Free printable! Laboratory glove boxes

It is so much fun to gather graphics and put them together to make cool minis!

Today I am happy to be able to offer a printable with several glove boxes.  These are actual boxes that I have scanned from real ones we have in our lab (or used to have, because we change brands frequently).  I have cleaned them and scaled them down to 1:12 scale.

There is a piece of a real lab glove peeking out of the boxes

The blue ones we have now; the green one we used to have when we were at the University of Virginia (not included in the printable)

Notice that there are S and M size, and they are available open or closed.

There will be more printables coming as soon as I am finished with them.  There will be a bit a everything, from posters to signs  to packing labels, and of course, supplies boxes - like the brown ones in the shelf, that are of serological pippetes.

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! ♥

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 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!

200 posts - Let's celebrate with miniatures!!

I'm back again, after a lot of time of hiatus!

And here we are, in the post #200, who would have thought?  And we will talk, as in the first post, of miniatures.

Last week my mother and I went to the Tom Bishop's Miniature Show - held in the same place as the one in May.  We were told the hotel that hosted it will be having renovations next May, so there will be no show on Spring next year (booo!).

But anyway, we had a great time, and I spent a lot (more than I should have for sure!) but came home very excited about everything.  We got to meet the wonderful people behind Cinen - my mother is a frequent customer of them.  Also we got to see Anabela again, as well as Syreeta and Candi Martín.

Here are some pics of my purchases:

Pumpkin and mushroom plate by 64tnt Miniatures and white bear dressed with red coat by Miniaturas pqf.

Medieval sword and hand lens by LXL Cruces and blue tassel by Anabela Menocal (I attached the key to it).

Two baskets by Targioni and candle holder by Gemma Such.

And more crystal objects by Beatricce Miniaturas.

Oh, what a joy to put everything in its place!  But more pictures tomorrow, because I did a lot of renovations and I want to show you everything that I have new.

Stay tuned!

New apothecary cabinet up for sale in my shop!
Filled to suit your medicinal needs, with real glass bottles and authentic reproductions of vintage apothecary labels.
Grab it today before somebody else does!

Scientist weekend

Hubby and I are now working long hours in the lab after every body has gone. I help when I can; lately I have been going there 3 hours a day, and I can not sit for a moment because of all the work that there is to do. It is practically impossible to spend all that time between experiments without thinking "How could I do this in miniature?".

To relax tension, I have made this simple but funny vignette:

Yes, in labs there are objects chained to the wall - he said that chained containers are generally made of aluminum, not glass, but I think that seeing green stuff in a glass jar is more fun! It's available in my shop, so go grab it if you like it :)

Spending all this time in the lab has given me new energy to try and make a lab bench in miniature. I'm considering the possibility that most of the stuff that will sit there is too geek-related for the non-scientist to understand (I have made the equivalent of a Kleenex box with wipes for microscope lens - they are called Kim Wipes), so I don't know if it would sell well. We'll see...

Lab Crafting

Yup, I do not only craft miniatures, but scientific crafting too!

My dear husband is so so busy these days that I pop in at the lab when everybody else is gone to keep him company. But I like to help if I can, and this is what I have been doing lately for him to use in his experiments. Bear with me, because this is long...

He taught me how to use this lathe so I could make holes in the bottom of little Petri dishes.

Dish before the process. The part on the left is the cover.

You secure the dish in the lathe:

And using the blade of the right (and much caution) you make a hole:

Dish after the cutting

When you have made holes in 20-25 dishes, you clean them up, scratching the rests of the plastic that have not come out. If you skip this step, cells get poisoned by the scraps and then they die :(

When you have finished cleaning them, you line them up in the table and take out 30mm round glass microscope covers. You can see them inside the big round dish:

These covers have been previously treated - you clean them 10 minutes under distilled running water, and leave them inside sulfuric acid overnight. The following day you clean them again under distilled running water and put them in a stove to dry overnight. You take the glue and put a circle on the bottom of the dish:


Then you take a glass cover and stick it to the glue:


You have to squeeze out the air bubbles:

And then you put them under an UV light for one hour on each side to cure the glue. Then there is no way the glue breaks or falls. Yup, the same UV that gives you a tan in a tanning saloon (and because I know how UV lights work, you will never see me in a tanning saloon).

Whew! What a work! Good thing is, doing this saves a lot of money for the lab. A ready made Petri dish with glass bottom costs around $10 - yes, research is expensive-. And this is a nice way to lower the costs.

Oh my, what a nerd I am :)

Mini bottles and apothecary cabinet

The bottles arrived today; 60 tiny glass bottles to fill up and label! Who can resist that? I had to sit down and finish the first apothecary cabinet. I am so happy how well it turned out! It will be up for sale in my shop tomorrow.

Three different kind of jars, and all of them feature reproductions of real vintage unmodified apothecary labels. And of course, a brass scale and a glass stirrer or pipette.

I made a couple of them for my own cabinet, but I have not taken a pic yet; too little changes to show it. I will wait for it to be complete before showing it again.

I am waiting for more packages with more glass goodies inside...

Sources of inspiration

Sometimes the Muse can strike from the most strange places...

It had been some time since I wanted to try and make a pharmacy/apothecary/laboratory supplies cabinet.

My husband is a scientist, and I can tell you, a messy table/bench is the last thing you need if you want your work to be successful; dirt can spoil many hours of work if you are dealing with cells, and a glass left in the wrong place can finish in the floor with all your precious DNA inside. So I am not very fond of cluttered furniture, not even when it is in miniature. That's why all my cabinets are so tidy - blame it on the hours that we had to spend in the lab when experiments don't come out OK. I figure that if tidiness is necessary in real scale, more so in the cabinet of a skilled witch or wizard. Think about the protocols that are described in magic books and that you have to follow to the last detail... Anyway, the idea of the mad scientist or Victorian chemist have been going around my head, but I was not sure about how to bring them to reality.

Yesterday I put on a CD that I had not listened to in a long time. It's from Attrition, and it's called "All mine enemys whispers". It is inspired by the story of Mary Ann Cotton, who was sentenced to death in 1873 for killing children with arsenic. Attrition's Martin Bowes is a descendant of the arresting officer, Police Sergeant Tom McCutcheon.

And then the vision stroke me! I saw a dark chemist in London, where this woman went to buy the poison; the unsuspected pharmacist who sold it to her; the neatness of the filled jars in the shelves...

Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary, Alexandria

Right now I am on the hunt for different kinds of glass jars to fill the cabinets, and I am already working on the labels, which will be, of course, reproduction of real vintage pharmacy labels.

I hope to have a new line of apothecary cabinets, parallel to the magic cabinets. Science is as much part of my world as it is fantasy. How contradictory the human race can be... Will you come with me on my journey?