Friday, September 14, 2012

So Close to Finished ...


A miniature is hardly ever finished. There's always some tweaking that can be done. The quilt shop room box is at that stage. More can be done, but it can wait. I spent a good bit of today inhaling rubber cement fumes as I arranged the quilts and sample blocks on the walls. 

The photos are a bit dark on the outside, as daylight was fading as I took these. The LED lights make the interior bright and cheerful. The bricks on the outside are printed cotton fabric. The raw wood box was primed with gesso. The fabric was glued in place with diluted white glue (two parts glue, one part water). When that dried thoroughly, it got two coats of satin finish clear polyacrylic. Although the bricks are a bit large for 1:12 scale, it makes a satisfying finish to the outside.


Inside, the  shop is shaping up. I discovered a nice open spot in the middle of the shop that is crying out for a round table heaped with sale or seasonal items. The customer with the shopping bag is waiting patiently!

Back in the corner, I found room for a wastebasket. Check the scene out the window in this and other pictures. Notice the shadow of the window on the sky? Bad news. Am thinking about putting translucent plastic on the window, as I did on the door. It will indicate light outside, but it won't be possible to see through it. Hate to lose the view, but shadows on the sky are annoying.

There is a channel that runs across the bottom of the box and up the two sides to hold a piece of Plexiglas. A fourth piece of channel slips over the top to complete the frame. I have no plans to do much dusting in this cluttered scene!

Now for the big reveal -- the working fan! I used Casey's idea for the ornament twirler. It rotates slowly, just as one would want. Wouldn't care to have bits of fabric blowing all over! For some reason, the camera kept adding rolling black bars to the picture, only while filming the fan, but I think you'll get the idea. Update: See a better video here.

So, still tweaking to be done, but for now, all is well in the quilt shop.