Modern Miniature Succulents + Sundries has a new employee. Godzilla [2014] is from Bandai, and is “Pursuing Character Expression through Monster Action”. Welcome!
Category: minature plant kits
MMS+S Signage
I continue to explore what works and what does not on the Cricut Explore Air 2. I’ve not yet moved beyond cardstock. I wanted to make signage for the courtyard set. This is my first attempt at cutting a sign 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) square. Lessons learned.
I scaled up to almost four inches, and it cut beautifully.
Here is the sign, 23 picas square, released from the sticky mat. I glued a nice piece of translucent plastic salvaged from Japanese rice cracker packaging to the back, and cut lengths of 1/4-inch basswood for the top and bottom.
The finished sign. At least for now.
New Echeveria Kit, Esplanade, Scarlett
There’s a new kit available over at Modern Miniature Succulents + Sundries. It’s a more delicate echeveria variety, based on an eight-leaved shape. Each plant is about 3/8-inch (9.5 mm) in diameter; the kit makes nine.
In other news, natural beach erosion opened up two large sinkholes in the switchback path leading down to Esplanade beach, as well as taking out more of the cliffs under the remaining apartments (vacant since January). It was so windy this afternoon on the bluffs I could scarcely keep my camera still.
Scarlett is almost six months old. Her extravagant affections continue to grow, and because she goes outside now, her depredations have eased *somewhat*.
Happy winter solstice, all.
Courtyard Set
I wanted to build a courtyard set in which to photograph the miniature succulents, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing it. I mulled it over conceptually for a few days, then remembered I had this egg carton paved floor from a few years ago. It had been sealed, so I grouted it with DAP spackle.
I spent about half a day going through all my MDF scrap, windows, doors and gates, dry-fitting various combinations to fit the floor. And getting frustrated when they inevitably collapsed, as all dry-fits do. All the while sighing with that sinking feeling of I really don’t want to do all the work of cutting, patching, painting, sanding. Then I remembered I didn’t have to, and settled on a peaked end panel from a garage kit, and a length of half-inch foamboard for the long back wall. I mixed up a stucco slurry from some fine texture medium, thinned acrylic paint and a little tacky glue. It was a very enjoyable application :)
After gluing the pieces together, I put it on the floor in front of my wee-yet-powerful Dyson heater to dry overnight.
Today I added a few pieces of wood trim — a cross beam and some posts — all stained leftovers from Argo Wool Works, and called it done. Actually, tomorrow I’ll drill some holes and add small nails and dowels for increased stability. Also I’m currently incubating designs for building anchor stars to cut on the Cricut and a few implementations of MMS+S signage :)
Here are some vases that will be available real soon over at Modern Miniature Succulents + Sundries. (These are just my prototype succulents; the actually plants have thinner stems.) Above is a turquoise-glazed porcelain Art Deco vase, about an inch tall.
This is a glazed porcelain vase sculpted with cavorting sea horses.
And one of my freaky favorites, a reproduction of an ancient 15th–13th century vase marked Chypre (Cyprus). Fierce! Nasty!
Update: Original vessel is in The British Museum, whose website is impossibly slow, but I found this image on a Pinterest board. “Glazed composition vessel in form of woman’s head. Ancient Cyprus in the British Museum”.
For you, Pepper.
hens test
Hen and chicks are one of the first succulents I fell in love with, so this design is dear to my heart. And I felt like a right genius because I figured out how to get the machine to cut a hole in each center. It is not an automatic process and involves what Cricut calls “attaching” layers. (The above holes are three points in diameter; I’ve since upped it to four.)
This is the fun part. Removing the waste from the sticky mat makes a musical plinking sound that is very satisfying. And as I soon learned and as Nora suggested, it’s far easier to remove the cut shapes after the mat has been “de-sticked” a bit — which seems to happen with use.
Color test and shaping. The little point on the end of each leaf adds such sweet realism. My inspiration:
These guys are in a bit more shade now in my early winter backyard, so they’ve lost most of their edge-leaf color.
Prototype hen. Next up is to draft a smaller-leaved pattern set for the chicks, so we can build happy succulent families. This one is about 5/8-inch (16 mm) across.
And this is how I’m keeping all the very many parts organized and identified. I’ve long kept a stash of these useful little containers from takeout food, but ran out quickly. Dollar store to the rescue! Ten cups with lids/$1. I should probably cost them out in greater quantities :(
Testing
I drew some succulent patterns in Illustrator and exported them as SVG. The Cricut Design Space, the app the cutter uses, is fairly straight forward and easy to navigate. First cuts! The sticky cutting mat smells like a toxic headache, though.
Here’s the first batch. The software arranges the cuts for best use of the material.
By far the most difficult and tedious task is removing my many, many small shapes from the cutting mat.
A proposed stack. As it turns out, the two 11-leaved pieces don’t work well at all for miniature succulents.
Here’s a first model and prototype. I’ll need to make some several before I work out the best construction techniques.
After revising the patterns, I cut a 12 x 12-inch sheet of colored stock. That’s a lot of prying off to do. Best tool I’ve used thus far is a thin, flexible wedge-shaped palette knife. The next thing I want to determine is if the pen can have a broader tip, and can outline the cut line, and hold registration with the cutter. Learning!
New Echeveria Kit in Development
Experimenting with color for a new echeveria kit for the shop. This is two shades of green and an orange on white stock.
Shaping with a fine point stylus.
Trying out construction techniques and build sequences. This succulent is wonderfully small, just a half-inch (13 mm) in diameter.
The first issue of my newsletter, Cut, Fold + Make, goes out tonight! Look for it in your inbox on the first of each month. Included is a free pattern to make these iconic, and very versatile little paper houses.
And possibly most exciting of all the things: this just arrived. Let’s get started.
New Kit
Listed another kit in the Etsy shop, a larger, more-specimeny succulent that pairs nicely with SV01. Continued heartfelt gratitude and thanks for your warm wishes and interest. I wish I had like a whole line plan to lay out — and I do! In my head! — instead of this kit-by-kit piecemeal showing. And soon, on offer, completed specimens, in some of the most wonderful containers I’ve ever seen! However. I am learning by doing, and this is bootstrap crafty business making. Rhetorical question: would we have it any other way?
First Listing
So pleased to announce the first kit is available over at MMS+S. I expect I’ll be making editing tweaks for a while, in between assembling and listing new kits. Potted specimen succulents and sundries coming real soon. Heartfelt thank yous to all who showed interest. Happy making!
S6A
Supplies and materials flowing in at a steady rate. Got the next two kits prototyped and spec’d, therefore only needing specimens, photography models, and instructions. Easy-peezey. Mighty progress!
The Argo Wool Works build-in-progress has been moved back up onto the high shelf, to free the work table for kitting, photography and the rest. I’m also putting away the needlepoint frame, and about half a dozen other would-be, want-to-be, once-were projects. Deargod I may even dust.
So sad.
I’m surprised I get as much done as I do.
In other news, Brian and I headed out this morning for a beach walk and cleanup. Esplanade had no beach at all because of high surf, so we went to Sharp Park. So very many small bits of styrofoam, plastic bottle caps, straws, and miscellaneous plastic packaging, all washed down to the ocean with the recent rains :(
Still, the waves were booming, and there were many dogs and walkers out. I love the coast in winter.
nancyland.com 
