iseecerulean

My husband wanted to go an antique store yesterday, one we haven't frequented in some time.  I always accompany him...usually he buys a few treasures while I find items I adore but don't purchase because there's no place to display them if I were to bring them home.  Yesterday, between the two of us, we filled a shopping bag.

My husband came home with a few LPs (which aren't in the picture), a cocktail shaker for his vintage bar ware collection, and some kitchen utensils.  He buys most of our kitchen utensils at antique stores because new ones which are priced affordably aren't manufactured with the quality they used to be.

I came home with a hand drill (I finally found one which wasn't too heavy), and some miniatures.

I purchased a trestle table with two benches, some kitchen utensils, pottery, and a bag of hardware...H hinges, door hinges, cabinet pulls, and two packages of door knobs. I also bought a couple of things for Susan's October box....which reminds me, I was too busy to post about last year's October boxes, I should backtrack a bit one of these days.

You know, I need to start taking my camera with me so I can show you the wonderful finds I don't bring home.  We also have an ongoing ugly lamp contest when we shop which would make for some funny pictures.  Yesterday I fell in love with but left behind an old light bulb and a child's doll hutch.  Though, as I look around my studio now, I think I can put a shelf low on the wall under the light switch for the hutch to sit on....hmmmm....

We had some cheese, crackers, meats and a bottle of wine when we arrived back home then spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each others company.  I was going to clean off my worktable then do some more miniature canning, but....

I've been playing around with different lids...still haven't found one I'm really wild about.  I do like having a variety, though.

I tried coloring the resin when I canned the beets...easy, peasy...will have to make some jam.

I also tried using a cut up piece of drinking straw as a mold instead of the eraser (the jar of cherries)...it worked just as well, but the diameter of the jar isn't that much different...I wanted a greater variation in jar size.

The canning isn't progressing as fast as I'd like...it's hard to work with a lap full of kitten.

Ester has peeked up onto my worktable a few times, but hasn't tried to bat anything off it, fortunately....however, if I drop something on the floor it's fair game.

I found the neatest etsy store this morning.  artbase...unique fine carpentry bases for art jewelry makers.

I bought these.

When I placed my order I suggested she consider also listing the smaller bezels in the category 'scale dollhouse miniatures'.  I'm going to use the oval bezels as trays and make miniature clocks from the owl and bird.  There are some neat shapes that would make fantastic picture frames too.

I followed a tutorial written by Susan in the Greenleaf Forum that I've had bookmarked for quite a while.  I used jeweler's resin instead of epoxy, because I've got tons of it in my closet already.

Operating under the assumption that my first batch may not turn out well I canned garbage...cut up pieces of plastic, yellow eraser and a makeup sponge.  I'll save the polymer clay tomato and cucumber slices I bought until I know what I'm doing.

Canning was fun!

However, it was only fun the first day...it was not fun the second day, when I tried to pull them out of the eraser molds to discover I'd missed the "give the inside of the eraser a light coat of vegetable oil" step.  Yikes!

I finished off the half dozen bottles that came out of the molds the cleanest, for practice.  All in all they didn't turn out too bad...but they could be much better.  I definitely need to work on my lids, I'm not happy with them at all. 

I haven't decided yet whether to bother cleaning up and finishing the rest of them to keep for back-of-shelf jars, or to pitch them in the trash can.

While I was waiting for the resin to cure I played around with polymer clay...I made some very simple slices of carrot, beet and peach, and some plum halves.  I can't decide if I made the carrots too big or everything else too small....oh well, I'll use them all anyway.  I'm planning another round of canning garbage again though, before I use these.

I have never been able to master a crackle paint finish..I've tried all kinds of crackling products, and even white glue...it eludes me. When I saw crackle finish fingernail polish at the drugstore I bought a bottle...I figured it was worth a try.

I did a test on a scrap of wood, it turned out really nice...so back to the drugstore I went for some brown polish for a base coat.

This is the trellis after the base coat.  I wouldn't recommend painting miniatures with fingernail polish if you want a fine finish...the color is uneven and it's a little gloppy.  It took the whole bottle of brown to paint the trellis. 

I sanded it with a fine sanding sponge before I applied the coat of crackle polish, to get rid of the blobs. The coat of crackle went on nicely...the crackle polish is more forgiving that paint if you want to brush over it again while it's wet.  This is what it looks like dry with one coat and with two coats.

Here's the finished piece.  I gave the boxes and the lower quarter inch or so of the trellis a second coat, I left the upper part with one coat...it's going to be covered with leaves anyway.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out....of course that could be the fingernail polish fumes talking.

I need some aspirin, my head hurts.

An unfinished trellis with planter boxes and a finished end table, built by Ray Haake.  His craftsmanship is impeccable.

A cutting board and some fantastically realistic polymer clay food, from Little Time Wasters.  I'm going to use the cucumber and tomato slices to try my hand at canning.

A furry, purry, lap warmer, from the Humane Society.

Her name is Ester, she is four months old, she's a lovey little lap kitten.  I have to toss balled up pieces of paper on the floor of my studio to get her off my lap long enough to get anything done....then I sit and watch her play with them, which kind of defeats the whole 'getting things done' concept.  I spent half an hour last night trying to get a picture of her playing...it's impossible, she's too quick.

artist Marc Giai-Miniet