Modular Shelvings, and some fruits, cakes, sundaes...books?

I have been trying to figure out ways to 'soften' my displays. like my real life living conditions, I generally prefer stark, minimalistic furniture, preferring function over form. I don't think this translates too well in mini. I think one of the hardest things to achieve is to make mini scenes look 'alive', right?

I actually started out thinking of making some kitchen cabinets, but i had no idea even what search terms to use. i know more about what i -don't- like than what i do XD i know for sure that i like modern items. but i'm not all that into design, so i don't know all the names, styles etc. moreover, i knew i wouldn't have the skillset nor materials and tools to execute more intricate designs. :( i told myself to start from basics! and went to my fave site for step-by-step instructions on easy projects.

http://www.instructables.com/!

i'd been a member for a looong time, always meaning to contribute but back then i didn't own a digital camera. nor did i have any 'clever' projects to share. i know there must be countless resources for mini-woodworking projects, but it's always been my preference for using real life items as references for my other works, so why not just look for actual woodworking plans and scaling them down, easy peasy right?

RIGHT! a cursory search turned up this instructable - http://www.instructables.com/id/60-minute-bookcase/ awesomeness! EVEN BETTER YET, it's doable in 60 mins :O :O :O as always, i'm not good with reading instructions, so i glanced through the pictures, got a basic idea, and ran to my worktable :D

i don't have any WIP pictures, i do all my woodworking stuff at home, and the camera is always at the office....i don't know how long i took to make the first two (which is shown in the first 2 pics, joined together and painted white. not only was it super easy to make, it was rather modern looking, and designer-ish! and since i moved all my clay stuff to the office, i had all weekend to work on making more of these shelves :P

yuh. i think i got too serious ;) anyhoow, working on these gave me an opportunity to practice and properly figure out how to use my mitre and razor saw, getting consistent pieces, and proper gluing techniques etc. i'd already spent plenty of time previously reading up at various woodworking websites, so it was more honing my skills. to be honest, all the previous pieces i'd made were rather wonky and barely held together by woodglue and a bit of hope :P a bit of blood was shed too, in helping it along XD this time round, i really did want to try using dowels (pins i suppose) but i figured, i'm not selling any of these anyway and i was so happy with the initial results that i went ahead and made manymany more!

this is getting a little draggy. i'm feeling a bit chatty today, so bear with me ;) i love how versatile these modular pieces are, even though they are oddly sized, because i used tongue depressors to make them XD i don't have all that many pieces of craft wood at home :( all i can get at the crafts store are balsa (YUCK) and basswood (nubbad) anyway. i figured i wouldn't even have to spend all that much on 'practicing'! the downside is, many of the sticks were warped, and i believe they had a layer of wax or some other sealant on them. that didn't bother me much, i always sand down my pieces anyway. so the shelves aren't quite uniform. i used lego bricks to square my work, i really did try a number of neighbourhood hardware stores but couldn't find it. :( i guess i'll have to invest in a good one from the crafts store then *sigh*

as for gluing, i used wood glue, and clamped it as best i could onto my table. am going to look for some cheap and strong magnets, and maybe a whiteboard to make a magnetic jig. i would purchase one if the shipping costs weren't astronomical enough to turn all my hair white. 'sides, it's quite fun to DIY hehe

i've been sewing some too, the fabric this time round was something Asuka and I found on one of our 'minimaterial' hunts! i  now have a small stash of cloths that i hope to use more of. am also trying to learn how to use prints :) so far, i'm liking the results, and am keeping a set for myself ^ ^ meanwhile they are also available at my store. all hand sewn by me, cos i wasn't sure how small the stitches on my mom's ancient Singer machine would go....plus it'd take me longer to dig it out of her room (she's kind of a hoarder :( ) and set it up.

lol one of these pics is not like the others XD you can find them here! these are about 3cm x 3cm.

i've also made a couple of oven mitts/gloves. likewise, you can find them at my etsy store :)

like me, Yotsuba has pretty big hands....i don't know the name of this Pinky St char (can someone enlighten me?)...but she models how the mitts are wearable :) that's my personal set of course heheh.

there are a number of other items i have in my store, you can check out the foods section...a few have already been sold (yay!!!) or reserved (yay??) heheh.

more pics? OKAY!

these two have been sold ^ ^ thank you! i welcome customization requests if anyone's interested in more :)

and yes, i made the baskets/punnets too! these 2 are still available ^ ^

remember these from a while back? i've finally found them while packing up my stuff, and have them listed too! the striped/checkered set has been reserved, but I can make more similar if anyone's keen on more :)

ok. i think that's it for what i've been mucking around with. as you can see, my photos aren't consistent still. the weather here has been pretty bad, with the haze from Indonesia and the upcoming monsoon season (more probably due to the typhoons in the not-so-neighbouring asian countries), and me not being able to figure out artificial lighting on no budget.....that and having to edit pics just puts me in a bad mood (can't blame everything on PMS!) so....this is as good as it gets XD

i am going to finally try and make some more clay stuff. have a batch of cupcakes and donuts coming up, will update when they're done :) thanks for reading (if you did!) hee

GO HOME LE~~~!