Now Where Did I Put My Heart Punches?

I actually started this physalis or Chinese Lantern plant a week or more ago, but have somehow managed to lose all of my heart punches in some weird place. However, during our sorting process of a friend's stash, there was a triple heart punch the right size. Just one small problem, the actual die-cast punch part is in the plastic housing the wrong way around. This means punches have to be extracted from the works with tweezers. Things can get a little complicated, sometimes....

However, yesterday our meeting did not happen due to other things, so I decided to work on the plant. It is in a pot because, although very decorative, it is also very invasive! The original instructions came from a Jicolin Advent Calender in 2011, by Minipat, a French blogger. She used tissue paper for her flowers, which I usually replace with coffee filter paper. The backwards punch would not punch this light paper, so I decided to use computer-weight coloured paper instead. The flowers are made of a seed bead in the colour of the flower, glued to a stem. Two hearts are applied points up, and when they are dry, two half hearts are glued over the sides of the "heart sandwich".  

As my paper was stiffer, I creased each heart down the centre and then rounded out the lobes of each heart. The half hearts are also rounded out before being applied. Although not entirely successful - the seed bead shows in some places - I am pretty happy with this version of a Chinese Lantern in miniature. It would look good in miniature "dried" flower arrangements. along with lotus and milkweed pods, which I have made in polymer clay in miniature....

We miniaturists are sort of crazy....

 

Things Are Being Sorted Out....

...in more ways than one. I am NOT making furnishings for this loft corner yet, but helping friends go through years' worth of mini stash did turn up that Gothic window at the left; I had seen a rather spectacular steam punk hall tree while browsing for inspiration, and it needed a Gothic window sort of thing. There were three in the stash we were sorting out, so serendipity strikes again. It is quite an inexpensive laser-cut plywood window, and I made it more useful for my purposes by carefully cutting out three further, horizontal bits to open up the base. The finished product will actually sit at this level or very close to it.

For those who are new to this blog (welcome to my new followers!), the furnishings in the photo pre-existed the actual creation of the corner vignette, except for the radiator. The chair and rug gave me my colour scheme, and the tall black table with the vase on it will be my take-off point for making the hall tree. I'd also like to make a side table to hold wine or coffee and a book, and who knows what else will be created, in black and whatever I find that will add to the steam punk look!

Last Wednesday afternoon was sorting, and this afternoon will be spent on doing more stash sorting, as Marilyn (Charminis) is currently housing all the containers and needs them out of there. Who knows what other odd and interesting items will turn up? I rescued two tiny, tank-like things from the garbage last week that will serve very nicely as air tanks or other weird steam punk stuff....

Working Away Rather Unspectacularly....

 One of the UFO's from my previous post has been worked on. This is a re-purposed industrial,  steam punk loft corner, with two floors, that was a Camp MiniHaHa project some years ago. One of its more interesting components was a spiral staircase; well, it has driven me to the point where I've decided to do away with it altogether - I just cannot fit it realistically into the space I wanted it in!

What has been done is that the building carcass is now glued and pinned up, which means I can begin plotting the lighting; there is a purpose-built false roof to hold the batteries for the LED lights. Yesterday, while helping clear out a stash of  a friend's miniature materials, I found some small brass bells, which make great tops for industrial lights, and that is what this vignette is intended to get. I have some wonderful textured brick paper for the outside, and will do the roof as verdigrised copper, as originally planned, with a faux finish on card. It will look rather like the roof of Floriana (q.v.) but I'd like to drag some verdigris drips down the walls here and there....

With the re-thinking of how this will go, I've come across some interesting steam punk ideas for furnishings, and have decided to be smart and finish the building itself before I start on the furnishings; I always make way more than the space can hold. It will be a corner of a two-story steam punk loft apartment for the owner (female, as far as I know!) who owns the book shop in the books, also a steam punk project from Camp. I'm heading towards a lot of dulled copper, as I'm working with a very autumnal colour scheme, for the pipes against the cream-coloured walls, and also want to put lots of art work on those walls.

Good Intentions and Certain Roads....

Spring has sprung, and the St. John River is giving us its annual flood. I have bright yellow crocuses up in the garden, the first of the new bulbs planted last fall, and I hope the others we planted do as well. We also had our first real guest in two and a half years, so maybe things are getting back to normal? We are expecting our younger daughter to be with us for nearly 3 weeks in June, and our older daughter is planning a visit in late summer or early fall. Our son's ability to travel has much to do with his work load, but he too is hoping.

The photo is of at least 3 of the UFO's (UnFinished Objects) in my house that are trying to make me feel guilty, but I have, in fact, been finishing up UFO's in my other hobbies. My sewing machine and serger needed some work, and for that we had to travel two hours up the road to find a qualified repair person. 

Our little mini group of 3 has been getting together, and little things have been worked on, but not enough work has happened to make it worthwhile to share with you. However, hope springs eternal, and I do hope to get at least one of those projects DONE soon!

There is, however, some springtime garden maintenance that needs doing, removing piles of wet, rotting leaf mulch from all the flower beds, and as our days seem to alternate rain with sunshine, so it may be a little while yet....

My intentions have actually been good, but the carrying on is sometimes harder to achieve. Thank you all for sticking with me, and do stay tuned to encourage me to keep on going on!

 

Just Checking In!

Since the  Russian invasion of Ukraine, I've been unable to concentrate on much, and have spent far too much time reading or watching news programs. Some years ago, I sponsored a boy in Ukraine; Olek is now in his mid-teens, and I worry about him and his family. They became eligible for sponsorship because the family were internal refugees following the 2014 annexation of the Crimea.

I have done some mini work, but it is not really worth blogging about. But on Monday night, when I just could not sleep, I took photos of a fairly unusual house-plant bloom. At least 25 years ago, I purchased a very large old Sanseviera (Mother-in-Law's Tongue or Snake Plant), at a yard sale, split the thing into two separate very large flower pots, and both of  them now bloom regularly. I was told that the plants have to be quite mature to bloom, and mine are well over 30 years old!

This is the living room plant, the other one lives in our sunny front hallway, which has lots of south-facing windows and a terra-cotta tile floor that captures the sun and heat from the skylight. The flowers are night-blooming, and are likely pollinated by bats and moths. When we lived in Jamaica in the early 90's, I'd regularly smell this incredible scent at night. I discovered that it was sanseviera, which is often used as a hedge in there. The scent is like orange blossoms or jasmine, very lovely, and comes in waves.

The blossoms are very delicate and beautiful, and grow in spikes. They also produce a lot of nectar, so the plants have to be kept from walls and furniture, to prevent the nectar getting on walls and upholstery. As I was sitting in the living room, drinking chamomile tea in the hope of getting some sleep that night, the scent came and went, just gorgeous.

I hope to get some mini work done this weekend, as I'd really, really like to call the Christmas Market Stall finished.....

Ice, Snow and Sand Have Arrived

I have added a skirt of glossy varnish all along the newly applied snow boundaries, and then followed that up by dripping triple thick varnish in some of the spaces between the cobbles. It is more visible in person, but the idea is that this is a European market stall, there is not that much snow, and it is melting quickly. The proprietor of the stall has swept the area around her stall clean, and the meltwater is gathering in the cobble seams here and there.

In front of the stall, where the customer stand, the ice has been sanded. The sand is freshly ground pepper, which adheres nicely to the freshly applies gloss varnish....

Now I need to make a stiff broom, which I will place by the door at the side, to complete the story of the base of my market stall.

For the inside, I have three tilted bins that will hold Christmas decorations, a tall bin with a cut-away front for rolls of wrapping paper, and a flat bin for a collection of Christmas gift bags. It's coming along, but there is lots more to do still. I'd like to make a portable shelf unit, for example, to hold the two crates of moss balls and giant pine cones. The stand will likely be an A-frame, with a couple of shelves for the crates, and a handle on the top to allow the proprietor to move the unit inside easily at the end of a working day.

But I am still missing an important item, the name of the place! Suggestions for that will be gratefully accepted and seriously considered. It can't be too long, as it has to fit on the fascia over the opening, and it has to make it clear this is a Christmas decor shop. I need a name!

 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

The decision I'm pondering is whether I need to add more snow along the edges of my vignette base; I wanted the scene to look like the snow had been removed, just remaining around the edges of the stall and the posts. However, I am not sure I am giving that effect. Any ideas, please?

I made a trio of crates last Thursday, that will eventually go onto an inclined plinth and will hold the many Christmas tree decorations I made. None of them are small enough to fit into the boxes, and there really is not a lot of space on the shelves for hanging displays. 

We have been going from snow storm to snow storm here, which has kept us in the house most of the time. It has also been quite dark because of the overcast, and I've wanted nothing as much as being able to hibernate like a bear and ignore winter altogether! Most of my time has been spent knitting or sewing, but I did sort out some more stuff to put together for the market stall. And I still haven't got a really good name for it....