Couple TV shows - Non-mini but inspirational

During our club chat last Tuesday, a couple members discussed the British show "The Repair Shop" which is on the Makeful channel which I managed to find on my Shaw Cable. Expert craftsmen pool their talents to restore heirlooms and treasured antiques, such as music boxes, teddy bears, signs and, tonight, a 1950s jukebox. Evidently it used to be on Netflix so I was disappointed that I couldn't binge watch it. I've watched 3 shows so far and really enjoy it.

After that show ended tonight, on came  "Fantastical Factory of Curious Craft". Four amateur crafters make prop-like crafts. After an initial challenge, the remaining three go on to craft for a celebrity client, who then chooses the winner and takes home the winner's craft. Gives you a good look at various crafters and what tools and supplies they use. 

Fine-tuning the trash to treasure

My friend, Joan, dropped by yesterday to take an up-close and personal look at the T2T project as she had seen the beginning of it earlier. She was checking the list on her phone against the contents so I thought there had to be an easier way.

So I printed the list on two sheets of brochure paper.

One trimmed to fit and the other ready to be trimmed.

In addition to the front piece with the curved opening, there are three pieces with the same curved cutouts. So I used a black marker to paint all four pieces. Then I glued the list of items to two of the pieces and glued those two to the sides of the box. The third piece was glue tacked to the top of the box and the front piece put back in. 

Eventually I plan on putting plastic between the ceiling and top piece and on the front piece to keep it dust free. But I hope to re-do the aquarium so will leave it as is for now as once the plastic is in place, it will be very difficult to take the front off again.

I then set the completed box on a turntable so the lists can be checked against the room more easily.

Left side

Front

Right side

 

T2T Finished!

First of all, thank you to my followers, friends and fellow miniaturists who have been so supportive while I've been working on this project. It has been such a joy to work on and I appreciate your support.

Now here is the report on what I used.

 Trash to Treasure: 

Rules Your creation can be any scale. You must use 25 out of the 35 items listed below. You do not have to use all of the item, but if it is one of your choices, you must use some of the item. For example, you may choose beads (item 2) but only use 2 beads instead of all 10. When you submit your entry, you must describe how you used each item you selected.

 1. 4 feathers used one as a bookmark

2. 10 Beads used 6 in the aquarium, 2 in the table lamp and one for the kleenex box

3. 3 cotton balls part of one in the chair cushion

4. 10" sq wrapping paper the mat on the framed picture

5. Eraser the Scotch mints and the base of the floor lamp

6. 5 stir sticks, popsicle sticks or tongue depressors picture frame

7. Small box (no side longer than 3") the aquarium

8. 2 stickers on the picture frame and the trim on the wastebasket 

9. 4 bottle caps (any size) the wastebasket

10. Greeting card the framed picture

11. 6" fun foam sheet the chair cushion

12. 6" Felt square the rug

13. 6 Toothpicks the uprights of the shelving unit

14. 2 sheets of paper (8.5 x 11) A green sheet for the lower wall covering, the pages and spine of the book on white paper

15. 1 full sheet of cardstock (any colour) (White) The baseboard, chair rail, the diffuser of the lighting and the cover of the book

16. 4 Q Tips the yellow box on the bottom shelf of shelving

17. 3 Thumb Tacks or Push Pins (any type) the base of the table lamp

18. 6" length of ribbon or lace the runner on the top shelf

19. 2 Toothpaste caps (or any toiletry lid) the shade on the table lamp

20. Small mirror (under 2") the mirror above the shelving unit

21. Tea Bag or coffee grounds the dirt in the planter

22. 6" Sq fabric (any print or solid) the blanket

 23. 2 Paper or binder clips (any size/type) the legs below the aquarium

24. 6 Straight Pins holding both shades in place on the table and floor lamps

25. A Napkin/paper towel the table cloth, the kleenex coming out of the bead 

26. 2 Straws the upright of the floor lamp

27. 2 Pipe cleaners One for the plant in the aquarium and another for the plant

28. 1 Styrofoam or paper 8 oz cup the round table

29. 1 Lid from yogurt/sour cream container the base for the mirror

30. 2 nut shells (pistachio, walnut, peanut) the dish for the Scotch mints

31. Aluminum foil 2-inch square the base for the mirror

32. 6-inch square of sandpaper the bottom (gravel) of the aquarium

33. 1 Egg carton the chair, the floor lamp shade

34. 6-inch square of foam core the chair cushion

35. 5 sequins (not to my credit but used them for the bookmark)

 PLUS: One other type of supply item from your house. This is a supply item not a piece of miniature furniture or an accessory.  the LED lighting strip 

You can use unlimited quantities of: colouring items (e.g., paint, crayons, markers, etc.) and glue. If you want, you can use your computer to turn a paper/card stock item into a printie. In addition, you may use one container (e.g., roombox) for your final scene.  The container is a box that I got at a club meeting a couple years ago - a freebie from Sunni.

From the top:

From the front without the frame

The right side:

The left side"

With the front frame back on.

T2T - Have now used everything on the list

I didn't have a yogurt or sour cream lid so used the lid from some dill pickle dip. Took my oval mirror and traced around it then cut 1/4" around that.

I had some adhesive-backed aluminum foil so covered the plastic from the lid with that. (The drops are glue to attach the mirror.

Coloured the edge of the mirror with black marker, then glued it in place.

Cap my from eyeglass lens cleaner for a wastebasket.

I had just enough sticker left to add around the top of the wastebasket.

I took a piece of yellow gauze ribbon, cut Vs on both ends and used it as a runner on the top shelf.

Something Jodi said in the comments (and a beautiful afghan that my friend Barb R. just made me) made me think I needed a light blanket to go on the chair so  I dug through my baby washcloths from Dollarama and made this from that fabric.

Still had the Q tips. Then I thought if I took the cotton off them, I could use the sticks to build something.

Cutting three of them into 3/4" lengths was going to be a problem. (Cutting nine pieces all the exact same length is not one of my strengths.) The I remembered my Chopper that I bought a couple years ago from a former club member. So I set the black guide to 3/4" and it worked perfectly!

Couldn't find my small Samm Brockhurst gluing jig but the large one would work as well, although not as conveniently. So I glued five of the pieces together for the base of a box.

Glued two pieces up on one side

Then the other.

Cut four more short pieces for the ends

And glued them in place.

And painted it with yellow nail polish.

In keeping with the yellow theme, I remembered that I have (somewhere) a yellow duck push pin. If I can find one, I'll add it to the shelving unit.

Now this is a stretch but my two remaining items are a feather and sequins. I could have used the feather alone as a bookmark but I decided to glue two sequins together at the bottom for the bookmark.

And here is the book with bookmark in place.

So I think it's complete. Next blog I'll show the completed project and give the list of what was used where.

After I posted the original blog about making things from an egg carton, my friend and neighbour, Jeanne, called to say she had two of these wonderful plastic egg cartons - and did I want them? These have even more possibilities than papier mache egg cartons. There are some great serving dishes and that lovely cover for windows, etc.. Too late for this project but lots of possibilities for future work.

Always great to have friends who support your mini obsession.

Two years ago, my DD Leanne took her niece (my granddaughter) on a trip to New York City for Spring Break. (Tried to find her video post on FB when she told Holly I had bought them tickets to Hamilton but couldn't get a link to it.) Anyway, they went to the Museum of Modern Art and bought me this fridge magnet of one  of a triptych of Monet's Waterlilies. She finally got it to me last week. LOL

 

T2T So close to finishing

 A few years ago, I bought a supply of oversized pushpins that are 3/4" tall not including the pin. They make wonderful lamp bases.

To remove the pin, hold the plastic part in one hand and heat the pin with a lighter or match. Then pull out the pin with a pair of pliers.

Used my trusty Krylon gold leafing pen to colour it.

I also used the pen to colour the head of this straight pin then poked it through the centre of the cap of a hand lotion bottle.

I clipped off the bottom of the pin, spread white glue on it, then added the gold and clear beads.

While that glue was drying, I worked on my floor lamp. I painted this piece of egg carton white then stuck a black headed straight pin through the middle.

For the base of the floor lamp, I cut a square piece of a white eraser. The pole of the lamp is a white cocktail straw. First I drilled a hole in the centre of the eraser. That didn't work too well - the hole sort of filled itself in when the drill bit was removed. So I used the drill punch that I used to make the Scotch mints early to enlarge the hole. That worked slightly better but I still had to use my X-Acto knife to get the hole clean and deep enough. Glued the straw in place, made sure it was straight and let it dry. Then I dripped glue into the top of the straw, coated the pin with glue and dropped pin holding the shade into the straw.

Once the glue holding the shade and beads had dried, I glued that to the base with Gorilla gel glue.

My 10th bead is this great one! I glued a tiny piece of the inside white layer of the napkin to make a Kleenex box. (I've used this bead "Kleenex box" several times before. Unfortunately this is the last bead I have.)

Had enough paper and cardstock left to print out a copy of my book "The City of St. Albert" (my home city).

Cut out the pages, scored and folded them, then used a gluestick to put the pages together.

Added the covers and the spine.

Sorry the picture is so poor. Will try and get another, better one.

I'm pleased with it so far but there are still a couple more things left on the list so I think I'll try to work a few more in.

I love this challenge! Most fun I've had in ages.

More trash to treasure

I used the fun foam to make a seat for the chair. 

    I cut three pieces for the seat of the chair, hollowed out the middle piece and put a piece of the cotton ball inside.

I cut three pieces of foamcore 2 1/4" x 1".

Stacked the three pieces and drilled holes in the four corners.

Then I put four round, tooled toothpicks through the holes in the first piece of foamcore and added glue around the bottom of the hole to stabilize it.

When that glue had dried, I added a second level of foamcore and glued that in place.

Added the third level of foamcore and let that dry.

 Will take another look at the list tomorrow but think I'm getting there....