2015 HBS Creatin Contest Results

I've been working very hard in the last couple of days/weeks even though I thought that there was going to be less work to do in January and maybe more time to work on some miniatures. So after many busy days without miniatures, I finally found yesterday evening some time to check some blogs and websites to see what's new, including the miniatures.com website, having in mind to buy the new contest kit for 2016 and curious about the HBS Contest Results. It was a huge surprise seeing this on their start-page:

There it was, the record shop... I can't tell how proud and thankful I am that the jury thought that my project deserved a first time entrant prize. This means so much to me, not only because this was my biggest project until today, but also because it was the first contest I ever participated in. I spent so much time on this project and I love every bit of it, seeing that others appreciate my work as well is so fulfilling. Thank you so much for that, and again for all of your kind comments on my previous posts.

Having received these great news, I was of course unable to sleep the entire night jumping around excited like a dog with two tails. It has been a hard day at work today as a consequence, having slept only 3 hours last night. To calm down a little, I started to put together some ideas for my next project and can't seem to decide what I will go for. I think I need some extra time to decide what topic to choose next, knowing that it will probably take another year to finish.

Until then, I wanted to share some pictures with you of recent items I bought/made:

I created some little cakes for Valentine's Day to test the frosting I have bought recently and it seems to work fine. I made some extra roses for the cakes and tried multiple versions until I chose to go with this design.

I bought some kitchen accessories from ELF Miniatures that I might use in my next project. I also bought a Miele Fridge, an ELF undercounter steel fridge freezer kit and an ELF modular hob kit which will allow me to design the kitchen counter the way I want it to look.

I'll be posting more in the coming weeks if I find some more time, until then have a wonderful day :)

Susi

My HBS Creatin Contest entry... here it is!

Arrgh I really had to convince myself to post my entry pictures after seeing all the phenomenal builds that participants made. Brae, Pepper, they did an amazing job. But yeah, I kind of promised it with my post yesterday, so here they are, my pictures...

"The Record Shop"

For my first contest ever, I decided to work on something that makes me happy and that I feel comfortable with. In my record shop I sell more than 1300 records (at least that's where I stopped counting!) and it's all new stuff. From Minimal to House, from Techno to Chillout, you will find all new releases in this little record shop. If you're lucky you might even find some really good records on sale. You can have a seat at the turntables on the left and take your time to choose your favorite records. 

Don't be disturbed by "Lazy" who is always sleeping at the back of the shop. If you want, you can select a magazine or a book about music production from the shelves at the back of the shop. We also sell some really cool T-Shirts (Fire extinguisher and wall phone are from Delph Miniatures, the folding chair is from Miniatures.com, I don't remember where the green bottle is from though, the rest is made by me - even the door that I had to create in size for the brick wall). 

In the next two pictures you can see the shop from the outside - I had to use Gimp for these, as I did not have the time to find a fitting dark background. Also with the bad weather we had lately, the light was just not enough outside. The hardest and most time consuming work for me was to create the sidewalk out of the mdf plates. For this I used the tutorials of Lazy Forger.

I placed most of the items that I bought at the cashier area. The little bonsai and the open bag of chips are from LugartPetit, the computer is from Lilu Miniature, the wireless phone is from Miniatures.com, the cash register and the CD racks are from Delph Miniatures. Speakers, framed vinyls, wall accessories other than the phone are made by me.

I really like how the security camera located outside of the shop turned out, I simply used polymer clay for it. The wheelie bin and the mp3 player are from Delph Miniatures as well.

Ahh voila, it's done and sent. I hope you like it. I can finally get some rest now and get to sleep without thinking what else I need to do on this project - except, of course, I already started thinking about the next project... >.<

1 more day to go...

I don't know how other participants of this year's HBS Creatin' Contest are staying patient until the deadline, but I really can't wait anymore to see all the creative projects that are waiting to be discovered. I've been seriously investigating on the internet for the last couple of days to see if I can find any updates from participants, but could see only limited posts and pictures.

There is one project though that is absolutely stunning and I just have to mention it... of course I'm talking about Mitchy Moo Miniature's build. I'm just flabbergasted by Pepper's talent and can't get enough of looking at the pictures she posted on her blog. I think she's not taking part at the contest though, as I remember having read that the kit was gifted to her, yet for me she already won this year's contest.

To increase the suspense, I decided to post some pictures as well :) Yes, that's evil, I know. So all started with the base of the kit... That's been so long ago already, I think I started around April.

Then I made a LOT of drawings, calculations and material planning until I knew approximately how I would proceed with the special furniture. Some parts were too special so I had to create them digitally and order laser cut versions. Slowly decoration pieces came together as well. Many are made by myself, but I had to include a few others as well, such as the open bag of chips from LugartPetit.

The dog was Lazy as usual. Even when I was doing the brick wall, placing one brick after the other for hours, he did not move. At that point I was puzzled about how best to remove the excess of mortar as it was my first brick wall, but I figured very quickly that it's actually pretty easy with a damp cloth and a brush once all dried.

 

It was also pretty messy at the beginning, especially the space it took was more than I had expected. Then I started with the wiring of the house and had a pretty clear idea how to continue... So this was a little sneak-peek to my entry but more will come as soon as the deadline is over.

Looking back now I can't believe how much fun this has been for me since the beginning, this also being my first entry to a miniature contest ever. I wish everybody good luck with their project and think that it was worth participating even just for the fun of it.