (Did I ever post about that project...nope, guess that gets added to my list). I let the penguin join in though, because penguins are just delightful birds. He might be moving in now. If a stuffed elephant is the decor why not keep a penguin around too. Billy's not supposed to be a normal looking house anyway.

Ok, now that I've gotten completely side tracked by a dollhouse(it's just so much fun sometimes), time to go back to working on the thing I can't really talk about until it launches. Adios and her's hoping that I'm a little more prepared for blogging next time.

Wonderful Stuff - Polymer clay, Part 2

>>>>> Click Here To Read Part 1 <<<<<

Welcome to - Polymer Clay, Part 2

After digging through all of my past files and posts online, I present to you examples of my past work, featuring polymer clay;

You can sculpt figures with it.  Just 15min. in an oven for each piece to cure.

Berries and globs of sherbet for mini Halloween punch. Plus a serving spoon so the 'host' can dish it out.

Indoor mosaic work. 

Dinner Rolls, Candles(fake ones), & tiny gingerbread houses.

Super tiny chocolates.

mini clay bowls by ~Listener-Liserian on deviantART
mini box by ~Listener-Liserian on deviantART
 (If you're wondering about the weird screen-name, It's an old account)

Bowls and boxes, if you're super patient about sculpting...Like I was that week...




Strawberry Charm Pendants by ~Kyle-Lefort on deviantART

Charms!,

 


Black and Blue Clay Cabochon by ~Kyle-Lefort on deviantART
Tree Silhoutte Cabochon by ~Kyle-Lefort on deviantART
 
(Sold, but the others are still available).


The Steampunk Gear by ~Kyle-Lefort on deviantART

Handmade cabochons, and many other jewelry pieces.

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Of course, there are plenty of other things you can do with polymer clay. I'm just one person with a knack for working small. Hopefully, my work has inspired you (just a little?...maybe?), and now you know a little more about what I use to make it.

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Looking for more Tutorials and other useful info?

Paper Pottery Bowl Tutorial Part 1

Paper Pottery Bowl Tutorial Part 2

Mini Wire Shelving Tutorial

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Wonderful Stuff - Polymer clay, Part 1 

Wonderful Stuff - Polymer clay, Part 2

Undersized Urbanite-The "Unfinished" Basement

First I'd like to catch you up on what's been going on since my last post;

I was briefly recruited to help finish a life sized redecorating project. It was planned for Wed. afternoon, but then it was moved to Thurs, the day I planned to write up, "Polymer clay, Part 2" (part 1 is here), and then still had to be finished on Sat. To make things more fun, my task was holding a decorative border up above my head until it was properly pasted to a wall, and then moving around furniture just enough to aggravate and old sports injury in my shoulder (I will never forget swim team). Add that to the awful coughing that started somewhere during that time-frame and you have all of my excuses as to why 'Part 2' has yet to exist. Aside from the cough, all is back to normal , so I'm hoping to get back on track this week.

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Also falling behind on the Undersized Urbanite project, I spent most of Sunday working on that. Determined to make up for my busted blogging schedule by having something finished to show you, I focused the basement. I still needed to add the mortar to a side wall, which I did, and then I made the floor;

Left over egg carton scraps glued to a floor template to looks like packed stone. After this I painted it to fill in all of the white showing through the gaps (note self-paint template first next time).

Then I made the ceiling;

Basically the same thing, except that it's strips of balsa wood and Popsicle sticks this time.Gave it a few brown wash coats to make it look like aged wood after all of the glue dried.

Lined the room with doubled sided tape;

And finally slid all of the pieces into place;

It needs more tape and some touch ups, but I think I can cross this room off of my list.

The original plan involved a washer/dryer, but that was before I decided to go with the Steampunk theme. So the new plan is either storage, or, as my clever little brother (who will not openly admit to liking the dollhouse) suggested,  I can set up the room to look like the tiny residents are in the middle of trying to remodel their unfinished basement. That decision is going to come down to how much time I have after I put the rest of the house together. For the record, with basement in place, it currently looks like this;

The exterior pieces are almost done, started on the roof(but not the chimneys yet), and the main floor should be read to go soon. The plan for the second floor is a bedroom, while the the top floor gets to be a library/observatory-because that just seems like something my tiny fictitious Steampunks would have in their house.

It's far from done, but I like how it seems to be turning out.
 

Feels Like First

A place online where you might be surprised to find miniatures; DeviantArt. Recently, the DA staff was talked into adding a miniature section (It's under, "Artisan Crafts", btw), but outside of that, I also submit my work to a few of the member formed groups.

One of the groups, Little Dreamers, had a holiday contest last fall/winter. I entered just before Thanksgiving with this scene (which you may remember);

It won third place! Since I've entered a handful of group contests, but had yet to get past semi-finals, I was pretty excited.

And there were prizes that came along with third, donated by some of the group founders (Thank you).

A brick of polymer clay, two tiny plates, and a pile of tiny fruit slices from Small Creations by Mel.
A pack of head pins, mini-plates (which were a pleasant surprise), and a cake stand from Bon AppetEats.

Thanks again, you two!

And on a side note, last weekend I went to a model train and toy show over at the Erie County Fairgrounds. It was mostly trains (which are neat setups to see), but there was also a table for a local dollhouse/miniatures club. Found out there's actually two local clubs, and that just a few blocks away from my house someone has a Bostonian, which I've been invited to go see for myself (might take them up on that if I run into them again closer to town). None of this was planned and I really enjoyed it. If you've ever been outed as someone with a dollhouse to someone who isn't into minis, and forced to then explain 'everything' (frequently), then you know how great of a feeling it is to meet someone, in person, who understands the fun of it already. It's like winning a game of Marco Polo, that you didn't know you were playing.

Undersized Urbanite - Fridge & Fireplace

Here's where I am with the project;

Smoothed out the edges and added some detail to the fridge, with Paperclay,

 Painted it: The interior is a mix of white, clear medium, and pearl metallic paint. The exterior is Pratt & Lambert, "Bronze Gold", interior paint (25 cent sample sale at the local hardware store),

Glued in the wire shelves, and then finally glued on the back of the fridge.

Then, while I waited for that to dry (so I could patch/paint the rest of it), I started on the fireplace;

If you've been following along, then you know about the small houseboat fireplace that I loved and wanted to make. The only issue is that the fireplace in the photo has a very nautical theme to it, but I'm trying for a Steampunk look. So I'm referencing the original instead of just replicating. A riveted brass fireplace, if that doesn't fit in with the Steampunk theme, then I don't know what would.

Once again, I drew up a paper template in Adobe Illustrator. After cutting up egg cartons for the exterior, I ended up with a couple trapezoid shaped pieces left over. The perfect shape/size for the hood of the fireplace, so I based my measurements around one of them. Then cut it in half (because I only needed half).

Using my template, I made the tiny fireplace out of scrap wood (leftovers from the fridge), polymer clay, paper, and of course, egg carton.

Glued it all together. Added some more paper to the sides, and some Paperclay to help smooth out the seams.

 
Painted it ("Bronze Gold",  again, but it's acting as a primer this time). The hood looked a little rough, so-more Paperclay!

Painted it again, and then glued on some, "rivets".

I gave it a very watered down wash of gold metallic paint, and here we are now;

That is the wallpaper for the room, 

but I am planning a back-splash for the fireplace 

(still, the colors seem to be working out)

It needs a few more coats of gold paint, maybe more rivets, and a back. I like how well it's turned out so far and I like how fast it's come together, especially since the fridge has taken sooo much longer than planned.

Speaking of which, it dried, so I've been working on the detail parts.

It could use some touch ups(a few more small bits too) and a magnet, or something, to keep the door from swinging open whenever it wants, but it's otherwise done and I'm really pleased with the end results.

So that just leaves the rest of the house.

I have started to plan out the counter that will sit next to the fridge,

The current plan involves using life sized glass mosaic pieces 

(We'll see how that works out)

But all I really have to show is a few paper rectangles.

The stonework is also progressing.

I've been working on adding in the mortar between the egg carton stones (I was calling it grout, but it's a wall, so it should be mortar). Another use for Paperclay, lots and lots of paperclay. This part has been especially slow work. A few days on it's own and while waiting for other things to dry, for two weeks, and I still have more than half of the walls to go. And then I get to paint it all again, hopefully for the last time.


And if you've been wondering, Yes I did come up with plans for all of the other rooms, but I'm not drawing anything else out until I can cross the current parts off my list

(May is welcome to take it's sweet time getting here, btw).