1:12th Scale Miniatures

I was asked to give a talk on Miniature Knitting at the Cape Town Lace makers Guild.
This I did on Saturday afternoon and was amazed at the lace that the ladies produce.

I have finished the second Afghan design....so everything that required my immediate attention was done and dusted....

So I spent the day trying out my new punches that I bought from Hanky Panky in America, only to find I had two ivy leaf punches in the same size,  not to worry I am sure it can be sorted out.

I have a vase of parrot tulips in my home, made of silk. I NEVER thought I would EVER have silk flowers in my home, never say never. When I first saw the vase I thought they were real, they looked so bright and happy somehow.


At miniature guild we have made flowers but we are given a kit, I wanted to start from scratch and these cheerful flowers was a good place to start.

Not having all the necessary groceries was not going to stop me so I improvised a little and learned a lot in the process.

Provo Craft punches the scissor type are not so good they unfortunately don't give a clean cut, I tried sharpening it by punching out in tinfoil, not at all sure if it helped.

I had bought various papers as they seemed fine enough to make flowers. I had been told that airletter paper was a good place to start, so with that texture in mind had chosen various papers with no particular flower in mind.

I choose a see through paper quiet stiff for the leaves and coloured that with the pastel pencils as well. Not having a punch for the leaves I hand cut them instead. The colour is a bit light but I will continue making these cheerful flowers till I perfect to a degree.

I did not put the stamens in the tulips that will have to be given some considered thought, maybe fimo or air dry clay would work for that.

My friend Erika had given me some papers and the one felt exactly as the coral piece I had. I put ordinary printer paper in the punch at the same time as the finer paper and that did help somewhat, but there is a little nick right at the top of the punch.

I believe we should come up with our own Latin names

 for our miniature flower tryouts!

I choose to colour each petal individually as I wanted only the tips of the petals to be a little lighter, takes a while but very therapeutic, I have not made a container as yet but thought a jug in a copper or brass finish should look good. Going to try making one out of cardboard that everyone has been doing. How to get the finish is anybody's guess at this point.....Mrs Google here I come!

In the meantime they are planted in a temporary container......

Did you know that real tulips continue growing in a vase of water...

At least 3 inches.

Most of the flowers have 6 petals, then some have 7 or even 8 petals.

All this flower making was jolly good fun!!!

I would like to try the cardboard jug today but have to do homework first in that I'm

off to read "iPhone the missing manual" by David Pogue 

Reading the first 18 pages had me going Ooohing and Awhing....(Spelling???)
I now realize I have bought a space ship by comparison to the little Nokia I have been using all these years!

Enjoy

Sharon