Steve Panner

Some miniature rats I've been working on lately. Turned out more realistic than I was expecting, given the size. I had a lot of trouble getting the tails right. I was thinking this will be the easy part, since I don't have to fur it, but I spent hours trying to make them look natural and still they turned out a little too thick. Other than that it was a smooth build, at some point I thought the fur will make them look chubby but I was lucky and it didn't. They are both available on my eBay: http://www.ebay.com/usr/stevepanner (plenty more pictures there too). Thanks for looking!

Thank you very much Tracy and Holly!

Thank you Selkie! I was going for spooked or rugged/scary looks on them, to fit with the theme. But I'm happy with mischievous too!

Here's a simple homemade gluing jig I use for framing mini paintings. It's made from laminate flooring scraps. They are covered in melamine so glue squeeze-out doesn't stick to them. It has a range from 3/4 x 1 inches up to 3 x 4 inches, but it can be made in any size. It also works very efficiently, I once framed 20 paintings in one day, all in different sizes, including cutting the miters. A jig similar to the one from Micromark can be improvised from the back or side panel of some old appliances. I have a panel from an old microwave I'm saving to make a jig like that. It is made of thick sheet metal with right angle borders, just like the commercial jig. Magnets similar to those used in the jig, including the metal plates, can be found in some magnetic locks for furniture. These might be options for people that live in places where proper miniature tools are not available or the cost of them+shipping is hard to justify for a hobby.

I just finished a couple of cats for this year's Halloween. They are covered in viscose fibers, I think viscose looks more like cat hair should look in scale. The pumpkins are also made by me following a tutorial found on youtube. I wanted to make jack-o'lanterns but had trouble keeping black fibers in the air from getting into the orange clay so I simplified them as much as possible. Both cats are available on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/usr/stevepanner

Thank you Cynthia, Debra and Lawanda!

Thank you Debra! I really, really appreciate it Holly, Eveline also had a baby toy during the last months but lost interest in it like she does with all toys.

She loves it, except when the baby is crying, then she's a bit confused. She just turned three, they have the same birthday on June 25, so it was kinda like a present for her We were so lucky with her, she's so mature for her age and made the best out of it, like she shows the baby all her toys, she picked some rattling toys from the store for the baby, she plays hide and seek "with the baby" while I carry him in my arms and such. We wish this will last as much as possible and try to make everything to avoid sibling rivalry, but it's a delicate line.