Tag: miniatures

April 2023 Depth Year Update

Posted on by Dianne Sylvan

Man, you guys, I have absolutely screwed the pooch on some of my no-buy categories this month.  Don’t worry, there’s no guilt involved, just amusement. More than anything I want to learn about myself and ways to live better, not to judge myself for my habits. 

I’ve added a couple of new things to this month-end post that I want to talk about.  Hopefully you’ll find it entertaining if nothing else!

No Buy categories:

Books – None! Still going strong, yay!

Washi tape – None.

Miniatures – I got a lot of supplies and a couple of pieces there was no way I was going to build myself, notably the toilet.  Toilets are shaped very weirdly and frustrate even long-time minaturists.  I found a 3d printed one on Etsy for less than ten bucks and said YOINK!      

Food delivery – Y’all I am still fighting this one and losing.  In fact I did worse this month than I have so far this year!  I had a few really shitty depressive days that ended with UberEats bringing me an Impossible Whopper or a gigantic molten cinnamon roll, and overall just did not control my spending the way I intended to.  But my bills are paid and there’s gas in my car, so, it’s not a tragedy.  I shall persevere!   

Dollhouse Progress: 

I finally got the back wall spackled, painted, and installed, and I put in wooden beams in the “rafters” to hold the upstairs walls straight.  They won’t really show once the roof is on but they’ve made that whole floor rock-solid.  I’ve built a wardrobe for the bedroom TWICE because the first one came out so poorly.  And I’m working on turning an old Kerrygold butter tub (acquired from a nonvegan friend, lol) into a bath.    In May:   Finishing up the bedroom, work proceeding on the bathroom.  Get the back wall covered in stone, grouted, color washed.  Add moss to allllll the outside walls.  If I’m feeling particularly frisky I’ll start on the roof.

Writing Progress:

I have nearly three chapters of the 8th Shadow World book written!  It’s such slow going, mostly because I’m waffling on what order to place things in on the timeline.  I’m also trying to get into the head of the newest character, but I don’t feel like I’ve “caught” her yet.  I’m a character-focused writer so I need to be able to speak in the character’s voice, figuring out how she ticks. I don’t know what other writers call it but I call it “catching” the character.

Obviously I’ve been blogging a lot more than I have in months, which is awesome – I’ve really been enjoying talking about my own odd little religious stew.  I’ve been fretting over whether to try and write a book about it for a long time now, but I think just going for broke and putting it all out there blog-style is the way to go for now.  I watch all the new books coming out in the Pagan world and I feel like, what exactly do I have to add to all of this?  When I wrote my first two books I felt like I was helping to fill a gap.  I’m not sure there are any gaps now!

Favorite Things in April:

1. Hiki deodorant – Let’s be practical:  When skin folds over other skin, it sweats and can get manky.   Underarms and crotches are the most obvious examples but when you’re a large person you may have additional folds to tend to.  I’m making more effort these days to deal with the reality of my fat body without casting judgment over it, and one thing that’s helped is this deodorant made for skin folds.  It really does make me feel fresher and more together.  I’m definitely sold on Hiki!

2.  I asked my roommate to buzz my hair off again.   I think I need to just admit that I hate having hair to tend to.   Almost all “girly” things just make me tired and honestly, I’m a middle aged fat woman in yoga pants and t-shirts, who’s even looking?  LOL Anyone who does and thinks “oh god that’s awful” is of no interest to me.  That’s another thing I’m internalizing in my 40s – the divine and sacred power of “Oh fuck off.”

Things to Do in May:

1. Drink a ton more water

2. Finish the two books I’ve been in the middle of for most of the year

3. Keep blogging!

4. Research how to start a CUUPS (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans) chapter

5. Get Ch4 of SW VIII drafted

6. Come up with more ways to really wriggle into the whole “depth” part of “depth year.”

What are you up to this May? Travel, adventure? Naps? <–me

Ten Things I Love – Minis Edition

Posted on by Dianne Sylvan

This time on TTIL I wanted to show off some of my favorite things I’ve made for my dollhouse project, which has been going on for nearly a year now.   I thought I’d show you some of my favorite individual tiny things, most of which I made myself.

1 – The Memory Box

The house belongs to a character named Willow, a Witch who inherited the tiny little place from her now-deceased grandmother (also a Witch).  It’s a mix of new things Willow brought and the somewhat weathered stuff her grandma left behind.  This particular box will be either under the bed or in the clothes armoire; it’s a collection of pictures, articles, and other things the grandmother was saving, a box of memories.  I had a BLAST making this – finding pictures and newspaper pages to shrink, making the box itself.  I’m so happy with how it turned out.

The box is just chipboard (think cereal box) with a woodgrain patterned paper. It looks a little janky in this picture but it’s fairly realistic in real life.
Newspaper clippings, letters, photos, a Valentine, postcards, Grandma’s astrology chart, and a fan from some event or another…making these tiny items and aging them was so fun. A few things were probably saved by the Grandma’s mom, like the headline of the Titanic Sinking. I ended up saving out a couple of pictures to frame for the bedroom walls

2 – The Wind Chime

There are a lot of cool things on the patio, but probably my favorite is the wind chime I built out of toothpicks, string, and wood.  The dragonfly image (a charm) repeats throughout the house.  The chime even makes a tiny little tinkling noise when you disturb it (granted so do I if you scare me badly enough).

3 – The Bird Feeder & Birdhouse

I ordered the hummingbird feeder from one of the many mini shops I love on Etsy but then I thought hey, I could absolutely make one of these for other birds.  The feeder is a clear tube glued into bead caps, filled with a variety of spices and such that looked like bird food.  The birdhouse I built out of popsicle sticks and wood coffee stirrers.

Birds in this neighborhood will be fed a mix of nigella seeds, caraway, and some poppy seeds. Actual millet was way too big.
Just…too cute. I painted it to match the kitchen furniture to bring the color throughout the first floor. I like how it’s weathered and aged looking like it was there long before Willow arrived

4 – The Lavender Plants

This was so fun.  I found a video tutorial on making miniature lavender and decided to give it a go – I love the result!  You shake up poppy seeds in ground up chalk pastel, then dip a floral wire in glue, stick it in the seeds, and swirl it around.  

The little terra cotta pot was purchased, but I made the silver bucket out of a condiment cup. The greenery is just reindeer moss – it’s not exactly like lavender leaves but it was the closest I could manage.

5 – Tiny Vegetables

I made a LOT of food for the kitchen, which I’ll show later, but I think the veggies came out best, as well as the bread. All were made with Super Sculpey. I especially love those tiny baby carrots. I’m amazed at how perfectly the color came out! There’s also the basket that goes on the cart’s shelf; I made that too out of hemp cord wrapped around a wood base, another thing I learned from a video (from one of my favorite YouTube miniaturists by the way). There are several of those baskets in the kitchen. I should make some more, it’s really fun.

These were all made from polymer clay and shaded with ground up chalk pastel.

6 – The Kitchen Island

This was one of the earliest pieces in the project after some other kitchen furnishings. The rooms I made ended up way smaller than I thought they’d be, so there was a lack of counter space in the kitchen. To combat that I made this little cart with a butcher-block-esque top. I carved the knife block by hand, and made the box of recipe cards out of some basswood (I think? Either that or balsa, I can’t remember which I had at the time). The cards were a printable and they all come out of the box. I had to mount the cart on some flat boards stained to match the kitchen floor because the whole thing kept tumping over forwards. It blends in well enough with the floor.

The knives themselves were purchased but everything else is handmade. I love how the knife block came out.

7 – The Journal and Other Desk Things

I made the desk of course (so far there’s only I think two pieces of furniture I didn’t build myself) but a lot of the accessories I ordered, like the TINY POST IT NOTES OMG and the Macbook. But I did make the journal and the pen with it; it’s supposed to be Willow’s notes (she’s a writer too, so she can live out in the woods in this cottage and still earn a living).  

The journal is just paper, with a coating on the cover to give it a sort-of pleather appearance. I made the pen from a toothpick.
Most of the desk accessories were premade, but I did make the ruler and the candle. Technically I bought the chair, but I did cover it to match the curtains in the room.

8 – The Coffee Table Tableau

I thought the coffee table should look like it was in the middle of some kind of activity and a Tarot reading would be cool.  The candle is a white crayon, believe it or not, in another bead cap.  I bought the iPhone and the awesome little mug (it’s a uterus flipping you off).   I also built the table itself.

I used a printable file to make the tiny Tarot, and I purchased the mug and phone. The mat under the cards is just paper.

9 – The Cat Tree (and cats!)

Willow has three cats – I actually haven’t named them yet, but two were painted to look like real cats I’ve known.  The tuxie boy is in honor of my beloved Owen who is no longer with me, but the awkwardly-striped kitty is meant to look something like the Honorable Fitzwilliam Q. Darcy III, the youngest member of the feline horde here at Scorpio Manor.  The tree took a couple of tries but I love how it turned out.  Note the tiny little catnip mouse – I made that too.  It required tweezers. The two painted cats themselves are 3D printed, ordered from another Etsy shop, and the white sleeping cat is ceramic and came from, you guessed it, Etsy.

Wow, that white cat looks huge and pink in this image for some reason. Weird. Felt, wood, a ton of PVA glue. I keep meaning to try and fix the Darcy cat’s face but I’m worried I’d make him look MORE cracked out.

10 – My Own Books

I could keep going – this whole project has been so fun and I’ve learned so many new skills and tools – but the final tour will likely be several posts with lots of detail, so, I stopped at ten today.  

When you make all the books for a 1:12 scale shelf you can make them whatever you want.  I decided to include my own!  I printed the covers super tiny and glued them around bits of either wood or paper.  The paperbacks in front are about 5/8″ tall. They didn’t turn out as nicely as I wanted them too but they’re still pretty nifty, I say.

A few of the books I made, like The Stand and the Sandman, are openable and have actual pages. Most are just covers glued onto wood or cardboard.

Oh, and I should say the runner up is the Hitachi Magic Wand, but I already posted a pic of it in my March Update post. Even a 1:12 scale gal has needs.

March Recap – Depth Year Update

Posted on by Dianne Sylvan

Time for a review of March’s Depth Year efforts.  I have to say this month went a lot better than February, though I’m clearly still a work in progress (in all things!).  

No Buy categories:

I did great in all but one! 

Books – None

Washi tape – None

Miniatures – None (just supplies)

Food delivery- Sweet baby Jesus,  I’m still really struggling here.  I had some really bad brain days this month, and it’s almost impossible to properly feed myself when I’m in the Shit Pit.  I think barely being able to get out of bed is an acceptable circumstance for food delivery; I just need to cut out all the other occasions, like, “Because it’s Wednesday.”  I did manage to stanch the bleeding in the second half of the month which I’m hoping is a positive trend.  

Winnowing categories:

Tarot decks and oracles – not yet

Books – not yet

Cookbooks – not yet

One of the bedroom miniatures, submitted without comment.

Clothes – I gave away three entire grocery bags full of clothes!  My closet is literally half empty.  I was extra relentless – if I hadn’t worn it in a year it went in the bags.  If it didn’t fit it went in the bags.  I gave the whole lot to a woman on my local Buy Nothing group

Altar stuff – not yet

Art supplies – not yet

Also this month I made some progress on the dollhouse (I’m going to do a big tour soon, I just want to get the top floor back wall on so you’re not looking through the house at my roommate’s chair) – I got her altar and Witchy shelves made and installed and they look SO COOL.  

And, I started/completed another unrelated project, an apothecary/library style jewelry cabinet.   There’ll be a separate post on that too.

The altar and Witchy shelves; I made most of it, including the candles.

So……How About April?

This month I’d like to:

1. Continue improvement on the whole food delivery thing, preferably not do it at all.  

2. I didn’t get back on my meditation/ritual wagon as much as I’d like in March either, so that remains a goal.  My hope is to do meditations of 20 minutes (or so) at least 3 times a week, and sit at my altar (for any reason or just to chill) at least once a week.   Amazing how quickly life gets in the way of that!  I do things rather sporadically but I need to make it a habit again.

3.  Keep moving on the decluttering!