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Showing posts with label 3D Printing Designs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3D Printing Designs. Show all posts

Friday, September 8, 2023

Big Announcement - New Etsy Shop!


The fall of 2015 had me frustrated. I was working on my Alki Point dollhouse, my first "modern" type build, and I just couldn't find good contemporary/modern looking mini furniture or décor. Not ones that I could afford, anyway. At the same time, I heard about a free 3D modeling program called TinkerCad. I took a tutorial, started designing minis, had my designs printed through Shapeways and never looked back. Since then I have expanded my skills and my equipment. I now own two 3D printers and can't imagine my mini projects without them.


Last fall I endeavored to create an entire kitchen with 3D printed minis for my Willowcrest build. The feedback I received from my friends and followers encouraged me to make them available to other makers and 3D enthusiasts. After much prodding from a certain reader who shall remain unnamed, I finally opened an Etsy shop with all the 3D stl files that I have ready to share.


If you are also intrigued by 3D printing and need to expand your products, come by the shop and have a look around. Prices start at $2.99 and if you order $50 worth, you'll get a 15% discount using the code THANKSFRIENDS.


For now, I have 39 stl files in the shop. I hope soon to offer all of the svg furniture and kitchen cabinet files I've created in Design Space, as well. This will take a bit longer, as I will need to cut the files again, taking in process photos to create instructions before I can offer them in the shop. I'll keep you posted.

I can't thank my readers enough for making this journey feel as though we are all on it together! Your support means the world to me, truly!

xo xo,

Jodi

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Details, Details, Details...

Adding the trunkhouse to the Fairytale Treehouse project is like literally adding a whole additional household to the project! Roz needed lots of stuff. What I vaguely thought I had in my supply stash or that I could "borrow" from waiting projects (like the Storybook Cottage or Pound Cake) was vastly different from what I found there. You see, I stopped impulse buying in 2018 as a policy and only shop now for the things I REALLY want or REALLY need or DEFINITELY can't make. This discipline supports my goal for a worry free retirement.😜 And it forces me to excercise my creativity muscles. But it's not so good for the mini stash.  Luckily for me I had made an extra set of 3D printed kitchen stuff last fall. Those pieces provided almost everything Roz needed. What was also fortunate was that she was thrilled with the style and variety, and was totally excited that each piece could be custom painted in colors to suit her preferences. Hooray!

Some of last fall's unfinished 3D printed kitchen collection.

It wasn't long before I had things painted and she had an organization plan. Then we got busy loading the shelves. It turns out Roz and I make a pretty good team! What follows is a bit of a preview of our progress so far.

The three wall shelves below will live between the sink and the stove. They are perfect for food storage and daily essentials like dry good canisters, stacking mixing bowls and honey.


This floor shelf also lives between the stove and sink (under the wall shelves) and is perfect for storing everything Roz needs for baking up her delicious desserts. There is also a handy utensil crock and a pear shaped cookie jar which will always be filled with Rozario's favorite charcoal chip cookies. That's not a type-o! I did say charcoal chip. Like most dragons, he loves his cookies burnt! Here's another fun fact: According to Roz, only the most magically gifted cooks in this forest have stand mixers! Electricity magic is MIT Masters level magic, apparently. 😜 


Between the stove and the breakfast nook will be the wall shelf that holds pots, pans and casserole dishes. In spite of being a height challenged bear living in a tall person's world, Roz's special anatomy gives her an advantage. She simply flutters her wings, hovers in the air and grabs what she needs. Unfortunately, this often frightens new company. So, to keep everyone calm, she keeps a stool handy. When visitors come by she pretends to need it to reach high places like everybody else. 😜


Magically inclined or not, there's nothing more irritating when you're cooking than losing or dripping something in a hard to access crack. Having straight backed furniture in a round room would certainly increase those odds and could drive anybeary nuts!  So, for the back of the sink, I added a contoured Sonotube scrap so that it would seat right against the wall. Then I added a matching top so Roz would have a handy place to grow all her herbs and spices. Hopefully, eliminating the crack will prevent any "magic" words escaping from Roz's kitchen!






And while we're talking about the sink, I've been making and gathering a few essential items Roz needed there, too. An assortment of cleaning supplies will be handy underneath the sink. Something Roz always likes to have on hand are steel wool scrubbing pads. If your mini folks happen to need S.O.S. pads, too, I made a box printie and tutorial to share.



Above the sink and next to the window will be a small shelf for holding paper towels, a plant and a coffee grinder. Though there won't be much wall space left, Roz still wanted to hang a couple framed art pieces. She's become a big fan of the beautiful watercolors done by talented local gnomes.


Opposite the sink, across the viewer's opening, will be two more wall shelves. They will be installed one over the other. The lower shelf will store some of Roz's favorite cookbooks as well as her current collection of aprons on the pegs below. The upper shelf will store a vase of flowers, a coffee pot and a large beverage pitcher. These only come down for entertaining company. Her handy step stool will be stored right underneath for quick access. 😜



In a corner of the breakfast nook will live the open hutch. Here, Roz has places for all her dinnerware. She keeps her favorite Pothos plant next to her favorite photo (which was taken with Birgit's gorgeous purple and white pansies). Roz takes cuttings from the Pothos all the time, roots them in water and then gives them to all of her friends. You can see by how short the branches are now that she's made a lot of friends since moving here! Not to worry - both the Pothos and her friendships will grow wonderfully strong with time and attention.


This single shelf will live between the arched windows in the breakfast nook. It is home to her new sparkly purple tea set which she will use only for special occasions. Below it will be the photo of her, Rosey, Fluby and Rozario. Just look at how amazing these lovable characters are! Their creator must be a person who is wildly imaginative, brilliantly gifted and incredibly generous!


Roz also asked if I could provide her with a hanging system for drying her herbs and flowers. I was happy to accommodate that request! She makes all sorts of things with them from her own special tea blends to spice blends and medicine. She's a very knowledgeable Fairy Beary Godmother and we are all so lucky to have her with us!


Once dried and crushed, Roz will store her herbs in the tins of her new spice rack. She wants to keep it close to her cooking pot because she tastes and adjusts a lot when she's cooking. She loves to have a salt pig filled with her favorite sea salt and a garlic pot with roasted garlic handy, as well.



Believe it or not there is still so much more on our list to add! Rugs, kitchen towels, cleaning supplies, gadgets and more food! And when all that is done Roz will need to bake special treats for the kitchen's christening party! Details, details, details! And that is why, my friends, the big kitchen reveal will have to wait until next time. Hope to see you then!

xo xo,

Jodi

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

She Had A Dream...

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a while - November 1st seems like such a long time ago! But once I was finished with all the 3D printed kitchen stuff, I had to take a breather. I got my craft space ready for mini work again, and I began to think about what I'd like to do next. Finishing the Willowcrest kitchen seemed like the obvious choice (it's the project that sparked the 3D kitchen accessories to begin with), but I just couldn't muster any motivation to get going on it. In the meantime, I was contacted with a request to design and create a couple architectural elements for a very special project that had been waiting in someone's basement for a very long time.


You may remember my customer, Diana, from my doing her Breakfast At Tiffany's brownstone windows and door replicas last year. One of the projects she's been dreaming about since the 90's is recreating the historically significant Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. Back then she purchased the Real Good Toys Country Church Kit at a miniatures show to house it in. Then she had custom stained glass windows made by a miniature stained glass artisan. But, like for many of us mini dreamers, other projects moved ahead in line and there the kit sat, waiting for its turn. The project was never truly forgotten. Diana collected a whole lot of lovely resin sitting folks all decked out in their Sunday best to add to the congregation over the years. When she saw the project on it's basement shelf a few months ago while looking for something else, these patient people reignited her inspiration!



What Diana wanted me to tackle was the elaborate carved doorway behind the pulpit, as well as the lattice panel behind the organ area. It was challenging, as the only details I had to go by were the limited photos found on the web. The proportions and measurements had to be estimated. Additionally, Diana only had 10" of  ceiling height (minus the height of her crown molding), and I estimated the doorway in the original church to be about 18 feet tall! I would need to find a way to pay homage to the original within the height limitations, while still balancing the proportions and ending up with something that was worthy of being a focal point in her project.




Challenge accepted! Diana and I traded ideas back and forth on three slightly different models before we both agreed the version below was perfect! It kept the proportions balanced, included as many of the carved details as space would allow, and finished up at 9-7/16" tall by 6-13/16" wide. 

I got to experiment with creating dental molding and fluted columns for the first time with this doorway, and I had so much fun figuring it out!



I am so fortunate that Tasha and Ande gifted me the bigger 3D printer for my birthday last year! My first printer would not have been able to accommodate this big job, other than in pieces needing to be assembled post production.


I think the doorway is so pretty, and I just love how the dental molding, fluted columns and corbels turned out! 



The lattice piece was pretty challenging, too. In scrutinizing the church photos online, I realized that it was created in three panels. The middle panel is slightly shorter which allows room for the wood molding of the lower organ area. It is installed in a raised position on top of and joining the other two panels. The lattice detail itself is done in four levels, not including the main frame and the stepped picture frame molding on top of that. It was a challenge not only to create, but to figure out how to engineer it for a successful print. I felt that eliminating the half circles in the homage version gives the piece more balance and accommodates better the measurements that Diana had to work with.



Level detail close up.



It was such an honor to be trusted with this piece of the job and to help Diana realize her longtime dream!

In other exciting news, I have been busy rediscovering cooking joy with our new Instant Pot! Even Russ has joined in the culinary delight around here! This is all thanks to our big hearted and generous son, Ande! He uses my Prime membership from time to time, and if I leave stuff in my cart and he sees it, he likes to surprise me with it! 💗 This time, it was the Instant pot and accessories I was considering. What a great kid we made!!! He and Lex and Tasha and Brent love theirs, too!





We have run out of fingers and toes counting our blessings, among them, going to Tasha and Brent's new home for their first Thanksgiving there! I hope each of you has more to be thankful for than digits, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

xo xo,

Jodi

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

3D Printed Kitchen Mini Photos Completed ✅

Phew! That was a mouthful and a plateful, lol! But I am so happy to say that all the photos of the kitchen 3D printed minis have been taken, edited and are as "ready" as I know how get them! I am not sure of the best way to share the photos with you, other than to divvy them up into the groups that I will sell them in (should I decide on that endeavor).

I have divided them into 7 groups...

Group one includes:

  • Spice Rack w/Opening Drawer and Removable Spice Tins
  • Honey Pot w/Dipper and Removable Lid
  • Garlic Keeper w/Removable Lid
  • Salt Pig w/Removable Lid
  • Pear Cookie Jar w/Removable Lid
  • Utensil Crock
  • Utensils: Spoon, Slotted Spoon, Spatula
  • Dish/Hand Soap Pump
  • Paper Towel Holder







Group Two Includes:

  • Vintage Toaster Kit w/ Plug/Cord
  • Butter Crock w/Cube of Butter
  • Vintage Canister Set of Three w/Removable Lids
  • Bread Box w/Removable Lid
  • Cookbook Holder







Group Three Includes:


  • Cookie Sheet
  • Bread Pan
  • Muffin Pan
  • Scalloped Cake Plate on Pedestal
  • Bundt Pan
  • Pie Plate
  • Rolling Pin Kit
  • Optional Bakeware Rack






Group Four Includes:


  • Vintage Mixer Kit w/Plug & Cord, Hinge
  • Two Liquid Measuring Cups
  • Three Dry Measuring Cups
  • Three Measuring Spoons
  • Stacking Mixing Bowls Set of Three
  • Sifter Kit










Group Five Includes:


  • Dutch Oven w/Lid
  • Medium Pot w/Lid
  • Small Pot w/Lid
  • Small, Medium and Large Covered Casseroles w/Lids
  • Small, Medium and Large Frying Pans
  • Optional Casserole Storage Rack
  • Optional Frying Pan Storage Rack
  • Optional Lid Racks











Group Six Includes:


  • Bud Vase
  • Napkin Holder
  • Salt & Pepper Shakers
  • Retro Pitcher
  • Covered Butter Dish w/Cube of Butter
  • Four Dinner Plates
  • Four Salad Plates
  • Four Dessert Plates
  • Four Bowls
  • Four Coffee Cups









Group Seven Includes:


  • Teapot w/Lid
  • Coffee Pot w/Lid
  • Two Teacups
  • Two Saucers
  • Sugar Bowl w/Lid
  • Creamer Pitcher
  • Tiered Dessert Stand





At this point I do not know what the pricing will be. I have yet to compile the questionnaires that have been returned to me and see the suggestions. I also need to do a little market research to see what similar items sell for. I do know that I'd like to offer free shipping. There is nothing like the nasty surprise of getting to checkout only to see your total way up once taxes and shipping have been added! I need to see if Etsy accommodates a shipping credit for international buyers, too. Still so much to learn!!!









Now it's time to dismantle the photo shops, put the mini kitchen minis away for safe keeping and figure out the next logical step. Would it be helpful to list the kitchen minis on eBay? Say one group of the painted minis and one group of the unfinished minis just to measure interest and pricing? What do you guys think? All honest feedback and suggestions are most welcome! 💗

I hope to be back soon to share the reviews and photos from all of the testers, plus all the finishing tips, products and techniques folks used on these 3D minis. I am so inspired by the creativity and ingenuity in our community of miniaturists! You guys are amazing!!!

xo xo,
Jodi