11/08/05 Big Mini Fear?

[havanaholly]

I tried paperclay...dont like the way it makes my hands feel

I really truly can't stand how icky polyclay makes my hands feel when I use it, as a child I got the same sensation with plasticene clay, I guess it's just a reaction between my skin & clay. I run a dishpan full of hot soapy water when I'm gonna sculpt dolls. This has a twofold benefit, periodically I can remove the ickies from my hands and it keeps them so clean I don't get dirt in the clay

BTW, I was petrified of the polyclay when I first took it out of the package & found out how much was involved in conditioning it. I use my pasta maker to make pasta (imagine that!). I found that wrapping the clay in waxed paper I can soften it up by sitting on it while sitting & stitching the mini Aubusson carpet I might have done by 2010. One day I was running around with one packet under each arm & another in my bra (bet that's more than anyone wants to know). I also have a "dedicated" rollingpin. Another side benefit, it keeps my hands & fingers from stiffening up with osteoarthritis.

[LisaN]

I guess since I've tried alot of mini things, fear isn't the real word for it, but time limitations are......which I guess is also a fear. Fear of not having enough time to do as much as I would love to do on a project, before I think of an idea and start on another one. Another mini idea is being creatively stumped, so to speak.

I'm in agreement with Melissa, just try something --it doesn't have to be perfect, because we all learn from our mistakes. Some of my dumbest mistakes or what I thought were mistakes at the time, are the accidental creation of a new technique that no one thought of before.......the tissue paper effect on my sugarplum was an accident, with glue spilling on the tissue paper, and I happened to notice the wrinkles that looked like stucco--and there ya go. And investing in a few tools, of a cheapie nature is ok too. In minis, we all have to 'master' techniques to do different things, woodworking, soldering, decorating, aging, plastering, sculpting, and the list goes on....that's one of the great things about this hobby--learning new things. One of my biggest problems with myself is patience, which sometimes in minis we all run out of if the glue doesn't stick or the clay gets burned!

[LPCullen]

Mine is building a 1/12 scale house all by myself. Partly scared, and partly I lack the skills. I can build the 1/4 scale houses all by myself, but the big ones scare me ....

[havanaholly]

ROTFLMAO because I can build a 1:12 scale house with only a few "magic" words, but the very thought of working in a smaller scale scares the bejeebers out of me!

[Shakyshaky]

okay you have to promise not to laugh.... bashing Michael's hutches. I don't know what it is but I just have trouble modifing things after I buy them. You would not belive how long it took me to paint the grape vines on the kitchen hutch I bought. ( not a michaels hutch) It sat there for like a week staring at me. I have not tried taking anything apart yet but I am trying to get over it. I have been trying to get the nerve to go to Michaels with the intention of getting one to bash just have not made it yet.

[Anna]

okay you have to promise not to laugh.... bashing Michael's hutches.  I don't know what it is but I just have trouble modifing things after I buy them. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Me too! But then again I can't get myself to that with those lovley hutches either since I find them so sweet and they aren't avaliable over here anywhere I know of so I have some a friend sent to me and they sit on the shelf looking at me very happy and it feels so good to have a little "stock" to use whenever I need it LOL but so far I have had a hard time to bash them, I only use them as is but latley I have been brave enough to paint them before putting things in them

Hugs

[havanaholly]

I can address the Michael's hutch fears because here's how I beat them. I read that the glue softens in water, I use HOT water to hasten the process. The first project I made I took the shelf off, papered the inside, painted the outside and made a little commode stool out of a sample-size Tylenol bottle & a toilet paper roller from a piece of paperclip & wrote "____ Little Loo" on the outside in gold gel pen & gave it for a Christmas gift to one of my friends who is a school custodian so she would have one bathroom she'd never have to clean!

I replaced the shelf with a dowel in the next one and used my Dremel to carve a design on the door and stained it, then I knit a little sweatervest and hung it on a paperclip hanger and put it in a "silent auction" at work one Christmas.

I made two more into Murphy beds (one is in the Glencroft pub, I'll post pictures in the blog when I finish the rest of the furniture & fixtures) using a tutorial I've been informed my link no longer works for, but it's fp3.antelecom.net/frog/mini_hide_bed .

My Westville blog tells how I bashed one of the cuter hutches into a kitchen sink & bathroom cabinet. I figure at 99 cents I can afford to experiment

[nuttiwebgal]

you are sooo right at 99cents its fun to take them apart and play with them.

at this moment my SIL ruby and I are turning 2 of the fancier hutches into christmas Hutches. this is always a fun project.

Hobby Lobby is having a sale on christmas Ornaments and this includes the mini ones!

so I got some goodies yesterday when I went.

nutti

[hydroped]

...  I don't know what it is but I just have trouble modifing things after I buy them. . .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shakyshaky,

I can relate to that - That's one of the reasons I love buying broken things. - If something is broken, damaged or otherwise in some state of disrepair - or even just covered in crayon drawings.. I figure what ever I do to it is helping If I buy something brand new or in perfect condition... well I'm afraid I'll mess it up somehow. If I'd paid full price for my first dollhouse I probably never would have wanted to build another one because I wouldn't have been happy putting it together like it showed on the box - and if it was new I would have HAD to (my own personal hang up) - but since I got it for a dollar at a yard sale - I figured hey for a buck I'll make it what I want and if it turns out bad.. I'll have learned something So I bashed my very first house (which is still being worked on lol) but I'm happy with it - so far anyway

Oh - and sometimes before they get a new shipment of hutches in you can find just the damaged ones left - sometimes they'll mark them down for you.

-David

[Missymew]

David, you've inspired me. I love your idea that if an item needs fixing, that you're only improving on it. I think you've removed that huge obstacle that I carry around with me all the time "maybe you'll wreck it".

I bought a small dollhouse on ebay. It only cost me $7.50. I'll photograph it tomorrow and post pictures. When it arrived, my husband scoffed and said that it was cheap and that I should just throw it out. I thought that because someone had done the building part, I could try and improve on it.

If I download (or is it upload) photos, could I get some opinions on whether it is fixable, and maybe some suggestions for a first timer? I'd really appreciate it.

Susanne

[Peggi]

I'm afraid I'll pester you guys to much and you won't help me anymore.

I don't fear things not being perfect, I expect them not to be, but I fear things may fall apart cause I did something wrong.

I've got to say that it never occur to me that I would set the house on fire when wiring. I rewired the Cambridge my nephew gave me cause it had shorts and I couldn't trace them. So when doing the Lily I nevered feared the wiring part, it was the actual putting it together.

I also am afraid of trying to make clay dolls, could someone suggest a good beginners book? I would love to try this, but can't seem to get started because I'm afraid the head would be bigger then the body.

Peggi

[havanaholly]

Peggi, Check my post to Nutti under "other creative endeavors". Sue Heaser's book has patterns, I traced each doll's patterns onto a half-sheet of paper and I lay the clay for each body part on top of the pattern to get a general idea of quantity.

There are great drawing books for children out there. Guess what? You can learn to draw proportioned figures & faces and then you're ready to sculpt your own. Meanwhile the molds are a great way to begin, you can use toothpicks & straightpins & small crochet hooks and the tip of a craft knifeblade to manipulate and change the expressions.

Play with this stuff, dear. It's a toy! It's fun!

BTW, I have seen people whose heads look too big (or too small) for their bodies. The major domo / steward in the Roman Atrium I made is a Little Person.

[hydroped]

Suzanne

You betcha we'll give you opinions on it But I bet it's worth fixing. I felt pretty much the same way about my Tiffani the first time I realized exactly what it looked like. I though - I'm never going to use this house, it's just too narrow - it should be a one room house with storage attic not a 4 room house... but then it hit me what to do with it and I'm SO glad I kept it - it's perfect for my project!!

And you absolutely can improve on it! Tracy has a great tutorial up on making a fireplace - you can use the same paperclay technique to do rock work anywhere on the house - and last night - well I got mad at the Tiffani again and took the dremel to it! (after i already had it wallpapered <sigh>) but that's ok I cut a big hole in the front and now it has a brand new front door :o

-David

[hydroped]

Hi Peggi,

The first dollbook I ordered was by James Carrington but while waiting for it to arrive I found Sue Heaser's book. I like them both, and I think most books are geared toward beginners. I really like that Sue shows you how to make some of your own tools but since I like Jamies style of figures, so his book was better suited to me. I do have a tendancy to make my heads a little too big - once they're on the dolls it's really not noticable - however - the thing that helped me with that the most is that I went out and bought a resin 1:12 scale man - so now when I'm sculping a head I can hold it up right next to him to see the size and preportion - same with hands. That 3D visual aid really helps!

-David

[havanaholly]

I nearly forgot! The articulated wooden artist figures come in 1:12 scale & some of the big bookstore chains carry them. If you imagine an oval for a face and divide it into four equal segments the eyes usually line up along the middle line, the hairline (in younger folks) usually starts at the line above & the mouth at the line below, with the nose from the eyebrows to 2/3 the distance from the eyes to the mouth. The tops of the ears are generally in a line with the eyes.

Hands are at least the length of the face (3/4 the length of the head). Feet are at least the length of the head. One of my college art classes' professor was of the pencil & thumb school of drawing: You hold up your pencil to what you're trying to draw & place the pencil point at the top of what you're trying to measure & your thumb at the bottom along the pencil. It worked really, really well in perspective drawing class, but was also useful in determining proportions.

[Shakyshaky]

Well I did it. Today I went and boght 5 hutches. ( well okay seven but two are not going to be bashed.) So when I put them in hot water do I soak them ( put the whole thing in) How long? What if I don't want it to come completly part just the top for the bottom? Any thoughts on how to get the doors to work once I get the off? ( I really dislike things that don't work )

Thanks

[Minis On The Edge]

Congratulations!!! Now lets get crackin' on some bashin'!

:o

:o

[havanaholly]

when I put them in hot water do I soak them ( put the whole thing in) How long?

Put in the part you want to separate (with the one I did for the Westville I more or less dismembered the base) & leave it in for a couple of minutes, then pull it out & begin wiggling the top & bottom apart. If you want it just to separate in two, you can scrape off as much glue from the separated parts as you can and set that side down on a piece of waxed paper & weight them down until dry.

I used wood glue to glue the cannibalized parts back together. The doors are hinged with stiff wires, you can poke them right back into the holes when you glue it back together, should the piece come apart.

This is really not rocket science, folks! This is PLAY! You have m express permission to make a mess, to ruin four of your hutches to get one you like, to cobble all five hutches into a gonzo credenza entertainment center or make 1:48 scale houses out of them. For pity sake, have FUN!!!