Jenn's Mini Tips
25 Tips for the Amateur Miniaturist
- Tacky glue is your friend.
- Nothing beats a credit card for spreading tacky glue for upholstery, wallpapering, decopage; anything for which you need a thin, even coating of glue.
- Wallpapering is best done with Yes glue (or Grandma Stovers paste—same thing). Use the credit card to spread it.
- If you can’t afford expensive ready-made furniture or don’t feel skilled enough to build your own, buy cheap furniture and refinish, repaint, or reupholster to your taste.
- Use light colors on walls and floors in deep dollhouse rooms to make everything is easier to see.
- If you make six mini apples out of Fimo, don't bake for 30 minutes as stated on the Fimo package. Do 3-5 minutes and check it.
- Take workshops not so much to obtain the finished product, but to learn techniques from experts.
- If paint, stain, or glue can get all over your hands, clothes, glasses, under your fingernails, and in your hair, it will.
- Enclose your roombox or dollhouse with plastic, acrylic, or thin plexiglass to keep out the dust. Easier to dust the plastic frame than all the minis inside.
- Masking tape, or better, painter’s tape, is the perfect clamp, especially for siding. Glue your parts together then wrap them in a piece of tape to hold things square while the glue dries.
- A push-pin makes a great substitute for a tiny drill.
- Don’t feel limited to the colors that come in acrylic paint bottles. Mix colors and experiment. Use an old saucer or plastic lid from a coffee can as a paint palette Buy plastic jars with lids to keep the mixed colors in, if you don’t use them all at once.
- Basic paint to always have on hand: Pure white, black, burnt umber.
- Minwax stain pens are a wonderful invention. They have just enough stain for mini projects and are easy to control. Purchase at hardware stores.
- Keep craft knife blades sharp. Always keep a stash of replacement blades on hand so you don’t have to stop your mini project to go buy more.
- Empty “old-fashioned” oatmeal containers make perfect wood-strip storage.
- Plastic shoe-box size storage boxes are great for keeping your “stash” separated into categories (e.g., ribbons and lace; beads; flower kits; landscape supplies; etc.)
- Store opened Fimo in ziplock plastic bags, not directly in plastic storage boxes (the Fimo reacts with the box.) You can store the ziplock bags in the plastic boxes.
- Don’t be frustrated if you're not a skilled scratch builder or don’t have a roomful of tools for projects. That's what kits are for. Use them straight or kit-bash into what you want.
- If a tiny piece can fall on your multi-colored carpet and get lost, it will. Until you vacuum. Then you'll hear it being sucked to its doom.
- It is impossible to walk out of a mini show or mini shop without buying something.
- Don't bother budgeting for mini shows. Mini shows are your reward for being good. Go for it.
- If you don't know how to do something/where to find something mini, ask another mini person. They know everything.
- Picture frames make wonderful finishing frames for room boxes. Hinge them to the front of your box so you can get to the things inside if necessary. Use frames with lightweight clear acrylic. It's cheaper to use easy-to-find sizes (8 x 10; 11 x 14) but many stores will build a custom frame for you.
Read all the miniature magazines for inspiration and to learn from others. There are amazing people in the mini field.
Last but not least:
- A 10 by 10 by 8 dollhouse room is the perfect size for a cat to nap in.