Dollhouses, Trains and More

It's been awhile! Recently went to my favorite miniature store, Dollhouses, Trains and More, and couldn't leave. There aren't that many miniature/dollhouse stores here in Northern California, so its nice having this one close to us in Berkeley. I want to move right in!

Here's another picture!

I hope I can revive this old blog. Hobbies are just so fun, and I really don't want mine to die. So long.

One a Week

So I've decided to make one miniature something a week. I got this idea from the amazing miniaturist Stéphanie Kilgast from PetitPlat. She is showing daily sculptures of tiny fruit and veggies, one a day, and it totally inspired me! I'm so bad at trying to consistently practice making miniarues that I thought this was a good way to keep myself in the hobby. I spend my days with young children who keep me busy all day, so we will see if I can keep this up. Last week I made radishes and this week's mini are two fried eggs! Maybe I'll try some sausages, bacon, and beans to go with my eggs in the following weeks.

Radishes for the New Year!

Started off the year making miniature my tiny little radishes for my cottage. I can never get over how cute little things are!

Recent Fun Stuff

This past week my students got to play with miniature food I made over the weekend. Here is a grilled cheese sandwich, a stack of pancakes with rich maple syrup, and three chocolate croissants. The kids couldn't believe their eyes! Tiny food!

Dreamy Cottages

Here are some inspirational cottages I've pinned on my Pinterest. As I get closer to working on the exterior I've been looking at these house more and more. So many great things about each one, how to choose?!

Espresso Trim

I'm finally to the trim and chose a dark stain to go with my bright future stucco walls. So exciting!
I don't like how I've neglected this blog :( However, much of the time spent off of it has been spent on researching and pinning ideas about all aspects to do with my cottage. I take detail very seriously. It's frustrating that there aren't many other Asters to draw inspiration from. I have found some but not as many as I would like. Nonetheless, the fact that there aren't too many also inspires me to make this Aster amazing. I'll keep you posted.

My Aster Cottage is Unique

I absolutely love my Aster! She's come a long way, the process is slow, but I love how she's looking! Have you ever seen an Aster with a full floor on the second story?

Meet Penny Caracol

This cute little snail lady came into being when I started thinking about creating dioramas for the kids I work with. How awesome would it be to look into a little world full of ferns and moss, inhabited by little creatures? And how fun would it be to create that world and those creatures!

One Last Look

One last look at the studio before I paint the stucco with some of the original paint from the real studio. My dad had the paint in storage. Lucky me!

Treating Myself to Minimiam

Well, I am just exhausted from this week's work and its only Monday! Why do I feel like I'll be in perpetual school life forever? I'm frankly sick of it and can't wait for this semester to end. In the meantime, I've treated myself to revisiting Minimiam's website! I absolutely love them and what they do with food and HO scale figures. The only reason I know about them is because my wonderfully amazing boyfriend Martin is into HO scale model trains and so I decided I wanted to do something in that scale but never knew what, that is until I discovered this dynamic duo. Minimian makes you feel like there's a world of fun waiting if you could only shrink down to the size of their tiny adventurers. I feel like shrinking down and playing around huge chocolate bars or skiing down a slope of whipped Chantilly cream like they show their little people doing. My favorite is the creme brulee scene with the little spacemen! Check them out at their WEBSITE and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Don't you think its simply magical how they make you think that the little figures are really alive and actually moving. Like they are really inspecting the crack in the eclair above! Does anyone know where I can get an eclair that big? I think they do a great job of conveying movement, picking foods that are perfect for the shots and then just positioning everything ever so perfectly.

I actually won a bid recently on Ebay for two boxes of Presier brand HO scale figures. They all come unpainted and I've called dibs on painting specific ones! Sorry Martin, you can't paint them!!! Well, maybe a few since you're the only reason I know about HO scale! :) I'm only joking and I'm sure there will be enough to share considering that each box has 120 figures! If anyone is interested you can view my boyfriends trains at his Youtube right HERE.  

This is what they look like at first, as you can see they are very detailed for being so small and they come in different themes. All of the ones I've bought are normal modern day people, business men, workers, housewives, etc. You can just imagine the fun I'll be having thinking up scenes to photograph them in! Hope you liked this post, I specifically wanted to share this for all those who haven't discovered how much fun HO scale can be. Here's the WEBSITE to their work.

Pasta Machine, I Hate You!

So, I've had my pasta machine for no more than two years and its already broken! Can I add that I barely used it since I'm a full-time student and never really had any time to devote to miniatures until really recently. I don't know what happened but its squeaks like nobody's business and it gets stuck when I try to crank the lever. Its so noisy and annoying I feel like throwing it out the basement window. My boyfriend thinks he can fix it, but I'm totally done with pasta machines. I'm going to stick to my acrylic roller from now on, even if it takes me all day to soften those clays.

Magnifying Lamp, I Love You

I love my new magnifying lamp! I've never had one but I can't believe I was trying to make things without one. I would probably have lost my eyesight in a few years if it wasn't for this new awesome tool. It helps so much and with its stand I can position it any way I like. I recommend getting one if you can. Mine was a gift from my boyfriend's mother, Meg, she's always getting the neatest things for me to make miniatures with as well as tools. These butterflies would have been a pain in the arse without the magnifier! They turned out great and I can't wait to make more this weekend. My plan is to make some acorn planters with budding little sprouts. The acorns, if altered right, can even look like small woven baskets if they are trimmed down a bit. You should try this, if you got acorns laying around. I found these in the Berkeley hills of California on a walk and now I wish I had collected more. The acorn planters measure approximately 3/4-inch in diameter...super tiny! I plan on using one of these planters on the front steps of my little cottage. The rest I will sell on my Etsy later this week. The dirt is dried coffee grounds which work fantastic. To cement the 'dirt' down i mixed white glue with water, then I poured it into a spray bottle, and then simply sprayed the dirt. The water helps the glue seep through the dirt better. Hope you like the pictures! Here's what my work table looks like after a long night. Sara