mindweek miniatures

in which our plucky heroine appreciates the small things in life...

My current "obsession" with tinyworld creations is in direct contrast to the larger bright world. It harms no one to take some time every day to do creative or whimsical activity, as long as daily care tasks also get done, and effort also towards leaving the world in as good or better shape as before. I do my best to fulfill all those directives.

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~ so very small ~

In the remaining time in the library makerspace workshop yesterday, after printing out the tiny planter design I created in TinkerCAD, I decided to try to extremely shrink a Dala horse design (from the free files) down to a bit less than 1cm. The limiting factor was the size of the extrusion nozzle in the equipment, which is why they appear slightly "grainy". It was a successful experiment none the less, as these little horses, barely bigger than my morning vitamin pills, will make great tinyworld decor for a dollhouse shelf or mantel.

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I an a materialist. my memories of the world are material concepts, not sounds or images, or people. I woke today just before 5 am from a dream of the 70's world. I am in a room with a hifi and I carefully clean the next record with the little brush made of plush and walnut. The sofas are low upholstered wood with integral storage backs for the records, there are hanging plants and low ceilings. It is an analog of the Radlos house in Boxborough. I am brushing my hair, but I am an analog me with thick dark straight hair. We are waiting for more friends to arrive. Then I wake up in my own bed, in this other 21st century dumpsterfire timeline. I wonder, as the sun rises in my east facing bedroom window in the bright world if my being a materialist is related to my aphantasia, and which came first...

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Today was my appointment to see the podiatry doctor about my cranky left foot. He asked a few questions, moved my foot in several directions, and had me push against his hand with my foot also in several directions. The diagnosis is peroneal tendonitis in my left foot. The treatment is to wear a brace to limit the movement in the left ankle for a month in the hope of seeing improvement.

It was quite difficult to handle the layers of lacing and velcro elastic that comprise the brace to my foot, due to the combination of very short dinosaur arms and not being particularly limber. I needed to  catch my breath and sit for a few minutes afterwards to let the pain in my hip and shoulders abate. As well, I was barely able to squeeze my now braced foot into my everyday shoe to go home afterwards. Still, if it helps my foot heal, without causing corollary damage elsewhere, it will be a worthwhile effort.

Once home my very first act was to remove my shoes and put on my felted wool slippers. Much relief. It turns out also possible to wear my plastic Birkenstock garden clogs, but I'm thinking about ordering another pair of wool Glerups clogs, since they now have a version with a rubber sole suitable for outdoor use.   

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Finding online TinkerCAD tutorials is very similar to finding online knitting tutorials - some are more easily understood than others for the same tasks. I've been rebuilding digital files for my very basic decorative MCM planter. Eventually there will be a nice assortment of  "vintage" furniture for Kenya Ogidni's tinyworld space. Also have been looking at tutorials for 1:12 scale house plants, which are very appropriate. While at the grocery store today I remembered seeing a while back that there was local brewery beer can decorated with a Carson Ellis blue on white harbor scene. How could I resist? Even though I loathe beer, it can be cut open to make a 5" wide x 4" tall mural for some tinyworld wall. Maybe a kitchen, or bathing room?

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny Wishbone chair	wheels for 2nd RÅSKOG	greenwaste bin
2	laser cut trinket shelves	tidy living room	recycle bin
3	vortex bottles	-	recycle bin
4	2 wee Dala horses	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- a very pretty lampwork bead found in the bike lane
- my sad left foot probably has tendonitis, not something worse
- the 3M abrasive discs for my flex shaft, useful for more than metal.

Time of Isolation - Day 2279

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine notices visible progress...

Decided to go to the large farmers market today to use the remaining senior scrip before it expired, hoping for some of the farm exchange dark maple syrup. Flying Coyote brings it in from Vermont. Since it cost less than I remembered, was able to also get some beautiful Japanese eggplants*.  I also remembered to check the model train hobby store and was able to acquire a strip of 1/32" basswood to cut up to back the trinket shelves. All before noon. 

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~ faux Noguchi ~

Thursday afternoon decided that a visit to the PCP makerspace would improve my mood. Was able to cut out pieces for two different MCM miniatures: the frame for a rocking chair (very much like one Rois and Chance had) and the base and top for a faux Noguchi coffee table. All the wood parts for both pieces will need a fair amount of finish work, but with sanding and staining they should turn out quite lovely and a good accompaniment to the Wishbone chair. 

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In the desire to not be limited by models others have created, our plucky heroine has been trying to become familiar with TinkerCAD. May have successfully created two objects: a planter pot to be 3D printed and a pot riser to be laser cut. I won't know until I can get to a makerspace next week to find out if they will actually turn out as I hope, but after several hours of online efforts, they seem to look as I desired, and are hopefully the right size. Wish me luck...

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Thursday started out scrambled, as my appointment with Dr N was not at the new location and there was no way for me to get to the old office in the time remaining. Bah! Had to reschedule. Next time I will double check location when scheduling an appointment. Had to reschedule, fortunately the following week. Saturday my left foot was really bad again. I wish I could figure out why it is unhappy.

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Body doubling is probably my favorite effective task initiation strategy. It seems to work for me even over video chat. On Thursday spent several hours online with Ursel, doing my best to tidy up the  living room and kitchen. While the impetus for this effort was the imminent arrival of the tax accountant on Friday afternoon, the tidy space has vastly improved my sense of well being. Got enough done that day and the next morning to return the room to "company ready"

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny Wishbone chair	wheels for 2nd RÅSKOG	greenwaste bin
2	3 laser cut walnut trinket shelves	tidy living room	recycle bin
3	vortex bottles	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- was able to locate a new Luci solar bike light on eBay
- tiny trinket shelf layers are glued together, and I was able to kitbash pieces of the miscut to enlarge one (which will add variety)
- managed to time my excursions today to avoid being rained on

Time of Isolation - Day 2275

*

"5 Flavor Eggplant"
(savory, salty, sweet, sour, spicy)

about 2# long skinny eggplant 

1 tablespoon salt 

1½ tablespoon tamari 

1 tablespoon vinegar 

1 tablespoon sugar 

1 teaspoon cornstarch 

2 tablespoon oil 

+ hotness as desired

put the salt in a big bowl, add several cups of water, and then clean and cut up eggplants, tossing the bits into the bowl of salt water - I cut them first the long ways into quarters or sixths, then cut the long pieces into chunks. I try for about ¾" cubes more or less by volume, because big pieces take a long time to cook through, and undercooked eggplant is nasty.

when all the eggplant is in the bowl of salty water, it sits there for a half hour... I occasionally stir it or push the chunks around to make sure they all get drenched... you want to have enough water that they are all floating.

Meanwhile, combine the tamari, the vinegar, the sugar, and the cornstarch. Drain and dry the eggplant bits. (my current innovation is to use my salad spinner after pouring off as much of the water as I can)

In a big frying pan, heat up the oil, then fry the eggplant until it is FULLY COOKED and slightly browned. (Trust me, you want it cooked till it is SOFT, not al dente) Pour the sauce mixture over the eggplant (give the sauce mixture a good stirring up just before you pour it), and cook til thick, which will take only a few moments, because cornstarch...

At this point, I usually add some awesome sauce (spicy chili jam) but you could add a dash of tabasco, or sriacha, or whatever you prefer. The original recipe called for adding jalapeno peppers at the beginning, but that was WAY TOO HOT for me. YMMV, and the spicy aspect is entirely optional for that matter.

Truly, this recipe is almost faster to cook than to read, most of the effort is in cutting up the eggplants, and in waiting while they soak in the salty water. I had always in the past done the sprinkle the eggplant with salt, let it drain, rinse it off thing, which is a whole lot of faffing about. I had never heard of soaking them in lightly salted water, but it works really well!!

vortex bottles and other Wednesday whatnots

in which our plucky heroine is absorbed by the small...

Yesterday spent more time with the laser cutter at the library, mostly figuring out how to use the attached software to create the grid for tiny trinket shelves. After much time struggling to remember what I'd done 2 weeks ago, asking for help made a big difference and led to success at last. Time and practice will hopefully make turning design ideas into cut files easier.

Between time there and time today at the PCC makerspace, was able to generate a number of components. These still need to be glued together in pairs, as a 3mm deep shelf is Very Shallow indeed! And they will also need to have a solid thin wood backing attached.

How very silly it turned out to be that what smelled appetisingly like smoked fish all Tuesday evening was really the small bits of laser cut walnut forgotten in my dress pocket?! (After laser cutting the first grids for trinket shelves, there were many many small rectangles remaining that seemed worth thinking about what sort of miniature they might be turned into rather than just discarded.)

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~ 1, 2, 3, many... ~

The laser cutter works so quickly! It only takes a few minutes to cut out a half dozen of these 1:12 scale trinket shelf grids from walnut plywood. It will be a fun challenge finding assorted miniature items to fill the shelves, once they are assembled. 

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In additional tinyworld makerie, the cap of an eye drops bottle has been turned into a miniature MCM flower vase, first by applying blue paint to the knurled part of the cap giving a striped effect, then painting on several layers of nail varnish for a shiny "glazed" surface. Drilled out the center of the tip and covered up the open end with cardstock.  Now all it needs is a coffee table or display shelf. The shape is surprisingly lovely, and am wondering if others could be painted differently for variety sake and/or to share

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Yet another tiny treat today, as the "potion creating" station at the makerspace has been set up all this week as part of their spooky season activities. What they call potions, are what I think of as Vortex Bottles, remembering the booth at OCF that was filled with many recycled glass bottles large and small with different colors of swirling sparkle inside. Turns out the effect is made by combining isopropyl alcohol, vegetable glycerine, and mica powder. Two of the 1" tall wee glass vials now contain a dark and a light golden swirling vortex, and on Acantha's advice, I used sealing wax to cover the cork stoppers, holding them in place and preventing evaporation. 

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In an earlier frenzy of Etsy shopping, I ordered the pattern to make a beaded giraffe charm for Kestrel,  and (also/unrelatedly) ordered punches to cut very tiny leaves.  Have been dreaming of making miniature botanical arrangements and house plants. Also am mulling over how to design the tiny MCM plant pot holder for laser cutting and how to generate the shape for a matching tiny plant pot in TinkerCAD. Since said pot is simply a hollowed out cylinder, my hope is it won't be too difficult. Need to look up some video tutorials from the "University of YouTube...

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Monday, while video visiting with Mischa, we got to chatting about singing, that being an activity impossible over zoom. This sent me down the rabbit hole to events at Spring Hill decades ago, and the performances by On Wings Of Song. Like much else of the niche music from my younger days, there is no digital audio available, but there are old LP's out there to be purchased,. And, the assorted  hi fi components (turntable, speakers, etc) are also long lost in the mists of time and moving, so there would be no way to listen to older music without also creating space and a setup for such. Not a project I want to take on currently, but perhaps could be an incentive for deeper decluttering. I really don't need another hobby, though it is entertaining to think about. 

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny Wishbone chair	wheels for 2nd RÅSKOG	greenwaste bin
2	3 laser cut walnut trinket shelves	-	recycle bin
3	vortex bottles	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Albina Library had USB sticks available
- swirly sparkly vortex bottles 
- got to hear some wonderful live music back in the day

Time of Isolation - Day 2272