I’ve been obsessed with small things since I was one myself. Now, I’ve started to make miniatures. There are three ways I’m doing that:
#1. Assemblages for books and exclusive newsletter short stories.
—This is a massive project I’ve decided to take on which includes me turning every story or half-baked novel idea into a thing (poem, drabble, flash fiction, short story), then making it a book cover and an assemblage. To add to the fun, I’m making some full-sized dioramas to go with a few of the stories.
One of my two monthly newsletters is going to have a few stories and their connecting assemblages.
In late 2023, I will compile what I’ve shared and the many I won’t have had time to into a coffee table-like book. I’m excited about the whole thing. But I’d love for you to get some of the content for free, so sign up for my newsletter and do just that!
#2. Rooms or full scenes that I’m sharing on an Instagram account @novelminiatures.
—I was a special effects makeup artist for years, so I see what I write as a movie. Well, I can’t just make a ton of movies, sadly. What I can do, is craft small plants and tiny cans of food. So, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be making miniatures for some of my the scenes in my books or short stories. Another bonus of being a newsletter subscriber is that you’ll get those short stories and access to the books at special prices before they come out.
Either way, I hope you stop over to check out what I’ve got going on. It’s all fairly new, but I have three scenes well underway—a crime scene out of the upcoming Janes novel (book 3), a shop based on a short story, and a scene from another short story.
*Some will end up in that book I mentioned in #1, others will just be on the Instagram account for the hell of it.
#3. 3d printing
I love my little workhorse of a 3d printer! I use an Elegoo Mars 2, in case you’re wondering.
If you didn’t know, I’m disabled, exhausted, and only able to sit up for as long as my brain allows. Add to that me being too creative for my own good—meaning I can’t stop thinking of new projects—I will be filling my dioramas will handmade things, 3d printed things, and I suppose the occasional purchased thing (I find satisfaction in the making, though, so you’ll see this less often).
This link will take you to a running list of credits for the files I use in my work. I believe artists should get credit for what they do, as you may have noticed with my long list of photographers from my book American Are You Scared Yet. So if I ever post a comment on Instagram about the 3d file I used, you’ll find the information there!