hand Made Very beautiful honey! beautiful realistic miniature size 1:12
I've been in the mood for making food recently, and after posting photos of these on Instagram and Facebook, got lots of requests for a tutorial, so here it is! You Will Need: Labels from packaging or printables, Vinyl gloves Plastic bags from packaging Green/red/brown markers Clear tape Glue stick (like PrittStick) Hot glue stick Acrylic paint Red beads (nail polish optional) Plastic covered paperclips Scissors Step 1. Find yourself some labels. I used whatever I could find from advertisements and free supermarket magazines, but of course you could easily source some photos of packaging online and print them out. I didn't have any more of the ones I used to make the original three but the technique is exactly the same. Step 2 Cut out the label. I use fine sewing scissors for fussy cutting and a scalpel and metal rule for anything with large straight lines. Step 3. Make a template for the plastic bag. I just used a scrap of paper and guesstimated what looked right with the label. Obviously you could take measurements of the real thing and downscale it but I'm more of a bodger than anything else! Alternatively, if you have any really tiny resealable plastic bags you could skip these steps and just use them Step 4. Using the paper template, fold a piece of clear plastic bag over it and secure with a paperclip. I just used a sandwich bag but really any flexible plastic will do, and it's a good way of recycling otherwise non-recyclable packaging. Step 5. Trim the edges flush with the template on the three non folded sides, leaving a little extra on the top edge for folding over later. Step 6. Position the label where you want it and using a glue stick, glue in place. Step 7. Using a strip of wide clear packing tape, carefully place it over the front of the bag, smoothing out any air pockets as you go. Step 8. Carefully fold the sides of the tape over and trim off any excess. Make sure the top part is open so the bag isn't sealed completely. Now you can remove the template and ta-da, you now have a finished plastic bag! Now for the contents - the salad! Step 1. For this I used a combination of materials, but the most important are these - vinyl gloves and green food bags. I use blue vinyl gloves whenever I'm using spray primer or paint and the fingers always end up getting all sticky from where they've been covered in paint, but the rest of the gloves are usually pretty clean. Rather than see them go entirely to waste, I wondered if I could use them in a miniature, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that I could! Step 2. Using a selection of markers, I added colour to both - I did both sides of the glove material to cover up the blue, but only one side on the already green hued bag. The ink can be a little sticky, so after letting them dry for a couple of minutes, I blotted them with a scrap of tissue and dusted on a little talc to get rid of any residual stickiness. Step 3. Now for the fun bit! Some types of plastic bags do this better than others, but unfortunately I don't know why, although I think ones that are a little thicker are probably best. Anyway, the green bags can be torn and as you pull the plastic apart, it naturally develops a wonderfully frizzy edge, which makes very convincing lettuce! The untinted plastic, seen below on the right, makes excellent Iceberg lettuce. The vinyl doesn't tear quite as nicely, and tends to break into much more angular pieces, but it cuts beautifully with scissors, so it would be very simple to cut them into more leaf-like shapes. I didn't on this occasion however. Step 4. You could just easily leave it there with the lettuce, but I wanted to go all out on this one, so I looked up the ingredients of this particular salad, and decided to make not only the lettuce but the red onion, pepper, sweetcorn, cucumber and tomatoes as well. First up, the red onion. You could easily make a cane with polymer clay but who has time for that when you could use a plastic tube and sharpies instead? 😋 I'm pretty sure this was originally a balloon stick I salvaged from somewhere, but it was about the same diameter as a drinking straw, only a little thicker and in sturdier plastic. I coloured the outside with sharpies and once dry, cut it into slices with a scalpel. Step 5. The sweetcorn was nice and easy - take a yellow plastic covered paperclip, unfold and straighten it out, then carefully slice the plastic in the middle to free it from the rest of the clip. Use pliers or the back of the scalpel blade to push the plastic off the wire. (I'd also really recommend wearing gloves when using sharpies and markers or you'll end up with horribly stained fingers like mine, lmao) All you need to do now is chop it into tiny bits with scissors. In hindsight, I should have flattened the tubing with pliers, prior to cutting it up, so I'd advise doing that as it looks much better! If I'd done this with a white one, I think it would have made quite nice spring onion, especially with a hint of green sharpie added to the paperclip before cutting. Alternatively, chopping up a yellow elastic band would be another good way of making sweetcorn. Step 6. I used the same technique for the peppers, this time flattening the plastic with pliers and cutting it into strips. Step 7. For the tomatoes I painted some plastic beads using nail polish as I somehow didn't have any the right size and colour! If I were making a salad to be displayed in a bowl or something, I'd have made some out of clay for realism, but as they'd be in a bag where you were unlikely to see the holes, I didn't mind simplifying them and the polish gave them a really nice fresh off the vine sheen. Step 8. The cucumber proved a little tricky, but I'm super pleased with how it turned out. I used a hot glue stick, one that had gone a little yellow and opaque as opposed to the highly translucent ones that make up most of my stash. I painted the outside with green acrylic in a series of quite thick layers to build up texture. I actually made this twice as the first time the glue stick was too clear, so I redid it with a more opaque one, hence the WIP photos looking a little different to the final work. Once it was 100% dry, I chopped them into slices with a scalpel and halved them. Having them more opaque makes a huge difference! Step 9. We now have all the ingredients, so it's time to assemble! I ended up really craving a salad bowl after this, lol Rather than just stuffing everything into the bag, I was careful to put my best looking bits at the front, and rearranged things with a cocktail stick so it looked more realistic. Always make more salad than you think you'll need because trust me, you won't have made enough! Step 10. Once filled to capacity, gently place a strip of clear tape over the open top, trim the side parts and fold over to seal the bag. You could also fold the top part over before applying the tape for a cleaner finish. Aaaaand you're done! Overall I'm really happy with this, and I'd love to make more as it's a really rewarding thing to create. In hindsight I'm not happy with the sweetcorn, but it's not too bad really. Ideally I'd like to get some tiny plastic bags so I don't have to faff around and make them from scratch but I do like the look of them so I don't mind putting in the extra effort. While I was in the mood, I also put together another couple of foody things using a similar technique. I made asparagus using offcuts from artificial plants, a scrap of foamboard and clear tape. I glued the stalks onto the foamboard using UHU glue, then wrapped a scrap of plastic around it, gluing it in place at the back. I also made a packet of mozzarella by cutting out the label, gluing it to a sheet of paper, folding it over and sealing the edges with tape as before, leaving one side open to stuff with scrunched up paper, before sealing with more tape. I'm (finally) working on a kitchen for Max and Juno, so this probably won't be the last food tutorial you'll see for a while!
Happy pre-Thanksgiving Y'all! I promise I will eventually report on something other than miniatures... buuut it's just what I feel like sharing mmmk? I recently posted pictures on my Instagram page of a cabin scene I made. And in this precious scene were two lanterns that I made in a sort of jiffy. The next day or two I thought... maybe this mini cabin person has a collection of lanterns... so I started digging for more beads and more buttons and along the way thought I'd show you! I started by going through my old button stashes for bases, middles and tops of the lanterns. For the bottoms I wanted more decorative and flat bottom buttons. For the middle, ones that could support the round globe beads. For the tops, something either domed or that had a hook resembling a handle. Here are the ones that I found. For more of my miniature tutorials click HERE. Decorative bottom buttons. Tops. These are the beads I used for the globes or the lanterns.... I guess there are not pictures of the middles. They are pretty plain. Next I glued the middle buttons to the bottom base buttons, then the globe, then more middle buttons, and then the tops. I used Elmer's Wood Glue. It's my favorite go-to glue. I didn't take pictures of the process of gluing. I simply dip my favorite paint brush into the glue and dab it on a button the stack. The important thing is to give the glue time to dry. I'm bad about the patience part of this. :) After the glue has dried and set it's time to paint. I just use normal craft paint. Some of them need handles. So I cut a piece of wire about one inch in length, bend it around a paint brush handle and bend the ends. I then put glue on each bend and place where it belongs on the tops of the lantern. Here are my results! They aren't perfect and some of them aren't straight but that's how I like them. This one sort of looks more like a hummingbird feeder to me. So I guess that can happen too. When I look through old buttons like this I always pick out the shell buttons and put them in a special jar. I can always spot them. They have a different kind of opal-ness to them in color and shine. Most of the time the backs of them are darker like sea shells, a lot of times they aren't level in their cut and they most always have a cooler temperature. I like to touch them to my chin to make sure of the temp. They are so pretty and I for sure don't want to use them in this project and paint over their natural beauty! Check these pictures out of them. This picture show the back sides. They aren't always white in color. I love these darker ones. The back of these is the picture above. It looks like I've never gone through this tin of buttons and pulled out the sea shells. I'm certain there's more! My morning sorting. For more of my miniature tutorials click HERE.
Miniature artist Hannah Lemon's houseplants were a big hit, earning her a spot on season 2 of Best in Miniature. Learn more in the full interview!
Miniature Crafts: How to Make Realistic Miniature Bricks
We have talked about making miniatures from trash to treasure projects before, but it got a bit to long. So today we are starting part 2.
Miniature artist Hannah Lemon's houseplants were a big hit, earning her a spot on season 2 of Best in Miniature. Learn more in the full interview!
I've been exploring several options for paper curtains for dollhouses. The patterns are fun and diverse and it can be a fun way to create a new look. I decided to try to make a mini blind that could be pulled up and would hold in a variety of positions. So this is what I came up with and how I approached it. I thought I would share for others who might like to try it. Basic tools I used for this project - paper or cardstock, cotton crochet thread, 1/8" hole punch, scoring board and bone folder for creasing, pencil, ruler tape, and patience! I used a 3" x 12" strip and scored it at 1/2" intervals Score lines Accordian fold all the way up At the bottom I measured in about 3/8" and a 1/4" from the bottom to have a guide for punching my holes. I use the first holes to mark the next and cut through two layers and mark again. I do find it better to not punch too many at once because the hole pattern doesn't always fall quite in the center and I adjust to get it as close as possible. Punch holes all the way except for the top one. Cut off one long piece of crochet thread. One continuous string, half up one side and half up the other. From the bottom I feed through the holes on both sides. One additional step that I forgot to include. Pull the string out of the top holes and put a layer of invisible tape on the front and back of that section and repunch your top hole on each side. This will help reinforce where most of the tension is felt when pulling the thread. Now I cross each thread to the opposite top hole and pull it through. Now your ends should be hanging out the front. To test pull, I pinch together the top fold as shown. You should be able to grab the strings with your other hand and gently pull. A small piece of double sided tape will be used. I find Scotch tape most dependable. See the little piece of tape in the center? Make sure it isn't overlapping your holes. This is only done on this one layer. For additional strength, I use invisible tape on the outside edges also taking care not to overlap the holes. Then trim excess. It should look like this. Make sure you strings move easily. Hold from the back like before to test movement. The purpose of this is to create friction and help your blind to hold wherever you want. Tape the bottom where the string wraps around so the thread does not shift. This one next to my first completed one! Now I make the header using foam board though some may prefer wood, whatever is handy and preferable. I am creating a U-shape to have an opening where my thread moves freely. The shorter ends are about 3/8" high and glued to the front and back at the top and the larger piece is glued on them. I trimmed an edge because of where my holes were. Wood edges would be thinner and less like to interfere. My two shorter outer edges glued with clear tacky glue Here is a side view of the U-shape. This is the top of the blind. I test to make sure no glue has seeped out and glued my thread down. I cut another 3" piece of my paper to cover the foam on top and scored it and cover all three sides meaning the front, top and back. That leaves the open sides to cover. I cut a 1/2" strip and glue it on and then trim with my knife. I do this mainly since it may not be a square as I think, lol! This last step is another piece of double sided tape to attach the next fold to the top so it will hang correctly. This is the view from the back. After adding that tape I took additional invisible tape and taped across the back of the header where you would attach it to your wall or window to help protect the paper. Also extended a small bit of tape around the layer I used the double sided tape on between the strings and on the outer edges for reinforcement. I had another sheet of this paper so I cut out the matching part and glued it to the bottom of my blind to cover the string. Side view I had not cut my thread yet so extra long but when your blind is pulled up you may want to guide it to one side. I gently push it in near the top slat to hold it off to the side. When you trim your threads, pull it out all the way to make sure you have enough length. I tied tiny knots where I thought I wanted the length to be and then cut off the excess. Have fun creating your own special look!
We have talked about making miniatures from trash to treasure projects before, but it got a bit to long. So today we are starting part 2.
Happy pre-Thanksgiving Y'all! I promise I will eventually report on something other than miniatures... buuut it's just what I feel like sharing mmmk? I recently posted pictures on my Instagram page of a cabin scene I made. And in this precious scene were two lanterns that I made in a sort of jiffy. The next day or two I thought... maybe this mini cabin person has a collection of lanterns... so I started digging for more beads and more buttons and along the way thought I'd show you! I started by going through my old button stashes for bases, middles and tops of the lanterns. For the bottoms I wanted more decorative and flat bottom buttons. For the middle, ones that could support the round globe beads. For the tops, something either domed or that had a hook resembling a handle. Here are the ones that I found. For more of my miniature tutorials click HERE. Decorative bottom buttons. Tops. These are the beads I used for the globes or the lanterns.... I guess there are not pictures of the middles. They are pretty plain. Next I glued the middle buttons to the bottom base buttons, then the globe, then more middle buttons, and then the tops. I used Elmer's Wood Glue. It's my favorite go-to glue. I didn't take pictures of the process of gluing. I simply dip my favorite paint brush into the glue and dab it on a button the stack. The important thing is to give the glue time to dry. I'm bad about the patience part of this. :) After the glue has dried and set it's time to paint. I just use normal craft paint. Some of them need handles. So I cut a piece of wire about one inch in length, bend it around a paint brush handle and bend the ends. I then put glue on each bend and place where it belongs on the tops of the lantern. Here are my results! They aren't perfect and some of them aren't straight but that's how I like them. This one sort of looks more like a hummingbird feeder to me. So I guess that can happen too. When I look through old buttons like this I always pick out the shell buttons and put them in a special jar. I can always spot them. They have a different kind of opal-ness to them in color and shine. Most of the time the backs of them are darker like sea shells, a lot of times they aren't level in their cut and they most always have a cooler temperature. I like to touch them to my chin to make sure of the temp. They are so pretty and I for sure don't want to use them in this project and paint over their natural beauty! Check these pictures out of them. This picture show the back sides. They aren't always white in color. I love these darker ones. The back of these is the picture above. It looks like I've never gone through this tin of buttons and pulled out the sea shells. I'm certain there's more! My morning sorting. For more of my miniature tutorials click HERE.
Make tiny drippy candles like the one's seen here, in Witch Hilda's Cottage. More free miniature dollhouse projects at My Small Obsession, click the link at the bottom of this page. You will also find a video tutorial near the bottom of this page....
Explore SvetlanaPavlova's 228 photos on Flickr!
You just can’t have enough dollhouse pillows. I love to layer pillows in different fabrics and textures in rows on tiny beds. No couch or chair is complete without good throw pillows.
Do you like to make miniatures that are replicas of items that you collect in real life? I sure do! If I decorate my life size home with something I will make it in miniature form in a heartbeat! I go to yard sales and estate sales and can't help but look for and buy old paint brushes. They have so much charm. I decided to make tome tiny ones and they turned out so cool! Gather together some old or cheap paint brushes that you don't mind cutting the bristles from. Cut out hole punches from cardstock. This picture shows aluminum foil but it didn't work for me. For the silver "metal" part of the paint brush I wound up using some silver plastic from a pill casing. You could just cardstock and paint it. Take the hole punches and glue six or seven together with just a dab of wood glue between each one. I used my ice pick and made an indention in the middle of the hole punch stack and glued in the end of a toothpick. The purple on is the tip of one of the paint brushes I used. Take your metallic piece and cut a strip about a quarter inch tall. Glue it to your hole punch stack leaving a sort of well for the bristles to sit in. I hope that makes sense. Choose which bristles you want and, holding the bristles tight between two fingers, cut a wad for your brush. Place glue in the well of your metallic piece and place the bristles inside. It's ok if the bristles are longer and shaggy. You're going to trim the to the length and shape you want after the glue dries. Then paint up however you want! The other paint brushes here are made from stacked up cardstock. So much fun to make! Don't you love that?? When you make one of something and wind up making several because they are so easy and fun to make! Hope you like them! XOXO
I spent 9 months working on the studio using hundreds meters of wood and lots of other materials like plastic, copper, paper etc. I built more than 100 miniature objects all designed and built according to that era. All the objects were made from scratch.
For your Tuesday nibbling pleasure, a selection of beautiful miniature treats created by Emma and Neil of Paris Miniatures. “Emmaflam” and “Miniman” are a French-English cou…
This bottle is the habitat of two little budgies. One is sitting on his swing and the other one is sitting on the floor next to a toy. The swing actually swings! Everyone of my creations is 100% handmade and one of a kind. This is a made-to-order item, which means there might be sight variations from the picture. This bottle is also a model for custom orders for your own budgie or other bird! If you want to have your own pets as a small figurines just send me a picture of your pets. This art piece is made of polymerclay and got painted with acrylic paint and sits safely in the little bottle. Every animal is wrapped with care to make sure it gets to its new home safely.
