Talented Miniaturists

I have three customers this month who have won competitions with a little help from my lighting products.  One used red Nano LEDs in a magic trick to win the World Championships and another has won the Best Large Miniature in a Warhammer 40K competition in Norway using LED lights and a servo to turn the tank turret and then there's the miniaturist I'm going to feature in this blog post who has won 1st prize in the Hungarian Dolls House and Miniatures contest for her stunning Cape Cod Living room.

Orsi of Orsi's Miniatures is probably familiar name to many of you and has blown me away on numerous occasions with her stunning miniature creations.

I first worked with her to provide lighting for a recreation in miniature of Sherlock Homes's kitchen and since then we've worked on a few projects together but the latest is noteworthy in that it won her the 1st prize and a lovely trophy.  So without further ado I'll show you the pictures!

Orsi's Miniatures Cape Cod Living Room. 

Stunning isn't it!  

The overall lighting is provided by LED spotlights in the ceiling.  There is another LED in the table lamp and hanging lights, warm white nano LEDs light up the bookshelves and a flickering fire kit provides a realistic glow in the fireplace.

Orsi's Miniatures - Flickering Fire and Nano LEDs in the bookshelves

Orsi's Miniatures - Nano LEDs light up the bookshelves

The Nano LEDs are typically used for smaller scales but here you can see just how effective they can be in 1/12th scale for lighting up smaller areas like these bookshelves.  The Nano LEDs are just 1.5mm long but give off an incredible amount of light and with their tiny size they are easily concealed.

Orsi's Miniatures - Miniature or real??

The attention to detail throughout this wonderful miniature is testament to Orsi's skill and vision.  I am delighted that my lighting helped bring this room to life.

Jennifer, 

New Products - Bases for smaller scale kits

It's a familiar situation for many of us...You've built your house kit and added some lighting to really bring it to life but what do you do with the wires and the battery box?

Well, the solution is often to make a base for the kit so you can hide the battery underneath and perhaps also add a garden or other landscaping but what if you could buy a base that was specially designed and had a concealed drawer to hide the wiring with an easily accessible on/off switch?

Ta da!

Assembled and landscaped small base kit for BlueBell Cottage

I have designed a couple of sizes of base kits that suit most 1/48th scale house kits or several smaller kits.  These are lasercut from 3mm ply and even have a concealed magnetic system so bases can be joined together to make a street scene.

Bases can be joined to form a street scene

They are designed to be used with any lighting kit but if you already have or are buying one of my lighting kits then I provide an extension wire with micro plug connectors so the lighting kit can be plugged into the extension and then the battery and switch neatly fit in the drawer.  The switch snaps into the hole in the front of the base for easy switching on and off of your lights.

Large base kit 

Large base kit with drawer open

I have assembled some landscaping materials including kits to make hedging & shrubs, realistic grass and I've also designed a picket style fence with gate.  These are not yet on the website but please contact me if you are interested.  These materials are often sold in large quantities for model railways so I will supply smaller kits, with instructions so you have enough to do one or two bases and don't get left with a mountain of stuff you don't need!

The bases are available here: Bases for smaller scale kits and prices range from £12.99 - £16.25 (discounts for buying more than one)

Best wishes,

Jennifer,

Tutorial - Making Modern Strip Lights

It's been a fairly busy start to the year which is why I've not had a chance to update my blog until now. Hopefully you will enjoy another tutorial.

I was asked at the end of last year about making modern strip lighting, the type with a fluorescent tube with a cover which are found in all kinds of modern businesses from offices to dentists surgeries.  I mention dentists surgeries because thats what the lady (who wishes to remain anonymous) was making.  A 1/12th (Inch) scale room box dentists surgery.  Since then I've also provided the same lighting for a 1/12th scale shed/workshop.

The easiest and cheapest way to create strip lighting is to use flexible strip LEDs and use vellum to create the cover.  Vellum is a type of heavy paper, a bit like tracing paper, which comes in lots of colours and patterns and is used mainly for card making and scrap booking but is ideal to use with LEDs because the plain vellum is semi-opaque and as well as looking like a strip light cover, it also acts as a diffuser.

First off here's what it will look like!  Yes, this is a model and not the real thing!

Strip Lights in a 1/12th scale Dentists Surgery

Strip Lights in a 1/12th scale Dentists Surgery

Tutorial

Step 1:  Choose the size of flexible LED strip you wish to use and also the colour.  For the tutorial I have used a 3 LED white strip but the photos above show a 6 LED strip in warm white.
Pre-wired LED strips can be bought in my shop if you have your own vellum but I now also have a strip light kit available with vellum included.  If you would like the 9v version you will need a battery snap.

Pre-wired flexible LED strip

Step 2:  Cut a piece of thick card or mountboard 2mm longer than your LED strip.  For the 3 LED strip this would be 52mm long x 8mm wide.  (The strips are all 8mm wide).

Mountboard or card strip

Step 3:  Peel off the cover from the back of the LED strip to reveal the double sided tape and stick the LED strip onto your piece of card or mountboard.

LED strip stuck onto mountboard 

Step 4:  Mark out a rectangular box on your piece of vellum following the design of the template below.  You want the box to be 8mm wide and 8mm high.  The further away the vellum is from the strip the less the LEDs look like "spots".

Vellum template

Following the template above mark out your 3 strips 8mm wide.  Mark 8mm in from the end, then 52mm long (or length of LED strip) and then another 8mm for the other end.

Score along the lines with a pair of scissors being careful not to score too deep as the vellum will tear easily if scored deeply.  Snip the two ends from the outer edge into the fold line so they can be folded in to form the box end like so:

Vellum template ready for folding

It should then look like this:

Vellum box diffuser for strip light

The ends are stuck with small squares of double sided tape.  Fold the two outer pieces in and then the middle piece over the top so it is on the outside.

Step 5:  Decide where you want to place your lights and drill a 4-4.5mm hole in your ceiling.  Just enough for the wires to fit through.  Feed the wires through the hole and stick the LED strip in place with double sided tape or glue.  Keep the strip as close to the hole as possible (see photo in step 6).

Hole in ceiling for wires

Step 6:  (Optional)  If you wish you can cut an additional strip of vellum 8mm wide by the length of the LED strip and stick it on with small pieces of double sided tape to make an additional diffuser.

LED strip fixed in position

Step 7:  Fit the box over the LED strip.  It will be a snug fit but to fix in in place run some glue along the edge of the card / mountboard base and hold until stuck.  Use sparingly.  UHU or similar clear glue is best as most glues will show through vellum.  You may want to test your glue on a bit of scrap first.

NB:  You will probably need to snip away a bit of the box end for the wires to fit if you are not fitting a false ceiling.

Vellum cover fixed in place over LED strip

Step 8:  Test out your lights!  Connect to a 12v regulated transformer or you can also use a 9v battery (the LEDs will be a bit dimmer).

Modern strip light

Final touches:  The wires as they enter the hole can be painted to match your ceiling.  Any matt emulsion or acrylic craft paint will do. 

The wires can be hidden in a groove in the floor above and then taped over with masking tape ready for your flooring of choice.

The other option is to fit a false ceiling.  This could be a piece of mountboard, foam board or thin wood with a slot cut out for the strip light so the wiring is hidden underneath.  It is best to fit a false ceiling before fitting the vellum box over the top.

The you can sit back and enjoy your lights!

Strip lights in model dentists surgery

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  If you have any questions I'm happy to help.

My thanks to M from Stornoway for providing the photos of her lights in her dentists surgery.

Buy strip light kits

Best wishes,

Jennifer, 

How to connect the strips to a transformer or 9v battery:

It is common for more than one strip to be used in a room so there are a few options:

a) If you are using copper tape the strips would be soldered on directly. 

b) You can chose to have the strips wired with standard dolls house white wire which could then be wired into a standard dolls house plug and socket strip. You would need one plug per LED strip in this case and please check with me to make sure your transformer won’t exceed it’s capacity (eg a 6 LED strip is 0.04amps).

c) If the transformer comes with a 2.1 mm socket, I sell connectors that plug into the transformer directly but have a connector block on the other end so you can wire in multiple lights to the same transformer without needing a socket strip.  To purchase connectors click the link: connectors

d) If you wish to use a 9v battery you will need a battery snap.  You can also choose to have an mini on/off switch with your battery snap.  To purchase battery snaps click the link: Battery snaps

I recommend using no more than 2 LED strips per 9v battery to prevent it running out too fast. LEDs will be slightly dimmer with this option.

Hope that helps. 

This tutorial is for personal use only and must not be made for sale or commercial purposes.  

All text and photos copyright of JS Miniatures.

New Products and Updates!

Following on from my tutorial last week about installing LED spotlights in a room box I have now added 3 new spotlight kits to my website to make it very easy for you to have a go!

These include a kit for a shop window or frontage with 2 LEDs, holders and battery kit, a 6 LED kit for a standard room box and a 10 LED kit for a large room box.  They are also suitable for a dolls house 1/12th scale room.

LED Spotlight Kits

Kits include:
3mm High brightness LEDs (you can choose from warm white, white or blue for a witch or fairy room)
LED holders (choice of options)
3 volt AAA battery kit
Full instructions with photos (PDF)

Buy a shop window kit
Buy a standard room box kit
Buy a large room box kit

I have also updated my customer gallery.  If you are looking for inspiration it's well worth a look.  This week I added a photo from Barbara Adair who has bought several of my pre-wired flexible LED strips to light her shop boxes.  Here is her Scent Shop room box lit with 6 LED bright white strips.  They are nice and bright and a very affordable option.  All run off a 12v supply, usually a 12v regulated transformer.  They can be powered by a 9v battery but they are dimmer and the more strips you add the quicker the battery will run down.

LED strip lights in a scent shop room box by Barbara Adair

Another new section I have added to my website this week is for power supplies / transformers.
I have a regulated plug in transformer that will power from 1 to 50 LEDs and the voltage is adjustable so you can set it for use with 3v, 6v, 9v or 12v.  You can only use it on one voltage at a time but it does allow a bit of flexibility if you would rather use mains power rather than a battery to light your miniatures.
These are the modern type of digital transformer so they're small in size, efficient and quiet making it a good choice for your lighting.  They are also regulated meaning the power output won't spike making them perfect for powering delicate electronics like LEDs.

It comes with a selection of plugs, but for use with my LEDs you can purchase a 2.1mm socket to terminal block connector so you can fix the wires from the LEDs in one end and then simply plug it into the transformer plug.  Simples!

2.1mm Socket to Terminal Block Connector

3-12v Transformer

 Visit the power supply page

Finally, I am hard at work on my christmas range and hope to have pictures and final details very soon. Watch this space!

Best wishes,
Jennifer,

Tutorial: Installing LED Spotlights in a room box

I have had a few inquiries about ceiling spotlights recently and one of my customers has successfully installed them in a modern art gallery shop box to display her miniature paintings so I thought it was the ideal opportunity to do a quick tutorial to show how easy and effective they are!

Firstly, this is the interior of Hazel's finished room box.  She wanted to create a modern art gallery that was well lit with even lighting which would show her paintings to best effect.

I suggested using 3mm high brightness LEDs with clear lens clips which hold the LED in place and also act as a diffuser, spreading the light and making it very even  (Standard round top LEDs normally produce a spotlight effect).

Finished art gallery with LED spotlights

Close up of LED spotlights

 Based on her requirements I did a couple of tests with a cardboard box of similar size to her room box and that gave a light spread of about 3 inches per LED meaning they can be spaced at 6 inch centers (150mm) to provide even lighting.
I drew up the plan below in CAD.  It shows the LEDs at 6 inch centers (150mm) and Hazel also wanted three additional LEDs for the shop windows and the front door.

CAD plan for layout of LED spotlights

For the clear lens clips the best way to install them is to mark out your layout on the exterior of your room or room box and then drill 4.5mm holes at each location.
Depending on your room or box you can either make grooves for the wires using a dremel, or by hand.  You can then secure the LED and wires in place with masking tape over the top or, if you don't want to make grooves you can just stick the wires down with masking tape and cover with your flooring or roof material the same as you would usually do with lighting wires.

The clips are designed for 3mm thick material but this can be worked around by drilling a slightly larger hole (ie 4.5mm) and if necessary, the clips can be glued in position with tacky wax or superglue or similar.  Just a tiny drop in the hole to secure.  I find the clear clips tend to hole pretty firmly though without glue.

Clear lens clips  - installed in a ceiling (demo)

Once the clear clips are in position you simply push the LED into the clip until you hear a 'click'.  It's best to have one finger on the 'spotlight' so the clip doesn't get pushed out of the hole.

Once you have positioned all the wires you should then have something like this:

External view of room box roof showing LED wiring in grooves

Once the LEDs and wiring are installed you can connect them up to your power supply.  In this case all the LEDs are powered off a 3 volt, 2 x AAA battery kit.  The 3 LEDs in the shop frontage were powered off a separate 2 x AAA battery kit so the front can be easily removed.  A small connector block was used to connect the LED wires to the battery wires.  It ensures a good connection and makes wiring very simple.  No soldering required.  This makes it a very effective but simple solution and ideal for portability.

This was a very large room box - the Victorian Shop Box kit from the Dolls House Builder which is 23" L x 16" W x 12" H (590 x 400 x 298mm) which is a huge shop!  The entire spotlight kit including 11 pre-wired LEDs, 11 clear lens clips and 2 AAA battery kits only cost £30 so it's a fairly cost effective solution.

The LEDs were wired with the white wire found in all dolls house lighting which has the advantage of being flat and so very neat to hide but it is slightly more expensive than the standard red & black wire I can also supply.

Other clip options include black ring clips or brass or nickel metal 3mm eyelets.  Top row shows each clip with a 3mm LED installed.  Lower row is the clips on their own.

Spotlight clip options

If you'd like to read more about the creation of Hazel's Art Gallery with lots of finished photos including the shop frontage, click on the link: Hazel Rayfields Art in Wax Blog.

I'd like to thank Hazel for allowing me to use the photos of her finished art gallery.

I hope it's a useful tutorial and perhaps inspires you to try something similar.

Jennifer,

***UPDATE***

If you would like to try your own spotlight ceiling you can purchase a ceiling kit here:
Ceiling Spotlight Kits

There are three options to suit different sizes of project or room.

This tutorial is for personal use only and must not be made for sale or commercial purposes.  All text and photos copyright of JS Miniatures.

A space of my own...

A couple of years ago we turned our box room into an office come storeroom and up until now it's been used by my fiancé as his office while he's been working from home.  That has meant that I've been using various parts of the rest of the house for my JS Miniatures tools and materials, but mostly the dining room table has been my workspace.  Obviously this isn't ideal as I have stuff everywhere in various cupboards or lying about.  I'm sure there are a few of you who know exactly what I'm talking about!

With plans to redecorate the living/dining room this year we have swapped rooms so I have the office as my workroom. Finally I have a space I can call my own and it's pretty ideal.  A nice big window, plenty of natural light and ventilation and storage space for all my supplies.
I'm sure it'll help me be more organised too.

So hear it is:

My workspace

Pretty tidy at the moment - the tricky part is keeping it that way!

*cough* ok, so the photo was taken before I started working in it and I confess, it's already not as tidy... but I'm trying... honest! :)

August in a nutshell

We had delivery of a couple of additional house guests last night.  As I have sorted out my e-mails and packaged up an order I have been followed by a pair of beady black eyes.  Apparently, the novelty of a printer and natural curiosity has got the better of my companion and it's been too much excitement to allow the usual daytime sleeping.

Now I have peaked your interest I'm sure you'd like to know who the house guests are?

Well, they are called Cinder & Treacle and they are a pair of female chinchillas that we are looking after for friends for a couple of weeks.  We have a pair of male chinchillas ourselves but they are kept in our spare bedroom so Cinder & Treacle are staying in our living room.

Treacle now seems to have lost interest and has decided that sleeping IS the best way to spend the day so I will continue my post...

July was a very busy month for me and so August has been a little about catching up with some of the back end stuff that often gets put off and deciding what the next new adventure should be for my business.

As a bit of a recap I launched a new website www.smallscalelights.co.uk at the start of August, dedicated to my LED lighting range and have been adding new products to that during the month.

I have had some interesting sales this month including selling some of my nano chip LEDs to a chap making a model of the Enterprise from the new Star Trek movies, some amber and warm white flickering LEDs for a diorama and some of my 3mm LEDs with clear lens clips are being used for spotlights in a modern art gallery room box.  Hopefully I will have some photos for my customer gallery when these are all completed.

At the start of July I took some workshops at the Stafford Making Day and I have received a couple of photos of my workshops which I thought you might like to see.  I'm the one in front of the window.

Stafford Makers Day Workshops - Beginners Guide to LEDs

Stafford Makers Day Workshops - Making a table lamp

I had a lot of positive feedback from my workshops and I would like to offer these to everyone.

I already do Online workshops through the Minis4All Yahoo group and with the technology available to us today it's very easy to communicate and there are lots of ways that information can be provided making online workshops a popular alternative.

This is where you come in! I would like you to help me develop these workshops by telling me what would work best for you. I would like to tailor my workshops to fit your needs so if you can take 5-10 mins to answer a few questions I would be very grateful.

1. Would you prefer step by step instructions in PDF form, a video demonstration or both?
2. Would you like a set time to complete the task or to do it at your own leisure? 
3. Would you like to chat with me to ask questions and get feedback?
4. If I set up a closed Facebook group to enable you to ask questions and show your finished items would this be of interest?
5. Or would you prefer a Yahoo group? 
6. For a workshop lasting about 1-1.5 hours would you consider £10-20 to be reasonable? (Cost will be determined by price of the kit and associated additional material such as a booklet)
7. Any other comments?

To provide your feedback please E-mail me or leave your comments below.

Your feedback is important to me so thank you for taking the time to comment.

Jennifer,

Table Lamps at the Online Show!

I have made some new lamps for the online show that's on until Tuesday 20th August.  This weekend is the ideal time to take a look if you haven't already.

These are all a traditional shape but there is a range of colours and options of base and lampshade available to suit you.

They come with a 3mm wide angle LED which gives a nice even light and is nice and bright.

There is a choice of wooden base in an Oak Stain, a range of cotton wrapped bases and also pink and green bases with a glittery finish.   You can also choose your colour of lampshade.

You can find them either at my table at the online show or on my website.

Online Show - JS Miniatures

JS Miniatures Website

Oak Table Lamp

Green Table Lamp

Sky Blue & Violet Lamp

Cotton Base Colours

New Small Scale Lights Website Launched!

I have been working hard behind the scenes for a few weeks now to bring you a brand new website dedicated to LED lighting for dolls houses and the broader world of model makers.

The intention of the new site was to focus entirely on LED products which are specifically chosen to be perfect for a range of model making hobbies, from dolls house projects to model trains and boats.

I have expanded the available products so if you want to do your own soldering you can buy the LEDs and wire separately.

It's designed to be easier to navigate if all you want are pre-wired LEDs or other associated products without having the other dolls house products on the website.

I will be adding more products and content over the coming weeks so it's worth keeping an eye on the website or this blog for updates if it's something you're interested in.

Pre-wired Nano Chip LEDs

You can visit my new website here: Small Scale Lights

I hope you like the new site and bookmark it for future use.  Comments welcome :)

Jennifer,