Trash to Treasure Final Episode

And this is the end result, at least as far as the competition is concerned. Once it is over, the lamp will be electrified, and I will change out some of the items of the setting. We were given a list of 35 items, of which we were to use at least 25, with the option of one item not on the list, but it couldn't be furniture. We did not have to use all of every item!

1. Four feathers (in the floor vase)

2. Ten beads: the candles, lamp base, vase, silver box on shelf

3. Three cotton balls: one is the padding for the ottoman seat, "hair" on old man cactus

4. 10" square of wrapping paper - not used

5. Eraser -  not used

6. Five stir sticks, popsicle sticks or tongue depressors: frames for painting and zen garden, and a thin black plastic one as the pole of the table lamp

7. Small box, maximum of 3" (7.5 cm) a side - not used

8. Two stickers - not used

9. Four bottle caps any size: shade of table lamp, form for ottoman. wooden one for floor planter

10. Greeting card - not used

11. Six" square (15 cm) of fun foam - not used

12. Six" (15 cm) square felt: floor covering

13. Six toothpicks:  legs and back supports of chair

14. Two sheets standard size paper:  mirror support, book covers

15. One full sheet card stock: tables, shelves, books, mirror frame, ottoman

16. Five Q-tips or cotton buds: cactus plant on upper shelf

17. Three thumb or map tacks: candle holders on shelf

18. Six" (15 cm) length ribbon or lace - not used

19. Two toothpaste tube caps: white flower pots

20. Small mirror no more than 2" (5 cm) diameter: wall mirror

21. Tea or coffee grounds: dirt in the flower pots

22. Six" (15 cm) square fabric: upholstery of chair, ottoman

23. Two paper or binder clips: legs of corner table

24. Six straight pins: top of silver box, inside lamp shade support, shelf supports

25. Paper napkin or paper towel: padding for chair (not visible!)

26. Two drinking straws: legs of kidney table

27. Two pipe cleaners: tall cactus, old man cactus

28. One standard styrofoam cup: not used

29. One yoghurt or sour cream lid: not used

30. Two nut shells: not used

31. Two" (5cm) square aluminum foil: bowl on table*

32. 6" (15 cm) square sandpaper: inside of zen garden on shelf

33. One egg carton: soil base for plant pots. canvas for painting

34. Six" (15 cm) square foam core: inside shelves, tables, chair, and books, as well as a sliced in half piece as base for the zen garden

35. Five sequins: incorporated into painting

*(I misplaced this, but it is in the photo at the bottom of this blog entry)

It adds up that I used 25 of the 35 pieces allowed. My "as desired" was the scrapbook paper used for the wallpaper, which was indispensable for this project, and made it all come together. 

I will change out the vase with the feathers for a "suede" magazine/newspaper sling after the competition, and fill the silver bowl with moss balls and pine cones. It also needs some reinforcing, as it is quite flimsy. The little table will get a book, while the coffee table will get a coffee mug and some goodies on it, and perhaps another plant. The heavy legs of the kidney table will be replaced with the period-specific  V-shaped wire ones. As mentioned earlier, I intend to electrify the table lamp. I might add a little pillow to the chair, and perhaps a cozy afghan, for a little colour contrast.

This has been a fun challenge, and I enjoyed working on it. I believe it may show up in April on the Miniature Enthusiasts of Edmonton (MEE) virtual dollhouse show. As we aren't club members, we can't actually compete, but members of the group are pleased at others' participation.

The "hammered silver bowl" on the coffee table, missed in the previous photo....

Trash to Treasure Episode 4

I don't "do" modern interiors, but I am really having a great deal of fun with this mid-century modern loft corner. There! I've told you what I'm trying to create for the T2T challenge.

The little corner table just needs gluing up now; I ran out of superglue but it is being picked up by the C-in-C who is out running errands, so hopefully I can glue it up this evening. The chair has its back in place, although it too needs the superglue treatment. The mirror is fixed to the wall, and the floating shelves are auditioning their burdens. A ceramic bead on the little table is trying out for a lamp base; it likely won't be wired until after the contest is over.

Actually, I need to go over what I have used so far, in order to see if I could, perhaps, electrify the table lamp. I have a black or dark brown plastic stir stick, which would make a perfect post for the lamp. After all, the list didn't say all the stir sticks had to be wood....

The little black box with the white centre is my zen garden; it is a copy of one my daughter gave me. I still have to make a tiny rake for it, though. When the contest is done, I will add a few tiny stones; those aren't listed in our supplies!

In use so far: beads, cotton balls, stir sticks, bottle caps, felt square, toothpicks, paper, cardstock, Q-tips, thumb tacks, toothpaste caps, small mirror, tea dust/leaves, fabric, paper clips, straight pins, paper napkin, pipe cleaners, foil (may be removed!), sandpaper, egg carton, and foam core. Uh oh, I used scrap booking paper for my wallpaper, and I can't see that on the list....

Still to come are a coffee table, photo album, and some other odds and ends, depending on what is left of the supplies, and whether my imagination will figure out what to do with them. The hard thing right now is what to use for the coffee table legs. I think I've used up all my toothpicks!

 

Trash to Treasure Episode 3

 

The floating shelves have been installed, and a footstool has been added. I am currently working on the chair, which is taking time because of glue and paint having to dry. The shelves are made of a core of foam board, covered in card stock to resemble wood; the pieces were all given a light coat of satin varnish, which adds a little shine and deepens the colour a bit.

Another of the items we were allowed to use was a napkin; I used mine, which is three-ply, double to put a little padding on the chair seat and back. This is a stop-and-go operation; I have to wait for the glued areas to dry completely before I can do the other sides. I am not patient enough! The chair is based on layers of foam core, covered in the paper napkin, and then in fabric. The same fabric was used for the cushion on top of the footstool.

All my materials are being kept together, as I don't know what little scraps I might need! I've used up my allotment of felt but still have bits and pieces of the other materials ready to use. I made a couple of accessories today, or rather, started on them, but they aren't finished and ready to show as yet. Perhaps tomorrow....

Trash to Treasure Challenge Episode 2

 Fortune favoured me today, as I found the absolutely perfect piece of felt, as well as the perfect piece of scrap-booking paper, at my local hobby store. I needed these for the "box" in which the project can be placed. The box itself was a broken affair made of foam core, with a couple of seriously bent corners. But, I managed to do a work-around, and I am really pleased with it.

The other side of this foam core is black; I think it was a left-over piece from an Art College project of my daughter's. One corner was totally bashed, so I cut it off. I liked that! So I decided to cut off the other less dented corner as well. Better. Hmm, might as well be consistent, off came the front corner. And I love the result. There is another dent in the back corner on the outside, but fortunately it doesn't show!

And here is the box with the perfect piece of scrap-booking paper on the "walls", and the absolutely perfect piece of mottled grey-beige felt on the floor for the carpet. Looking good, but I had to trim out the edges, which exposed the inside, roughly cut, of the foam core.

The foam core is only 3/16" (about 4 mm) thick, so as I haven't used much of my card stock as yet, I decided to trim out the edges. Now it looks, dare I say it, like a wooden corner vignette! I just love the effect of the weathered and painted bricks, perfect for my "vision" of this T2T project.

While looking through my pin supply to fix a bead knob to my "silver" box, I found an old pin with a ball head; the pins in this box were inherited from my mother, and came from The Netherlands many  years ago. The department store they came from was boarded up the last time I visited my old home town. Anyway, the pin with the ball head was the sort that used to come in men's clothing from department stores, and it is the perfect size for the box knob, with the added advantage of not having to have a pin put through it; the head of a plain pin would have been kind of visible. I only use these plain pins for miniatures; my sewing pins have glass or plastic heads, so they are easier to find on the floor. (The Carpenter-in-Chief swears that any dropped pins are bound to end up in his feet.)

Love it! We are allowed 6 pins, and I have used only one so far....

I want to make a couple of pieces of furniture, but as I can only use a 6" square of foam core and I have already used some tiny scraps to make books, I have to really think  how to tackle this. As well, if I upholster, I have to do it with a 6" square of fabric; I will experiment with a used dryer sheet, to see if I can get enough fabric out of such a piece to use as upholstery. If only I could find a decent spray can top for another piece of furniture for this project....

Trash to Treasure Challenge!

My mini buddies, Marilyn and Louise, are both working on "secret" projects, so we had to come up with something different for our usual Wednesday afternoon virtual meeting. Marilyn had come across a challenge for the members of the Miniature Enthusiasts of Edmonton (hereafter referred to as MEE), and challenged us to follow this. They are doing a Trash to Treasure challenge, (hereafter referred to as T2T) due April 6, and although we aren't members of that club (they're a couple of thousand kilometres away to the west....), we do know a number of the members from Camp MiniHaHa and also from personal and very pleasant visits while out west visiting my kids, one of whom lives in Edmonton, and a visit to one of my buddies years ago in Prince Edward Island. Louise is keeping her project secret for now, but I suspect it will include flamingos....

A list of 35 items, and the quantities to be used, was provided by Maureen at St. Albert Minis (http://stalbertmini.blogspot.com/2021/03/hello-again-good-to-be-back.html ), and participants have to use at least 25 of them; we can add one item from our stash, of our choice. 

We are allowed four bottle caps; one appears here, in the form of the elliptical silver-grey base for my eventual table. We were allowed 10 beads, and five of them are in use here; the round beeswax candles, the tall vase, and the silver box. We were allowed a 2 x 2" (5 x 5 cm)square of foil; please see the hammered "silver" bowl. We were allowed one mirror, no larger than 2" (5 cm), and I had one in my stash. It has a frame of medium brown card stock, to look like a mid-century Scandinavian-inspired wall mirror. The two books created so far are scraps of foam core, one covered in egg carton cardboard (we were allowed an egg carton), and a scrap of the allowed card stock. We were also allowed three thumb or map tacks, and they form my "crystal" candlesticks  here.

Four cotton swabs were also allowed; the cotton buds of 2 1/2 of them form the mamillaria cactus, in one of the toothpaste tube caps we can use. The "soil" base is a piece of egg carton, and the actual soil is tea leaf dust, also allowed by the challenge. The senecio (Old Man Cactus) is made from a piece of chenille stick and bits of one of the 3 cotton balls in the challenge, along with the other toothpaste tube cap, and the tall cactus is made from actual pipe cleaners. The planter for this tall cactus is the bottle top from one of my father's Old English Leather after-shave bottles, which I have probably had for more than 25 years! It is real wood and the perfect colour for my "vision".

You can find the list of 35 items on Maureen's blog, St. Albert Minis ( http://stalbertmini.blogspot.com/2021/03/hello-again-good-to-be-back.html ). I'm having fun coming up with odd things I can make with unused items in my stash, and will publish a list when the project is done with how much I did manage to use in my setting. I'm not revealing what that will be quite yet, as I have to make sure I have everything I would like to have, on hand. My item from my stash, at this point, is foam core, of which I have a number off  small off-cuts.

We can use whatever colouring materials we like, and also aren't restricted as to glues. I've used mostly craft paint so far, but who knows what else I'll come up with.

Working on the Workshop Stove

We were unable to get together for our virtual meeting last week, but we are having two meetings this week. Today's meeting was another virtual one, and I did a little more work on the workshop, assembling a more convincing stove and a brick platform for it to stand on.

The actual stove is a pencil sharpener, in pot metal, with a sort of bronze-brown finish. First of all, I had to take the little conical cap off the pipe at the back; this has been replaced by a new pipe made from a bendy drinking straw, a piece of dowel to reinforce both the long pipe and the curved top, strips of manila file folder for the joins, and eventually a washer for the fitting in the wall. The flashing on the stove's lid was removed with files and an emery board. The stove will stand on a brick base, to make it more fireproof.

Now I have to wait for all the various glues to dry; I used the pot metal, a plastic straw, card, and wooden dowel, so several kinds of glue were used. The one that takes the longest to cure is the metal glue to re-glue the bent pipe from the back of the little stove on to the stove again; it broke off when the cone was being sawed off. Then I get to paint it; right now, spray paint seems the best way to do it, but it is very cold here and I can't spray paint in the house; I may have to make a spray booth out of a cardboard box, and use the storage area in the basement....

When this is all dry, I can test-fit it into the wooden shoe workshop, to see where it is best placed; I kind of want it in the centre of the right side wall, but it may interfere with the space needed for all the shoe-carving equipment. I also have to mark its position on the wall, before I put the paper clay stucco on.

We are having a rare face-to-face meeting this Friday, weather permitting, as we are currently in a favourable phase with regard to the pandemic. I am not sure what I will manage to get done that day, as we are sharing some of our supplies to continue work on our various projects. Those will be dug out tomorrow, ready for my fellow miniaturists to check out.