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!

Japanese roombox. Day 3

Yesterday I almost wrapped up.  So I just finished putting the finishing touches in the last wall - a couple of decorative beams, and voilà!  The Japanese room is finished!  At least, the construction process itself:

A vision of beauty! ♥

What is left to do but glue all the walls?  Well, the ceiling, naturally, but that will have to wait.  I was so, so excited to start decorating! So, while the glue was drying up, I unpacked all the accessories that I had been collected for this moment, and started the display.  First off, a lovely table, also the creation of Ana, was put in place first.  It is all paper and foamboard.  It took me about 30 minutes to do, and I finished it off with some Mod Podge so it would look shiny:

Love it!

A little bit of food - it was almost lunch time!

Oh my.  How long I have waited for this...

The pictures and the book are also Ana's creations.  I won't hang the pictures until some more furniture has been placed, as well as the lamps that will iluminate the scene - that is something that I am planning to do from scratch!  The cabinet is a spice cabinet full of tiny drawers and pigeon holes - I am sure I will not be able to find anything so small to fill them.  The tiny tea box on top of the cabinet is from Zenas Miniatures.  

It was so exciting to start thinking in little details to add, and decorations too!  I made a couple of sake bottles after lunch:

I spent the afternoon window shopping, and I have already ordered some little details to display, as well as some furniture.  I can't wait for them to show up, but it's going to take some weeks!  In the meantime, I'll keep thinking of little things to add!

I am so happy with everything.  Tomorrow, the only thing that is left: the ceiling.

Japanese roombox. Day 2

I started early because I was eager to continue seeing progress.  First things first, to finish the left wall.  For starters, I finished the beams, made a 3D door and glued it in place:

3D door

Glued in place

Trying the wall for effect.  Love it!

Next, the right wall.  Pretty much like the left, but sans the door.  I started with the white cardboard (cheapest wallpaper ever, two A2 sheets for just 1 euro!), and added the wainscott and the little wood beams:

Fabulous!

Just one wall left!  I started with the cardboard, of course, and added the wainscott and the upper wood beam:

So clean lines!  I love the effect!

I am torn with this last wall.  I had been thinking of adding a window with views to a garden, as a mirage.  But after several tryouts it did not really appeal to me.  So today I will just add the last beam and keep it simple - very zen!  More room to decorate!

Working on a new scene: Japanese Roombox. Day 1

It's almost 2 years since I bought a roombox, hoping to do a Japanese scene on it.  I decided it was a perfect moment to start, taking advantage of my Easter holidays.  So yesterday I started the work, and this is what I accomplished on day 1.

Firstly, I took out all the components, and did a dry fit to ensure correct placement of the parts:

I was pleasantly surprised to see it had fitted corners, like puzzles pieces

They all fit perfectly!

 Since I know better now, instead of gluing together the walls and floor, I decided to wallpaper and put the floor before any other work.  So I spread out all the walls as to not make mistakes, and started by printing a beautiful tatami floor, work of the talented Ana Circea:

Starting with the center piece: the floor

Pieces fit together like a puzzle

Just the little upper corner missing...

Done!  Then trimmed to size

Looking good!!

First piece done, 3 to go!  Next one, the left wall.  For this, I covered the entire wall with white cardboard, and then placed a sliding door in the center - also from Ana's shop:

Simple white cardboard - it is a bit texturized, but you cannot see that in the picture

Sliding door, and some molding to decorate

Perfect!

Trying both parts together for effect.  Love it!

I still needed to add some beams for decoration, but the natural light was getting low, so I stopped the work right here.  

More pics tomorrow of the progress!

Recycling old objects

When I redesigned my dollhouse to fit the vampire theme, I took out a lot of objects that didn't have a place on it. Many of them are now in my mom's dollhouse. But I have been able to recycle some others.

One of them used to be a quite ugly wood jewelry box, its inside covered in baby blue velvet, with a pearl necklace on display. Although it is not very clear in this picture, this is how it was before:

Here is a catalog picture of the box:

My mom helped me to remove everything from the inside, and I re-made it into a Tarot card box. I covered the inside with red velvet paper, and decorated the lid with a golden sun charm. Now it rests in my dollhouse's shop window: