My workroom

 I probably should have taken "before" pictures but they would not have been for the faint of heart.

You may notice that the "after" pictures do not show my desk. That is because it is still covered with at least a foot of paperwork that needs filing. (Actually I've already filed about 1/3 of it so far...just taking a break to  write this.)

There simply wasn't a surface in this room, including the floor, that wasn't covered with "stuff". I have two 6" work tables neither of which had more than a 6" square of available space. I have a huge 8 foot storage unit that my Dad built years ago. The top half has four shelves that I use to store all my mini furniture. At some point, I just started 'throwing' things on the shelves so they need to be organized.

Surprisingly, it went quite a bit more quickly than I had thought it would. Some things are still in the dining room waiting to be sorted but I'm hoping that by tomorrow night, everything will be finished.

Here are the pictures:

My chairs: 28 chairs, including 2 office chairs, 2 rockers, and three folding chairs. Plus three benches.

Ten desks, one barrister's bookshelf, some shelving plus a bunch of Michael's hutches.

Two dressed beds plus a whole variety of 26 tables of all shapes and sizes.

An overview of 32 feet of various pieces of furniture pieces!

Starting from the left side of the room.

There is shelving behind all those bulletin boards which (on the right) contain many books and binders containing more mini stuff. Below them are boxes and more boxes of hardware, doors, windows, etc. containers of plastics, lighting and a gazillion other odds and ends including one box of napkin rings for table bases.

The far end of the room just stopping short of my desk. The corner of the wall by the window contains most of my various papers, shelves of containers of beads, etc. Underneath my printer is a cabinet which holds hundreds of stain pens, coloured pens of all shapes and sizes; printer cartridges; paper punches; and more paper.

The table in the middle of the room with my current roombox, some tools and my larger paint bottles.

The right hand side of the room with another worktable which holds my Michael's paint holder, a three-room roombox (just about finished) and a room which will eventually become another art gallery. Behind that is a sheet of pegboard which holds most of my larger tools and a variety of other items. Below the table are three storage units that hold (1) landscaping materials, (2) hand tools and small materials; and (3) larger Christmas items that don't fit on my bulletin boards such as trees.
This table (which was made from an old door) also has cup hooks on the front for all my various rulers and hooks on one end which hold all my various cutting mats.

Hope you enjoyed this tour! Now I have to get back to finish clearing off my desk.

Miniature Enthusiasts of Edmonton Show and Sale on Saturday, September 19

Haven't been doing many miniatures lately but our annual Show and Sale was on Saturday so I picked up a few things,

Four House of Miniature kits. Didn't need them but they go together so beautifully, I had to buy a few.

Got two lovely, large carpets for $4 each. And got the loveseat for $10. I have the matching couch but used the loveseat that I did have in a previous project.

Unfortunately this apothecary box from our Vice-Chair, Susan, who printed it. Sorry I couldn't get a better picture as it's absolute magic. And each of the 25 drawers work!!! Just had to have it. It's 4 3/4" tall.

Picked up these three 2 1/4" sculptures from Tina who is downsizing her 1:12 collection.

This beautiful sweater was also from Tina.

Won this door prize! 3 1/4" filled cabinet.

This beautiful pendant was made by Brenda Demone from Calgary. Her main items are 1:48 pottery which is beautiful but this is a new addition to her table. She had a beautiful selection of these pendants in various shapes and sizes.

They are clear on both sides. This side highlights a little bird by Barbara Ann Meyers

These towels were BOGO so I picked up two sets of them.

Also got two pair of scissors and straight pointed and curved tweezers from Linda A. who carries wonderful tools in addition to her incredible flowers in 1:12 and 1:48.

It was a great sale at the new bigger venue. There were 44 dealers of whom three were IGMA artisans including France Cabana of Les Ateliers Menuart, Sherri MacRaild, and Lori Ann Potts. Great selection of just about anything you could hope for.

Working with the Bespaq lawyer's office

My first choice in working with the Bespaq lawyer's office is to cover the mirror with a wall.

I found some matboard in my stash that is very close in colour to the blonde in the furniture.

Took a lot of cutting to get this piece to fit and it was actually too short to work but I was able to act a small piece to the bottom which will work because I plan on adding a wainscotting to the wall which will cover the seam.

For the wainscotting, I have a great tube of 1/4" cherry veneer strips.

I need to cut all these 1/4" strips into 3" lengths. So I need about 40  three inch strips of the veneer.

Then, AHA, light bulb moment!

Years ago, I bought a "Chopper" from a club member who was leaving the club. That was exactly what I needed to cut all the strips for the wainscotting.

I set the black guide on the right at the 3" spot then just fed the cherry veneer strips through and cut them in 3" lengths.

Success!

Because I want the wainscotting to be black to pick up the black in the furniture, I use a black marker to paint all the strips along the edges and tops. 

I did about half of them before I thought how stained my fingers would become. Then I put on rubber gloves!

Tomorrow, this is going to be a tough situation. I have to install that wainscotting perfectly straight!.

Great day in Sherwood Park

 Some months ago, Sylvia Hertling, Adult programmer of the Strathcona County Library in Sherwood Park approached M.E.E. looking for someone to teach a class on dollhouse miniatures. Eventually, Sunni volunteered for the job and I volunteered to help her.

We brainstormed and figured out what could be supplied from our stashes. Susan C. from the club volunteered to 3-D print 24 glasses (two per student) and Tina MacD. gave us a wonderful stack of miniature magazines.

I printed a booklet that included all the instructions for the room and its contents. It also included sections on: (1) Scale, (2) M.E.E., (3) Printable miniatures and two comprehensive sites where they can be found, (4) Trash to Treasure Ideas), (5) Favourite Miniature Websites, (6) Local and Canadian Shopping, (7) Miniature organizations, and (8) Basic Tool Kit.

The room and it's contents:

Foamcore card or vignette

Skirted table from styrofoam cup

Mini Chair

Mini Banner

Miniature cakes

Miniature gifts

Artwork

Instructions for party hats from Sunni.

I also printed out 15 sheets of the printie chair that I designed years ago. These had two of the chair patterns on one side and various designs on the other.

A couple of the chair designs and the pattern.

Everyone got my booklet, some miniature magazines, the chair pattern on a design, styrofoam cup with a selection of muffin papers to choose from, a variety of ashesive flooring, two 3D printed glasses, two paper plates, a white pop bottle cap with a printie cake top and a printed base, a plant, a choice of 7 different banners, blocks of wood for giffts with paper to wrap them, paper and pompoms for party hats, a mini book and a package of mini potato chips.

As usual, I forgot to take pictures until the last minute but did get pictures of six of the rooms before everyone packed up.

A couple party hats on the floor.

One of the attendees took a scrap from the chair and made a cushion from it.

This one also made a cushion from the extra chair "fabric".

I like how this one used the excess from the chairs to add a border across the ceiling.

 She was also the only one who used the pictures on her wall during the class.

You can see here where the person has used some plastic last that Sunni supplied to trim the side of her cake.

As always, when miniaturists get together, ideas flew fast and furious! Such fun.

It was a great class. We had a lot of fun and I believe the attendees did too. I wish I had ask them to send me pictures of their finished projects.

EDITED TO ADD:

Can't believe I forgot this! (It was in my purse - not my supply box.)

Received this wonderful (totally unexpected) gift from the library.

Gift card and a library cart!

My wonderful purchases

Went for coffee with Sunni, Tina and Loretta Thursday before the Show and Sale. Tina told me about a lawyer's office of Bespaq furniture she had for sale plus two of Georgee Prowkiw's wonderful miniature copies of Old Master paintings.

Georgee was a member of M.E.E. for several years and excelled in just about everything mini although she was probably best known for her porcelain dolls and her paintings. She died in 2012 at the age of 85. You can see her obituary here.

top picture is 3 1/8" x 2 1/4"

I bought the pictures on the spot but did wait a couple hours before buying the furniture which also included a rug hand-sticked by Tina. Only to give her time to send me pictures although I had pretty much made up my mind even before seeing them.

I had a Wooton desk that I bought last year but it's made of resin and certainly doesn't begin to 

                                                           compare with this one.

When Sunni saw it on Thursday, she grabbed Sir John A. MacDonald off my coffee table and insisted her belonged in it!

Books included!

It has a wood-framed glass cover but the back is mirrored so I didn't take a picture with it on. I'll be covering the mirror with matboard and wainscoting. Tina also gave me a selection of Law diplomas and such along with some Victorian documents so I have some work to do to make it my own but I am thrilled to have it.

That print job?

 The print job that I wrote about in my last post was a booklet I was working on for a class that Sunni and I are teaching at the Strathcona County library in Sherwood Park next Saturday, October 4.

I FINALLY finished all the booklets we will be giving to the twelve attendees about half an hour ago.

It has been such an incredibly busy week that I have so much to update you on but it will take a few more days to get caught up.

Read the fine print!!!

 VERY late the other night, I was running into a situation with my printer so Googled for an answer. Thought a solution that sounded promising so clicked on it...entered my question and was told it would take $2.00 to get the answer. This was the early hours of the morning and I was exhausted, wanted to get this print job finished so I clicked on 'yes'.

Then I read the fine print! If I clicked again, I would be agreeing to a $66.00 PER MONTH charge to my credit card! NOT A CHANCE.

So I got the heck out of there, found a work-around and worked on finishing the print job.