Sunday, November 29, 2015

A Day in The Life - A Miniature Life.

"The reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps." Bob Black

I have a feeling if you are like me, you march off the edge of your map daily.  By that I mean, we start off with one project and by the end of the day are way off the trail.  A long way from where we started.

I wake up thinking about miniatures and pretty much go to bed the same way. This usually entails what I plan for the day and then what I never got to that day.

I was working on some chairs recently that I wanted to reupholster and had all of that spread out on one work table.

 

Choosing fabrics for several pieces had me stumped so I looked for a distraction.Then some tea sets I had ordered caught my eye. These were meant to be made up into magically pouring tea sets like this:


Oh, and there's some finished chairs. Here's another one:
*The customer who won this on eBay said she was disappointed with the "quality of the chair" (Bespaq) because "it's light weight and cheap and small (again, Bespaq) and not worth what I paid for it. "I thought it would be oversized and not so cheap looking" (once again perfectly scaled Bespaq).  I told her to return it for a full refund. Never heard from her again. When this happens I have to think they were trying to either get  a partial refund or a full refund and then get to keep the piece. Not. But I digress and am off the path again, as you can see.

So there are the tea sets:
They are commercial pieces that I bought online or on eBay and the quality varies widely with one set being much too big for 1:12 scale. I have an order for a magical set but couldn't decide which to start with and ended up not starting.


BUT. Someone had inquired about a dormouse in a tea pot and I had just gotten this new modeling compound called Bees Putty from Germany. I sculpted this mouse in the too big tea pot because sometimes too big is just right. And the Bees Putty is pretty neat stuff.



"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to", said the Cat. Alice  

I looked back at the tea sets, thought the silver tray was too big and thought maybe it should be painted to go with some Italian pottery I had done recently:
 Actually these were another wandering when I came across some turned wooden pots and some larger terracotta pots I got in a lot on eBay. Because I wanted the strawberry planter in the lot.  (Which I broke as soon as it arrived.) I came across them many a time and finally came up with something to do with them while trolling Pinterest.

So the tray got a coat of gesso. Black gesso. I do love the black stuff. 
I never went further with the tray because I got distracted again. I put away the fabric and tea sets - getting pretty crowded on all 3 of my work desks - and decided to clean up the whole lot. I probably don't have to tell you that once you start that 25 other projects present themselves. 
 Please tell my I'm not alone. Post your wanderings below.  

12 comments:

  1. I can definitely relate to moving from project to project (whether miniatures, scrapbooking or card making)....I 'butterfly' which why my posting 'name' is ScrapbookingButterfly! I think the Bespaq chair you did is really lovely and the purchaser should not have been disappointed with what she received in way, shape or form.

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    1. I love that term 'Butterfly". Its perfect and exactly describes my approach to anything.
      Yes, you can say what you like about my work, but as far as quality goes, Bespaq is the best commercial furniture. Anyway, I never got it back.

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  2. My mind constantly switches between projects, big and small. Never finish one thing in one sitting! You're not alone.,..

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    1. Thank, Shannon. I think creative people are in general scattered and messy too.

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  3. I usually have so many projects going at one time that I end up working in a tiny space on my work table. And it's a big work table!

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    1. ME TOO! Even thought I might start with a clean workspace its filled up within the hour.

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  4. Thanks for letting us know we are all normal miniaturists! lol I love your stuff! I have a ton of flower pots I would like to make look like your Italian pottery and don't have a clue how.

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    1. Grandmommy, just start. You can always paint it over and start again.

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    1. Thank you so much. It was fun doing once I decided what to do with the damn little blank pots!

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  6. Patricia, I love your work a lot. It is very inspiring. I go to sleep and wake up with the same thoughts: minis and what I've done or am planning to do. My husband transformed a 2-car garage into a studio/craft room for me, and I still don't have enough room to fit all my ideas and projects, :)) Happy New Year. Mini hugs, Natalia

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    1. Thanks, Natalia. We are very lucky to wake up to minis and mini thoughts every day. For sure. Have a great 2016 too. Mini filled, I hope.
      Patricia

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