Category: helper cats

Do-overs

9 Comments

punches_101916

Last night after woods class, I was all excited to finish the Argo Wool Works samples wall chart. I had designed it and punched quarter-inch circles from all the wool felt colors I had earlier in the day.

too_big_101916

After gluing them on, I realized they were just too big :(

aww_wall_chart_102016

Today I re-worked the chart and punched out another batch of eighth-inch samples. I would have considered 3/16-inch, but that punch is somewhere I cannot find :/

scarlett_101916

As I mentioned, I’ve had to cover the build with a carefully folded and tucked sheet secured with binder clips, to prevent Scarlett from demolishing it. Alas, her super-burrowing powers have proven superior to my defense effort. This is her wondering why I’m using my big voice?

AWW Sample Binders

14 Comments

aw_binders_00_101616

A showroom needs sample binders.

aww_binders_01_101616

I have never liked using wood blanks for book pages, even for volumes that will never be taken from a case. It feels like cheating to me. So I made blank binder book blocks to fill the covers.

aww_binders_02_101616

I did not glue the accordion-style pages together. The resulting sproinginess will help expand the binder covers and hold them in the shelves.

aww_binders_03_101616

However. Making all blank pages also felt like cheating, so I made one binder meant to be opened. I drew a simple grid on the pages and punched eighth-inch (3 mm) circles from wool felt, which were then glued to a spread. So expressive and tactile!

aww_binders_04_101616

Arrayed in the cases and on the work table, with another samples binder, glued closed.

Here in Northern California, we’re having our first rainfall in seven months. The light is damp gray and moody. The cats are waiting out the storm in suspended animation, with one notable difference.

3cats_101616

Before the arrival of Scarlett, the two older boy cats never co-slept, although they are buddies. This seems to have changed, as they unite in weary affront to kittenish enthusiasms. Looks to be a cozy winter coming :)

Wroughting Iron, Again

16 Comments

hand_clamp_100216

The human hand often makes the best gluing jig, yes? After considerable deliberation about style, I’m making a salvaged wrought iron railing for the wee balcony off the Argo Wool Works showroom. These are portions of the same laser cut panels from JMG Miniatures used in the Sea House Warming Hut. The best thing about making “vintage” wrought iron is the globbier the glue and the cruddier the paint job, the more scale authenticity.

scarlett_100216-1

Observe my current working conditions. The railing joints are reinforced with black paper brackets and “bolts”, which add tremendous stability to the fragile structure.

scarlett_100216-2

Scarlett was on her way to inspect my suspiciously-tinkling glass of white wine (Layer Cake Sauvignon Blanc, vintage 2015, lovely). Soon after, she sat down on the many 1/16-inch punched bolts (and x-acto knife, etc.) which clung to her fur and trailed after as she sped on to the next investigation. (The dots clung, not the knife :)

porch_100216

The railing installed, with mounting brackets. It appears a bit too “freshly painted”, so I want to hunt down some examples in the wild to see how they oxidize. But not too much. Structural integrity is important :) Also made brackets for the scythe from Sir Thomas Thumb, which will support some sort of sign. Perhaps Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate?

Nah. Probably just Argo Wool Works.

Argo Wool Works, Plastic Litter Collage, Scarlett

5 Comments

shelved_100116

After serious depredation wrought between new kitten and granddaughter, I had to relocate the Argo Wool Works build from my worktable to a higher shelf. This made working on it difficult, and me sad.

aww_100116_3

Frustrated, I’ve moved it back to the worktable, and hope to protect it from marauders by covering with a dropcloth when I’m not present to defend it.

aww_porch_100116

I made small progress with the lights.

aww_interior_100116-2

And spent considerable time thinking anew about the interior.

aww_interior_100116-1

In other news, the plastic litter collage is complete, and made its debut in the Pacifica Beach Coalition booth at the 31st annual Fogfest celebration. I noticed it suffered some depredation of its own, as it came back with some pieces missing. Seriously, who steals trash art?!

plastics_collage_092516

Scarlett is three months old, and thriving. Our older boy cats have resigned themselves to her presence, tolerating, and even initiating play.

voice_092616

Here she is complaining about a recent heat wave, from her in perch in another relocated (and depredated) build, my first-ever Loft (1)961.

aww_100116-4

Wish me luck!

 

 

 

Nope.

12 Comments

s_091916-01

I am not going to meet the HBS bloggers build deadline for September 26, 2016, and I am using cute kitten photos to distract from my mingled sense of failure, regret and self loathing.

s_091916-02

I *have* met all my work and all most of my volunteer deadlines.

s_091916-03

Feel free to judge me, but look at my belly first :)

S_091916-05.jpg

Though I will continue — and finish —  the build, I’m more than a bit scattered and distracted with other projects.

S_091916-04.jpg

Sweet dreams, best beloveds.

 

Napoleon, Poppy, Little B

2 Comments

Napoleon_082616

Napoleon visited Poppy the Fairy today.

Little_B_082616

Poppy was surprised to get an international letter, and gifts! from Little B, who would be a Butterfly Fairy, in addition to her five-year-old self. A Morpho, perhaps? Little B sent treasures to share with Poppy’s other correspondents —so thoughtful! — as well as a jar of butterflies punched from wildflower seed embedded paper…

porcelain_fairies_082616

these two porcelain fairy figures, just an inch (2.5 cm) high, AND an interior fairy door from Firecraft Miniatures, because she was concerned about Poppy living outside all year :)

Sharing the love.

 

 

Plastic Litter Collage

4 Comments

frame00_072816

I added quarter- by half-inch pine to the back edge of the thin plywood base to stabilize it and add more surface area to attach the frame to. The plywood itself is salvaged from the crates I built to ship my builds when I moved three years ago :)

frame03_072816

After painting the inside frame pieces with two coats of semigloss latex, I cut the two-inch ply lengths to fit and glued them on the base, butting the corners. I used binder clips to hold the frame to the pine strips and a flexible strap corner clamp thingie to hold the frame square while the glue dried. A first coat of paint dries with Albie’s supervision. Tomorrow I’ll tap in tiny nails to secure it all, then fill the holes, sand and paint, sand and paint, sand and paint. And hopefully this weekend I’ll have collected more plastic to call it done.

Ties, Lavender, Echeveria, Rocks

10 Comments

Albie_ties_031916

Albie immediately curled up on the rest of the ties, and I set up to make more lavender.

I’m still experimenting with technique, but I try to make a shrubbery’s worth of stems each time, so if they change I can call them varieties or cultivars :) #miniaturejustifications

I’m using paper-wrapped stem wire, purple superfine sand (Activa Scenic brand) for the flowers, tissue paper for the petals, tacky glue, and cardstock painted  grayish-green for the foliage. Most tutorials call for lycopodium as foliage, but I’ve decided on this well-designed and versatile punch from Punch Bunch.

fern_punch02_032016

I got my birthday order from The Miniature Garden, which included some 28-gauge paper covered stem wire, yay! Turns out what I’ve been using is 26-gauge, so voilà, the first (subtle) variety. (The #28 is on the left.)

26_28_032016

I cut 1.5-inch (3.8 cm) lengths of stem wire and rolled one end a scant quarter-inch (6mm) in tacky glue.

glue_stems_sand_032016

Rather than dip the glued end, I pour the sand repeatedly over the stem wire. This builds up and preserves the shape of the flower.

drying stems_032016

The sanded stems are placed upright to dry. (The fluffy ones you see on the left are made with Flowersoft, a poofy kind of scatter that I’m considering using.)

The petals on top are made from tissue paper punched with a small flower shape, cupped with a ball stylus, and glued to the flower.

cupping_flowers_032016.jpg

In the foreground you can see the Flowersoft flowers with petals cut from waxed paper tinted with a marker. Behind those are the sanded flowers with tissue petals.

flowersoft_stems_032016

The lavender spikes are planted in the mounds with an awl and glue.

making_holes_032016

These ones were built on #26 wire stems.

26_gauge_planted_032016

The foliage is shaped with a stylus and glued in around the stems to create a pleasantly convincing, if stylized, base.

shaping_ferns_032016

eche_lav_032016

Making more echeveria hen and chicks to cluster in around the lavender mounds. If you look closely above, you can see once again the difference between #26 and #28 (on the right) stem wire.

paperclay_rocks_unThere’s an entire molds-worth of paperclay rocks dried and awaiting mineralization. These will be nestled and half-buried around the lavender, poppy and succulents bed as an unobtrusive border.

Happy vernal equinox (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere)!