2019 OLHP Souvenir

NAME OLHP 2019 Souvenir

What is OLHP? Online Houseparty

What is NAME? National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts

Wait, online? How can you have a houseparty on line? There are many activities that are done via webpages. But some of it is virtual or using your imagination. I love that part. I can interact with other attendees via chat room, but mostly via email.

This year I was both the Gold Star Volunteer chair and the Newsletter writer with lots of help from my virtual id: Mini Bunny.

Together we have sent weekly emails and now during the OLHP that started May 15th, 2019, daily since Saturday.

I took the whole week off this week so I could finish the newsletters and play with the souvenir and the TNP. What's a TNP? Thursday Night Project. Many of the activities we have are from NAME's houseparty concept like Auctions, Salesroom, Roundtables quick workshops, and more including this TNP.

The souvenir size I choose is 1:48 scale, as it is my preferred scale. But the 1:12 scale version is available for me to purchase. I'm tempted. Being a souvenir that has to be mailed, the NAME Board allow us to send kits instead of finished items. Although we get some of those too.

The first steps are to assemble the suitcase top and bottom and then add tissue paper to make faux leather. So in the above pic I can see two mistakes. The first one being I glued the bottom together with the label for the piece on the outside. (see the right).
The second issue is the tissue is too wrinkled and raised.
I've done this technique before when I was doing my Raggedy Trunk. I got stuck on it because I didn't like what I did. Finally I sanded it all off and just went with paint that time around. But for this one I was determined to use the tissue.
Don't use too much glue. You want wrinkles but not raised ones.
I actually sanded off the layer of tissue for the one on the right (bottom) and then later the ridges on the one on the left. (Perfectionist issues.)

 While waiting for the glue to dry I skipped ahead and started assembling the cabinet. I love this gluing jig that I got from the 'Smaller Than Life'. No issues with the cabinet. Well, I did have to sand extra where the tabs stuck out the slots.

So here is the final look. I like the less wrinkles the best.

My next trouble was with the inserts. I came to the conclusion they were too big with the fabric. But really they were just right, tight but just right. They are designed to fit exactly, it just goes in tight.

Here is where I decided to trim the inserts. Don't do that. It is not needed.
It worked out fine as I was able to hide it under the side walls insert.
Also I glued the hinge to the wrong side. But I was able to remove it.

After all that, I didn't take more photos. Everything went together just fine. Just me and my perfectionist nature getting in my way.
On the door, I glued the image to the back of the door and frame per instructions. (Really smashingly wonderful laser cut design.) I used triple thick for the glass. I suggest doing this on a piece of wax paper instead and then gluing. Plain glue might work. I have two other products I could have tried but didn't. It looks fine in these pics but I know there are lots more bubbles.

For the small suitcases, I did use thin strips of paper. But for the big suitcase room, I used some brown ribbon I had in my stash rather than paint the ribbon provided.

That's SarahB on the left and MiniB. They shared on Facebook how much they liked it.

I printed the logo and added to the bottom to cover my mistake.
The labels on the top (right side) were from a printie sheet provided in the Hospitality room.

The inside - I couldn't find the beret until the very last. I finally thought to look at this fuzzy stuff that the strap/ribbon was around. There was this 3D printed beret. I used everything in the kit except the plates.

Inspired by the gold/brass like material I decided to keep this faux credit card because in the bad lighting and no readers/magnifiers, I thought it was gold on the back too. But no - just plain old chipboard. LOL