A new project in the making: Modern Laboratory scene!

I am so, so excited about making this!

It was something that I wanted to do for a very long time; since the time we lived in the US and I started to spend time in my husband's lab there.  Evrything was magical, I wanted to take it with me in miniature.  I did not really start the project back then; I was happy to make a couple of kit boxes similar to the ones he used, and I scanned a couple of glove and tissue boxes.  But the lack of access to what would be the actual furniture stopped any desire to start making a lab.

Well, thankfully, that changed recently!  I found by chance a very talented artist on Etsy that has for sale STD files, and 3D printed furniture that looks just like they have been taken out of a lab and shrunk.  He is Jakku Salvage, and if you like modern scince you definitely need to check him out!

When I mentioned this shop to my husband and showed him the models, he was so onboard with the idea of a replica of his lab in mini that I ordered at once the furniture I needed and some really cool props for the scene.

While they were making their way to my home, I started to construct the shadow box.  Husband wanted it no larger than a folio (or letter size for our US friends), because he actually wants to take the scene to the lab once it is completed.  So I purchased 4 pieces of folio size foamboard and assembled them:

Foamboard ready to be assembled!

Before I started the assembly, I tried to find a linoleum floor - that's what we have in the lab - and I was very lucky to find one.  This one comes from Artsy Miniatures, and it looks very much like ours, except ours is not tiled.  But the pattern is almost identical!

A completely printed folio, ready to be glued

Already in place...

...and we glue the walls!  No need to calculate sizes, just trim the excess

And we have our room!  I was so excited when I could finally place the lab bench to see what it looked like:

Love at first sight!

Today I got the fridge, that believe it or not, is almost an exact replica of the one we have in the lab:

The wood shelf is just an ordinary one.  Needs to be painted though...

I am in the process of collecting photographs of actual stuff we use to replicate it in miniature size.  I already have a couple of things done, and I will be starting the printing and assembling.  It's going to be so much fun!

A new addition to the beach hut, and free printable! Tuna can wrappers

This post is going to resonate specially with my fellow miniaturists from Spain, because it features a local famous brand for canned tuna. 

This project has been in the back burner for a long time.  First, because I changed my printer and had to learn how to use the scanner.  Second, because I could not get a good wrapper to scan.  Well, today, that changed!  

Hubby had to help me to set the scanner to work remotely on my computer, but he is the best and he doesn't mind doing these things for me :)

The thing is, I found these tiny round cans in one of my suppliers' website:

Tiny adorable cans!

 

And as they point out, they look similar to tuna cans.  So I decided to buy 3, to make a set of a very well-known package of tuna cans.  They normally come in sets of 3, but recently they released them in an offer of just one at a very cheap price.  So instead of doing a set of 3, I am doing them one by one.

And so, today I finally was able to scan the carboard package, which looks like this:

Then I resized the image in Photoshop, and printed 3 copies to make the wrappings:

It measures only 0.7 cm in high!

It was fun to cut them, fold them and glue them around the cans:

I love them!

These are going to the beach hut, because it is always a good idea to have canned food, in case you get hungry at the beach!

They are tiny, but they look so real!

And also, since I was busy with the beach hut, I decided to glue the straw carpet to a piece of cardboard, because it was getting warped.  Now it looks just like new:

So, if you have around some tiny round cans, or you just want to order them from Tienda de Casitas, here is a link to the free printable with a lot of wrappers for you!  Of course, they will fit perfectly the ones I bought, but you can resize them if yours are a different size.  As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, gift them to friends and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥

Free printable! 2025 ballet calendar

It's that time of the year again in which we have to get calendars ready!  

Just finished this morning (because I am on holidays, and very happy!), here is a free printie with next year's calendar.  Once more, it is ballet theme, because ballet is awesome.  You have several background pictures, and the tear up 12 month calendar pages.  Made with the help of Print a Calendar website.

As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, gift them to friends and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥

Scene: Laundry room inside a laundry detergent bottle

 This idea is not mine, I saw it perusing miniature scenes, and I thought it was so cute.  

We don't usually have laundry rooms in Spain - unless you live in a very big apartment or your own house (the ones which stand alone, with a tiny garden at the front or the back).  Most people keep their washing machines in the kitchen or the bathroom (even hidden inside furniture); many don't even own a dryer, and most people just keep a folding rack someplace (probably behind a door) and air dry their clothes after washing them.  But still, I wanted to make something fun my mother with this theme and I finally made this:

I used an ordinary laundry detergent empty bottle.  I thoroughly washed it and let it dry, and my coworker Carlos helped me to cut the front.  It is very slim, so I did not have much space, and since it does not have straight walls I could not put shelves on them.  So I was content with using the floor for the decoration.  First, I chose the wallpaper and the floor, and fitted them.  I used a bit of cardboard to make the bottom straight, so nothing would be wobbly, and then put on the tiled floor - which is just printed, of course.

In terms of decorating, it did not need a lot of stuff, and I got everything from Tienda de Casitas: a washing machine, a shelf, an iron and an ironing board.  The rest of the staff I had at home, and I repurposed it for this project.

Trying the washing machine for space

 

I printed mini labels for the jars, and I filled them up accordingly.  The detergent pods are little round  pieces of polymer clay made with purple and blue clay.  The baking soda and detergent are just white sugar.

The bottles I already had around, and I only fitted them with the labels.  I put the boxes of Ariel and Calgon because they are popular brands in Spain.

 

The towels on top of the washing machine I printed on fabric; the designs come from Pixelmarket.  I folded them, tied them together with a black ribbon and added a fancy label as decoration.

For the posters in the wall I simply searched for laundry art.  I mounted them on foamboard for 3D effect.

See the little iron resting there?

And of course, a lamp.  It is battery operated, so no wiring required.  The ironing board is by the side, waiting to be used.  

A happy scene indeed!  It is a gift for my mother, so I hope she likes it.

New FinFun mermaid tails!

This post comes a little late, since Summer is almost gone.  But what can I say, I had to take advantage of the end of Summer sale at Fin Fun!

I bought two tails and one pair of leggings.  Allow me to show them to you.

Aquamarine Mermaid Tail:

It is absolutely gorgeous!  It is mainly made in hues of blue and green, and the printing of the scales is out of this world. 

Detail of the scales

The body of the tail is beautiful, but the when you see the transition to the fluke you wonder if the scales are actually in 3D, they are so realistic that they deceive the eye.  I felt like a kid passing my hand over the scales to actually checked that they were not real!  I assure you, pictures do not do this tail justice.

Detail of the transition to the fluke

Fluke with the monofin inserted in place

I snatched it on a very good price for a Limited Edition tail.  The size is perfect for me (I got an M).  This tail now has a new feature, and it's 3 little pieces of Velcro along the opening for the monofin, so you can close it up and the monofin won't be visible while swimming:

Two pieces of Velcro visible in the pic

Mermaidens Barracuda Tail:

Detail of the scales

Detail of the fluke with inserted monofin

 

I had had my eye on this tail for some time.  I bought the first edition of the Barracuda in 2016, and the design has changed drastically.  If you want to see some pictures of the previous model you can do so in my review.  Needless to say, the new model is beyond amazing.  Not only the colors are more nuanced, the scales have changed form and texture (they look like they have a border), the fluke transition does not have a seam anymore, and the design of the fluke looks more like a fish.  Also, this tail also has incorporated Velcro, 1 piece in the middle of the opening for the monofin:

Ice Dragon Leggings:

These are just so nice and comfy!  I own almost all the leggings from this collection, and they are some of my favorite pieces of clothing.  You can use them in Summer, Winter, inside, outside, for exercise, or just chilling with a book, or in the sofa watching TV; they look great with any t-shirt, short or long, or any top.  And best of all, you can rock your mermaid self while doing everyday stuff.  

I use an L on these, and size is perfect.  They also have a tiny pocket at the waist, with just enough room for a key, some money, or a small MP3 player - if you still have one of those.

Very happy with all my purchases.  Looking forward to next releases from Fin Fun!

The Cryocan is finished!

 Finally!  I am so happy how well it turned out after some minor alterations!

I let dry thoroughly the nozzle and cap, and simple inserted them back into place.  

The last step was the label.  I had already printed Paul's amazing replica on matte photo paper, and I was going to stick that onto an adhesive sheet.  But I found some really cool adhesive vinyl A4 sheets that were good for inkjet printers, so I bought a box. They print amazingly well!

I printed one, and it was a tad bit large for my can, so without thinking I trimmed the excess from the bottom, and it was a mistake:

As you can see, the letters are very near the bottom

And when the can is closed, they are barely visible

So I decided to shrink the label a bit, to make it fit completely.  That did not worked out either, since now it was too short to cover all around the can - it lacked about half an inch.  So I printed it a third time, and this time I trimmed from both the top and the bottom, making sure I was not losing any letters.  I removed the first label (which came out easily and without leaving any residue) and sticked on the new one.  Now it is perfect!

Absolutely love it!

I was going to spray paint silver the cartridges that hold the vials, but in the end I decided against it.  I thought maybe the paint would prevent the vials from fitting properly, And the can is going to be sitting in the shelf mostly closed, so it won't be visible anyway.  

Considering the money I spent on the purchase of the can, and the materials needed to make it perfect (around 40 euros) I would say it was good investment, compared to what the real replica costs - and I had a lot of fun too!

Working on the Cryocan

Yesterday I went to buy some supplies for the Cryocan project, and this afternoon I started.  I am so excited about it!

I started by taking out the cap and nozzle, and then priming and painting the top of the can in white.  I gave a couple of coats of spray primer, and then another two of spray white paint:

I covered the can up until the rim with newspaper to protect it

Once removed the paper the results are great!

No silver showing anywhere

Yay!

I set the can aside to let it dry well.  I left it on my husband's table, because if it is in mine, I will not stop handling it, and I don't want to risk ruining the work.

Next, I took the cap and nozzle, and gave them a coat of primer:

I let them dry for 10 minutes, and then applied a couple of coats of spray blue paint:

I sprayed them outside, of course, but they were taking some time to dry properly, and I decided to bring them in, and also not touch them more until tomorrow.  I am sure the shade of blue I used is not the same as the original can, but it is what was available.  Hubby says the nozzle looks great - he is the expert, if he says so, I believe him :)

Tomorrow more!

Update in the Cryocan

 Still waiting for a proper moment to start crafting the Cryocan.

However, today I remembered to bring home a micropipette so I could fill the vials!  That was a very easy thing.  I simply took some bottled water, applied a drop of yellow food dye, stirred and ready!  The vials are ready to be filled.

The "embryo" mix, and the micropipette ready to work

Set to 1 ml or 1000 microliters

I do this at my job all the time :)

Gloriously filled! ♥

It was super fun to do!  Once all the vials were filled, I sticked the labels one by one.

Luckily, the upper ring could be removed, so it was easy to stick the labels without the lower ring interfering.  I tried using a Brady label to see if I could take out the vials from the can.  But even though they are quite thin, the vial did not come out.  So I decided to stick with the font and general appearance of the prop in the movie.

Next step, painting the outside and applying the Barbasol label!  But that will have to wait until the weekend...

A new and different project to take. So excited about it!

Some days ago I had the good luck that the YouTube algorithm recommended a video that I did not know I needed to see.  It was a crafter's video in which she explained that she had modified a not very well made prop into a very nice replica: the Jurassic Park Barbasol Cryocan.  You can see the original prop here.  

By the way I just realized that Nedry's contact offers 1,5 million if he gets the 15 developed embryo.  Difficult to do that with a can that only holds 10:

You can count the spaces: there is only 10

I perused the internet trying to find a vendor that had a similar one for a reasonable price.  I found it in Aliexpress, at the cost of 20 euros, including shipping.  Naturally, it was not an official product (I knew that), but I was very excited to buy it because it is a very cool prop, once modified to fit the one on screen.

It arrived today, 11 days later:

You can see the "unofficial" logo in the box

Also, the can has a different label

But the inside is perfect!

And the can will be too, after some work!

First step, to get my hands on a replica of the official label.  If you watch the video, there is a place where you can get it for free, but I visited Paul Elder Design store on Etsy, because he makes THE most awesome props.  I have bought several designs from him, and they are all very well made, and very true to screen images.  You can get the label here.  Check out also his other Jurassic Park designs!

Next step, to get the labels for the cryovials.  This time I did visit the place mentioned in the video.  You can get them here.  Scroll down for the Cryocan Components, and you can download the PDF.

So, as I always do, I started the house by the roof - Spanish idiom meaning I start with the most minute details.  I printed the labels in adhesive paper, and covered them with clear adhesive tape:

They look amazing!

I cut them and started sticking them to the cryovials.  Much to my surprise, the first vial did not fit in place with the label on.  No troubles, I took the label off and sticked it again with the vial in place.  BUT.  I thought, if I do that with all 10 vials, I will not be able to unscrew the tops to fill them up.  

You may think, "Well, what's the problem?  Just take them out and fill them first".  Well, no.  I am a lab tech (as you may already know, since I talked here about getting my degree).  My professional pride does not allow me to fill the vials with a random measure of colored liquid.  They would all be different!  Oh, no, I need a micropipette to do that.  So I need to take one home from hubby's lab. 

And again, I have to postpone the crafting until next week.  That's why I decided to write this blogpost instead, just to share a little of my enthusiasm.

Since I cannot craft more, let me tell you about a couple of mistakes in the scene where Nedry takes the vials from the storage place.

First, we have the place where the vials are stored.  See the white cloud coming out of the cannisters?

That tells me that what it's inside those cannisters would be liquid nitrogen.  By the way, you cannot have lights of any kind on the inside of a liquid nitrogen tank.  But I disgress.  Nedry takes the vials with his bare hand:

Except that something that just came out of liquid nitrogen would be at a temperature of -200º C; make that -328 F. So can develop burns if you are unlucky, and if not, at least your fingers will hurt for a while.  That's why we use tweezers or specialty gloves for cold tempertures when handling vials like those.  

Also, the metallic holders: those would be covered in nitrogen and freezing to the touch.   They would burn you for sure.  On the other hand, those are very real cryovials.  Although the ones we tend to use at my workplace are of 2 ml, and normally they have a little piece at the bottom so they can stand on their own:

They look like this

Also, storing stuff with liquid nitrogen is super expensive.  So even though the vials look very cool in those columns with the names on the side, we tend to store them in boxes so we can store as many as we can in a small space, to fill the nitrogen tank to the max.  So we use these boxes:

Also, see that the box has a transparent lid with numbers?  Each number goes on top of a vial, because you CANNOT put normal sticker labels on stuff when it is stored in nitrogen.  The labels come off.  You can write on the vial with permanent marker - it may come off, though - or you make a list of what is stored in each vial, matching it with the number.  There are some label printers that use a cartridge that can withstand hot and low temperatures for lab settings - the Brady brand.  Some of those cartridges can be used for liquid nitrogen:

Anyway, that is me just bitching, but I enjoyed rewatching the whole saga.  I will be doing a Jurassic Park theme this Halloween, so I wanted documentation to make props and stuff to put around our lab.  I may be even buying some dinosaurs plushies... We'll see.

EDITED TO ADD: I just found by chance a place where you can buy a licensed replica of the Cryocan!  Be advised, they do not ship outside of the US, and you need quite a bit of money to burn.  But it is gorgeous!! 

And you can see here a video in which you can appreciate some of the details of the construction.  Enjoy!