ISSUE THREE
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Feature Miss Mini Life
My Mini Beach Life Words & images by Rhenee Robinson
W
here I live, in California, summer is synonymous with beach outings. I love the ocean and if I could afford one of those ultra‑expensive beach front properties, let me tell you, I would be sunning myself by the water every day. Luckily, even though I don’t have a secret trust fund loaded with cash, I do have the skills and imagination to construct my perfect beach getaway at a fraction of the size.
This teeny beach cottage is 1/144th the size of a real building, to be exact. I imagined my entire life shrunk down to fit this little house. I had daydreams of filling this cottage with mid‑century modern furnishings and garish, beachy decor pieces. I’d take up surfing and find a way to save my sandcastles from being washed away by the tide, then bring them inside my house to serve as decorations. For now, I’m leaving the inside of the house alone to focus on how I made the building and the island it lives on. I will have a YouTube video on decorating the house interior, so come by the Miss Mini Life channel and check it out!!
The dollhouse was made using recycled cardboard from some empty food boxes, some printer paper, and very thin wood sheets. I’ve been loving working with cardboard for the extra tiny projects I’ve been working on because it’s thin enough to be able to cut really intricate details fairly easily, but it’s still durable enough to make a sturdy structure. Although cardboard is easy to come by, one of the reasons I love making smaller‑scale projects is because I can work with some supplies that would be costly if I had to use large amounts of them. Take, for example, the epoxy resin ocean. For larger projects, the price of resin can be outrageous, but for small scale situations I am obsessed with it and for a small fraction I get a much bigger effect.
I’ve included a little step‑by‑step guide as to how I’ve used epoxy resin to make the ocean in my 144th scale dollhouse scene.
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DIY: Blue berry P op sicles
Delicious‑looking, tiny treats that won’t melt in the summer sun
By Esha Bijutkar
Ma terials
Clay Mixes
o Polymer clay — White, Translucent, Blue, Red, Scrap Clay
Proportions of clay used:
o Soft Pastels
o Acrylic Paint — White o Matte and Gloss Glaze
o Coffee Stirrer or Popsicle Stick o Sand Paper
o Cutting Blade
o White: 1.42 gm/Translucent: 1.48 gm/ Blue: 0.15 gm/Red: 0.15 gm Dark Purple Mixture: o Blue (0.15) gm + Red (0.15) gm Lilac Mixture:
o Needle Tool, Tooth Brush
o White (1.42 gm) + Translucent (1.48 gm) + (0.07 gm) of Purple Mixture
o Talcum Powder or Cornstarch
Lilac Marble Effect:
o Fine Paint Brush
o Lilac Mixture (2.96 gm) + Purple Mixture (0.04 gm)
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DIY Neon Sign Draw
Drill
⇨ Start by drawing or printing out a template. This needs to be a simple line drawing, in one continuous line. In this case, a flamingo at 6.5cm tall.
⇨ Using the larger of the two drill bits, drill through the wall on the mark you’ve just made.
Cut
Thread the Wire
⇨ Cut a rectangle of acrylic from your A4 sheet, large enough to comfortably frame your template. I cut this piece 6cm by 9cm.
⇨ Pull the end cap off your EL wire, and set it aside for later. Leaving the battery pack on the outside of your room box, thread the wire through to the inside of the room.
Measure
Cen tre
⇨ Place your template on the wall upon which you want your neon to hang, in the final position you would like it to be. Using a scalpel or similar, mark the point where your wire will start on your design.
⇨ Centre your template under your acrylic and, using the larger drill bit, drill a hole at the start point on your template. Thread the EL wire through from the back of the acrylic sheet to the front, leaving enough slack between the wall and the acrylic to be able to comfortably work on your sign.
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