Monday, September 10, 2012

Today's project

You may recall that the two storey roombox didn't come with plexiglass fronts although the moulding is there for it.

At some point, I'll get plexiglass but it's not going to happen before the show on Sunday but I really wanted something in place by then.

I didn't have any pieces of rigid clear plastic that were big enough but I remembered I had a roll of fairly heavy clear plastic that we received at the last Edmonton Gathering.

I cut two pieces of matboard to fit the front opening of one room of the box.

I then cut out the centre of each piece, leaving two 1/4" wide 'frames'.

That was getting a step ahead of myself. Here I put the cut-out piece back inside the frame. Now I place that over the clear plastic and cut a piece of the plastic the size of the entire piece of matboard. So the plastic should be cut before the 'frames' are cut. The 'frames' are too flimsy to use to cut the plastic properly.

I didn't have any of the glues suggested at This to That so I did take one hint from the Plastic to Paper page and scuffed up the edges on both sides of the plastic with an emery board so it would glue better. (I put my metal ruler in 1/4" from the outside edge of the plastic so the emery board wouldn't scratch the area that will show inside the frame).

I spread glue on one side of one frame and glued the plastic in place. When that dried, I flipped it over and glued the second piece to the other side of the plastic. Once that glue dried, I put the piece in the slots. It didn't go in easily so I trimmed it a bit so it would move easily.

And here it is in place covering the front of the bottom room. Not wild about the portion of the frame that shows but the slot isn't very deep and if the frame was any narrower it would be too flimsy to work with.

Now I have to make the piece for the top room and I can pack up my displays for the show!

Took about twice as long as I had thought it would but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Sisters, incredible eye candy

My mom and my three sisters are not miniaturists but they're all very supportive of my hobby/obsession and often pick up things here and there that they think I'll be able to use. When the printer saga was ongoing, I often spoke to DS Marie about what was happening and she picked up a little 'sorry you're going through all that' gift for me. On the day she mailed it, things finally got all sorted out with the printer so it turned into a "glad it all worked out" gift. VBG

It arrived Friday and got put to good use over the weekend!

It's a pack of DryBOND repositionable adhesive:


I used it to hang the new Judy Schafers painting in the Art Gallery and to attach the name to my pedlar's cart for the Little Fair on the Prairie:


Yesterday, I got all the last fiddly stuff done on my Little Fair on the Prairie pieces (glued everything down, made sure my name was on everything) and got all of that packed up and ready for transport.


What a week it's going to be! Still don't have plexiglass for the two story roombox so have to figure out 'something' there; pack up my displays; and finish up show preparations; some miniaturist friends are staying at my place this weekend; about 20 of us are attending an all-day workshop on Saturday - that is being held in a room in my building so has to be set up; Joanne and I are organizing the lunch for the workshop; we have a dinner at the hotel on Saturday night; then the show on Sunday.

At last count, my 'to-do' list had 97 items on it. Fortunately most of them are quick 5 - 10 minute things but some are a more labour intensive. But all worth it in the end!

I did take the time this morning to read my e-mail (of course) and took a look at Orsi in Budapest's latest project. Absolutely incredible! Being Fimo-challenged myself, I always admire the work of those who aren't but Orsi's work is breathtaking!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Only one week to go..


MINIATURE ENTHUSIASTS OF EDMONTON CLUB invites you to take part in their

16th ANNUAL FALL SHOW & SALE

Sunday, September 16, 2012
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Executive Royal Inn
10010 – 178 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5S 1T3
Admission:  Adult - $4.00; 7-15 $2.00; Under 6 Free
No strollers, please!

Hope to see you there.

DEALER LIST 2012

Another World Miniatures (Linda Maddaford, Bev Perret)
1:12 scale fine furniture, blown glass, silver, findings, fabric and lace, silk ribbon and accessories some 1:48 scale accessories, findings and kits.

Bits by Barb (Barb Striethorst)
Plant kits, plants, slippers, bonsai, basket kits, landscape supplies

Bob Francis Miniatures
Magazines and Assorted 1:12 and 1:48 scale miniatures

Brenda-Maitland Whitelaw
Assortment of furniture and little stuff, tote bag favours spanning three decades, some tools and a few books

Connie Stitt
Plant and flower accessories in 1:12 and 1:24 scale

Hansen House Miniatures (Lori Hansen)
Food, accessories

Hummingbird Miniatures (Kathy Barbier)
Hand-painted garden accessories

Janice Crawley, IGMA Fellow
Ceramic dishes, tiny porcelain dolls (dressed and undressed)

Judy Mitchell
Various handmade items in 1:12 and 1:48 scales

Brigitte’s Minis and Kristina Bears (Brigitte and Kristine Simon)
Fruit/vegetables, floral designs, toys

Luba Barnes
Miscellaneous miniature items in 1:12 and 1:48, wallpaper

Sue Magnan
Roomboxes, magazines, dolls, Christmas decorations, miscellaneous
furniture, pictures, wallpaper

MiniLAND
Full line of roomboxes, furniture and accessories

Ms Mini (Sherrill Bedu)
1:12 and 1:48 dolls, furniture, accessories, kits, etc.

Raymond Clifford Models Heritage Miniatures (Marija and Dennis Dreher)
1:12 scale Heritage pewter tools and kitchen items

Montacute Miniatures (Debbie Burville)
Handpainted porcelain miniatures in 1:12 scale

Mustard Seed Miniatures (Lori Ann Potts)
Handcrafted miniature doll house collectables
N.A.M.E. (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts)

Needleart Treasures by Rosalle
Crocheted accessories for the mini home

Nigh’s Pottery
Miniature hand thrown (on a wheel) pottery (every piece is one of a kind). Tools and assorted other items

Patricia Makarowski
 Furniture and accessories in 1:12 scale, some 1:48 scale. Dollhouse kits.

Reenie’s Teenies (Reenie Desarker)
1:12 miniatures, food, shoes

Sue Lefebvre
1:12 scale accessories

Tiny Treasures (Louise Zawada)
1:12 miniatures and supplies

Val’s Creations (Val Corraini)
Assortment of miniatures, dolls, supplies. Downsizing.

Valley Doll Museum & Gifts
Accessories, roomboxes, dollhouse kits

Friday, September 7, 2012

The ArtWalk

Several of the pictures in the Art Gallery were fridge magnets bought at art galleries in Dartmouth, NS.  Oops, when I went to put a link there, I just realized I hadn't done a fotki album of the Art Gallery but if you're new here, the blogs about it from beginning to end run from August 7 to August 14.

So it was wonderful to see that artist Judy Schafers had some prints of her work mounted on foamcore for sale at her display along the ArtWalk. I grabbed up one that I fell in love with:

By Judy Schafers, St. Albert, 5 1/4" x 2 1/2"
(Had to take the picture at an angle to eliminate glare)
 She had another that I should have bought :-( The fridge magnets aren't on her website but she does do miniature paintings on wood and some are small enough for 1:12 scale and are a very reasonable price for original works of art. Beautiful work!

SO I ended up replacing the red glass sculpture above the art gallery counter with the new artwork. Just perfect!


In RL found two artists at the Art Beat Gallery whose works I fell in love with: Marianna Mikhaylyan (you have to see her work  in person - pictures simply do not do it justice) and Tinyan Chan (pictures still don't quite do the paintings justice but closer).

Thursday, September 6, 2012

St. Albert Art Walk

St. Albert’s downtown ArtWalk returns for the tenth season bigger and better than ever!  Join thirteen venues for the opener on Thursday, May 3 and discover St. Albert as an art destination, a place to enjoy, view and buy art to suit all tastes and budgets.  Enjoy each fantastic art exhibition all month long!  Come and see returning participants and explore new venues as you stroll through the Perron District and discover vibrant artworks. 

It's a lovely day today...temperature is about 22 C with only a small breeze as opposed to the strong winds of the last few days...so Joanne and I are going to do the ArtWalk tonight.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Visit with a mini friend

Those of you from Ontario in particular know Connie Stitt who makes the loveliest plants. Followers here have seen her work in my Plant stall for the Little Fair on the Prairie. (Connie made all but one plant and the flowers below the bird houses.)


Connie moved to Alberta last year and we are so pleased to have her as a dealer at our Show and Sale this year.

We had a wonderful phone visit this morning and we're both excited about getting together again weekend after next.

Our first MEE meeting of the new year was last night. Our project for this year is an attic room. I wasn't going to do it originally but it has so many wonderful possibilities that I signed up for it after all. Just when I got two projects crossed off my list here I am adding another one. LOL Oh, well, back up to fourteen - that I'm admitting to anyway.

Our condo annual general meeting is tonight and coffee club meets this afternoon so today's another busy day.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Just catching up...

Not going to have much time for minis per se for the next while...

Our first club meeting is tomorrow night so I was busy writing the newsletter that I try to get out to members at least two or three days before the meeting.

I've also been trying to put together a members' handbook for the club so that's taken up a lot of my time - as have a lot of last minute details in dealing with the Show and Sale on September 16.