Answering The Call

Hello my friends! I don't know if you've missed me, but I sure missed all of you! It feels like I have been gone on a long, epic journey! And yet, it's only been two weeks! When we last spoke, I was enlisting help for volunteers to play with my new 3D printed minis. I am so grateful to say that I was overwhelmed by the support and by the offers of help I received! Originally, I had thought to send packages to five or six folks. But between the blog, the email blog subscription list, Facebook and Instagram, I had over forty volunteers! I know I say this all the time, but mini people are The Best People!!! I spoke with Russ about his comfort level with regard to the expense of shipping packages, and was again blown away by his encouragement. "Whatever you need" was what he told me. 💗 So I got to pick 14 names, and after the long holiday weekend, got busy contacting everyone for their preference of items. Then, I started printing.

Each of the volunteers got to pick if they were more interested in the Baking, items, the Cookware items, or the General Kitchen items. I wanted to make sure these good Samaritans would end up with things they actually needed or wanted! Then, in addition to those items, I sent items from the other categories. A typical box included the items above.

I had to organize a spreadsheet with all the volunteer's information, preferences etc., I also had to create a questionnaire for them to fill out once they'd received their minis. I had to write instructions for the things that need assembling after painting. I had to actually 3D print the items, each category taking an average of 8 hours. And once the items came off the printer, the sanding began. It was an odyssey of 16 hour days for over a week! Woodson and Rusty are terribly board since walks and play time were among the sacrifices, and poor Russ had to eat tuna salad all weekend! But by Jove, I got 'er done!

And in between batches, while waiting for the next batch to finish printing, I kept at designing new kitchen minis. I received so many excellent ideas from all of you, I just had to try making them! I started with a honey pot and dipper.

It turned out so adorably that I had to try painting it. Or THEM. To the pots, I painted a base coat of Empire Gold. To the honey dippers, I applied a coat of Raw Sienna. 

With paint before washes were applied.

Next, I applied a brown wash to all the pieces, then finished the pots with a glaze coat and the dippers with a matte coat.

And then I decided that every volunteer just had to have one! 

In addition to the finished flour sifters...

I also had small windows of time that I used to create even more of your wonderful suggestions! On the left is a garlic keeper, next to it a salt pig, (the honey pot you've already seen) and a pear shaped cookie jar. I can't wait to paint these up!

I have also been working on a colander, as many of you suggested, but getting the holes just right is an ongoing challenge. It'll get there - I just need to keep working until I uncover the secret..

Once all the batches of samples were printed and sanded, I could package them up and get them into shipping boxes. This, too, required research into the best ways to get minis safely through the mail. I still have so much to learn!

But thanks to all of you in this incredibly supportive community, I am on the way to learning how to get my ideas into your hands! The first batch, to the amazing volunteers, is on their way!

Next on the agenda is to scrub the house, get some food into the cabinets and then go visit Tasha on her farm. She and Brent are the proud parents of chickens and goats, and I get to meet them next weekend!

Thanks again for all your support and encouragement! There is nothing like minis and mini friends to fill the soul! 💗

xo xo,

Jodi

Help! Calling All Mini Nuts Who Like Free Stuff!

Hello Friends! In terms of progress IN the Willowcrest kitchen this week, you may be a bit let down. There is no wallpaper, there is no floor or ceiling installed, and I never did get around to painting the door and window trim. So sorry! But rest assured that the work FOR the kitchen has been all consuming! I decided to see if I could make some vintage kitchen things in Tinkercad and it quickly got out of hand! Once I started, I just kept coming up with more and more fun ideas. And I thought, if I was taking all this time to make stuff for me, why not make more to share!

Each gadget and utensil, plate, cup and appliance, had to be designed, printed, adjusted, reprinted, tested and incrementally perfected. This process, I am sure you know, takes a good, long time. I had hoped to have some things painted and finished, but I just could not stop adding new things each time an idea sprang itself on me!!! So far, I have the following things broken down by category:

Baking

• Stand Mixer (with attachment, bowl, lifting motor, cord and plug)
• Mixing Bowls, set of 3 graduated
• Flour Sifter (working)
• Rolling Pin (working)
• Cake Pedestal
• Bundt Cake Pan (made to fit perfectly on cake plate)
• Pie Pan
• Bread Pan
• Cookie Sheet
• Measuring Cups for liquids, set of 2
• Measuring Cups for dry ingredients, set of 4
• Measuring Spoons, set of 5

Cooking

• Covered Casseroles, set of 3 with lids
• Cast Iron pans, set of 2 sizes
• Dutch Oven with lid
• Sauce Pan with lid

General Kitchen

• Bread Box with lid
• Canisters, set of 3 (two designs all with opening lids)
• Toaster (with cord and plug)
• Coffee Pot hollow with lid
• Tea Pot hollow with lid
• Cream and Sugar containers hollow with lid
• Salt & Pepper Shakers
• Napkin Holder
• Butter Dish (with cube of butter)
• Spice Rack with pull out drawers and spice jars
• Dinnerware for 4 including dinner plate, lunch plate, dessert plate, bowl and mug
• Large and tabletop Vases

It is so much fun to design unique things for my dollhouses, but it's even more fun to share them with other enthusiasts! Recently, I had an order for many of the items I made for the Beachside Bungalow. When my customer received them, she sent me the nicest email to let me know she was thrilled with everything! She loved my minis!!! That feeling is only just slightly better than sharing all my adventures with all of you! So, could I share? And still have time for my own pursuits? In a limited way, maybe... I think so...

But, if you don't mind my imposing, I need a little help! I would so much appreciate your feedback! What am I missing? What do you like and what do you think could be better? And, if there is any interest, I would love to ask a few of you to review the new vintage kitchen items for me. I'll send you the sets to finish as you see fit, to play with and to keep, and in exchange you tell me how they stack up to traditional mini accessories. Any takers? If you're interested, and really willing to give me honest feedback within a fairly quick timeframe, just leave a comment below or email me: jodihippler@gmail.com

Thanks so much for your comments and for your support and encouragement throughout all my crazy ideas and adventures! I truly owe all my courage to all of you!

xo xo,

Jodi

Let Me Reiterate

You know how it took me a couple tries to get the floor tiles "right"? Compared to other things I'm working on, only two tries seems lucky! For the Willowcrest's wee kitchen chairs, ultimately, I wasn't satisfied until the seventh try!

The first thing I needed to do was to get a feel for 1930's and 1940's kitchen furniture styles. I perused Google and collected the photos of tables and chairs that just spoke "vintage" to me. There were things I liked about each of these pieces in the photo below, and using the knowledge, tools and materials I have available to me, I thought I could probably come up with something close.

Once I had a picture in my mind of the features I liked in the chairs, I needed to get some measurements. I brought out several of the chairs in my stash so I could get a feel for size. The chair on the left is Town Square Miniatures, the one in the center is Chrysnbon and the one on the right is House Of Miniatures. What it demonstrated is that the size of mini furniture varies widely. As long as the seat height was pretty close to the standard, around 1-1/2", the rest of the design could be fitted to my space and table.

If there are any James Bond fans reading this, you may laugh or cringe
at the cane seat being removed from the middle chair. 
Casino Royale was the movie. Le Chiffre was the perpetrator. OUCH!!!

Next, I turned to Tinkercad where I could create a design, print it out, assemble it and then make incremental improvements until I ended up with something that fit my criteria. I wanted a chair design which produced a consistent print quality, that assembled easily, and looked similar to many of the 30's and 40's style chairs that I liked. Most important, it had to be cute! I love the double arch design, and it just goes so great with all the other arches in the Willowcrest!

Many iterations and assembly configurations to test.

The final design.

Now that the design and print process were good, it was time to compare my chair to the others in my stash. I eliminated the HOM right off because it was noticeably tinier. But compared to the Chrysnbon and the Town Square chairs, mine worked!

While my trusty X-Max was printing many chairs (at just over 2 hours each), I was working on the table. I decided to design the table in Design Space and cut it from chipboard with the Cricut Maker. 

I was so engrossed in the table's assembly process that I forgot to take photos! Essentially, the table is comprised of a chipboard box which holds two working drawers on either side and a "porcelain enamel tabletop". This was a common material for that era, and I really loved the look. I made trim pieces to overlay the chipboard from kraft cardstock to add a layer of art deco detail. I combined several graphics to create the tabletop design, then used the Print Then Cut feature in Design Space to cut it from regular printer paper.. The table legs are standard Houseworks legs that I had in my stash. I painted the table elements in a mixture of the kitchen's colors, and applied the graphic to the table top with Mod Podge. I did not brush Mod Podge on top if the graphic because of the way it made the wallpaper's printer ink smudge previously. Instead, I spray sealed it with satin varnish. It shows wear on the drawer fronts, and might get a little more scuffed as I age the kitchen cabinets. The most pleasant surprise was that I only had to make the table once!

I used an amalgamation of 30's-40's table measurements I found online, and also factored in the space I had to work with in the Willowcrest kitchen. Here is how it worked with the test chairs, and then with my chair.

I really like the vintage feel and it works as well as you can hope for in this compact little kitchen!

The chairs definitely need some "cushy for the tushy", so I'll make the cushions when it's time to dress the room. For now, it's still too hot to wallpaper, so my mini time will be spent on the PC. At least here, I can sit in front of my Hot Flash fan and design the accessories for my little home cook. I have some fun stuff to share with you next week!

Hope you're finding ways to stay comfortable while working on your projects, too!

xo xo,

Jodi