Crafting together (August) - making Spaghetti Bolognese

Vorige week zijn Jolinda en ik opnieuw aan de slag gegaan met Fimo. Jolinda ging aan de slag om aardappelen te maken, sommige geschild en anderen nog met de aarde eraan.
Zelf ging ik na de pizza van vorige keer verder met het Italiaanse thema en maakte Spaghetti Bolognese met de hulp van deze tutorial van AkameruKawaii.

Last week Jolinda and I started working with Fimo again. Jolinda set to work making potatoes, some peeled and others still soiled.
I myself continued with the Italian theme after last time's pizza and made Spaghetti Bolognese with the help of this tutorial by AkameruKawaii.

Nadat ik het terras geveegd had en alle stof van de berg geblazen had, heb ik een tafel gedekt en staat de pasta klaar voor twee hongerige gasten ;)

After I swept the terrace and blown all the dust off the mountain, I set a table for two. The pasta is ready for two hungry guests ;)

We vonden het opnieuw zo leuk om met polymeer klei te werken dat we volgende keer samen knoflookbollen willen maken.

Again we enjoyed working with polymer clay so much that next time we want to make garlic bulbs together :)

Crafting together (birthday swaps) - September

Yesterday our miniature crafting trio met again. Since Monique had had her birthday during the holidays and Jolinda's will be in a short while, we'd decided to do the birthday swaps for both of them this time.
I hadn't been crafting at all since I'd finished making the red bricks for the (Italian) pavement, so to have to do those swaps was nice :)

For Monique I'd made a little playtent, a reversible playmat and a flags banner. Found the idea in the Dutch magazine P&M nr. 162, though I did some tweaking.

     

  

For Jolinda I'd made two candle sticks, a tray and a French press coffe maker for either her brocante or her French doll house.

Tutorial for the coffe maker by Easy DIY Miniatures. 

Tutorial for the candlesticks by My Miniature Madness.

The tray was inspired a similar idea from the Dutch magazine P&M nr. 163. 

After exchanging the gifts and having tea and coffee we started crafting.

Monique tried to work out how to use her new 3D pen though when that didn't work, she made Fimo canes and then some very nice succulents.

Jolinda has been participating in Thea's Summer Project and worked on one of the last items - a watering can - she needed to do.

I've made a first batch of grey cobblestones for the Italian pavement. I'm not really sure about them. Maybe they'll turn out okay after some sanding and aging, but I might just start over.

That won't be anytime soon though. It's time to continue working on the cottage again. I know I said that before, but this time I've put the Italian project away (out of sight, out of mind? ^^) and the cottage on the diner table again! :)

I've made more bricks during our miniature crafting afternoon last monday, and even more afterwards :') I'd told you in my previous blog that every single brick would be lightly sanded, and given a bit rounder corners. Seeing that whole box of brix though, while my shoulders were still straining from the brick making, I started second guessing that plan.

The bricks below aren't sanded, the ones above are. I think it would have looked a bit better, but I decided it wouldn't be worth the extra strain, especially since ther wil be some dirt and moss between the bricks and there will be bistro tables and chairs and flower pots.

So, decision made, I started right away. I glued the drawings to the base plated and started glueing the bricks in place. I'd told myself I'd do only one part, but ...

... it was just too much fun seeing the pavement emerge ;) And since we had a heatwave last week, it was impossible to do much else (a)

But now I'll take a break untill the next meeting with Jolinda and Monique, when I'll probably make the gray cobblestones.

How I made bricks

In the previous blog I showed you my design for the brick pavement I wanted to make for the Italian project.
So this weekend I've experimented a bit with making bricks. I won't bore you with the methods that didn't work for me so this is what I did ;)
(Hopefully my English will be good enough to help you understand, but if you have question or comments just let me know)

In m'n vorige blog liet ik het ontwerp zien dat ik getekend had voor het terras van de Italiaanse bistro. Dit weekend ben ik wat gaan experimenteren met verschillende manieren om straatsteentjes te maken. Ik zal jullie niet vervelen met alle mislukte pogingen dus dit is hoe ik het uiteindelijk heb gedaan ;)

I just used simple white air drying clay, and then I mixed some soft pastel (powder) with the white clay. Didn't know if it would work, but it seems to do ^^

Ik heb de luchtdrogende witte klei van de Action gebruikt die ik gemixt heb met het poeder van zachte pastels. Ik had geen idee of dat zou werken, maar blijkbaar wel ^^

I taped some baking paper on the oilcloth tablecloth so the clay wouldn't stick to the tablecloth.
I wanted the bricks nothing thicker than 2 mm so I glued two Balsa slats 2 x 2 mm to the baking paper.
The bricks I need are 17 x 5 mm so I put the slats 8 cm apart which would be the right width for 16 bricks. I made marks on the slats every 17 mm (the length of the bricks), covered a rolling pinn with cling film and mixed soft pastel with the white air drying clay untill it was the right colour.

Met plakband zette ik een stuk bakpapier vast op m'n (knutsel) tafelzeiltje, zodat de steentjes niet aan de ondergrond zouden plakken. Omdat ik dunne steentjes wilde, heb ik twee Balsa latjes van 2x2 mm met Tacky glue op het bakpapier gelijmd. Dikkere latjes (of wat je ook wilt gebruiken) zorgt voor dikkere steentjes. Ik koos voor 8 cm tussenruimte, wat in mijn geval betekende dat er 16 steentjes tussen zouden passen.
Voor het ontwerp dat ik had getekend (gebaseerd op maten van echte stenen) moest ik steentjes van 17x5 mm maken. Op beide latjes zette ik dus met potlood streepjes op 17 mm van elkaar. Tenslotte bedekte ik een deegroller (bij gebrek aan beter ^^) met vershoudfolie en mixte de klei met het poeder tot de kleur die ik wilde.

I spread the clay between the slats, using the rolling pin to get a nice, flat suface.

De klei werd verdeeld tussen de latjes en uitgerold met de deegroller zodat ik een gladde, 2 mm dikke, plak klei had.

On both ends I put little holes every 5 mm ...

Aan boven- en onderkant prikte ik gaatjes op 5 mm afstand van elkaar ...

... and carefully drew lines with a ruler and a dull blade. Better draw three shallow lines untill you've cut through than doing it in one go because the clay will stick to the knife.

... zodat ik met een liniaal voorzichtig met een bot hobbymesje repen kon snijden. Het is het beste om meerdere keren lichtjes over/door de klei te gaan, want als je in één keer door de plak snijdt, trek je de klei mee aan je mesje.

After the long vertical lines I did the horizontal ones.

Na de lengte lijnen, legde ik een liniaal tegen de potloodstreepjes op de latjes en verdeelde de repen klei in 17 mm lange steentjes. Hiervoor gebruikte ik trouwens een 8 cm breed plamuurmes, wat ook een reden was waarom de afstand tussen de latjes 8 cm was ;)

To give the bricks more character I'd carefully brushed little bits of the soft pastel on them.

Om de steentjes wat meer karakter te geven - en hopelijk een wat ouder effect - strooide ik hele kleine beetjes poeder over de klei. Dit kun je zowel voor als na het snijden doen, maar als je het ervoor doet, kan je liniaal het eventueel wat uitvegen.

I used the 8 cm putty knife to lift the rows of bricks from between the slats so they would dry faster.
When they were half hard and I could separate them one by one, I put them in the oven (90 degrees Celsius) for a few minutes but only because I was impatient ;)
I did a second batch with a bit more brown mixed with the red soft pastel.

Je kan het natuurlijk twee dagen zo laten liggen om te drogen, maar zo geduldig ben ik niet ;) Met het plamuurmes bijna horizontaal (om het bakpapier heel te laten) heb ik voorzichtig rij voor rij op getild en los van elkaar gelegd. Om te voorkomen dat de steentjes 'vervormen' kun je het beste wachten tot de klei minstens al wat harder aan de buitenkant is :') 
En het is natuurlijk niet per se nodig met deze klei, maar toen alle steentjes los van elkaar waren, heb ik ze nog een kleine tien minuten in een bakblik in de oven geschoven op 90 gr Celsius om goed te harden.
Aan de tweede partij heb ik wat meer en donkerdere tinten poeder toegevoegd.

By using different colours of soft pastel and brushing them lightly, you'll get (hopefully) a feeling of older bricks :)
Every single brick will be lightly sanded, and given a bit rounder corners. I think I need approx. 1500 red bricks, so 1000 more to make :)

Door de klei in verschillende schakeringen te bakken plus ze ook nog hier en daar met losse poeder te kleuren (voor het bakken), krijg je bij het plaatsen van de steentjes een gemêleerd effect.
Nu de tijdrovende taak om steentje voor steentje de ruwe randjes een beetje te schuren. En zelf vind ik het bij dit soort steentje ook mooier om de hoeken wat ronder te maken. 
Ik schat dat ik zo'n 1500 rode steentjes nodig heb, dus nog 1000 bijmaken en dan de grotere grijze keien gaan maken :)

Crafting together (the Italian project) - June

Last week our little craft club met again. While the temperatures outside were rising, we kept it cool while we each worked on our own project ;)
Jolinda added more stones to her Greek stairs and started cutting legs for a fancy fauteuil while Monique worked on a barbeque for her garden.
I started attaching the first leaves to my tree, which still might become an olive tree, but could also end up being a completely different kind of tree ;)

I'd spend the day before figuring out how to make the leaves. The paper punch that was most similair to the shape of the real olive leaves was the 'teardrop' but that one was too big. So next idea was cutting punched flowers in eight tiny 'teardrops'. Those are 5 mm, which is the right scale for the tree.

I had this green tissue paper, that I'd bought in the UK last year and I painted it with a mixture of ocre yellow, gold, brown and sap green acrylic to match the shade of the leaves. While painting the tissue paper wrinkles a bit. I just used the brush lightly so not every part of the tissue paper was covered, which made it look more natural imo.

The back of the paper might look a bit too light but it turned out good after punching and cutting the leaves :) I used cottage green with silvergrey for this side.

I had also googled for examples of old (Italian) paving, city square, old town streets etc and found this stockphoto, which I immediately fell in love with :) 

Why choose an easy paving when you can do it the hard way, right? ;)

Photo from internet

So, after Jolinda and Monique had left, I've started making a 1:12 scale drawing to test if it could work.

Also with the leaves I attached during crafting with the ladies. It may not look like much but adding leaf after leaf is so time consuming lol

I spend a big part of the next day outside in the shade drawing bricks. I loved doing that ;)

With the tree and 'mountain' on it. Already love the look of it and the real bricks will hopefully look even better ^^

The finished drawing. I enjoyed it so much that all my future projects probably end up with brick pavement as well ;)

I've cut the drawing in seven pieces because I have gotten an idea of making the brick pavement from air drying clay; not brick by brick but by making a flat surface, put a cut out section of the drawing on top and use a needle or something to puncture markings in the clay so I can 'draw' the bricks in the clay. No idea if that will work, but you never know untill you try, right? :)

Since I still wasn't all that happy with the 'spooky' colouring of the tree, I've spend some time dry brushing soft pastels on the bark.
I used the brown colours (mostly the one on the left) for the parts that were very dark and shadowy, and the greens (mostly the right one) over the high lighted parts.

For the metal wired twigs I added a drop of water with the brown soft pastel. After I was satified with the result I fixated everything very lightly with hairspray.
The colours look much better in reality imo but there you have it ;)

Long overdue update on the Italian project!

It's been months since I've shown you the progress on the Italian project. Even though I've met with the miniature club twice since February, and I've been working on it at home as well :')
So this is mainly a quick photo update, so I can move on to the next thing ;)

I finished the awning and then I could
finally put the front of the trattoria in place
(which wasn't as easy as it sounds ^^).

Next, the ballustrade got glued to
the mountain wall. Because of all
the tweaking on the front, it
didn't fit as well as when I made it.

So I filled the gap with a piece of card-
board that was left over from cutting the
door opening :)

I've made two table clothes and pinned the planter under the
window, just untill I've made flowers (a)

I've put together some bodyparts for
a waitress and got this wig from an-
other doll.

Started sewing the trousers.

Made an apron from the same fabric I used for
the awning. Then I made the bistro tables, so
now there's four bistro chairs on my to-do-list ;)

And of course a neat collar shirt :)

She's still a w.i.p. and need shoes, arms, a face
paint and a better fitting wig but I'm very happy
with the clothes! 

I've used this photo as a reference for the apron: click
This one for the bistro tables: click
For the shirt this tutorial by AkameruKawaii was very helpful: click

Crafting together (the Italian project) - February

Last month while crafting with Jolinda and Monique I'd made a planter for the Italian bistro, and when I got home I made this test model from paper for the awning.

So last week we  met again. Jolinda continued with the stone steps and Monique worked on her garden. For me it was time to figure out the awning for real :)
For the frame I got the inspiration from Miniature House, but I didn't want mine to be as neat as hers and there was no need for working blinds :)
I wanted something like this one below. Red and white striped fabric crossed my mind, especially since I want red and white checkered tablecloths, but in the end I choose a blackberry red fabric, which I intend to use for the waitress apron as well.

While at the craft club I cut the parts for the frame from Balsa (2,5 mm) but in hindside I should have just used card board, since I had to start at least four times over :') That was also why I didn't get much further that afternoon.
That evening at home I glued four skewers to the fabric with textile glue, a little wider than the test model indicated. One by one I attached the Balsa parts onto the skewers.

Then, when the glue had dried long enough, I put the four Balsa parts together with masking tape to see how it looked. At that point I didn't had a clue as to how I'd do the sides ;)

I like that the fabric isn't pulled tight on the frame. That's why I glued the skewers a bit wider in the beginning.

I put some masking tape on the overhanging fabric at the front and drew a scallop pattern. I cut them with sharp siccors and removed the tape.
The sides were just done with a bit of tweaking and adjusting, glueing it on the frame and cutting the exces :)

I liked the resulting sides of the awning.

I'd like to stain the Balsa frame, but then I have to replace to masting tape holding the parts together with something else.

I also want to put the name of the trattoria on the awning, but I need to figure out a way to do that first :')