Time Stretch

I seemed to have figured out a way to stretch time this weekend. It feels like I packed a lot into two days!

I made chicken breast stew with beans, veggies and noodles for Georgie and Rusty to go along with their kibble for the week. Yes, they are spoiled doggies because as of now I do not yet have grandchildren to dote on.

Georgie - My Baby

Rusty - My Grandpuppy

I made tuna casserole Saturday, and eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy today at the request of my husband.

I also did some loads of laundry, spent about 2-1/2 hours working my "real" job, and even watched TV and football with Russ.

I also was able to carve out some play time in the TinkerCad 3D program again. Here is what I have to show so far in addition to the lamps I made Friday:

Afterglow Lamp

Moonbeam Lamp

Resplendent Left Side Lamp

Resplendent Right Side Lamp

Twilight Lamp

Entwine Headboard

Forethought Headboard

New Horizions Headboard

New Horizons Wall Sculpture

I have them uploaded to Shapeways. It looks like the lamps are around $10, and the headboards are around $30. I am going to upload the headboards on a different axis and see if that brings the cost down any. Then I'll see what I can order, and see what they really look like in person. I'll experiment with different materials, I'll spray paint some and cover some of the lamp shades with fabric. When all the testing has been completed and any necessary changes made, I'll make the files available to anyone who wants them.

Have a wonderful week!

No One Around Here Is Flawless

I am finding that as I get older, it's a lot easier to be honest with myself, and to actually accept that I have a few character flaws. Some of them I really need to work on, and some of them I am really okay with.

One of the things I am okay with admitting is that I am either completely board with something, or completely obsessed with it. Enter 3D modeling and printing...

I was watching the first season of House Of Cards with my husband the other night (we are starting with the first season so we can binge watch the other seasons on a lazy, rainy weekend), and I kept noticing all of the incredible set decor. Things like lamps and headboards. Suddenly I am designing them in my head and not even paying attention to the show! Thank goodness for the rewind button!

 I'd been watching quite a few tutorials on SkillShare lately. One was by Lauren Slowik from Shapeways. It was interesting, but the way she went about creating and uploading the image wasn't going to work for me. My subscription to PhotoShop has expired, and I am still really on the fence about committing again when I rarely ever use it. Anyway, to make a long story a bit shorter, I just signed up with TinkerCad (it's free) and started playing with shapes. I can design with shapes - I really don't need to do much sketching on paper, so this was perfect!

I started by Googling some real life sized lamp measurements, then converting them to 1:12 scale. Then I took some of the ideas in my head and quickly drew them on paper, just so I wouldn't forget. I converted the measurements to millimeters, then began to "doodle" in TinkerCad.

I just so happened to have a 1:12th lamp shade with a built in 12v standard bulb/socket holder. It was easy to use the dimensions in my lamp and base designs. They should perfectly cradle the bulbs and support the shades. I made all of the bases hollow and made cord exits on the bases. I have finished a couple lamps so far, and I have drawings for a couple more. Once I am finished, I'll order them and see it they actually do work the way I planned! If so, maybe I'll try a couple headboards!


See! Obsessed with 3D printing! Meanwhile, the barn sits among my messes on the dining room table, just waiting until I am no longer board with it. As soon as I am not, I will become obsessed with it again.








Oh! By the way... I went and retrieved Enoch. He was hiding behind some trees waiting for campfire stories to begin. I talked him into letting me repair his loose leg. Poor guy! That must have hurt!

While he was recovering, he and Gerdy chatted up a storm. They have become fast friends, and Enoch agreed to carry her wherever she needs to go. Must be tough when arthritis sets in and you can't straighten your legs out any more.

I guess we all have some flaws.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Workshop? Garage?

I've spent the last couple days working on little projects for the barn's workshop/garage. I'm still not too sure what to call it, because our real life garage functions in so many different ways. My husband would LOVE for it to NOT function as a storage space for the lawn mower and other gardening implements, but building a shed is probably #23 on the "home maintenance" priority list. That's another story, but for this 1:12th scale workshop/garage I made sure not to include any gardening stuff of any kind. Unless you count the chainsaw, but that's really more of a Jeep tool than a "garden" tool.

In true frugal fashion, I ordered a bunch of unfinished metal tools on eBay. This barn project has already cost $6,154.55! Not really, but you all know what I mean...

Unfinished metal can be a great option to help mitigate costs, but be aware of a few things:

1. Make sure to look at and imagine the measurements of the item in your scene. "Small" might not be small enough and vice versa.
2. Unfinished metal is, well, Unfinished! You'll possibly have to trim away excess sprue, file and sand a bit before painting/finishing.
3. Beware items that have small and not very well supported metal pieces. These often break off in shipping, and can't always be easily repaired. I had two iffy repairs to make. Hopefully, no one notices.

I wanted a lot of detail in mine, so I took the time to tape off areas that I did not want painted. My husband has a lot of black, red and blue handled tools, so those are the colors I chose.







I like to use spray paint on these items, because you get a much better finish and way less paint build up. Be sure to let them dry thoroughly, especially if you need to paint both sides of an item.






I had ordered some unfinished metal can and jug blanks, so they needed to be painted in the base color, then have labels added. I took a look around Russ' shelves and cupboards to see what he actually uses, then got images from Amazon.

To see a little label making tutorial, click here.








Here is what I've gotten finished on the workshop/garage so far. I have cans, boxes, sleeping bags, tents, coolers, signs, calendar, and many more little details to add, so I'll just update progress as I go. I also think that many of the items here are too clean. They need grime and greasy fingerprints added.