Testing Part II

Our long awaited trip to the Good Sam Miniature show in San Jose, CA was so much fun, and the best to spend quality time with our oldest daughter. She planned a day of sight seeing on Friday and rather than rewrite that portion of the trip, you can see the two places we visited at Welcome To The Garden Spot, where I write about Big Basin Redwood State park near Santa Cruz that the CZu wild fire fire burned in 2020. You would think that a burned out forest would be pretty grim, but actually it was lesson in rebirth and renewal and the power of Mother Nature.

We toured theWinchester House in the afternoon. If you watch any of the stranger than truth TV shows, you might have seen the story of this house built by the widow of the man who invented the repeating rifle. To silence the voices of all of those who died by that weapon that his widow constantly heard, she set about remodeling--if you want to call it that--the 8 room farmhouse, expanding it to 160 rooms with doors that open to nothing but a wall and a stair case to nowhere, with the purpose of the constant construction noise drowning out those voices. Fascinating. But I seldom look at homes and houses these days without thinking about them in miniature. This house is furnished with beautiful Victorian era furniture as she might have had. None of the furnishings are original since a niece who inherited the furnishings sold them at auction. 

Along with the furnishings, the architectural detail is exquisite and worth studying for anyone who wants to build such a Victorian dollhouse this house provides the perfect details to help recreate an authentic Victorian era miniature house.

One of two formal Dining Rooms. I was struck by the elegant punch bowl.

The ball room ceiling offers quite a challenge for a miniaturist to recreate.

The house before the earth quake--once an 8 room farmhouse.

I must admit that the show itself was a disappointment in only one aspect: most of the vendors specialized in half scale and smaller. I work in 1:12 scale; however, that is not to disparage the absolute quality of their work; I just didn't find much to purchase. We did meet lovely venders and artists. I did meet the couple who has Art of Mini.com from Germany. It was exciting to see their beautiful items in person.

 I splurged with nearly a bank-breaking, account raiding purchase. I've been looking for my Best Ross doll for the recreation of her making 1776 American flag as commissioned by General George Washington. I've found the generic commercial period dolls, all looking the same, so when I found---who makes her dolls from start to finish, I had to spend the money for this lovely lady. She is posable, so I envision her sitting in a Windsor style chair hand stitching the flag that launched a new nation. It's going to be a fun project, but first I have to finish the Manchester.

Speaking of which, as you know, I have working on pieces that Jodi Hippler at My Miniature Madness so generously sent out to 14 testers to work on in return for their product review. 

To begin, I asked Jodi for some product suggestions. For acrylic paints, she suggest Apple Barrel acrylics that I ordered on Amazon because these paints are, as she explained, thinner and creamier than the brands that I've been using from Hobby Lobby, allowing for multiple thin coats. I love the brilliant colors. I purchased a dozen paints for under $20, which were delivered in 2 days. The DecoArt paint was in my paint drawer which I decided to use on the bake ware because of its metallic quality. Love the results.

There are several ways to create a glossy sheen to these tiny kitchen assessors. One way, I discovered, was to use a chamois type cloth that probably came with piece of sterling silver jewelry--a fabric that resembles flannel. The fabric will polish the paint without removing it like  the finest grade sandpaper or even steal wool. I found that steel wool discolors the finish, especially white, leaving a trace gray on the  paint.

                  

A spray on vanish might be easier to use instead of the brush on because I found it hard to apply thin coats. Actually, after top coating all my pieces I might have just left them polished; however, the vanish will protect the paint from chipping or scratching away, especially if children play with them. There are other products, such a ModgePodge that I have used before and some latex glosses.

Mixer Bowl

Love this little bowl. It has two coats of paint and one coat of varnish inside and out.

Bake Ware

This is my test piece, my practice piece. I began by testing on the bottom that won't show and originally used this medium gray, until I saw on TV shiny baking tray and decided to repaint it using the metallic gray.

Loved the results. I thought about distressing the pan to show a   baked-on residue, but I decided against that.

These pieces were refinished, too.

The Electric Mixer

I began by painting the motor vents with the metallic silver, using a needle point paint brush. The mixer is still a work in progress, and is the by far the toughest piece to work on. 

 

The inside of the mixer bowl was finished with metallic and topcoated.

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Stacking Mixing Bowls

I am often tempted to purchase those colorful stacking mixing bowls, but I have glass ones, so I've resisted, mostly because I don't have storage room. Photographing your miniature items as you work on them certainly helps find the missed spots and the places that need more work.

The bowls received another coat of paint, got polished, and top coated with varnish.

 

Dutch Oven

Another favorite piece with many coats of paint, polished and varnished.

Part of the Collection Finished

The Canister Set

I have high hopes for the canisters. My original plan included using water slide decals. Oh what a fiasco from start to dreadful end of the decal making. So while the canisters are painted and wait for the top coat, I have to figure out the best way to add my decals.

The project fell apart from the very beginning when I went to print and cut the tiny .3cm decal labels designed on the Cricut. When they were cut, the image was not centered, so I spent a considerable amount to time trying to calibrate the fine point blade but never could get the image centered in the circle, so I decided that the water slide being clear, it didn't matter. 

I discovered an option to calibrate the Circuit with the printer, which worked and I was now able to get better centered image, so I printed then cut my first water slides. The photo show my test canister--one of those moisture canisters that come in aspirin bottles. The one to the left is a paper decal, affixed after I top coated it with vanish and then varnished over the image again. The second example is a clear sticker paper with not very good results because the clear sticker is too thick and too obvious. No top coat.

 

To solve the centering issue, I made the sticker white base larger so that I could trim away excess but have a better centered image. The water slide is much thinner and the edges would disappear once vanished 

First, I tested the water slide for my coffee bar sign and the printer ink began to dissolve. BUMMER!    

                        

My next thought was to top coat the water slide before placing it in the water. NOPE. If all else fails, read the instructions, but I already knew what I had to do from watching a Jennifer Youtube video on how to cut and apply water slide decals to water bottles and wine glasses.

SEAL THE WATER SLIDE WITH KRYLON ACRYLIC SEALER--3  COATS.

I knew that. 

So after a long work session late yesterday I gave up. I quit. I will, however, take a deep breath and reprint my water slides and SEAL them before I try to apply them. These little canisters are just too cute not have some sort of image on them. 

I will add here, that if you are new to working with blank 3-D pieces, it's nice to have practice pieces to test paints, top coats, and decals. I have much more to learn about creating fine, quality finishes, so I am really eager to see what the other 13 testers do. 

Here then are the finished pieces, painted and top coated. Once again photos show the spots missed even after I gave each piece one more coat before varnishing. 

I would say that for miniaturists who want perfection, hand made will have some human flaws, especially if they are learning a new technique. I would never venture myself to sell what I make because I'm just not that accurate, but I am happy with my little pieces. I especially admire and support what Jodi is doing because I think there is a market for blank items that hobbyists such as myself would love to have so that they can create unique and individual pieces customized to their mini houses and other projects and pieces sold in kits and collections so we don't have hunt around for this and that. The trick, I think, is finding the best products to get the results that you desire. 

I finished my work session late last night by mixing up a batch of chocolate chip Cookes to see how the baking sheet works. And it does. 

I have more pieces to finish so join me next time when hopefully I'll have all of my pieces finished and ready for a final review.

And another big THANK YOU, JODI, for giving 14 miniaturists an opportunity to learn, grown, and step out of our comfort zones. 

Be sure to visit My Miniature Madness to follow Jodi's progress on this huge and exciting journey, taking 3-D printing to new level. 

Thanks for visiting. Let me know what you think.