Happy New Year

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year in 2020

New Magazine Article

Be sure to check out my latest article on Strombecker in the latest Dollhouse Miniatures January 2020 issue!

To see more of my Strombecker collections, type Strombecker in the search bar.

Annual Christmas Cubicle Decorating Contest

We had our annual Christmas cubical decorating contest this week.  Me and my cubical mate chose "A Christmas Story" for our theme.

I crafted the ears and glasses out of card stock and felt.

My wife made some of her homemade fudge - we will see if it sways the judges!

Recent Acquistions

I have picked up a few things recently at estate sales and antique malls.

The Jolly Roger is a pedal car/boat and is actually a vintage Hallmark Christmas ornament (from 1999) The metal box, ceramic tea pot, and dog are all estate sale finds.  The two metal airplanes on stands that the metal clock are from an antique mall.  I'm not sure what the airplane pieces are? Maybe board game pieces?

At another local estate sale I came across a whole box of Renwall and Plastico furniture from the 40's-60's.  Some are duplicates of pieces that I have.  I will list the rest on 

ebay.

Back Stage Dressing Room

I was able to install the base board and the a curtain in my retro backstage dressing room this week.

I belong to the Tulsa Miniature Club and we have all been working on individual dressing room projects and each making something to contribute to each member's room.

I also installed some old movie posters on the "outside" of my dressing room.

The chair was on old vintage one that I painted and reupholstered.

To see my other posts on the room click the Tulsa Miniature Club Label

Another New Project - The Farm House

On my morning jog last weekend, I saw this beauty at a garage sale.  I have seen some great variations on this plan recently and figured it would make a great farm house project.

The previous owner didn't get too far.

Our littlest dog Margot thinks it looks pretty great too!

Red Carpet Time - Oscar

The members of Tulsa Miniature Club are each working on a small back stage dressing room vignette.  We are each adding something for everyone.  I was asked to make a trophy or an Oscar.

Here is a behind the scenes messy photo shoot!

Tulsa is fortunate to have a Fab Lab.  A place where you can go use 3D printers and Lasers cutters, etc. for a small fee.

I was surprised that there was already several 3D computer models to choose from online.

I selected one and grouped several together.

The was the 3D printer that I used.

Yes, that says 3 hours and 3 minutes to print 14 Oscars!

Here is a photo of the finished product.  The material is clear, so I had to hold it in the sun to get a picture.

The software added a bunch of supports that I had to cut away.

I hot glued the statues temporarily to a stick so that I could spray paint them.

Here they are all painted.  The paint was Rustoleum Shiny Brass. 

I then cut a dowel into several small pieces and hot glued them to a stick for painting.

Once the paint was dry, I glued the statues onto the base.  I found out that Gorilla Glue worked best.  Super Glue and hot glue didn't stick to the statue very well.

 Here is one of the the statues making an appearance on the red carpet.

Recent Acquistions

I have picked up a few interesting pieces recently.  The tall country cupboard is 1:12 scale, the small console table is half scale and came with the cardboard house below, the silver filigree chair is probably not a scale, and the English timber building actually a ceramic piece and is marked made in England on the bottom.

I rescued this large cast iron stove from a friend at work!  He said he picked it up at  garage sale many years ago.  It has the original box from Montgomery Ward and probably dates from the 1970's.  It is pretty large, maybe 1:6 scale 

The small chair was from one of the old oil mansions here in Tulsa and the salesperson thought it was from the turn of the century.  I would love to find out more info on it?  Please let me know if you know anything.

And Lastly, I put up a shelf in my studio to store the 1930's cardboard house that I recently acquired.  It needs a few repairs and will get added to the list!

Tulsa Park Day

The architecture firm where I work participated in the Tulsa Park Day.  Different companies around town turned parking spots into miniature parks for day.  Here was our contribution.  We built the shade structures from recycled pallets, recycled paint, 2X4's and pool noodles!

Here is the official website: Click HERE
And here is some of the local news coverage - click HERE

Recent Acquisitions - Cardboard house

I have added this 1936 Built-Rite County Estate to my collection

It needs a little work, I will need to replicate a few window boxes and awnings.

The graphics on the exterior are wonderful.  I am hoping to be able to remove the tape repairs at the base. (any tips would be appreciated)

 The wall inside the kitchen is a large cupboard complete with labels.

The walls on the interior are plain, but the floors are printed.  I like the rug between the two main downstairs rooms.

In other news, I came across a mixed bag of pieces at an estate sale, all plastic except for the wooden piano. 

The refrigerator and sink both still had the original cardboard on the back.  I have not come across this before!  I believe the numbers are the original prices.