Holiday miniature show on HGTV starting November 27

[amyole]

I liked the winners' book-house. I did think it was really strange to make the food edible. What was the point? You'd have to keep baking new food all the time. I agree that the set designers' project was too ambitious to be completed, though I really liked their back story. The fireplace in the interior designers' house using the marble was too chunky looking for the scale and, while I liked that someone was using wallpaper, I could not appreciate their choices.

Like last week with the water feature challenge, amazingly enough there was an ideal spot in their houses for a fireplace challenge. Hmmm.

[Cathy C]

2 hours ago, KathieB said:

I wasn't impressed with the little boxed blurbs that popped up now and then -- more like mansplaining than explaining. 

I watch a lot of home improvement shows and they’ve never felt the need to explain wood stain.  But, this show had a pop up box definition. 

[Medieval]

Maybe it's needed for people who have no experience. I've learned a lot about home construction and tools and materials from Woking on my dollhouse. DH gave me carte blanche of his tool box. But what I hope is this show inspires others to go an buy a kit and hopefully keep the few makers left in business.

Once I saw the sorry book cover front, I thought the art teacher and miniaturized would win. I did like the fireplace and design the two guys did as well. But the book cover put the winners over the top imho.

[Qubanqtee]

just a supplemental note that ALL types of reality shows are filmed from before "start time" and continues throughout the entire day, even when someone is going to the restroom...lol, (that's the audio part) so all comments, off the cuff and private conversations are recorded.  The same happens with filming - there are generally three camera teams per "contestants" so three contestant teams means there are NINE production crew filming from different angles at all times - many times they will have you repeat off the cuff remarks or recite a certain string of words - all this is for the magic of TV lol......

[KathieB]

7 minutes ago, Qubanqtee said:

all this is for the magic of TV lol......

So TV Land is whatever they want to make it. But then isn't that true of the magic we weave with our miniatures as well? We, too, manipulate components to build drama, comedy, the supernatural, history, literature, etc. In the end, we use snips and snails and puppy dog tails, wood and cardboard, fabric, individual jelly containers, cake pillars, and more, plus a generous dose of smoke and mirrors to create a visual performance in 3D that satisfies us and hopefully entertains viewers.  

[KathieB]

1 hour ago, Medieval said:

But the book cover put the winners over the top imho.

And they were smart enough to make it ahead of time so it would be perfect.  

[Mid-life madness]

10 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Emily, I'm not sure that the art teacher wasn't using an air-dry clay, because it had whitened before she painted it with nail polish and stuck it in her little UV box to harden & set up.

I am going to file that gel polish tip....I can see using it on the plastic packages that pills and gum are pushed out of and making some cut casserole dishes etc... The finish looked really smooth on the vase.

[KathieB]

17 hours ago, Mid-life madness said:

I am going to file that gel polish tip....I can see using it on the plastic packages that pills and gum are pushed out of and making some cut casserole dishes etc... The finish looked really smooth on the vase.

I made a note of that, too. Black polish over a wire armature would make gorgeous wrought iron. Any color would mimic powder-coated metal. Plus clear would make painted pottery look like it has a high fire glaze. So many possibilities a cut above gloss paints.

Edited December 6, 2020 by KathieB

[DaisyV]

Saw the first two episodes, and enjoyed them.

But I’m really bad at predicting the winners.

The “book” looking dollhouse wound up being the prettiest, although I thought the the three-dollhouse concept was the most intriguing.

[Qubanqtee]

I use gel nail polish for plates and all sorts of items and dry them under a uv gel lamp....great colors and finish!

[chapchap73]

I have lots of nail polish tools that could be adopted seamlessly into minis. Just do an internet search for nail stamping and think of the possibilities

[fov]

I finally watched the end of the show. During the reveal I noticed the interior designers' house still had a price tag on it! I also thought it was funny that all the glue and paint bottles had masking tape over the brand names with "Glue" or "Paint" written on it. I understand why they did that, but just cover up the name if you have to, it's not like someone would have been confused about what was in that bottle if not for the word "Glue".

Here are a couple of posts on the D. Thomas Fine website that give more info and pics of the winning house:

https://www.dthomasfineminiatures.com/single-post/tv-showdown-showcases-talent-for-tiny

https://www.dthomasfineminiatures.com/single-post/a-tiny-dickens-christmas-the-story-behind-the-story

One of them mentions that the team spent 240 hours on the part they did before the competition. Really makes me wonder what qualifies as 50% of the project...

 

[KathieB]

Last night's show left me shaking my head. I felt so bad for the mother-daughter team. There was little about their house that reflected the theme. I liked their use of the corrugated cardboard for roof tiles, but the execution was off. The husband-wife team's farmhouse layout was a bit awkward, and I questioned their choice of a farm for the mid-century modern theme.  I gave the two winning friends a lecture on marking pieces or at least making a template for those windows. They had my vote from the get-go just because they tied their design to a known mid-century architect's style. The working stereo and the sleek furniture put them over the top. Did anyone note what they used for glass in those big windows -- plexiglas or glass -- or if there was just open space? I couldn't tell.

Next week's finale will be interesting. I've already chosen the winner.  

[FurMama]

When they were introducing the contestants and their previous works there was a white house done by the married couple that looked alot like a former HBS contest entry. Anyone else notice it? 

[fov]

On 12/12/2020 at 5:58 AM, FurMama said:

When they were introducing the contestants and their previous works there was a white house done by the married couple that looked alot like a former HBS contest entry. Anyone else notice it? 

I didn't notice it, but she's the one profiled in this article: https://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/news/going-big-time-with-her-miniature-skills/?fbclid=IwAR1E1TkP3J0HPYVbLEx1

EDIT: I just went to her Instagram and it says she was the HBS second place winner in 2018.

I finally watched the show tonight. Maybe the premise is just getting old, but I thought the challenge and the prize for the challenge were weak. For the other challenges, each team got to tackle it in a way that made use of their skills, but this one just came down to how good you are at making Fimo food, which is a very specialized skill. I also didn't think the prize was very useful. So they got to make a resin tree, big deal. They would have had some other Christmas tree if not the resin one. (That said, I was impressed by that resin that dried in 10 minutes!)

I really felt for the mother/daughter team this week, but their house was a mess. I didn't understand why it looked like an old Tudor cottage on the outside but was 70s inside, and as June Clinkscales pointed out, the scale was all over the place. It was kind of charming but I just wonder how they ended up on this show and not Kathie!

I wanted to see more of the furniture in the farmhouse. Did they also make all of their furniture by hand, including the bathroom furniture? It's not clear how much of this stuff *has* to be handmade. The mother/daughter team should have bought a bathroom set.

After Genevieve pointed out the high countertop in the Frank Lloyd Wright house I had to rewind and take a closer look at their kitchen. Maybe it was just because the ceilings were so high, but the kitchen looked tiny compared to everything else, especially the fridge. (What she was commenting on wasn't actually a countertop, it was more like a shelf at the height the upper cabinets would normally go, but it was still odd.) It's funny that the male judge said their scale was perfect because the kitchen really wasn't. Also it's impressive that the pots in the foyer were hand-thrown, but they could have used some paint or glaze, and the rug in the foyer was very bulky. That's the sort of thing the judges dinged people for in past weeks.

Maybe it's part of the premise of the show, but I don't understand why almost all of the contestants have opted to make big houses rather than roomboxes. Under those time constraints you'd be able to get a lot more detail into a roombox, and they would be better for amplifying the theme (especially this week). If the point was to get across the feeling of a retro Christmas, there's no reason to see every room in the house (like the farmhouse) unless *every* room has some sort of Christmas decoration in it. The first week, the couple with the big house got dinged for one of their rooms being sparsely decorated, but this week the upstairs rooms in the farmhouse didn't seem any "better" than that.

I know, I know, it's all manufactured drama! But these are the things I thought of as I was watching. I did learn something useful near the beginning but now I can't remember what it was!

 

On 12/12/2020 at 5:33 AM, KathieB said:

 The husband-wife team's farmhouse layout was a bit awkward, and I questioned their choice of a farm for the mid-century modern theme.

When I first saw their house I thought it looked very traditional/nostalgic, but the barn seemed out of place (especially since you wouldn't have a barn in the front yard!) It reminded me of the traditional suburban houses in a lot of Christmas movies like Home Alone or A Christmas Story. I think it could have used more of a story to help it make sense -- some kind of Christmas element in each room, cookies left for Santa, half-wrapped presents that the parents hadn't finished yet, etc.

 

On 12/12/2020 at 5:33 AM, KathieB said:

Did anyone note what they used for glass in those big windows -- plexiglas or glass -- or if there was just open space? I couldn't tell.

There was something that snapped into the grooves in the beams, I assumed plexiglass.

[Mid-life madness]

 

9 hours ago, fov said:

There was something that snapped into the grooves in the beams, I assumed plexiglass.

I thought it was plexiglass..

Talk about manufactured drama....those windows. If you knew those windows were the main wow factor on your house, wouldn't you be darn sure you could put them together? I am over the show.

The mother daughter team seamed like they were randomly picked off of the street and given a cast off house to decorate.

[Qubanqtee]

I thought the winning team didn’t get quite so much airtime and the whole stunt about time and windows was so predictable. I may be jaded about the whole thing but maybe more people will be interested in the love of all things small

[Medieval]

I played my medieval strategy game while it was on, and only looked at the eye candy. I will not disparage the mother daughter team because they are on my level of skill (hahaha), but I will say they worked more like a team and were more respectful of eachother than the other m-d team. I agree.  It's good to watch if anything to help draw more people to hobby/craft. But I could leave the drama behind. When I watch the finale, I might just put tv on mute and watch listening to my favorite music. Remember when that was a fad in the 70s?

[FurMama]

I liked the twist--additional prize-- at the end. My favorite team won too. 

[Qubanqtee]

I enjoyed that they all starred with the same structure ... I enjoyed their talent and enjoyed seeing them win.

[KathieB]

10 hours ago, FurMama said:

I liked the twist--additional prize-- at the end. My favorite team won too. 

Me, too. The real house was magical. I liked the winning team not only for their crafting skill and attention to detail but for their respect for one another's strengths. They mostly seemed to be on the same wave length, but managed a happy compromise when they differed a bit. 

[Qubanqtee]

I

2 hours ago, KathieB said:

Me, too. The real house was magical. I liked the winning team not only for their crafting skill and attention to detail but for their respect for one another's strengths. They mostly seemed to be on the same wave length, but managed a happy compromise when they differed a bit. 

i absolutely agree! 

[fov]

Were this week's houses made out of plastic? I wondered if they were 3D printed.

I thought it was interesting that they specifically said "you can take the roof off to work on the house but have to put it back on at the end" -- it made me wonder if they'd set people up to realize too late that the scenes would be too dark. (Otherwise why mention the roof at all?)

I thought the winning house and the other couple's house were equally good. I wasn't impressed by the magic house -- too much trying to be clever and not enough careful detail. (Also I still don't get the appeal of those edible cakes!) But I also thought they got very little screen time compared to the other two teams, so maybe there was more to it that we didn't see.

 

 

 

[KathieB]

42 minutes ago, fov said:

I wasn't impressed by the magic house -- too much trying to be clever and not enough careful detail.

I was disappointed in their 3-piece sofa. In one close-up you could see edges of the wrapped fabric sticking out. It was so clumsily done compared to the pre-finished furnishings in their first house that it was hard to fathom the slippage. And it seemed as though they turned over the engineering of the "giving tree" to one of their elves, who didn't have a clue. Going in, I thought they had the best chance, but they dropped the ball, big time.

I agree that the other couple's house was also very good, except for the lack of lights. Maybe winning the tree challenge put the winners over the top.

Edited December 20, 2020 by KathieB

[Mid-life madness]

7 hours ago, KathieB said:

I was disappointed in their 3-piece sofa.

That was the guy from D.Thomas Fine miniatures....I expected high quality from them due to their store etc....They really dropped the ball compared to their first win.

Overall, it was neat to see minis featured nationally. I hope they do another show.