Moving (and melting) slowly

It's the first of three very hot days here in Canberra:

(that's 104, 100.4 and 107.6 Fahrenheit for my so-inclined readers), and worryingly early to be hitting such heights.

And although my new place has much improved airflow (and therefore my studio is a much more bearable temperature) than in my old place, it still means I'm moving at a snail's pace. Which is fine. I'm on holiday after all.

It also means that any painting or staining becomes inadvisable.

So here are my (small) mini achievements today:

1. I made a frame,

and pulled out some pieces that I thought might go nicely with it in a scene. At this stage I'm calling it The Sailor, and have no idea if it's going to be just a shelfy or a full-on build. (Either way I now have some Big Country stuck in my head, which makes me very happy).

2. I went to the post office to check my mail, and discovered, to my delight, that the Christmas-day reading I ordered on a whim has arrived in record time!

(I just need to hide it from myself until Christmas day. Although the way this break is going, Christmas day may pass me by leaving me in blissful ignorance...)

In 'non-miniature' news, I popped into the op shop on the way home from the post office and found this brand-new candle holder for $2:

I'm sure it'll work wonderfully well on my balcony, and there's no reason at all to be googling how to remove spot welding (if that is, indeed, what's holding it together...), or looking at tin snips on the Bunnings website.

I most certainly have not been buying miniatures at the op shop

Because, of course, I most definitely do not need any more miniatures for quite some time.

But I picked up this lovely bamboo placemat for $2.50 this morning, and must have accidentally dropped it here on the way to the dining room:

(Silly me, I must still be exhausted from yesterday...)

Speaking of exhausted, I figured I needed this $2.50 fan to keep me cool as I work in the studio for the next few weeks. It has such lovely intricate fretwork on it, don't you think?

 And perhaps next year I'll start wearing jewellery to work: in which case I thought this $5 brooch would be fun and quite appropriate.

 And these two $4.50 shadow boxes? Oh: I'm thinking about redecorating around here during the break, and thought perhaps a bit of colour would be nice for a change...

See? No new miniatures whatsoever.

Op shop inspiration

(It's OK: I bought this lot before my declaration that I most definitely do not need any more miniatures for quite some time...)

I've been op shopping* a lot over the past year, looking for things I need (and didn't know I needed) for my new home: I've kept myself on a pretty tight budget as I've heard that paying as much as possible off your mortgage in the first year makes a huge difference to how long you spend paying it off, and how much interest you pay in the end.

(I've also been haunting Gumtree, as I've been playing the 'Let's pretend we're just flatting' for the first year game, but that's a whole different post).

On a recent op shop jaunt I picked these up from various op shops for a total of $15:

As there was a piece of the picture frame missing already, I planned to pull it apart and reuse the wooden strips in a rustic scene.

I started that on yesterday,

but then stopped as I saw this:

 changed my mind, Blu-tacked the missing bits back on, and started nutting out a scene.

I'd originally thought of some sort of hipster food spot, but since the only drinks fridge I currently have is a Coca-Cola-branded one, I realised that wouldn't work...

And since the rest of the op-shopped pieces were asian-flavoured, the way forward seemed clear.

Still playing, I gathered bits from the stash that might suit, creating the story as I went along:

It's a small kitchen so they display the dishes of the day under the counter for customers to chose from.

Trays and takeaway cutlery are available at the register, if you choose to 'dine in'.

(Actually, the kitchen is so small, I'm not sure it is legal, but we'll ignore that for now...

 as we will the situation out the side...)

It's only half-done, and I had many plans to flesh it out tonight but the air is smokey, and I started in a new team today so I'm a bit buggered and will get back to this later (hopefully tomorrow).

(*thrift shopping for those of you in the US, and charity shopping for those in the UK. The rest of the world, you're on your own, but I'm sure you know what I mean!)

Miniature eyes (the op-shopped version)

Another visit to James at Victorian Dollhouses this morning—to research a feature for The tiny Times—meant another visit to the op shops of Tuggeranong.

Vinnies did me proud: the selection below cost me $8.40.

Double-sided scrap-booking paper, eight sheets at 5 cents each:

Bead garlands in both clear and silver, pulled out of the 50 cent box.

(Close ups so you can see the detail)

The David statue ($2) is for James who had just been telling me how difficult it is to find statues for a miniature room he's working on. The magnet and mirror were also out of the 50 cent box.

And this printed bamboo table runner was $4. I love how most of it has faded down to fabulously muted colours (obviously someone had kept a vase in the same place for the entire time they'd had the runner on display: the contrast makes me even more pleased about the fading on the rest of it.)

Second-hand scores

It's been a while since I last went op shopping, and I did very well mini-wise on that trip. So today, after a morning at the car wash catching up on reading while Miss Daisy had her six-monthly bath, and lunch with work friends, I did the rounds of some north-side op shops.

The first find was a stash of tapestry yarn skeins, just perfect for mini knitting. At 50 cents a skein, the lot came home with me to be added to my stash:

(Let's not talk about the fact I have a shoe box full of similar finds that I have not yet touched, shall we?)

 I also picked up a set of plastic drawers like the ones I used to hold larger-sized mini accessories. For $4, I'm happy to ignore the fact that these are white and the rest of the ones I own are black.

And, finally, there's a handful of National Geographics. Because every holiday house needs a pile of old National Geographics somewhere. I tried to convince myself (and a friend) that,in the seaside shack, they were hidden away in the sideboard, but I wasn't convinced. And I'm not sure she was, either. 

Oh, and in case you're in need of a pile of National Geographics in your mini scene, download this photo (Click on it to get the large size, then right click and 'save image as'):

Resize the image to a height of 2.125 cm (or, if you work in  1/6 th scale, 4.25 cm), print it out, cut it out and then glue around a piece of balsa wood (or similar) the correct size.

Then relax secure in the knowledge you have one of the main ingredients of the perfect summer break. In miniature, at least...

Op-shopped objects

Following my good luck at the Trash and Treasure Markets back in August, today I had the (mini) op-shopping fairy with me.

On the way home from the dolls house shop (yes, I succumbed to the temptation), I took the opportunity (geddit?) to pop into a couple of op shops at the other end of town.

Where a grand total of $9 netted me this:

Bamboo runner and placements to pull apart to harvest thin wood strips ($2 the lot).

Four sets of standard mug/ toothbrush and toothpaste and two sets of tools: 50 cents each.

(I think these are supposed to go on the ends of cords on clothing but will make great mini containers): 50 cents each. 

Two sets of head plaques: 50 cents each. 

Routemaster bus key chain: $1. 

And, finally, a set of sticky letters (because you can never have too many letters!): $1.

Op shop adventures

 I popped into the op shop today with my 'mini eyes' in, spent $15, and came out with this:

The coasters will be turned upside down and used as table tops. The napkin rings will be used as coffee table bases.
 
The bag of perspex bits (I have no idea what they might have been originally) will also become coffee table bases.

Or maybe modern art.
 
I'm particularly pleased with this set:

 The napkin rings can, once again, become coffee table bases. Or side tables. Or modern art. And the holder would make a great display coffee table if covered with a piece of perspex.

And when I get bored with that idea, I can screw the legs off and use them to make a cool modern sofa. Or bed. Or something...

Beady eyed

A quick trip to the local op shop on the way home from the Post Office.

A $1 bag of large wooden beads. Makes a perfect stash of miniature lamp bases!

Wrapping up last weekend

(Just in time for this weekend)

There was exploring of new-to-me op shops where I wanted this: (but in miniature).

And this:The size it was.Especially as it was $120 with 30% off. I did spend some time calculating the size of Div's boot in my head until I finally came to the realisation that I really didn't have anywhere to put it at home and that it didn't really go with the rest of my furniture...

Across the court was what we'd really come for: the new home ofFairy Meadow Miniatures. With the upstairs library and display area where we got to admire Div's latest project, Cliff Drive:(which started life as a DHE Ocean Drive)
And, before we left, I got to see the article in The Meadow News about my 2008/2009 exhibition:
(I can't wait until I get my own copy for the archive so I have the time to actually read it!)

No time to blog...

been busy.

C is for*...

This morning J and I had arranged for me to assist with taking her cats to the vet for their annual visit. And then "assist" her with taking some excess belongings to Lifeline and the op shop.

Which was a rather exciting prospect as I've not been op shopping (in Australia, at least) for months. The Frugalling Fairy obviously agreed.

After we dropped of several bags full of stuff to Y's Buys in Belconnen I did my usual circuit of the shop. And Frugaller's Rule Number One ("Always look inside things") did me good in the toy department when I pounced on this: (I've only been lusting after an alphabet stamp set for forever, and a vintage almost unused one with a fake wood veneer box for $1 makes it well worth the wait!)

Someone had been having a play alreadywhich made me laugh as I'd seen rather a lot of cats this morning: Mr Nibbs (of course), Daisy and George (who went to the vet with us), Snowball from ACT Cat Alliance, not Otis (whose name we didn't learn but was in an Ansett cat carrier marked "Otis") and Smokey, the vet's cat. Oddly enough, all black and white or black (except Smokey)

So there was only one thing to do: make today's inchie using the stamp that came in the box

(Seems I'm not the only one who forgets about inverting images when printing...)

(*Cat and coincidence?)