Kitchen Part II

Good Afternoon My Friends!
 We have had an absolutely stunning "Spring" day here in Wisconsin.........and that is a reminder of why we chose to live here.  Spring and Summer are great!  That being said.....what am I doing in the basement working on miniatures when the sun is shining and Lake Michigan is 3/4 of a mile away?     Oh well on with the story.
 
 I am extremely flattered that 30 of you, my friends, decided to comment on my kitchen post of last week.  I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to write.  I have been trying to figure out how to add a comment "reply" to my comment form, like some of you have, and it is eluding me.  So.........don't ANY of you feel that I am ignoring you!  I read all and keep up with all the blogs I follow.  I look forward with great anticipation to reading what you have to say.  I wish I had enough time in the day to respond/comment to everyone but sadly I can only take an hour or so here and there.  So again ALL of you are important to me.

  Yesterday, and some of today, I installed the hardware on the cabinets of my kitchen.............I invented several new forms of language whilst gluing these parts onto the doors.  They were a huge challenge but I am happy with the end result.

I realize that the hardware is difficult to see here.......The drawer pulls are some that I have saved for many years by the late Ron Stetkowitz.  He was a wonderfully talented artist and an all around nice man, sadly missed in the miniatures world.  For the doors I used a tiny french "Escutcheon" and for the pull, a brad used for electrics.  

This one is a little closer up but still difficult to see even on a macro setting of the camera.....

A number of you commented on the "Stove" so I thought I would show and tell a little more about it.  This picture allows you to see the cooktop area and gives you a better sense of the size of the piece.

 This picture is of the front showing the "Red" Wolf style knobs and the stainless front.  Some of you know that I am obsessed with owning a "Wolf" stove in real life..........anyone wishing to make my dream come to life is encouraged to do so! :-))))))))))))  I have simple requirements.......30 inch, gas, non convection, red knobs....

These are some of the parts used to make the stove.  I use white "Styrene" parts from "Model Builders Supply" a wonderful Canadian resource for good stuff!  The burner grids were drawn by my partner Scott in AutoCAD and then cut by our laser cutter in Georgia.  I also used "Aluminum" tubing for the oven door handles and though difficult to see here (Yes, I used the macro setting) the knobs and ends for the handles are silver plated "bracelet clasps".

This is still a bit blurred but I think you will better be able to see these parts..........sorry, we are meeting soon with a photographer friend of ours for help...................and I'm hearing you all applaud in the background!

Hello Troy!    Troy form "Tulsa Tiny Stuff" asked for some information about LED lighting.  I am no expert on this but I will do my best to explain what I used.  You can see in this picture one of the tiny strip LED's from "Novalyte".  The are super thin and available in "Bright White" or "Warm White"  and in combinations of a  "Single, or Double, or Triple, or even a Quad.   I installed these under all the cabinets and in the space above the stove.  I try to make all my wiring user friendly and accessible if change needs to happen.  I used
"Velcro" or as some of you may better know "Hook and Loop" tape to secure them in the areas I chose so that should I need to remove one for whatever reason I simply pull the strip out and disconnect.
These light have a 50,000 hour life expectancy and are very "cool", not much heat at all.  I prefer the bright whites, but the warm white gives a softer more yellow light.  These are all 12 volt and work on the transformers just like all the other miniature lights.  One important thing to consider and keep in mind about lighting is the "Milamp" count.  Each light you use in miniature has a "Milamp" rating and the size of the transformer you use is directly related to the total number of milamps you attach to it.  Using the right size transformer will greatly increase the life of the bulbs in your settings.   For anyone interested, Cir-Kit sells a catalogue of all their products and all their bulbs are shown with their respective "Milamp" numbers.  The "Novalyte" LED's also come with their "Milamp" numbers as well. 
Hope this was helpful..........I know lighting in miniature is daunting to some but it really is simple once you understand it.      End of Lecture!

This will be the last "Kitchen" post.  I will show it again once all construction ends and furnishing starts. Thank you for getting this far and know that I appreciate your interest!

Respectfully submitted,
Your humble blogger friend Ray