Swing & Sway...
I was invited to a birthday party a few days ago.
No, it wasn't a kid's birthday celebration.
This was just one way to amuse the youngsters.
Sort of a Cinco de Mayo theme?
Again my friend explained it was HIS birthday.
So I asked "Is there an Adult Pinata?"
"Of course," he replied.
"Is it filled with candy like this one." I pursued?
"No, it's filled with miniatures."
"Miniature chocolates?"
"You know, the 1.7 oz. bottles we used to have in South Carolina and on airplanes."
It was a nice afternoon party.
(Click on the picture for details.)
Yes, you're right. Tiny glass bottles would break.
These were an assortment of plastic bottles of booze.
The birthday guy decided to let the kids swing away at our Pinata.
That didn't take long.
Only one bottle actually was smashed.
Labels: 1.7 oz. bottles of booze, Adult birthday party, Louisville Slugger, miniatures, Pinata
Scale models .....
I remember reading years ago about a place in Holland that has a complete miniature town. A scaled down version 1:64 or 1:16 or something.
Looks pretty neat huh?
This was taken in Amsterdam which, of course, is in The Netherlands which some people call Holland.
Very realistic. I especially like how they do that
"water effect" for the canal.
The
"aerial" picture is how the town of Bruges (in the neighboring country of Belgium) would look if you climbed to the top of the bell tower in its famed Market Square.
Certainly a lot easier than trudging up more than 335 steps!
Oh, wait a minute...I DID walk up all those stairs in a narrow and confining passageway. The view WAS great from the top of the belfry.
I just experimented with a photography process called
"Tilt-Shift" where you take a regular photo and manipulate it so it appears to be a true-to-scale model. The top photo really was taken from atop the Westerchurch next to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
People. cars and a canal boat frozen in place. Enhanced color saturation. A strong out-of-focus effect to simulate taking a close up shot of tiny objects.
Kinda fun to play with.
(You know how this works..click on the photos for more detail.)
Labels: 1:64, Amsterdam, Bruges, miniatures, scale models
Building a SMALL house... really, really small.
When I lived in Jeff City, the capital of Missouri, I purchased a really fine looking home. It had slopes and angles and odd parts jutting out. An interesting house that caught your eye.
So I decided to build a
replica dollhouse for my daughter.
I did research and found that while dollhouses were very popular, nobody had suggestions on building a copy of your actual home.
There's also a reason why the "standard" for miniatures is 1 foot = 1 inch. Odd sizes creates odd problems and ALL accessories are built to that proportion. Well, I know that now.
Measuring the height and the width of the front and sides, I had an idea of the general mass involved then adjusted all the figures down to a structure my 8-year old could physically move around and play with for years and years.
The finished product turned out pretty good.
Neighbors came over when I was taking pictures with my daughter and her friend out in front of the real house. Painting it a similar brick red and duplicating the shape and window placement made it work well as a copy.
I even sat down with an artist buddy of mine and produced a step-by-step brochure so others could do their own replica house but avoid all the mistakes I made... such as NOT using the accepted standard sizes.
Oddly enough, the DIY folder happened to turn out as a
12 Step Program approach.
Labels: building, daughter, DIY, Dollhouse, How-To build it, Jeff City, miniatures, pamphlet, replica
I was invited to a birthday party a few days ago.
