It’s been 92 weeks since I’ve last physically reported to work. That’s 19 months. It’s plenty of hours to rethink life, to rest and recharge, to laze away my downtime hours as I forget how crazy my schedules used to be. To sink into this slow, steady rhythm of being this homebuddy, this barefooted, chillaxed teleworker, whose weekdays may be marked with treatments still, but whose weekends are brightened with long, leisure hours I’ve spent on, ehrrrm, hobbies.
I’ve managed to pick up a dozen of these lovely pursuits, and in a sense, it’s been working out quite well for me. Keeping hands busy sort of allows me to still mull little things about my life: chores, to-dos, short terms goals, long term plans, failed attempts at this or that, but also keeps my mind off of it; from worrying too much, from avoiding feeling panicked, about the pandemic, and my family and friends, my health, and generally, just from thinking about when will life pick up back again.
Of the many hobbies I’ve peppered COVID life with, my minis have taken up much of my time. I’ve started building one lil house in 2019, but that has changed massively when the lockdown happened. In the 19 months I’ve kept in my tower, I built 16 kits in total, and I am both pleased and a little sad whenever I finish one.
My favorite of all my lil houses will probably be Grandma’s House. It’s one of my bigger builds as it’s an entire ‘house,’ but surprisingly took me just over two weekends to finish. The kitchen cupboard was the first tableau I’ve put together, which shaped its overall mood. It’s built around this olden kettle and stewing pot, and around it are secret potions and magic stones, and flowers and ingredients to go into a recipe for spells and such. Working on these tiny pieces would often leave wispy threads of glue which I’d usually flick away but in this case added a touch of scary to the house.
From there, it was easier to imagine the rest of grandma’s many tiny ephemera. I made itty-bitty vintage picture frames, candle holders, hat boxes, old books, rolled papers and tied up ones, boxes of old magazines and cloths, all these tiny hoarder shit. I weathered down furniture and walls and roofs, fashioned a bird cage and a broomstick, and styled her cozy bed. I also made a yellow winged chair for her as well, so she can watch black & white films from her tv. With this build, I had learned a bunch of tips and tricks to making mini things.
My minis are taking over my place but it’s been addicting to do these things. The kits are sold as that – kits – which comes with all the bits and bobs needed to complete the piece: wooden pieces you stick together, cloths, paper templates, wires, lighting. It also typically comes with a few essential tools and an instruction booklet, and in most cases, a dust cover. However for this house, I had made quite a number of modifications, often called a ‘kit bash.’ A few of these were: tiling the roof, repainting (and weathering down) the exterior walls, adding rocks (which are really tiny aquarium stones) around the house, peppering the place with overgrown plants. To see how vastly different my build was from the kit’s design, check out how the original looks like when it’s made here.
I can go and on about all things mini but will stop for now and maybe share my other favorite builds here soon. My other finished kits are also housed on this Instagram page. Go, look, and add me a follow!
Finally Dee 