Accessorizing The Vanities

When I began this whole sink/vanity experiment, my motives were to try all of the different finishes, styles and techniques that I'd filed away in the "want to try someday" folder. So in that regard, I have really fulfilled my goals. What I didn't expect was for the whole process to take 2 months. My attention span doesn't hold out that long, so getting them all to this point has been a a real commitment for me! I am beyond ready to put this chapter behind me and start on something less repetitive. 16 at once was a big bite for my little mouth to chew on. :o)

Over the past couple weeks I've made many accessories. I started with hemp baskets for each vanity in the same way that I made the bee skep for the 2016 Creatin' Contest build; wrap hemp around a form. For these baskets, I used a cereal box for the structure and also added fabric liners, interpreting for my own means the picnic basket tutorial video from Julie Warren. I used different fabrics and hemp cord colors to coordinate with the theme for each of the sinks.

I also made mirrors for each vanity. All but two of the frames were printed from chipboard on my Cricut machine. Those were finished to compliment the sink themes, as well. I used Darice real glass mirrors for the round ones, and mirrored sheet cut to size for the square ones.

One note here for the growing number of miniature crafters using the Cricut: Whenever I use the 1/16" chipboard, even with the chipboard setting, I run into a lot of issues with the machine just stopping and throwing error codes in the middle of the second cut. After speaking with the nice tech support guy at Cricut, I came to the conclusion that I was pretty much on my own. To be fair, we did update my firmware, and he is sending me out some lube and a new power cord, so that is something.

After much experimentation, it seemed to me that the problem was due to the chipboard not sticking well enough to the really sticky purple mat. The deep cutting blade had no trouble going through the material, but the mat would slip very slightly, causing a small tear in the chipboard. This would cause the sensor "eye" to see microscopic debris and abort the cut to prevent damage. Once I realized this, I gave the mat a coat of Aleene's Tack It Over & Over Liquid Glue. That solved the slipping issue, and I was finally able to cut the thick material with minimal issue. I just had to be extra patient when removing the chipboard from the mat. This stuff sticks good!

Another accessory was the liquid soap dispenser with pump I designed in TinkerCad back in 2015. I had a bunch of them printed out from Shapeways in the Acrylic Ultra Detail. They are much easier to finish in that material than the White Strong & Flexible (thanks Kristine!), and I like that they are nearly clear. To finish these, I painted the pump and lid area in black paint marker, added tiny labels, then coated the whole thing in clear nail enamel. They are really awesome, if I do say so myself! ;O)

Each vanity will get a floral arrangement of some kind; a mix of daisies, lilies and chrysanthemums were made, along with matching foliage. They are getting hardened in their vases with "water" as we speak.

I also made a bunch of candles and holders in various finishes to match each vanity's hardware and color scheme - the candles were all either cream or white and the holders ranged from silver, aged silver, gold or aged bronze. More photos will follow in the final photo shoot. Still to be done: rolled towels ala Elizabeth's wonderful towel tutorial, and if my endurance lasts, tp rolls, trash cans, tissue holders, and, and and. And if not, I'll call them complete and move on to something different. I'd really like to get Sam's package off to her before March is spent!

Until next time, I hope your spring has sprung with lots of inspired mini dreams, and if you're on the underside of the globe, I hope your cooling fall is a welcome relief!

xo xo,
Jodi