For June, we are asking you to send in a picture of a miniature using new mediums. For full instructions, look here.
It may take a few days for your pictures to be posted. After the end of the monthly challenge, you will receive a small thank you gift for participating.
Here are the beautiful submissions:
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From Keran Weber:
This month the medium I learned was painting dead floral seed pods and turning them into beautiful floral arrangements. I have been learning how to use a completely new medium...dried floral seed pods...to create floral arrangements. I collect the pods formed after flowers have died and gone to seed, then paint them and create arrangements. The pods come from my flower garden as well as from Oregon wild flowers found along my favorite hiking trails. Various dried grasses provide foliage. I'm new to this art having started only 2 or 3 months ago.
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From Terry Unnold:
Here are two examples of my experiences with new mediums.
The first is a copy of Degas’ Little Ballerina sculpted in a class with Ela Kiefhaber at Castine a few years ago. This class was my first and only experience in sculpting and firing bronze clay because I don’t have access to the equipment to fire anything myself. I’m also terrified of burning myself. This little dancer has become one of my all time favorite miniatures.
I thought I should also share one of my many unsuccessful attempts with a new medium. After some wonderful classes putting fur on mini animals with the very talented Alice Zinn, I created these furry cats as one of our club projects this year. They might look good in dark shadows or hiding in animal shelter cages!
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From Jennifer Brodeur:
Working in half scale is requiring me to rethink my use of materials. Here is an example of paper bed frames cut out on a Cricut Joy, then covered in hot glue to make them look like wood branches for my Three Bears cabin. Fortunately, the rustic nature of the project blends nicely with my minimal hot glue skills! Baby Bear's bed painting in progress.
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From Cindy Bottasso:
I’ve been learning about how to make wood bend with laser cuts to make dollhouse hot tubs, pots, furniture and someday houses with curves.
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From Elizabeth Lubera:
For the June 2025 Challenge I am submitting a miniature creation that – in medium and technique – truly took me outside my comfort zone.
The miniature in question (first photo) is a miniature quilt with a log cabin motif that I now display on a beautiful brass bed (a magnificent Jason Getzan design) in one of the bedrooms of my favorite miniature house.
The quilt was created during a class I took in the early 1990s at Castine with IGMA Fellow Kate Adams, who guided me through the very difficult process of quilt piecing. Quilt piecing involves many steps, including: cutting, pinning and sewing together very small quilt blocks (pieces of fabric, at times, of various sizes and shapes) that are then sewed together to create a larger and more complex design. What made the process even more challenging was the degree of accuracy and precision required to properly align the various components – and the older sewing machine that didn’t always cooperate. I recall that Kate Adams was so gracious, even staying after class to help me tackle this challenging new medium and to create a quilt that I can be truly proud of.
I am happy to own (second photo) one of Kate Adams’ own quilt creations with the pattern “New Jersey Baby”), and made using authentic antique fabrics and techniques, celebrating the achievements of women quilters of the past, present and future.
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From Suzie Aguilar:
I hate to paint! Any type of painting. I avoid it at all costs. But I love Beth Freeman-Kane’s work. When I had the opportunity to take a class by her, I was thrilled. Then I realized ‘This is four full days of painting miniatures! What was I thinking!’ But then realized if anyone could teach me to paint, it would be Beth. And she did. She was so patient and a marvelous instructor. The photo is of the project I completed with her, taken at the KSB Museum in Maysville, through IGMA. I’m signed up for another class at the Guild School too!
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From Kathy Koons:
When my local club, Miniature World of Central Florida, made this Southwestern exterior/interior in 1996, I learned several new techniques. But the one that has stuck with me and has been the most useful was using Kleenex to create stucco. It is also incredibly fun- paint a small area, put torn Kleenex over it, and then another swipe of the paintbrush over the Kleenex.
