Help creating miniatures!

Dooney · August 28, 2026, 7:27pm

I have seen some mind blowing work in the area of using just about anything to create miniatures. I’m hoping that I can get some ideas from some geniuses in here.
This is what I’m trying to make:

Scale isn’t important, just small enough to be an earring.
And then these I can find in dollhouse miniatures, just not quite the right color:

I think if I can find some clear plastic bubble packaging in an oval shape, I can heat up the back of a butter knife and smoosh one side in to make a nose indent, and then cut it to size and paint the cut edge black and attach small black ribbon to make the strap.

Any better ideas? Or any ideas of products (in the US) that come in that shape?

So the reason is: I’m a safety coordinator at my job and I’m trying to make it fun and memorable for my coworkers. We just had a safety audit and for my part, everything was pretty much perfect, but then they asked safety questions to my coworkers and just about all of them failed. Even though I’ve gone over and over this stuff! I can only show you where to find the SDS so many times!

Bunny1kenobi · August 28, 2026, 9:21pm

I might suggest shrink plastic for the goggles (some clear plastic take out packaging will shrink up the same way).

Buy the gloves and then use nail polish to paint them the color you’re looking for. Nail polish is one of my favorite craft supplies for miniatures- it will paint plastic and metal (not as good on paper, but still often doable) and comes in every color imaginable.

TheMistressT · August 29, 2026, 1:37am

I have just recently seen this pin that shows making rubber dish gloves out of balloons.

Tapestry · August 29, 2026, 3:17am

For the goggles, I’d suggest polymerclay for the black parts, wire for the goggle frame, and packaging plastic for the clear front part.

Dooney · August 29, 2026, 11:22pm

This is so smart! Thank youuuu!

CatwithSevenToes · August 30, 2026, 1:30am

Here’s something I tried. Dizziness is too much and am cooking, and I don’t have a lot of things to use, but with this short little experiment, it is doable, heh. I made a wire mold, then used some thin wire to help hold it against the metal scraper as I formed the plastic around it with a thin wood chissel.

Dooney · August 30, 2026, 2:04am

Ooooh that’s brilliant. So was the plastic under it, being pressed up or over it being pressed down? I’m not quite understanding the process.

Here’s my first attempt, I found these oval googly eyes

And cut them to shape and tried to keep a thin line of dimensional paint around the edge, which is not going well as you can see.

But I do like the shape and size. Although the cord I bought will be too thick to be the strap. I’m sure I have something in my supplies I can use.

Dooney · August 30, 2026, 2:16am

Here’s one with a bit of a thicker padding line, I think I like the thick line better.

CatwithSevenToes · August 30, 2026, 2:21am

Ooh, those look easier than my attempt, heh.

Yeah, the plastic was on my wood scraper (It’s tool steel, so the plastic wouldn’t stick to it). Then I placed it above a candle far enough that it wouldn’t burn too fast, and would give me time to form the plastic around it (If I had more materials to work with, I could have done better, but this is what I could find in a short period of time).

Can’t really think too clearly at the moment, , so hopefully that sounds better, .

Dooney · August 31, 2026, 9:42pm

My plans are progressing nicely! I just need more practice and better eyesight!

Dooney · September 2, 2026, 10:28pm

I discovered quite accidentally that a rubber band from those Rainbow Loom kits that were so popular several years ago fits exactly inside the wiggle eye casing and literally looks like the padding. Some super glue later and another band for the strap, and I think I’m happy with these results.

The gloves, on the other hand (get it?) need some fine tuning. At first I was giving the balloons a blast of spray adhesive inside and setting a heavy book on them, but after a day or so, the fingers start to come apart. I’m going to attempt double sided tape with tweezers. Another option I may try is a quick ironing between some parchment paper.

The photo has a couple of practice balloons, that’s why they don’t look like gloves (yet!). I bought a teeny tiny grommet set and it looks like it will work beautifully for attaching the gloves to the earrings.

To get the goggles to lay right, I moved them up to the higher jump ring and super glued the strap to itself in a loop to force the front of the goggles to face forward. Otherwise it did not look like goggles with how stiff that rubber band is.