SGDC2014, pre-event update!

*sings* It's the final count dowwwwwnnnnnn~~!! One day (and a half) left to Singapore Doll Carnival 2014!!! Remember to join us at *Scape if you're free, drop by and say "HI" to Asuka and I! We're probably the first table you'll see as you enter the venue :E Woot Woot~!

"ONCE UPON A TIME"

Date : 16 November 2014 (Sunday)

Venue : The Treetop, Scape (level 5)

2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237938

(Nearest train station : Somerset)
Time : 12pm - 7pm
Ticket Price : $18 (door tickets)

(hahha I kope'd Asuka's edit :E)

View the other vendor offerings here!

http://www.sgdollcarnival.com/booth-list.html

After my previous update, I went into full throttle mode and came up with a few more items....

 1:3 scale miniature potato wedges, chicken tenders (suitable for 1:4 too, or YoSD), with BBQ sauce. Air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paint, sealants, paper

2 sets available for each, all items loose

 1:3 scale miniature fish and chip sets, with coleslaw, lemon slice and tomato wedge. Air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paint, sealants

1 set available, the square bowl at back. Casserole set reserved!

1:4 scale miniature nuggets and fries set, for 1:4 or YoSD. Air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paint, sealants, paper

2 sets available.

1:3 and 1:4/YoSD junk food sets XD

Repost of the first pic cos I can't find the photo for the 1:3 nugget set....gyaaa...lazy to take pics. The 1:3 scale miniature nugget and fries sets come with ketchup, coleslaw in a lettuce cup, and a tomato wedge in a ceramic dish. 

2 sets available (far right in photo)

1:3 or 1:4 miniature tomato wedges, air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, sealants

For those who have 'liked' my facebook page or followed my Instagram, you probably have seen these.....they seem to be incredibly popular! I made them a tad small so I could use them in 1:4 or 1:3 settings.....they were incredibly time-consuming to make, but well worth the effort I think ^_^v

Back to Japanese food! (or at least, Singaporean versions of haha)

1:3 scale miniature chashu ramen bowl, air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, sealants, polymer clay

Only 1 set available, ran out of time to make more T-T 

1:3 scale miniature kitsune udon bowl, with attached chopsticks for posing with dolls! air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, sealants, polymer clay, bamboo

Only 1 set available, not sure if this format will be popular...if there's demand I'll make more when I have time!

1:3 scale miniature kitsune and enoki mushroom udon bowl, air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, sealants, polymer clay

2 sets available

1:3 scale miniature kitsune and chikuwa udon bowl, air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, sealants, polymer clay

Sold, was a custom request that came in while I was prepping the udon bowls :D Thank you!

1:3 scale miniature egg mayo takoyaki, air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, scenic scatter, sealants

Sold, thank you!

1:3 scale miniature takoyaki, air dry clay, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, scenic scatter, sealants. not sure what the boat material is, same as the real takoyaki boats....some sort of wood pulp?

2 regular takoyaki sets available, with mayonnaise and bonito flakes. The 'bitten' takoyaki is loose for ease of posing!

1:3 scale miniature lobster salad/salmon mayo, avocado hana maki, air dry clay, microbeads, acrylic paints, sealants

I LOVE EATING THESE! Well, the lobster salad ones. Have never tried the avocado, but seen plenty of photos.....avocado is also so so omnomnommy! ^_^

4 sets available (in trios like in photo)

1:3 scale miniature okonomiyaki, air dry clay, acrylic paints, sealants, scenic scatter, epoxy resin

Bacon and egg okonomiyaki available, 'cut' okonomiyaki sold, thank you! :D

These are work in progress photos, as I have packed them up safely, but hope to take some photos of everything together tomorrow as I price all my items and do a test layout. 

1:3 scale miniature chopsticks in paper sleeves. paper, inkscape, bamboo, sealant

Many sets available! For individual sale at SGD$4, but only SGD$2 if purchased with any Japanese food sets ^_^ 

I also spent a bit of time designing chopstick sleeves from scratch....my initial design was a fugly pink sakura themed one as I felt panicky and rushed to get a generic design out....luckily CH gave me pause to rethink the design. It so happens that we both share the same Chinese middle name, "Yan4", which means "Swallow" (the bird, not the verb heheh), and I had to give my brain a few seconds to recall how to write my name.....*hangs head in shame* In my defense, I hadn't written it in over 2 years......at least I think that's when I last practiced writing it?! *embarrassed* 

Anyhoo, she suggested I use it as inspiration for the design, and I whipped this out in maybe 10 minutes!!! That's got to be the shortest time I've ever spent on a new design bwa ha haaaaaa! *puffs up chest*

The Chinese/Kanji characters mean "Swallow Sanctuary". The 2nd character, "Ting2" could also mean pavilion....or gazebo maybe? I thought it quite sweet :)))) The hiragana should read "tsubame", the Japanese word for Swallow. I hope I got everything right and not committed some faux pas. Out of all my BJD group of friends, I'm the least Japanese-savvy one!!! Heck, I can't even manage my own grasp of Mandarin and I'm =at least= 3/4 Chinese.....*derisive snort* 

1:3 miniature scale "Large" waffles with butter and honey. Air dry clay, acrylic paints, sealant, epoxy resin

Asuka had made some beautiful waffles, and I had coincidentally left some to dry as I worked on the Japanese foods...and when she updated with photos I squealed in delight because 

1) WE ARE TELEPATHIC (hahah joke, joke, I don't believe in woo)

2) as proven many times over, it didn't matter if we made the same stuff, our styles are very different!!

I'll talk about this topic (friend? competition? business partner? collaborator? Folie à deux?) another time as I've been asked a few times how it was that Asuka and I happen to work so well together....it's embarrassing watching us do events, we bicker like an old couple hahahhaha

-_-""""""

ANYWAY. I went back to work on them.....

1:3 BJD scale miniature "Large" waffles vs 1:12 scale dollhouse miniature butter and honey waffles....

Only 1 set available. Waffles attached to plate.

A closer look.....in case anyone was wondering, that's a Singapore 10-cent coin, which is approx 1.85cm diameter. I tried to make the butter look melted.....will try to take a better photo with the DSLR if I have time (or remember to....)

Not for sale at the moment....only made these cos the waffles had been lying around in my UFO (unfinished objects) box for ages, and only needed the resin to complete it...and I knew I would have extra from making the 1:3 one......it also makes this post valid for this smaller scales blog hwa hwa hwa.

WIP 1:3 scale miniature "Large" waffles with icecream, syrup, whipped cream and topped with cherry

Allowing the final sealant coat of resin to cure....I've also broken out in hives from a week of working with resin *heavy sigh*

Above 4 designs available, not attached to triangle white plate (as seen in the honey/butter waffle pic)

My cousin D came over yesterday and helped me finish up the sushi boards, SHE IS A LIFE-SAVER!!!! XD So I'll spend tomorrow sorting out sushi sets....the shoyu dishes are also curing (first attempt was megafail, frustrating, but finally got it right) and will be available separately only with purchase of sushi sets :) I -might- sell some sushi a la carte, but it depends on whether I can figure it all out.....am so tired....and pricing is so difficult...and I can't figure out how to pack everything into the carry-on suitcase.....and my arm itches.......and my bed is covered with unfolded laundry.......and stocks cos I ran out of space to store them.......WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *whinessssss*

but so exciting na~~~! :P Remember to say Hi! I love catching up (when it's not too hectic) with dollfriends at our "annual meets" haha! So envious when they bring around their new dolls.....Oh ya, I don't think I have space to bring any of mine :( Maybe Yotsuba if I remember........she can sit in my pocket haw haw *manic laughter*

time for bed. been running on only 4-6 hrs of sleep each night the past week. and coffee. mmm. coffee.

Miniature Biscuit Shelf in 1:12 scale

 1:12 scale miniature biscuit shelf, WIP

It's all coming together! AND, this is the 401st post on this blog :O AAAND, tomorrow will be the eve of Chinese New Year, am looking forward to the reunion dinner steamboat with everyone ^ ^

Minus all the Instagram makeover XD

This is probably going to be the final position of the shelf, though it's quite undecided at this point. Might not even glue it down.....hrmm. gah.

 A look at all the packaged biccies.  I get asked alot how I do this, well, my usual response is, please refer to my FAQ :X

1:12 miniature plastic bags, plastic

Will continue work on adding more details, and continue work on a different display counter :)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! HUAT ARR!!!!!

Miniature Raw Salmon Cuts

 1:12 miniature fish merchandiser/fridge display unit. Made out of acrylic and aluminum sheets. Still WIP. I want to add a signboard in the front, and maybe more refrigeration details, and perhaps a logo/brand for the fridge.

The idea all started with these little styrofoam plates. I had been meaning to make them since discovering the vacuumform method, however material wise, it's quite a pain to obtain them locally. The craft stores mainly supply 1mm thick PVC, and although styrene sheets are available, they are pretty costly in comparison. I made these out of polypropylene folders from Popular (a local chain of bookstores) :P PP is pretty tricky to work with, when compared with styrene and PVC for thermoforming, and the working temperatures can vary depending on the fillers etc. which means alot of wasted plastic (SORRY EARTH T-T)

not sure what i'm going on about? yeah me neither. lots of technical reading and i did fail my organic chem the first time round....so....:S who knew school would teach me valuable stuff that i'd need for minis? HA HA HA

right. so also fired up inkscape again to do the graphics for the labels (and the 'grill' details on the aluminum, no tools to do that sort of precision work....) - printed on decals, each one has a different weight and price but i'm not sure if you'd be able to tell anyway :( here're the cutlets...

and then, the fillets. OH and i also learnt about the colour differences in the different breeds of salmon. I love you Professor Google :D these are more "Sockeye" salmon coloured, and the pinker/oranger ones are 'pink' and...i forgets. :S

 here are my prototypes....the first few I made looked more like cooked or "Chub" salmon....
(oh and yes, that's clingfilm, 'Extra Strong' according to the label)

and the prototype cutlets, which I thought were 'steaks'... again, probably looking more like poached salmon than raw ones. the oranger fillets at the back were the 2nd run, but wasn't translucent enough for my liking though I think they can pass for raw "King" salmon maybe. it's more the colour of salmon I get at sushi restaurants.

final try, and a new, larger size too ^ ^ and no, i did not use the caning method, these were detailed individually by hand out of polymer clay. though I did cut down a few steps by moulding the rough shape first, and finished off with acrylic paints for the rest of the details.

aaand, some of you who follow my Instagram might have seen this a few days back. the molding material I used is Oyumaru, from Daiso. it's some algae-based re-useable molding material that dentists use too. it's always a little strange returning to polymer clay after working on larger items and air dry clay for the past half-year or so. BUT HOW I MISS IT SO~ don't miss the aching and painful throbbing wrists and hands from conditioning it though :S

 oh and it lights up too (odd place for lighting? yeah it is, but actually meant it for the signboard)! of course, couldn't have done this without this amazing tutorial from Pepper :D :D :D (remember to click on the tutorials tag for more of her other tutes, i want to try out -every-  -single- -one-.

so this is what i've got so far. will add more details as I figure out what else to add....BACK TO THE GRIND

another peek at my 'roombox'

very little progress, and i'm waiting on some lights/dollhouse wire to arrive (spent the last of my PP credits on them, :X) before I can proceed further. this is what i have completed so far:

- one (and a quarter) wall primed and painted. i used book board (??) for the walls, cos it was relatively cheap, and could cut it with a penknife. a saw worked better for it, but that also meant alot of sanding (and dust) involved, so i tried to keep sawing to a minimum. well, that and this stupid shoulder ugh.

- windows were made out of approx 1mm thick paper (cardstock?) and some 0.25mm plastic sheets. the frosted bits were just anti-cat-scratch film stuck on the plastic. i plan to work on the exterior too, maybe some climbing ivy, a few potted plants...a pond? am i getting too ambitious? XD

-  floor was simply vinyl faux wood sticker, stuck on black A4 paper which was first stuck on a piece of 1mm thick paper (cardstock?!? ionos what it's called) it's not permanent cos i would like to play around with this area :)

- window seat (??) ok, i'm such a failure at all the designy terms and names blegh. anyway i made it out of basswood pieces, the 'cushion' part out of foamcore and fabric. cushions were made sometime ago, and i think the colour scheme works! the doors at the base are working doors, i haven't yet varnished it cos i wasn't sure if i wanted to paint it white. looking at the photo, i think i'll keep the original colour (which will darken a shade after varnishing...hrm.....*scrunches face*)

overall, i don't think there is a 'theme' to the room, but it's slowly working out i think! :D i didn't start this with a sketch or anything, just made things on-the-fly and  hoped that the stuff i have collected so far would fit in it XD so far so good!!! i want to make a 'proper' sofa in the same fabric, and maybe a bookshelf, a coffee/side table....ionos, let's see if the painkillers don't knock me out first!

Credits:
coffee table & lamp - made by mitchymoominiatures
step ladder - gift from Sans!
rectangular shelf - Rement

More WIP stuff

 Miniature Mud Crab, Raw Prawn, and Sea Breams - 1:12, polymer clay

HI!!!! the weather's been wet all day, and it's nice and cool now. my health has not been very co-operative, which means less opportunity to mini T-T but i haven't stopped, just not taken time to blog. I did update a number of these photos to my facebook page though *nudge nudge*

http://www.facebook.com/SnowfernClover

:)

the mud crab was really fiddly but...I DID IT I DID IT! only took me like, 2 whole days to make this ONE crab XD WHATEVER, I DID ITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!

Miniature Oysters - 1:12 polymer clay 

after my previous entry, re: last post on shellfish, i continued on the seafood theme and made these mini oysters, but my shoulder worsened (inflammation) so all mini work was halted in an attempt to get it properly healed, otherwise there's always this tendency to 'work through the pain', which isn't a good idea in the long run....i guess my posture while working on minis isn't the best, hunching over and squinting while working on items = frozen shoulder = OWWIES.

WIP, first attempts at Sea Bream and cooked prawns (poor blind seabream!! completed ones in first photo, click to enlarge)

 fish is SO FUN to make!!! Kiva makes some of the most realistic mini fish (and foods!) i'd seen, and she often blogs about how she gets on a fish kick, I CAN SEE WHY NOW!!! they were indeed fun to make, though i think i have to work on making them look less...smiley?

/grumble on
i've made a few more other types of seafoods, but they're all kinda jumbled up waiting to be assembled, i feel kinda guilty 'abandoning' them and even dreamt of the assemblage process last night -_-" but i find it so hard to feel motivated when i'm always in pain, or itching from my rashes (which in turn keeps me away from assembling the stuff cos i have to use resin, which would in turn cause my allergies to flare up...vicious cycle aiyaiyai)....waiting for the renovations outside my house (lift upgrading program zzzzzz) to be completed cos i think the dust etc is the cause of my sinus/skin issues.

/grumble off

alas, no space for a proper dollhouse, so smaller scenes would have to do for now! this thing is, in my books, MASSIVE!!! the base board is approx 30x40cm?!?!??



anyways. i was determined to get to work on this piece, which is to be a new 1:12 setting for phototaking, and also to practice on working with roomboxes/settings. the windows were made almost half a year back and had been sitting in a ziploc bag while i sorted out the moving stuff, and after 2 coats of gesso, i decided to take a break and catch up on this blogging thing. the rain means it's taking a little longer to dry, i think i'll continue on it tomorrow. can you guess what it's going to be? ;)

(no prizes, but it's not very obvious although i think most people would guess kitchen LOL)

((no, it's not going to be a kitchen :P ))

1:3 miniature subway sandwich and WIP photos, 1st of 3 posts today!

prepare yourself for 3 posts!!! :P i've got lots to catch up on, and am trying to make my posts chronological. Originally i'd wanted to make it all in 2 posts (one is a special feature ^ ^ ) but i think it'll get messier than my blog usually is..so...here goes!

this 1:3 miniature subway sandwich was a request i think around chinese new year? but my customer said there was no rush, and so i worked on some other requests first (re: previous posts) and although i got this done maybe 3 weeks ago(?) i never found the time to update.

the cookies that i made an even longer time back is part of the same request. :X

meanwhile, he added another item to the request, but i messed it up :( it's been a while since i made a 'fail' post eh??? that doesn't mean i haven't been mucking up, just means i haven't the time to dwell upon them XD so if you can't see it, it's the bleeding of the acrylic paints into the cream :( ah well. the real life stuff does 'bleed' too, but i'm just not satisfied and will have to give it another try. however, this again has been delayed another week cos i got myself another horrific sinus infection last week, and got myself another 7-day course of antibiotics -_-"""" on day 5 now, and it's clearing up well, i'm glad the antibs are still effective :P

i also haven't really been putting up WIPs, mainly because i haven't been working on any personal projects, but maybe you'd be keen on seeing some WIP photos i took for my customers. here are 1:24 jelly cups for a special request.

prototypes before i put on the labels 

yep i designed the labels myself! they took a while but eh, you already know i work slooowwwwwleeeeeeee...*blinks*
approx 3mm at widest. they could work as smallish 1:12 jelly cups too huh! for those who are curious, i made the cups using the vacuumform method i've mentioned before - here - actually built a new and sturdier box (version 3 o.O) but i forgot to take pics of it -_-"

gah.

which reminds me. the delay was mostly due to a wonky camera. it glitched while i was taking photos of swap items i received maybe 3 weeks ago?!?! which is coming up in the next post!!! but here is a photo of the new special effect my old camera is now ONLY capable of doing.

i panicked the whole of monday last week, i was trying to decide between getting a new camera (which i can ill afford, not even a cheapo one) and having the glitched one repaired. meanwhile, i called my brother to see if he had a spare camera he could loan me, and i made my way down to the Sony repair centre. oh man. the guy quoted me repair fees of $40, and additional charges for replacement parts. seeing as how it would cost me anywhere from $50-$150, i would have as easily gotten a NEW and BETTER camera for the price of the repair!!! i told my brother this and he told me to forget it, and that i could have his old camera :O :O :O
it's pretty awesome! it even has a "SUPER MACRO" mode XD but this also means i have been struggling to try and re-learn how to shoot with this one....yep, expect more whiny posts about my crappy photos....:X

(speaking of crappy photos, here's a coupla cute pics i took with my -old Nokia N95 phone- of Eva sleeping on her back, i seldom get a chance to take pics of her she gets all up in my face whenever i try...)
which leads us to....

MY NEW PHONE! not only did Ben lend me his old camera, he passed me his old iphone 3GS! hwa hwa hwa!! so apart from these mishaps, you now know why i've been MIA, those iphone apps are.....@ @ (come, play DrawSomething with me :P you can download the free version :D ) huhuhuhuuu~~! and of course i'm still playing triple town.....:)

armed with my 'new' camera, i took photos of the 1:24 tea box sets.....some of you might have seen pics of some of my above works on my deviantArt account, flickr or facebook page (please 'like' it if you haven't already! i update there sometimes if i don't have time to blog...)

ok this has dragged on a little long, time to get back to what i'd been meaning to photograph when the SONY DSC-S950 finally gave out. i miss it already but it has served me well the past almost-3 years!!

ON TO MY NEXT POST FOR TODAY