Prom gown

One of the things I love best is the feeling that I am helping others to learn and enjoy sewing. I try to encourage anyone I can to this end.

Here is a requested prom gown tutorial that is very simple and easy to follow.  Learn how to make your own pattern to suit the type of doll you want to make the dress for!

Watch the full video here:

Craft room tour and update

Hey guys I'm back! Wow where to start?! So, basically, as I'm sure many of you have noticed, i haven't published a blog or a youtube video in a while. 12 months to be exact. 

I took a break from miniatures and blogging with pretty much no explanation on social media, which probably wasn't the best move. But, i promise i had good reasoning! I'm excited to be back doing what i love which is creating.

Why i took a break

Taking a break wasn't something that i had planned on doing. I fell fairly ill and I'm (finally) mostly recovered. Right in the middle of my illness, both my parents also had life threatening illnesses, to which they're both being treated for to this day.  While i was away from crafting my husband and i took the opportunity to renovate the dungeon (lol just a nick name, promise) down stairs to be my craft room. Now we can have the kitchen table back haha. 

Its still incomplete but the foundation is there now. Here are the progress shots!

Concrete floor, semi-passable brick walls and so many holes. We had to replace the left wall and make is structurally safe and rewired everything. There was a huge hole in the external wall too that needed to be sealed.

Once the building work was done it was time for paint. Lucky for me the person tinting the paint did a wonderful (cough not) job of having the sample match the paint. We ended up with a base coat that was 3x darker than requested. But we persevered and finished it off with a nice pastel purple called cloudberry.

I wanted to have one wall a feature. So i chose a marbled mermaid look using a few colours in a matching pallet. I hand painted the marbled wall and gently used a roller over the top to blend everything nicely.

Next the tricky bit. Using holographic gold paint, i hand painted scales over the entire wall. The effect of using this paint leaves a shiny and bright gold scale up close and from the other side of the room, the gold holo paint merges into the wall to appear marbled.

I'm fairly happy with my wall and should be lovely and calming for me to stare at when i need a break from crafting.

The majority of the furniture has also been built and it's ready to be populated with my crafty supplies! All of the furniture i chose was either white or a pale beige to match in with the walls and not distract away from the feature wall.

Do you see a sneaky gremlin chicken on the windowsill? Haha!

I still have to install a large art print, caulk peg board, desk accessories, bins etc before the room is complete. I'll be slowly finishing off my room in the next month and by then miniatures and youtube tutorials will be back!!

Now for the scary and large process of purging old craft supplies and organising my new room... I'll keep you all posted!

Tiny sushi

Hey everyone!

My lastest video tutorial is how to make sushi using polymer clay.  Check out the video!

I haven't posted a video in a while as I haven't been well enough to voice record nor did I have a steady enough hand to work on my minis. Anyhoo here are a few photos to preview before you watch the video =) 

If you do any recreations drop me a tag on Instagram!

Potatoes

Hey everyone! My latest tutorial is now on youtube.

Special guest is Tempest. As he is still very young, he stays with me at all times.

Please excuse his messy breakfast face!

Here is the video. Thanks for watching!

Pasta and kitchen update

My latest tutorial is now available for viewing! Learn how to make miniature pasta in 12th scale using polymer clay.

Here are a few quick photos of the pasta packages in my kitchen room box.

 All of items in these photos have a tutorial on my youtube channel. Go check it out!

Fully functional and super small paper towel with dispenser and a few pans.

Baking paper, aluminum foil rolls, sponge and books!

 Also learn how to make super adorable kettle and matching toaster complete with cords!

Fridge

I have been working on a miniature 1/12th scale fridge to go with my room box that you see frequently on my youtube tutorials. Short of doing up a template myself I used one that was already done and perfectly suited the size of my mini kitchen. I have been a subscriber to Kris' 1 inch minis blog for quite some time and I was delighted to discover that Kris did some work on a double door fridge. Check out Kris' post here: goo.gl/bDqc0i

This was the basic template I used. I did add a few extras however.

Here is my re-creation

Instead of having the fridge door and freezer compartment fixed, I decided to add some pin hinges. The notebook attacked to the fridge has a tutorial available on my youtube channel.

I wanted my fridge to suit my bench tops, which is why I changed my mind about steel and sprayed it black instead. Also the handles I made are less fancy than that Kris made. They're just toothpicks and dowel.

Inside has a simple divider down the middle and some shelves on the left made from ply. The baskets I made from polymer clay. I also added a shelf area to the right door. I didn't add any to the left otherwise the door wouldn't be able to close.

The freezer drawer is just a simple box drawer. I still have to fix up a small area that got a bit black from over spray, however its at the bottom of my list to do since you can't see it anyway =)

Keep miniaturing on everyone!

Halloween cake

Check out this week's miniature tutorial on how to make a tiny 3 tier polymer clay cake in 1:12th scale!



New tutorials every week!







I'm now on facebook! Come check me out https://www.facebook.com/MiniaturesAbsolutely/

Vertical pallet garden

Hey everyone! I recently uploaded another tutorial on youtube on how to make a miniature vertical pallet garden. The vertical planter project has taken pinterest by storm and there are many DIYs on how to make you own. Now I will show you how to make one in 1:12 scale miniature for your dollhouse.

If you prefer your pallet to be a little bit larger to suit barbie or monster high, simply double the measurements. All details and measurements are listed on the video's description as well.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEjCHFBI9AY

Have a great day everyone! =)

Harry Potter Mandrakes

Hey everyone! I made two miniature Harry Potter inspired mandrakes from polymer clay. The tutorial can be found on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/c/MiniaturesAbsolutely
I have imbed the video at the bottom of this post =)

I made two versions, a fully mature and a juvenile.  This project was quite fun to make. I might make some more Harry Potter inspired miniatures in the future if anyone is interested.

Quick shot before the mature mandrake was prebaked for the first time.

After prebake and painted using acrylic paints. You could use inks as well to give the same effect. I simply wanted some definition to the scratches and to age the 'wood' areas a little.

All finished! The immature mandrake was given a little pot to hide in, Nothing fancy =)

I actually find the little one kind of cute haha!

Here is the video tutorial =)

Phone cases

Hey guys! Here is another tutorial that got released to my youtube channel. How to make miniature phone cases using polymer clay.

How I made my mold: i used the phone template i featured in my miniature iPhone video and cut out a piece of clay to fit and baked. Using this piece as a base, I made a mold with scrap clay. This will be your second template. After baking make a mold again using silicone, mold putty or scrap clay.

You can also glue the first piece to a block of clay or wood if you don't want to use silicone or go through additional steps like I did.

I made a few extra phone cases that I didn't show in my video as I was worried the video would get too long, but i'm happy to upload them if they're requested. Leave me a comment if you would like to see them =)

Apple iPhone 7

Hey everyone!

I have just uploaded another video tutorial for a miniature iPhone 7 in 1:6 scale. This miniature uses a different method to my samsung miniature. I hope you enjoy!

My dog Matty was super happy to get some attention. He is always fascinated by people that speak through a phone. He hasn't quite worked out how they work yet.

 

This phone is perfect for monster high and barbie dolls. It matches my Miss Catrine perfectly!

Samsung S5

Hi guys! This entry is a little different to my normal posts, in that I have opened a youtube channel!

I have created a 1:12 scale miniature Samsung S5, replicating my current phone. I swear that google doesn't pay me for their sponsorship haha. Anyway, this adorable miniature will be used in my room box projects whose details will be posted in the near future.

If only this tiny phone really worked...it's so adorable!

Further details and a video tutorial for this miniature can be found below. Hope you enjoy! :)

Vegetables

Hello everyone! I made some delicious vegetables so that the bread doesn't get lonely. I have enjoyed making these little guys, perhaps I shall make some more in the future.

These miniatures are in 1:6 scale, or play scale (suitable for dolls).

I even made cute little eggplant / aubergine earrings!

Valentines 2016

Here is a quick submission that i did for a previous blog for valentines. I hope you enjoy them.

Easter bunny

Hi everyone! This past Easter, I created an adorable OOAK bunny out of scrap clay.

Here is the beginnings of the teeny bunny, Looks more like a were rabbit haha! I used the scrap clay I had been saving and base painted him white.

The bun fur is alpaca fur that I flocked to the right length.

For those of you that are allergic or intolerant to dairy (like myself) I made a tiny purple sugar paste egg which was a common gift I received during this time of year.

Each tiny Easter egg is true to form and can be unwrapped and broken to reveal a hollow egg.

Speckled eggs were also a favorite of mine. Candy or sugar coated with dark chocolate middle...yum!

I had heaps of fun creating this submission. I might look into doing some more realistic animals in the future!

Miniature turtles

Hey guys, here are the turtles I will be using for my miniature terrarium.

I started by rolling out a ball of clay to the desired size. I inserted a head pin and cut down to size. I use a tiny bit of liquid clay just to add strength.

I pre-baked at the same temperature as the package requests, but at half the time, making the clay a little harder to be able to sculpt on. Next I added clay around the pins for the head. I inserted pre-baked black balls for the eyes, and using a needle tool, added some texture to look like leathery skin.

Then I rolled out a snake, flattened it a little, and added pieces for the front legs. I added texture using a needle tool again. Then pre-baked.

After pre-baking and while the turtles were half cool, I added a small flattened ball to the back to build up more height for the shell.

For the shell I rolled out a thin sheet of clay and cut out a shape to match my turtles. I textured with a tooth brush then added scales with a fine ball tool. I also make tiny creases on each scale with a needle tool then pre-baked.

After pre-baking and once the turtles were cool, I added a small snake to the bottom to fill out the flattened areas as a result of baking on a flat surface. This is purely optional. Then you guessed it...bake again  =) This time for the full amount of time as per the recommended time.

Once the turtles have baked and cooled completely i began to add colour using citadel model paint. It's basically just fancy and expensive acrylic paint haha. However it should minimise color seepage.to resin.

Using yellow  I bled the watered down acrylic paint into the creases and then shaded each scale with burnt sienna. Then going over the edges of each scale with a darker shade. They kind of look like a leopard!

Using the same technique I shaded in the feet and head. I chose to make my turtles a little darker because they will be encased in resin.

Hope you enjoy =)