Groovy kitchen

Still working on my various projects to get them completed (or as close as possible) before the FROGS holiday open house on December 4th.

This blog post is on my "1964 Kitchen". The box and kitchen cabinets were finished years ago. I was lucky enough that my friend Audra assembled and painted the cabinets for me. I was then lucky enough to find some groovy Itsy Bitsy papers for the walls and floor that matched the cabinets!  And my luck was holding strong as a major miniature manufacturer came out with those wonderful Saarinen Tulip chairs that were popular in the late 50s/early 60s.

But then my luck ran out as I could not find a matching table for years. Poor kitchen sat neglected. I wasn't even motivated to put accessories in the room.

Finally, a few months ago, I found the table! And I could finally move forward with accessories. I had to make a draped towel to cover the missing drawer handle (did you notice the missing handle in the picture above?).

Molding my towel

Using a piece of fabric, I dipped it in a water/glue mixture.  Then I pinned it into shape on a plastic-wrapped styrofoam block and let it dry.  Once dry, I plucked it off and put it on the countertop.

I polled my Facebook friends for accessory ideas and someone mentioned the wooden forks and spoons that hung on walls in the 1960s.  I liked that idea and got to work making some:

American Girl doll plastic cutlery

Painted them brown to look wooden

Stuck them on the wall!

A little glossy, but they'll do.

So, why 1964?  This kitchen roombox is part of a series of roomboxes that I was making to teach my daughters about history (yeah, sure, it's a teaching tool, not just another excuse to make and play with miniatures): the roomboxes would portray kitchens from 1790s, 1895, 1929, 1964, and 2010.  Why 1929 and 1964 instead of round even numbers like 1930 and 1965? The answer to that is on the table:

That blue can on the table is 1964

Aluminum soda cans with easy open tab lids were introduced in 1964 by the RC Cola company.  (Coke and Pepsi wouldn't get on the band wagon until 1967.)  Such an iconic part of our world (a soda can) yet in 1964 it was a brand new novelty.  That fact blew my kids minds: aluminum cans haven't been around forever?!?!?!  There's a lot more history in this kitchen than meets the eye, but I won't bore you with the complete history lesson.  (Extra credit points for anyone who can guess the reasoning behind the 1929 year!)

So this kitchen is finished enough for the FROGS holiday open house.  There are some minor changes I will make in 2017 so I am not gluing everything down yet, but it is a complete scene now.

Overall view

Loving my draped towel!

Groovy.

Beachy.

I'm so excited!  I'm putting (some of) my miniatures on display at the Friends of Green Spring (or FROGS) Holiday Open House in Alexandria in December.  This has motivated me to finish up some of my displays that were needing attention.  Like my Barefoot Barista beach stall (First post about Beach Stall).

Lonely little undecorated Barefoot Barista Beach Stall

I love coffee so I knew this stall would sell coffees (hot and iced) and it might as well do teas and smoothies too.  Cups were holding me up.  I couldn't find any that were empty and looked realistic.  Until last month when one of my distributors got in a new product that were exactly what I wanted! (Where to buy the Super Cool Cups with Lids).  So my cups issue was solved!  Then came straws and stir sticks.  While I was trying to decide how I'd arrange everything and where I'd find straws, my daughters started pestering me to remove the tags off their new pajamas we had bought.  And presto: there's my straws!  And the red tag ties could be cut into stir sticks!

Cutting my drinking straws.

So I arranged my coffee maker, urn, blender, various coffee and tea boxes, cups, and various smoothie accouterments onto the shelves.  I still needed the "Starbucks Condiments" though.  You know, the numerous things you can add to the coffees: milk, creamers, spices, sugar, and stir sticks!  So I set out to make those silver thermos bottles and spice shakers...

Baby bottles and perfume bottles painted gray

Painting caps black

Adding labels

I'm not completely satisfied with them (although I am tickled by the little holes on the top of the spice shakers: that turned out cute) but as a small detail on the counter I think they'll work fine.

Next up, the small fridge.  I ran into this issue before: I wanted a small dorm sized fridge for my hunting cabin, but could never find one.  Hunting cabin eventually got a full size fridge and my search ended.  But there was no way this little Beach Stall could handle a full size one.  So, what was I gonna do?  I could use a cooler.  But this stall is close enough to the boardwalk that plumbing and electrical sources have been brought to it (hence the coffee makers work).  So they would have a small fridge.  Toy box!  Turn a toy box on it's side and I've got a small fridge!

My small toy box

Removed applique

Spray paint it white in my ever-so-professional Spray Painting Station (i.e. cardboard box)

Now the Barista can not only keep the milk and creamers in the fridge, but s/he can sell sodas and bottled water now too! But how would customers know the stall sells sodas/waters?  The barista needs to advertise and create some impulse buying! So I spray painted a flower box and added some "ice", soda cans, and water bottle:

Drink trough for the side counter of the stall

Now came my next bug-a-boo.  I wanted a small sink in this space.  Just something for the proprietor to wash the blender out with and wash their hands in.  But it really bugged my friend that the counter was shorter than any sink I put on it.  Even the smallest sinks hung over the counter edge.  Thanks a lot, Julie!  Now that's all I see when I look at the stall.  So, I had to expand the first shelf...

Extra support wood with a thin veneer on top to cover the old counter

It slides right in perfectly!

Painted to match and no one will know (except for you who read about it here)

Now it's all together and ready for display!

Shelves are filled! And someone missed the trashcan when making the last banana smoothie.

And the counter is wide enough for the coffee maker and sink!

Open and ready for business!

Now to fix up my kitchen roomboxes so they can be on display at the Open House too!

Pumpkin Crazy (Part 3)

I've had this carve-able pumpkin for over a decade. I cut the design and then it sat for years and years...

Sitting in my basement,waiting for "the day" it would be finished

I knew I wanted a scene inside with a sitting witch waiting for some trick-or-treaters.  But most witches are standing and the inside of the pumpkin was uneven and I was uninspired when thinking about what else would be in the pumpkin with my witch and her candy. So these very minor issues made my project sit unfinished for years upon years.

Then I became inspired when I made a dead plant with a spider hanging off it's branch and some bottles of "spooky" ingredients a witch might have.  I made these for a friend (and made some for myself as well). (Blog post about my Dead Plant with Spider.)  I glued them onto a shelf.

And, wonders of wonders! I found a sitting witch!  My favorite doll dresser (Tish's Versailles Fashion Dolls) has a sitting witch that I loved!  She was perfect!  I ordered her and got working on the floor of the pumpkin...

Bottom filled with Plaster of Paris

In went the Plaster of Paris to even out the floor...It hardened within a few hours as the directions had indicated on the Plaster of Paris box, but it took days upon days to fully dry out as the temperature kept dropping at night below the recommended curing temperature and I did not realize it.  While it was drying out I strung some bats to the ceiling.  The bats are rubber (where to buy the bats) so I could thread a needle with transparent thread and sew the little blood suckers into place:

Bats flying around the place

I stuck an LED light in the pumpkin to light it up.  And eventually the floor did dry enough that I could put down a wood floor.  The wire for the LED runs under the wood floor and out a small hole in the back:

Light makes my cat on a branch design stand out!

I added my shelf, my sitting witch, my awesome wood table I bought almost 10 years ago at the Philly Show, her candies and candles, and an extra chair that I thought the witch would sit on but then realized she'd cover up the incredible "spiderweb" back of the chair so it became an extra chair in the scene.  I put my pumpkins I made previously (although they are still missing their stems) around the exterior of the carved pumpkin scene along with an old tree I had purchased a decade ago.

Love my sitting pretty witch!

But I really wanted my witch to have a carved, lit up pumpkin.  I tried to make one myself (Pumpkin Fiasco) but when that didn't work out the way I thought, I finally found a hollow, carved pumpkin on Etsy (Artistique's Etsy Shop) and decided it was worth the money to get it.  I then added the flickering LED bulb to it to make it light up!  Here's the video of my pumpkin in a pumpkin:

I was so excited to see my plan finished: it was exactly what I wanted!  (Like the music didn't give that away! LOL)  For those that don't watch youtube videos, here are the still photos, but the photos don't have the impressive "wow" effect for the flickering pumpkin or the lights turning off/on with a push of a button; but, at least you can see the final scene put all together:

Pumpkin lit

Room and Pumpkin lit up

Ready for those Trick-or-Treaters

Still loving my bats

Happy Halloween!

A bit delayed in posting this (due to my kids' Halloween festivities and the subsequent clean up from those festivities), but Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Crazy (Part 2) & "Water" Update

So the broken pumpkin inspired "Mr. and Mrs. Killjoy's Residence" (a scene suggested to me by my sister-in-law).  First Mr. and Mrs. Killjoy ruined Independence Day by calling the cops on the neighbor who was shooting off the "good" fireworks that are banned in their state; then they convinced the HOA to cancel the Dog's Pool Day after Labor Day when the pools were scheduled to be drained; and now they were messing with Halloween!

I had some left over pieces of wood from a prototype of one of my Door Series Bookends (classes being offered at my miniature shop) so I used them to create the small space that would be the exterior of the house, door, and front yard of Mr. and Mrs. Killjoy.  I used paint and static grass to create the yard and sidewalk leading up to their front door:

Had to glue my plastic tree down first so I could cover it's white "winter" base with paint and grass.

Gotta yard!

After I sprinkled the "grass" onto the wet paint, I sprayed it lightly with adhesive spray to help keep it in place.  I removed the blue painter's tape and painted the sidewalk (yes, this would have been easier to do BEFORE I applied the grass -- hindsight is 20/20).

Painting the sidewalk

The toilet paper in the tree is gift tissue paper cut into strips.  The "rolls" were simply glued around a coffee stir straw and cut to be toilet roll size.  Then I added the bush, step and door.  But why would teenagers destroy Mr. and Mrs. Killjoy's only Halloween decoration (a carved pumpkin) and teepee their tree and egg their front door?  A picture is worth a thousand words....

That sign didn't win Mr. and Mrs. Killjoy any friends

I still have to create some egg shells to scatter at the bottom of the door but here is how I created the "egg" splatters on the door:

Dripped some yellow, clear, and "frost" color nail polish on a plastic sheet

Some looked better than others...

Once they were dry...

...I could slide my fingernail under them and...

...they'd pop right off to be glued where ever I wanted them.

The QuickGrip glue actually began to disintegrate the nail polish creations which made them look more realistic/haphazard when I applied them to the door and bricking.  Overall I had fun creating this little scene out of left over bits and parts I had lying around the house (except the door and bush: those I had to buy just for this scene).

Next blog update will still be pumpkin related as my witch is getting her pumpkin scene finished in time for Halloween!

Also, for those wondering and waiting: it's been 2 weeks and the water effect products are still under scrutiny...

From a distance...

From 12" away (or even further back) all the waters look good!  Any and all of them look like realistic birdbaths, except maybe the water in the painted bird bath -- it appears as though the blue paint is just glossy at first glance and you don't really see "water" in the basin.  However, the photo above is taken indoors under "normal" lighting.  Once I put them into sunlight, they didn't look quite as realistic/good:

The bubbles really show now

Scenic Water (top left in photo above) really shows the bubbles in the sunlight creating shadows throughout the bird bath.  The EnviroTex Pour-on (lower left and upper right painted birdbaths) looks cloudy with bubbles.  And the Solid Water (lower left) has a tie-dye effect going on...

Up close (back under "normal" indoor lighting again) you begin to see the minor issues that are highlighted in natural sunlight and these issues were present when I first poured the products into their respective bird baths:

Scenic Water

Scenic Water: Glad to see my bubbles at the side of the basin are still there and are clear (they didn't "pop" into a gooey mess).  Several smaller bubbles are noticeable across the surface but they are not as distracting in "normal" lighting as they are in bright sunlight.  These smaller bubbles formed when I poured the product into the basin.  "Water" is clear, but definitely seems to have a yellow hue but so does one of the other products so maybe that is a reflection of the paint(s) in the basin and not the product.

Solid Water

Solid Water: Definitely reacted with the paint(s) of the basin and created a tie-dye effect at the bottom.  This "water" has a yellow hue too (like the Scenic Water).  A milky swirl formed at the gnome's feet; not sure why or when that formed (I'd have to go back and review the first photos to see if it was there and I just missed it).  Not one bubble anywhere!

EnviroTex Pour-On

EnviroTex Pour-On: From a distance it seems the "clearest" but up close the millions of bubbles creates a hazy foggy appearance.  These bubbles are partially operator error as I stirred the two compounds together quite vigorously to make sure they were mixed, creating a large majority of the bubbles now present in the basin.

EnviroTex Pour-On in Painted Basin

EnviroTex Pour-On in a Painted product: Again, from a distance it seems to be one of the "clearest".  In fact, the water is barely recognizable from a distance and it appears as though the blue paint was maybe just a high gloss finish.  Upon closer inspection you can see the thousands of bubbles (I didn't mix this batch as vigorously as the previous birdbath's water).  But it is not as hazy looking as the other EnviroTex Pour-On birdbath (however, I think that is a result of either the fewer bubbles or the painted bottom, but that would bode well concerning this product's characteristics).


None of the "waters" have cracked or shrunk/pulled away from the edges (yet?).  Another update will be posted as more time passes...