Tutorial - Miniature Trees, Bushes & Topiary

Following on from my last tutorial on curved fencing (click here if you missed it) I am now going to look at making trees and bushes from Seamoss and topiary ball trees.  This tutorial is applicable to all scales if sizes are adapted to suit.

Seamoss Trees & Bushes

Seamoss Tree in 1/48th Scale

Seamoss is a natural plant material that is very useful for making trees in 1/48th or railways scales and also bushes in 1/48th, 1/24th. 1/12th scales.

It naturally forms branching structures so it's a bit easier to use than wire where you have to shape it yourself but is fairly fragile so care must be taken when handling.  If branches break off you can glue them back on with tacky glue or superglue.

Step 1:  Seamoss has little leaves on it which need to be gently removed with tweazers.  You can also remove or reattach any broken branches and shape as required.  Trimmings can be used for bushes and small plants.  If you want a thicker trunk you can add a bit of air dry clay or even pieces of masking tape to the lower truck before painting.

Seamoss with leaves removed and trimmings kept

Step 2:  Seamoss is naturally a yellow colour so it's best to first spray it brown with spray paint.  I have used a mid brown by Humbrol.

Spray painting the sea moss

Painted Seamoss Tree

Step 3: Add scatters.  I have chosen to use fine scatters in a mix of light and dark green.  The dark green is applied first and goes on the underside of the branches to add depth and shadow.  The light green goes on to the upper side and branch tips to show fresh growth.

First give a good coat of hairspray which enables the scatter to 'stick' to the seamoss.  Any cheap hairspray is fine or you can use artists matt spray sealer.

Sprinkle on the scatters.  I recommend doing this over a tub /container so you can keep the rest to reuse.

It's a good idea to use an old paintbrush to carefully remove scatter stuck to the truck or branches where it doesn't look natural.

Once you are happy spray the tree with spray adhesive and then another coat of hairspray to help the scatter stick.  Spray adhesive is quite good for seamoss because it's more fragile so doesn't risk breaking any branches etc.
The alternative is a mix of 4 parts water to 1 part PVA and a drop of washing up liquid in a clean garden or household sprayer but I find you struggle to get a fine enough mist for the seamoss.

If there's any bits where scatter hasn't stuck you can dip into PVA glue and apply scatter that way.

Leave to dry.  Once dry it should be pretty robust as the glue helps firm up the structure.

Tip: Seamoss can also be used for larger trees if you break down the pieces and use the smaller pieces as finer branches on a wire tree or other model tree framework.

Bushes:  Bushes are done in the same way but you can also use a brightly coloured scatter to suggest flowers.
In this example I've use a fine green scatter with yellow through it.

Seamoss Bush

Seamoss Flowering Bushes

Materials Required:
Links provided where I sell the item

Seamoss
Scatters in dark and light green
Hairspray or artists matt sealer
Spray adhesive or PVA glue (thinned)
Tweezers
Brown matt spray paint



Topiary Ball Trees

Topiary ball trees can be made for any scale.  Just select the appropriate size polystyrene ball.  Here I've made 1/12th scale ones using 20mm balls (25mm would also be suitable) and 1/48th scale ones using 10mm balls.

1/12th Scale Topiary Ball Tree

Step1: Glue a cocktail stick into the hole of the polystyrene ball - leave loose for 1/48th scale as we will replace with wire at the end and leave to dry.

Step 2: Paint the polystyrene balls brown using acrylic paint.  I used DecoArt crafters acrylic in chocolate.  Leave to dry.

Polystyrene balls painted brown

Step 3: Spread PVA or tacky glue over the ball, trying to get as even as possible.  It can be thinned slightly if required but you don't want it running off!

1/12th scale ball with glue

1/48th scale ball with glue

Step 4: Mix together two tones of green scatter.  A dark and light green works nicely in a medium/course grade for 1/12th scale and a fine grade for 1/48th scale.

The dark green is the older growth and the light green represents the fresh growth.

Sprinkle over the glue covering all areas.  It's best not to touch the ball as the scatter will stick to your finger rather than press to the ball.  You can add more glue and scatter afterwards as required.

Mix of fine scatter for the 1/48th scale ball

Applying scatter to the 1/48th scale ball

Spray with hairspray to help hold the scatter and then leave to dry.  I find a bit of polystyrene is good to stick them into or you could use blue tack or similar.

You should end up with something like this:

1/48th Topiary Ball Tree - after scatter

Once dry you can add additional scatter with drops of glue in any bare patches.

For the 1/48th scale topiary ball trees I used some florists wire twisted together for the trunk.

1/48th Topiary Ball Trees

I still need to get a pot for each of these!

Materials Required:
Links provided where I sell the items

Polystyrene balls (I have these, just need to update the website so please ask if you'd like some)
Green scatters
PVA glue
Cocktail stick or paper covered florists wire
Brown acrylic paint
Hairspray or artists matt sealer


I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and find it of use.  More tutorials coming soon.

Jennifer,

Tutorial - Curved Fencing

Following on from the launch of my landscaping materials last week I thought I'd do a quick tutorial on how easy it is to bend it to create curved fencing.

If you want to create that unique look not possible with standard plastic or wood fencing then this is the tutorial for you!

The wood pulp board used for the fencing is a very versatile and unique product.  It doesn't separate into layers like matt board or cardboard and comes in various thicknesses.  It's also suitable for laser cutting meaning it's easy to create intricate designs that don't break the bank.

One of the killer features of this board is it's ability to be curved and then retain that curve once dry.  I've already used it successfully on a previous collaboration with Quernus Crafts for Christmas.

Curved Fencing Example

So without further ado...

Tutorial:

Step 1:  Find a suitable sized container that has the right sized diameter for the curve you want to make.

Step 2:  Take your piece of fencing and using your fingers, dampen both sides with water.  It shouldn't be dripping, don't run it under the tap, just enough to dampen the surface.  Shake off any excess.

Step 3:  Starting at one end, carefully bend the fence around the container, working your way around and then hold in place with an elastic band.  I used the top off a ear bud tub that I use for holding paint etc.

Dampened fence curved round container and held with elastic band

Step 4:  Set aside and leave to dry.  Should only take an hour.

Step 5:  Take off the elastic band and you should have a curved fence.

Dry and curved fencing

Step 6:  Paint in the colour of your choice.  I used Decoart Crafters Acrylic and one coat of black was enough.  White may need 2 coats.  You can leave it natural or stain for a wood effect if you wish.

Painted curved Fence

Painted curved Fence

Step 7:  Glue in position using PVA glue.  Wood glue or tacky glue are best.  There is flexibility in the fence so you can tweak the curve a little if you need to.

Fence posts and a gate are provided so panels can be joined together at corners.

And that's it!  Simples!

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial,

Jennifer,

New arrivals... Landscaping Materials

I can't believe how quickly the months are flying by.  It's May already and summer is nearly here.  

With the onset of spring and the welcome fresh new growth after the winter I have been hard at work behind the scenes putting together my new range of landscaping materials specially selected for their suitability for 1/48th scale and smaller.  You can read about these below along with some 'How To' tips to help you get started.

Click here for : Landscaping Materials

New Landscaping Materials

Above is a photo showing a few of the new products along with one of my house base kits which are ideal for using along with the landscaping materials.

These specifically selected premium materials have been chosen for their suitability for use in 1/48th scale and are provided in handy packs to suit 1-2 projects depending on size.

I have designed my own set of laser cut fencing which are cut from a special wood pulp board which doesn't split at the edges but can be easily cut with a craft knife and painted with standard acrylic paint.  It also has a very unique property that allows the fencing to be bent to shape.  Just dampen the fence both sides and curve round an object and leave to dry.  Once dry it will hold the curve permanently and can then be glued to your layout.

Other materials include a range of scatters for trees, bushes, hedges, flowers, paths and sand for beach scenes.

Selection of ground materials for paths, earth and grass.

Hedges are pretty easy to make or you can choose our pre-made formal hedge.

Pre-made formal hedging

Trees
I have in stock two types of tree making materials.  For those who are more experienced you can buy a length of tree making wire which can be separated and twisted to form the shape of any style of tree you like.  The wire structure can either be simply sprayed brown with spray paint or covered with air dry clay or Milliput to form a thicker truck and branches and then painted.

The other option is a Seamoss tree which is a natural material which has a very realistic tree structure.  This can be used as is for a winter tree or scatters can be added to make a 'leafed' tree.  Simply spray with spray adhesive and dip or sprinkle the scatter over the top and leave to dry.  You can add blossom or fresh growth by dipping ends of branches in PVA glue and adding light green scatter for fresh growth or coloured scatters for blossom.

Seamoss can also be used in small piece for shrubs and bushes.  It is quite delicate as it is a natural material so should be handled gently.

Seamoss Tree only £1.75
Tree Making wire only £1.15

Hedges
I have two hedge materials in stock.  The first makes informal or formal hedges and uses rubberised coir as the base structure.  These are pre-cut and painted and ready for you to add your chosen scatter materials to.
The other hedges are formal hedges with a foam core.  These are pre-made and ready to go.

Hedge kit
Formal hedges

How to make a hedge:
The hedge kit comes with 4 pieces of pre-painted 'hedge', 6" long, 1" high and 1/2" wide, perfect for 1/48th scale.

Start by mixing up a scenic spray glue in a clean garden or household sprayer with 1 part PVA to 4 parts water and a drop of washing up liquid to help flow.  (Spray clean water through nozzle after each use)
Cover the hedge with your chosen scatter colour(s) and then spray throughly with the scenic glue.  
Spray with hairspray or artists fixative (use a ventilated area) and leave to dry for 24 hours.

You should then have a robust, flexible hedge which can be trimmed to make a formal hedge.
The rubberised coir can also be teased out before adding scatter to make a wild countryside type hedge.

Hedge pack of 4 just £4.99
Formal hedge pack of 6 just £5.25

Click here for : Landscaping Materials

Jennifer, 

Christmas is just around the corner....

Sorry for my absence the last couple of weeks.  It suddenly got very busy here and I was also away one weekend visiting my sister.

To put things back on track it'll probably be a bit of a bumper post!

As some of you may well have noticed I now have my Christmas products listed on my website.  To expand on last years range I have added 2 smaller sleighs so you can now buy one for most scales of dolls house ie 1/48th, 1/24th & 1/12th.  They are also very suitable just as a gift, table centerpiece or general Christmas decoration.

They are all available as laser cut kits which keeps the postage cost down and gives you a fun project for a winters evening!

First up is the tiny and very cute 1/48th scale set.  The sleigh is just 2" long and it all fits inside a small matchbox, including the instructions!  Who could resist such a delightful little package?

1/48th Kit inside a small matchbox

1/48th Reindeer & Sleigh Kit

At only £4.99 it's the perfect gift for yourself or a friend.

Buy now!


Next up is the slightly larger 1/24th scale kit.  The sleigh is 4.5" long and the larger size allows for a bit more detail in the sleigh.

1/24th Reindeer & sleigh kit

1/24th Reindeer kit

1/24th sleigh kit

This set is only £8.99 for both sleigh and reindeer.

Buy now!

Finally we have the 1/12th scale sleigh and Rudolph which are available both as a complete set and individually.

1/12th Rudolph & Sleigh painted kit 

1/12th Rudolph & Sleigh kit 

This set is only £14.99 or you can also purchase the sleigh and Rudolph individually.
Sleigh only £12.99
Rudolph only £5.99


The last couple of days I've been busy packing up all the different kits into boxes in preparation for the Country Living fairs at Glasgow and Harrogate at the end of this month.

I'm not going personally but I have collaborated with Kirsten Miller of Quernus Crafts who bought some custom made painted sleighs and reindeer for her Santa mice and these will be for sale at the fairs.

She is also selling my kits at the fairs so it's a good opportunity to do your Christmas shopping if you're local to either of these events.

Country Living Fair Glasgow - 21st-24th November
Country Living Fair Harrogate - 28th-1st December

Until next time...

Jennifer,

New products and updates

Following on from my tutorial last week about installing LED spotlights in a room box I have now added 3 new spotlight kits to my website to make it very easy for you to have a go!

These include a kit for a shop window or frontage with 2 LEDs, holders and battery kit, a 6 LED kit for a standard room box and a 10 LED kit for a large room box.  They are also suitable for a dolls house 1/12th scale room.

LED Spotlight Kits

Kits include:
3mm High brightness LEDs (you can choose from warm white, white or blue for a witch or fairy room)
LED holders (choice of options)
3 volt AAA battery kit
Full instructions with photos (PDF)

Buy a shop window kit
Buy a standard room box kit
Buy a large room box kit

I have also updated my customer gallery.  If you are looking for inspiration it's well worth a look.  This week I added a photo from Barbara Adair who has bought several of my pre-wired flexible LED strips to light her shop boxes.  Here is her Scent Shop room box lit with 6 LED bright white strips.  They are nice and bright and a very affordable option.  All run off a 12v supply, usually a 12v regulated transformer.  They can be powered by a 9v battery but they are dimmer and the more strips you add the quicker the battery will run down.

LED strip lights in a scent shop room box by Barbara Adair

Another new section I have added to my website this week is for power supplies / transformers.
I have a regulated plug in transformer that will power from 1 to 50 LEDs and the voltage is adjustable so you can set it for use with 3v, 6v, 9v or 12v.  You can only use it on one voltage at a time but it does allow a bit of flexibility if you would rather use mains power rather than a battery to light your miniatures.
These are the modern type of digital transformer so they're small in size, efficient and quiet making it a good choice for your lighting.  They are also regulated meaning the power output won't spike making them perfect for powering delicate electronics like LEDs.

It comes with a selection of plugs, but for use with my LEDs you can purchase a 2.1mm socket to terminal block connector so you can fix the wires from the LEDs in one end and then simply plug it into the transformer plug.  Simples!

2.1mm Socket to Terminal Block Connector

3-12v Transformer

 Visit the power supply page

Finally, I am hard at work on my christmas range and hope to have pictures and final details very soon. Watch this space!

Best wishes,
Jennifer,

August in a nutshell

We had delivery of a couple of additional house guests last night.  As I have sorted out my e-mails and packaged up an order I have been followed by a pair of beady black eyes.  Apparently, the novelty of a printer and natural curiosity has got the better of my companion and it's been too much excitement to allow the usual daytime sleeping.

Now I have peaked your interest I'm sure you'd like to know who the house guests are?

Well, they are called Cinder & Treacle and they are a pair of female chinchillas that we are looking after for friends for a couple of weeks.  We have a pair of male chinchillas ourselves but they are kept in our spare bedroom so Cinder & Treacle are staying in our living room.

Treacle now seems to have lost interest and has decided that sleeping IS the best way to spend the day so I will continue my post...

July was a very busy month for me and so August has been a little about catching up with some of the back end stuff that often gets put off and deciding what the next new adventure should be for my business.

As a bit of a recap I launched a new website www.smallscalelights.co.uk at the start of August, dedicated to my LED lighting range and have been adding new products to that during the month.

I have had some interesting sales this month including selling some of my nano chip LEDs to a chap making a model of the Enterprise from the new Star Trek movies, some amber and warm white flickering LEDs for a diorama and some of my 3mm LEDs with clear lens clips are being used for spotlights in a modern art gallery room box.  Hopefully I will have some photos for my customer gallery when these are all completed.

At the start of July I took some workshops at the Stafford Making Day and I have received a couple of photos of my workshops which I thought you might like to see.  I'm the one in front of the window.

Stafford Makers Day Workshops - Beginners Guide to LEDs

Stafford Makers Day Workshops - Making a table lamp

I had a lot of positive feedback from my workshops and I would like to offer these to everyone.

I already do Online workshops through the Minis4All Yahoo group and with the technology available to us today it's very easy to communicate and there are lots of ways that information can be provided making online workshops a popular alternative.

This is where you come in! I would like you to help me develop these workshops by telling me what would work best for you. I would like to tailor my workshops to fit your needs so if you can take 5-10 mins to answer a few questions I would be very grateful.

1. Would you prefer step by step instructions in PDF form, a video demonstration or both?
2. Would you like a set time to complete the task or to do it at your own leisure? 
3. Would you like to chat with me to ask questions and get feedback?
4. If I set up a closed Facebook group to enable you to ask questions and show your finished items would this be of interest?
5. Or would you prefer a Yahoo group? 
6. For a workshop lasting about 1-1.5 hours would you consider £10-20 to be reasonable? (Cost will be determined by price of the kit and associated additional material such as a booklet)
7. Any other comments?

To provide your feedback please E-mail me or leave your comments below.

Your feedback is important to me so thank you for taking the time to comment.

Jennifer,

Table Lamps at the Online Show

I have made some new lamps for the online show that's on until Tuesday 20th August.  This weekend is the ideal time to take a look if you haven't already.

These are all a traditional shape but there is a range of colours and options of base and lampshade available to suit you.

They come with a 3mm wide angle LED which gives a nice even light and is nice and bright.

There is a choice of wooden base in an Oak Stain, a range of cotton wrapped bases and also pink and green bases with a glittery finish.   You can also choose your colour of lampshade.

You can find them either at my table at the online show or on my website.

Online Show - JS Miniatures

JS Miniatures Website

Oak Table Lamp

Green Table Lamp

Sky Blue & Violet Lamp

Cotton Base Colours

Dolls House Fabric - Now in Stock

I have some very pretty fabric in stock from the US which has been designed by a friend and fellow artisan.

She has some gorgeous and unique nursery sets but has also recently expanded her range and I now have in stock some beautiful roses fabric with a cream background that is available in both 100% cotton and a cotton & silk mix which drapes beautifully.  These would be perfect for curtains, bedlinen or upholstery.

There is also one 1/24th scale quilt & pillow kit available with an Under the Sea nursery theme.

1/24th Scale Under the Sea Quilt & Pillow Kit

Please note these are all fabric kits for you to make up yourself.  The made up photos are to give you a better idea of what they look like.

Fabric Kits at JS Miniatures

Bug Buddies Quilt & Pillow Kit

Roses Cotton Fabric - made into duvet & Pillows

New Website Design

For the past month I have been working hard on a new design for my website and shop.

The old site worked ok when I just had a few products but it was getting quite hard to navigate and starting to look a bit behind the times so I have produced a cleaner and easy to navigate site with better functionality.

I have improved some of the categories so products should be easier to find and generally made it simpler to use.

To give you a flavour of the site this is one of the slide show images on the homepage.

Check out the new site using the link below and let me know what you think.

JS Miniatures