Studio progress: Miniature weapons

Now, I hope y'all don't think I'm crazy, but I've been making miniature weapons. There is a reason. As you know I've been looking at miniatures and they're usually described as cute so I wanted to make miniatures of objects that aren't usually considered cute to find out if it changes the audiences perceptions of them. Hence weapons. 

I've added the photos of me holding them so you can see the scale.

Keeping crafty

I made this bracelet having seen the one below from Oh So Crafty. She actually has a tutorial for how to make it and it kind of looks easier than the way I went about making mine, but I didn't see the tutorial until just now. Live and learn, right.

It's pretty simple. All you need is ribbon, thread and pearly beads. The perfect craft for sitting in front of a movie. Though I wouldn't recommend picking a french movie that has subtitles, cos you can't read them and look at what you're sewing at the same time. My bad.

New painting

This is my newest painting. It's oil on canvas again and is painted from a photo I took in New Zealand. For a change I decide to keep the two people in the composition, as usually I edit out the figures in my landscape images. 

Gustave Courbet
Low tide, the beach at Trouville
 1865
oil on canvas

One of my tutors made a comparison between this painting and the work of Gustave Courbet, a French realist painter in the 19th Century. The obvious similarity is that he often painted quite sparse landscapes with big skies and minimal signs of life. 



Peter Doig
Blotter
1993
Oil on canvas

The figures in my painting are quite Peter Doig-esque, an artist I looked at last year in relation to my

painting on photos. They aren't painted with much detail, for example you can't make out the face, but they are engaged in doing something.

Want to see my studio space?

This is my studio space at uni.

A tenth of the size of course.

There's a mini paint brush, painting, sellotape, masking tape, black and white paint, and even a mini-miniature room. But I didn't fill it with mini-mini furniture. I've got to draw the line somewhere.

My mini Peacocks bag of junk, sorry, 'art materials'.

Other mini plastic bags that litter the space under my table.

I even sewed a mini version of my coat to hang on the back of my mini chair. I couldn't get the arms to hang down though.

And here's the actual coat so you can compare. Not bad even if I say so myself.

There's a hole in this card!

I recently found this photo of greetings cards where the image is made of holes. (I can't remember the source, if anyone knows, please let me know)

So I thought I'd give it a go. 

It's not the easiest thing to photograph but here is a celebratory balloon for my sister's birthday. I drew it out on the back first and then went to work equipped with a large needle and a thimble.

Different effects can be created depending on which side you make the holes through. Fancy.

Progress from the studio

Spending all day making miniatures can get quite frustrating as it's very focused and detailed work.

Though it's not as frustrating as the work the 3rd year behind me in the studio is making; complicated constructions out of matchsticks.

This was his sentiment the other day

So to give myself a break I've decided to do at least one painting a week - my schedule permitting of course - which doesn't have to be related to my current practice.

This is the first one.

Holkam Beach, Norfolk.

Or 'that beach where they filmed the end scene of Shakespeare in Love' 

16x12", painted in oils.

Cupcake hat!

I found this photo here, and though 'why should Blythes have all the fun?'

So my Mum kindly whipped up a people-sized version of the cupcake hat. I added the cherry (a red pom-pom) and the sprinkles (strands of wool).

My Model Room

Since I'm back at uni now I am going to call the project finished.

I had to give a presentation about my work so far and everyone seemed very impressed with the photos of this creation.

It took three months to make and is a pretty good replica of my bedroom, a 10th of the actual size. I made my bed, my furniture, even my books and posters.

I worked out that I only spent about £3.50 on the whole thing, and that was for the cardigan I used for the carpet, a long strip of bolster wood I used for the door frames, and a cheap tube of white paint.

If you missed out on any of the steps I took to making my miniature room then here are all the links. It certainly seems like a lot. 

1: Making a start

2: Wallpaper

3: Carpet

4: Window

5: Bunk beds

6: Furniture

7: Locker

8: Bedding

9: Ottoman

10: Airing cupboard door

11: Drawers, shelves, photos

12: Mirror and more

13: Curtains

14: Laptop, chair, table

15: Book shelves and notice board

16: Bed details 

Super!

Friday night at the SU was Heroes and Villains night! So my friends and I went as 'Generic Superheroes'.

Here we are making our hero masks out of a cereal box and decorating them with Sharpies and acrylic paint.

Charlie's Angels have got nothing on us!

We used black bin liners to make our capes, but here's a great idea to use a pillow case on Naptime Journal

Check out these comic inspired headbands from Janine Basil on Etsy.

We could have done with these superhero supplies on Alphamom.

Studio progress: Giant pencil sharpener

I'm back at uni now and the first piece I've made after my miniature bedroom is a giant pencil sharpener.

I wanted to see if I like making enlarged objects as much as making miniatures.

I picked a pencil sharpener as it happened to be around when I was thinking about what I could make, and it's a fairly geometric shape that I thought would be easy to reproduce.

I made it 5 times the size of the original and mainly used a cereal box and aluminium foil.

My Model Room: #16 Bed details

I've added the finishing touches to the bunk beds, like this hanging toy tidy. I won't be making tiny versions of the toys though, I think that's a bit excessive.

I've also covered the top bunk. In reality it is covered by a patchwork blanket but instead of trying to recreate it I found this fabric which is a similar colour just without the pattern.

For under the bed I made a white drawer out of card with black beads stuck to the bottom for the little wheels, and a simple cardboard box which I use to keep shoes in. 

Scarlett Rebecca

Scarlett is an illustrator and generally creative person. I also happen to work with her at the arts centre.

She's recently started a blog which is worth checking out, if nothing else then for the adorable mouse she drew on the header.

http://blog.scarlettrebecca.co.uk/

Scarlett's also got a Folksy shop where you can buy cute cards and hand made bunting! Who doesn't like bunting?? 

My Model Room: #15 Book shelves and notice board

The room is starting to look a bit more 'lived in' as I'm filling up the shelves.

For my notice board I used a small bit of cork and put a tiny version of my calendar on it. Unfortunately the only image of the Country Music Hall of Fame calendar on the internet was the December page with Gretchen Wilson on it. I was hoping for Sugarland, or maybe Brad or Taylor. 

Hanging from one of my shelves I have some plastic crystals that were sold as Christmas decorations. I recreated these using clear seed beads and invisible thread. On the drawers underneath I made the red plastic container I keep my hair things in and my clock, which I still need to put the numbers on.

Here's a close up on the mini version of the wooden box I made in middle school, and some of my books. I made the books by taking a photo of the books on my shelf and sticking it to a little box made of card, slotting in more card for the taller books.

Also notice that I made the shelf brackets made of little bits of card painted pink.