Miniature Cat

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This is a miniature cat I have been working on. I am sure my real cat is glad it's finished because I kept feeling him all over. Which I thought was a better idea than shaving him to see what a cat looked like under all that hair.

I made the flock and fur out of Rainbow Gallery Alpaca. His eyes are 2 mm round yellow beads, they have a pupils painted on them but you can't see that in the photos.. Polymer clay is not something I have spent much time playing with, so I am hoping the next cats will be better.

An idea occurred to me about someone having left a drawer open in a bedroom and two or three cats sleeping in it. I want a bit of life in my dollhouse but not people.

PHEW! I fixed his eyes there was too much black around them.

Kitchen Knives

I have been making knives this morning. I found the wood for the handles in my shop but I am not sure what it is. It is much easier to glue the wood to the metal before you cut them out. OOPS!I see have have a bit more polishing to do on the steel. Back to the Flexshaft.

Open Your Mouth Here Comes The Airplane!

Welcome!!!

These are baby spoons I made in sterling silver. One is the British Hurricane and the other one is the P-51 D Mustang.

The planes were cast. The bowl of the spoons were formed from sheet (hand hammered over a spoon stake). The stems were hammered out of square stock I made. They have some file work on them to create a design.

I put them in a show I was in at the National Ornamental Metals Museum. http://www.metalmuseum.org/about_us.html
Much to my amazement, they sold the day after opening night to a Fed-Ex pilot. I still have a few to put together. I love the Messeschmitt, so that is the one I eat my cereal with in the morning

Getting All Steamed Up

Welcome! Please click on any of the pictures. They will all enlarge.

Teapots have always been a favorite thing of mine to make. These teapots and burners are brass. They were gold plated when all the work was finished. I made the stands out of sterling silver and oxidized them black to appear to be wrought iron. The pots were fabricated from sheet and the burners were made from telescoping brass tubes and sheet stock. The knobs and handles are ebony.

One of the things that really bothered me about most miniature metal teapots was that the spouts didn't have a hole through them. That is understandable because most spouts are tapered and would be nearly impossible to bend into the right shape or cast with a hole through them. To solve that problem I decided to electroform the spouts over a tapered core of casting wax.

Electroforming is another process you probably don't want to hear about. It will suffice to say, that once I had built up enough metal on the wax, I was able to burn out the wax core and solder the spouts on the pots.

Early Spring & Dollhouse Inspiration

I am finding all sorts of dollhouse inspiration in my own neighborhood. My house is not in the mix however. These are the houses that are all around mine. Somehow I never notice them driving in and out. I took a long walk this morning. The cherry trees are in full bloom and it's finally warm!

Sterling Silver Birdcage

This is a sterling silver miniature birdcage I made when I was in my first year of art school, learning to become a metalsmith. I don't even want to think about how long ago that was now. I really learned to silver solder when I made this cage. It is built it out of 22 gauge round wire and 1/32 inch square stock and sheet silver. As you see it has a drawer that can be pulled out to clean it.

I drilled holes into the 1/32 inch stock using my Unimat (set up as a drill press) to thread the 22 gauge wire through. Every joint is silver soldered together (with a torch). The perches were turned out of ebony on my Unimat set up as a lathe.

It is not my finest work obviously but it holds so many memories for me which are more important than the piece itself. I think after all these years it might be time for a new news paper to cover the bottom.

For The Fairies?

Isn't this wonderful! I found it while I was doing a Google search. I wish I could tell you who made it so I could give them credit for their talent. I have seen these tiny outdoor cottages before but they are usually made out of stone.

There is a perfect spot for one of these at my house. I have a big court yard surrounded by high brick walls. It really is a secret garden with a locked iron door. This idea has to be added to my growing to do list.