The Shopping Sherpa

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Thank you

I took a step back for a day, and read your comments. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I returned to the build with a clearer idea of what I needed to do next. One of those things turned out to be putting the first coat of 'creosote' on the side siding. Which suddenly made the whole thing look much better

Dry fit of a dolls' house shed kit, with stained weatherboarding taped to the sides.

(especially combined with pulling the cardboard central wall template out of the pile and re cutting it to fit around the front and rear beams. Buying a better roll of masking tape. And adding some furniture pieces).

And I've emailed someone to see if they can laser cut the extra roof beams I need to extend the roofline out over the pergola area. Because I know there's no way I can do that myself.

Meanwhile, I visited the newly-opened Canberra IKEA yesterday and couldn't resist buying a pair of light-up pears to add to my collection. Since I only need one in the collection, I thought the other would make an interesting garden sculpture for the build...

Dry fit of a dolls' house shed kit at night, with an Adirondack chair and a light-up pear sculpture outside it.

Speaking of IKEA, while I was there I noticed that they've added another set to their Huset range. Once again, out of scale for 1/12, but still tempting as the rug would work fine, the wardrobe doors could be hacked for front doors. And that dragon!

I may need to take Wendy out for a visit.

#HBSCreatinContest2015

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Presents in the post

That was mean of me, keeping you in suspense about what was in yesterday's delivery from Mod Pod Miniatures.

Selection of items wrapped in blue and teal tissue paper, laid out on a tabletop with an envelope on top addressed to Anna-Maria

Shall we open the contents together?

Selection of wrapped items laid out on a tabletop

The first excitement were these fabric pieces. The bottom one is particularly timely as I approach the six-month mark of quitting my toxic job.

Two pieces of black and white fabric printed with words.

I love these frames and am very tempted to start trawling eBay to find more and I think they'd make a fabulous gallery wall. Except I'm not supposed to be spending any money...

Hand holding two white scrapbooking frame embellishments.

Great pictures, once again with perfect messages for me right now.

And this! An Old Navy purse keychain (after I removed the keychain bit).

Hand holding up a dolls' house miniature leather handbag with metal straps.

Oddly enough, I've had this LiLu clock on my Etsy wish list for a while but never got around to buying it, so was excited to unwrap it.

Hand holding a modern dolls' house miniature square perspex clock.

Black and white cushions! With letters! Much excitement (and many exclamation points!)

Hand holding two modern dolls' house miniature black cushions with white text on them.

A lovely desk,

Hand holding a dolls' house miniature mid-century-modern desk in wood and metal.

And a SLICE Tilt coffee table, which is an amazing piece of design.

Modern dolls' house miniature Slice coffee table with a sculpture and decorative plate on top.

There was more: I thought I'd just showcase the highlights.

Selection of dolls' house miniatures and craft items laid out on a tabletop

Thank you so much for your generosity, Mad for Mod. I feel very spoilt and inspired.

And rather guilty, as I have this sitting under my desk:

Shopping basket with a pile of shabby-chic-style fabrics, a collection of letter Ks and various other items in it.

A basket of swap items waiting to go in the mail. I'm hoping to get to it after the exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery opens next Friday.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

I thought hobbies were supposed to be fun

(WARNING: Grumping ahead)

I was feeling pretty confident this morning, and decided that it would be a great idea if I did another dry fit of my HBS Creatin Contest build to see where things were at, as I've spent the past couple of weeks doing a lot of painting and not much else.

This time round, I fitted some of the roof pieces in place and realised not fitting them in the first mock up was a major mistake.

Half-built dolls' house shed sitting on a dining-room table.

Because there's a beam across the back that I didn't factor in to my measurements, so I'll need to cut down the back wall to fit.

Close up of a corner of a half-built dolls' house shed, showing walls not meeting up properly.

A half-built dolls' house shed from the front.

It's like the build is taunting me.

Cartoon of a creature poking its tongue out and going 'ngah ngah'

I started at the bundles of wood pieces that I haven't placed yet, trying to figure out where they were supposed to go, and then decided I probably didn't need them anyway.

A half-built dolls' house shed from the front, with a collection of wooden lengths in front.

Feeling disheatened, I thought that taping the cladding on and doing a dry install of the windows would help cheer me up.

A half-built dolls' house shed, with weatherboard cladding masking taped onto the rear wall.

Except that the cladding kept falling off...

A half-built dolls' house shed, with weatherboard cladding fallen off the rear wall.

the french door frames fell apart as I was carrying them to the table...

Pieces of a dolls' house miniature sliding door on a table.

and when I tried to install them...

Half-built dolls' house shed with weatherboard cladding attached and a sliding door in pieces in the door frame.

(did I mention that the cladding kept falling off? Which was just as well as the doors didn't seem to want to fit into the holes I'd cut in the cladding.)

Half-built dolls' house shed with weatherboard cladding, some of which has fallen into the doorway.

And when I fitted the back windows I discovered that the thickness of the weatherboard cladding and the wall made it so the windows were set in rather than flush.

Inside of a half-built dolls' house shed, showing that the windows don't fit the full depth of the wall.

Another headache to add to the list.

Close up of the Inside of a half-built dolls' house shed, showing that the windows don't fit the full depth of the wall.

And, of course, the centre wall is now completely the wrong shape to fit.

Close up of the Inside of a half-built dolls' house shed,with a hand holding a central wall at an angle because it doesn't fit where it should go.

The final straw was the fact that, although I'd been working almost daily on the build for weeks, it really doesn't look like I've achieved anything. And anything I have achieved looks like it'll have to be redone anyway.

So I decided to step away from the whole thing and go for a walk to the post office. During which time I thought deeply about just giving up on the whole build, having a rest from minis for a week or two, and then going back to the part of the hobby I enjoyed, chalking the whole build up as a learning experience.

And there, waiting for me at the post office, was an unexpected delivery:

And I felt much cheerier all round.

#HBSCreatinContest2015

1:6 scale miniatures in Australia? A question from a reader

1/6 scale mid-century-modern plastic chairs on display in a shop

Karen emailed me recently asking if I 'knew of any Australian shops or suppliers that are doing 1:6 scale as a miniature craft for older children and adults: not just the kiddie pink plastic variety?'

And I had to admit I had no idea. Is anyone able to help Karen?

Monday, November 16, 2015

Scale model Sunday

Yesterday I visited The Old Bus Depot Markets to buy one of Suitcase Dollhouse's model Canberra bus shelters (you might remember that I have a bit of a thing for Canberra bus shelters...)

Stack of boxed model Canberra bus stops on a market stall.

But they'd sold out of the one I'd had my heart set on, so I admired some of their other new pieces

Miniature room in a book box on a market stall.

Dolls' house in a suitcase on a market stall.

Dolls' house room boxes on a market stall next to a sign which says 'You don't have to be little to love a little house'

before leaving empty handed.

On the drive home I spotted a sign at the side of the road advertising a scale model exhibition being held at Kaleen High School, and so decided to make a detour and have a look.

Scale model aeroplane in display in front of tables of scale models.

It was like an alternative miniature universe,

Two men shopping at a stall at a scale model show.

filled with men instead of woman

A man and a boy choosing model kits at a scale model show.

and planes, cars and military vehicles instead of houses and gardens.

Two men looking at a display of scale model cars.

Although there were some houses

Model farm diorama at a scale model exhibition.

and gardens

A diorama of a giant insect above a patio and garden bed at a scale model exhibition.

just not how I'm used to seeing them!

A man looking at a model bombed-out building diorama at a scale model exhibition.

A model bombed-out building and tank diorama at a scale model exhibition.

I checked out the sales stalls to see what they had and was surprised to see most items in 1/35 scale, which I'd never heard of.

A 1/35 scale radio set on display on a stand at a scale model exhibition.

When I asked the chap behind the stall 'Why 1/35 scale?' I got one of those circular answers: 'Because that's the scale everyone works in.' I'm still mystified.