Miniature Monday: More treasures from the Lehigh Valley Miniature Show

Handcrafted by Joyce Slimmons.  Aren't these pieces lovely?  Everything is 1/12th scale.  She had all of these pieces and several more artfully arranged on 3 acrylic floors inside a birdcage.  The entire birdcage with it's stand was sold together with the miniatures.  I am so happy to have purchased her work, I love it!

 Thank you for looking!



Miniature Monday: Lehigh Valley Miniature Show

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Last weekend, my girlfriends and I attended the Lehigh Valley Miniature Show.  The show is hosted by the Lehigh Valley Small on Scale Miniatures Club. You can click HERE  for their website.   We make the 2 hour trek from Brooklyn to Pennsylvania every year and really enjoy the show.  It's a small show, which is perfect for me since I take forever to look at each table.  I always manage to find incredible miniatures from talented artists.  I'll be sharing some of my goodies over the next few posts. 

I spent a fair amount of time at Arlene Finkelstein's table (Artistic Florals.)  She's an inspirational miniaturist who loves to teach others her beautiful techniques.   While I love flower making, I LOVE flower buying even more.  Remembering how hard I worked on the lemon tree she taught me, when I saw this orange tree on her table, I bought it immediately.

These two arrangements caught my eye and I had to have them for my kitchen roombox.

 The two tiny pots on the right are 1/2" scale sunflowers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Monday - Incense Burners from Baubles

My latest obsession continues; experimenting with jewelry findings, beads and chains.  I've come up with hanging miniature incense burners.

The last one on the right is still in progress.  I'm going to add something dangly on the bottom.

Here is a close-up. The round gold findings are earings that I took apart; my very 80's earrings!  I'm going to make a few that are silver and antique looking.

I've made a few incense burners that don't hang and will photograph them for next week's post.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for looking!

Miniature Monday: Lemon Tree

Last week, a group of us got together to work on lemon trees.  One of my friends put the kits together for us and we spent the day at her house chatting and turning wire, paint, clay and paper into this:

My very first miniature lemon tree! I love it. The only thing I would do differently next time will be to put more branches in, but I am very pleased with my first attempt.

The branches started out as about 9-10 pieces of wire, twisted together and coated to look like wood.  Then the flowers are assembled with each being glued on individually, as are the leaves.  The lemons were last.  I kept having to make sure they were hanging properly.

The friend who put the kits together and hosted us doesn't have a web site, but sells at shows and through other vendors.  Here's a sampling of her work: Artistic Florals by Arlene  and Artistic Florals 1/2" scale- she is awesome!

A great resource for pre-punched petals and punches is Hanky Panky Crafts( http://hankypankycrafts.com/ ).  I've purchased many of their punches and books.  I have to warn you though, miniature plant and flower making is addictive!

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Monday: Flower Shop In Progress

I've been taking some of my plants and flowers out of their packaging to furnish this shop I have in progress.

Thanks for looking!

Miniature Monday: Minis for My Merchant of Granada Marketplace

I have been collecting miniatures to use in my Merchant of Granada roombox.

When I go to miniature shows, I have an idea of which projects I am shopping for.  This helps me to stay focused and actually finish the miniature scenes I have in progress.  I don't usually give myself a budget, because when I see something I really really really need, I buy it!  Of course I know I don't "need" anything, but who could pass up a beautiful miniature?

That being said, in between shows, I'm able to "shop" in my own workroom! I love that.  I've gathered all of my recently purchased goodies and those from my stash for this project. I lay everything out, then pick through them, trying different combinations in the scene.  I then let it all sit, make changes, and repeat the process.  Four days to make the structure and three months to decide on what's going inside.  I have to laugh!  It takes me a while to decide, and I often just tack things down and not glue them in place.  I thought I'd share a few pictures of the goodies I've laid out so far!

 

Some of these items are jewelry charms.  The two multicolored tables are from Bespaq.  The pottery, hand made by various miniature artisans.   I love the handwoven baskets. If you have any questions, please let me know. 

 

Thanks so much for looking!



 

Miniature Monday - Beads and Miniature Hookahs

I wanted to try my hand at making hookahs for my mini marketplace scene.

There was a lot of bead and jewelry finding sorting and selecting (and lots of shopping too!)  This is what I've come up with so far:

I started out with a wire twisted at the bottom so it wouldn't fall out of the silver bead.  These beads are laid out in the order I strung and glued them onto the wire.





This is the finished product!

Some of these are not complete.  When I couldn't decide what to do next, I left them alone and will take another look later.

I also made a bunch of perfume bottles and jars.  I really enjoyed this adventure.

 

This is my absolute most favorite Hookah.  I just have to put in the hoses and it's DONE!

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Miniature Monday - Merchant of Granada

I’m starting 2013 off right attending an amazing workshop with Ron Hubble. 

Several local establishments that used to offer Miniature workshops have closed in the past decade.  One of my friends graciously arranged to host Ron, and turned her lower level workshop into our classroom.  There are 9 of us in attendance and for the past four days, we’ve been working on this:

Oh my goodness!  If you want to see his pictures of this project, visit his website HERE.

He is an amazing artist and teacher.  We are so lucky that he agreed to travel to teach us.

I thought I’d share our setup and a few pictures of mine in progress.



My work area during the workshop. I had to clean up at the end of each day to      be ready for the next!

This is the second time Ron has been out to New York City to teach us.  We had such a great time AND finished the project. 

Now I'm ready for some more excitement putting in all of my accessories.  The funny thing is, it takes me longer to decide on what's going where.

Since there are fewer miniature shops, when you go to a show, speak with the vendors and ask around for workshops.  You will find that there are plenty of opportunities to have them visit and teach your group.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ketsia

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone,

As we welcome the year 2013, I'm wishing you continued peace, health, abundance and lots and lots of miniatures!

Ketsia

Miniature Monday: Cooped Up

This lovely piece was created by Wright Guide Miniatures - http://www.wrightguideminis.com/.  I found it while browsing at Philadelphia Miniaturia - http://philadelphiaminiaturia.com/ (love that show!)

Thanks for looking!

Miniature Monday: 2 Lovely Ladies

I purchased these two lovely ladies at a local show in New Jersey many years ago.  I can't remember the very talented artist, but all of the work on her table was amazing.

Thanks for looking!