Welcome to my life . . . .

This is a blog about my passion: dollhouses and miniatures. This particular blog was started to follow my miniature dream: to create a Victorian Mansion. But work on my Mansion is slow. Very slow. Sloth slow. Ice Age glacier movement slow. Why? Because I am easily distracted by other personal miniature projects (I have 50+ roomboxes and 15 dollhouses in various stages of incompletion) and because I work for a miniature shop and am often up to my elbows in miniature projects that aren't mine! So, I thought, some artists work in a particular medium (woods, watercolors, clay, oils, etc.), I work in progress . . . .

Friday, April 21, 2017

Suffering from ADD?

I jump around from project to project so much that I sometimes think I might have ADD.  Except that I am utterly focused on whatever project I am currently working on; it's just that in a day or two I could be onto another project or created another new project without finishing the one I was just so focused on!  So here's a stream of consciousness update on what I've been doing these past 2 weeks....

Last week at work I electrified the little gray Bungalow Cottage by Alessio for a customer:

And, since it was Spring Break for my kids I dragged them to the laser cutter and tried to print out my Shoji doors for the Butterfly Garden (Asian Butterfly Garden Scene)..."tried to print out" is the key phrase in that sentence:

Even my dog is shocked by how warped it is!
Does fit in the space though...
So, kids were not pleased with my laser-cutting-plan Spring Break activities, so when machine was too hot and warped my acrylic I did not take the time to review/search thru the settings to fix it.  I decided I'll buy the thin wood and try to cut the doors in wood next week.  In the meantime, this attempt did leave me with a bunch of these:
Acrylic shelves?

Collection of acrylic rectangles
Not sure what I'll use them for, but I'm brainstorming.  After fun Spring Break activities during the day with my kids (ok, it was still boring for them: we just went to work at my mini shop) in the evenings I created a little something for a friend of mine who was creating a witch's workshop.
Wooden box
Using some scrap woods I made a little wooden box for some "witchy potion ingredients"...and used some of that clay I made on the stove (Blog Entry About Clay) to make the "ingredient" for the box:
Harvested humanely Unicorn Horns
I had such fun creating this witch-themed item that my mind jumped to all sorts of creations and I made other things so that I can create a witch's hutch or work table in the future to sell in my mini shop:
Scrolls, Spells, Unicorn horns, Dragon Eggs, Candles
I really love spell #11 on my spell scroll:
One twelfth the size: heeheeheehee
And, once my mind was jumping with those creations, it of course went off in another direction (using all those breads I had created out of clay the past 4 months).  I glued a cloth "napkin" into a small resin basket I had in my stash.
Threads still need to be snipped off but I'm waiting for the glue to set up

But the majority of my breads were still bright white clay.  So I resigned myself to spending Easter mid-morning getting a few chalked to put in the basket.  But when I took out the chalk, brushes, and clay my children got excited and wanted to help.
Mini workers
I thought I would spend 1-1/2 hours getting two dozen chalked; instead, thanks to my mini helpers, in 1-1/2 hours all my breads were completely done!
Enough for me, my friend's bakery, my mother's bakery, and even a few for my store to sell!

So I filled my basket and brain has already mentally created 2 or 3 other scenes to use my breads in.

As long as the chalk was out I worked on my cakes too...which means my brain went off in yet another direction and another scene is being created for the cake (I'll share that in a future blog).
My practice cakes - still need glaze/icing
Kids are back at school this week and I'm back at work alone (i.e. actually getting work done this week!).  Customer came in and picked out the last room of paper for the red townhouse so it will get done this upcoming week:
And this house (Customer's House) is getting it's front porch put back on and the interior is getting the wallpapers stripped:
Lower roof setting up

Using strip wood to hold up the crown molding support for the lower roof

Lots of weight to keep it secure

From a distance

Interior rooms have been stripped of paper
And, because I can't sleep at night when I'm supposed to be, I also mentally worked on my Fantasy Victorian mansion and on my best friend's birithmas gift.  Oh, and I found the right fabric to finish off my elephant for my Hindu Wedding scene!  Yeah, I suffer from Miniature Addiction, but it's ok; I'm happy here.








4 comments:

  1. Hello Lori,
    You certainly have a lot going on. How great that your children were there to help you. The bread came out terrific...they are obviously very talented! The witch items are also really well done, and the houses are lovely. Keep up the amazing work,
    Big hug
    Giac

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    1. Thank you, Giac! It's funny how my middle daughter has no interest in miniatures or her own dollhouse (which, last month, officially went into storage until a cousin is old enough to play with it), but she is the first to want to help me work on my dollhouses and miniatures! - Lori K.

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  2. Hi, Lori - You DO have a lot going on! I've made a few attempts, using you as a role model, to work on more than one thing at a time. But I just feel all muddled, and I run out of space, and I get grouchy, so I'm much better just plodding along at whatever one thing I'm working on. But I do enjoy reading your blog about all the hopping, skipping, and jumping around that you do! I love the tiny wooden box that you made from scraps, and I can't believe how many beautiful breads and cakes you've made. It's great that your daughters get excited about helping you; they seem to be having lots of fun. The houses are coming along nicely (except for the Shoji doors!) I'm looking forward to seeing all (ALL) your future projects.
    Marjorie

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    1. Marjorie - your villa and items you are working on for the villa are wonderful: don't mess with how/where you do them!
      And, yes, I have run out of space! LOL My husband likes to joke that he loves Thanksgiving because it the only time of year that he actually sees the dining room table! But right now I have also taken over the kitchen table (projects get moved to my desk while girls do homework and for dinner) and the living room coffee table. I need to reorganize to get it all back onto the dining room table before mother's day so I can pull out the Mansion from behind the dining room table and do some work on it that day! - Lori K.

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