Saturday, February 26, 2011

Some work on the Alice in Wonderland Red Queen Cabinet


I'm working when I can on my Red Queen cabinet.  I just made the tiniest hand-made red bird I've ever seen :)  She's cute.  It's a little difficult to get a lot of detail on something that small but I tried.

Here's the nearly completed birdcage, just waiting to get her glued in place:

Can you see the pretty bowl of cherries in there for her to eat?

Here's a really sucky picture of the cage all put together except the red heart finials I have a make for the tips of the cage:
I hate trying to take pictures at night!  They never turn out good.  Just look at the pictures above this one of the cage, they look so much better.  Oh well.  You get the idea anyway.

Next I decided to make a very fancy hat stand for the red queen's hat I'm about to make:
You can't tell by the icky picture but it has fancy bling around the middle and top of the hat post.  The top and mid-section are actually pearl.  It's so pretty in person but of course there's no telling that on here :(

I'm starting the red queen hat based on this picture which is truly terrible because I tried to take it off the paused tv screen.  I looked and looked for a video or picture of this scene online to no avail.  So here's my craptacular picture of the tv screen on which I'm basing my version of the hat on Red Queen's head:

Here's the fabrics I'm using, the base of the hat being a supple black suede leather.

It will be similar to the picture, but my own version of it based on the materials I have available.  I'll post updates as soon as I have it done.

As for the background of my mythical creature scene, my husband liked the castle so well that he convinced me to get that one.  I guess I'll figure it out when it gets here.  I'm sure I can make it work :)



Saturday, February 19, 2011

Some personal projects we're doing for ourselves ;)

I showed you my darling little fairy Hubbs got me for Valentine's Day and told you guys about the nature/mythical fantasy scene I'm putting in a prominent place in my home.  I have two other things picked out that will go in it some time by two fantastic artists.  One being my fairy maker here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/redwyvernstudio
Who sculpted this:
I'm also going to get at some point this from her as well:

which is a hand-sculpted customizable unicorn that you can change poses, colors, hair styles, everything to what you would like.  More examples:

Love the dappled color on this one!

I have to give props to a girl that can sculpt this well!  Check out her store by clicking the link above.  Custom work is welcome there. 
Next I'll tell you about Sherry's upcoming project.  I planned to make her and her husband a haunted dining hall scene roombox.  Roomboxes can be purchased here:  http://www.dollhouseminiatures.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=99&products_id=2434
which are so nice because they are a precut kit that you assemble yourself (very easy, wood glue and a few tiny nails) and has a plexiglass front to keep dust out and keep your minis safe. 

I bought a variety of beautiful artisan foods for the table, roast duck, a garnished ham, wine bottles and glasses, a tray of shrimp and cocktail sauce, oysters on the half-shell on ice, a fancy chocolate cake.  All sorts of things.  I bought some Bespaq furniture as well as this gorgeous and slightly haunted-looking fireplace and artwork set:

Beautiful and still somehow creepy :)

Next I ordered a custom ball jointed doll from talented seller a friend told me about whose dolls are haunting in their own right.  Beautiful and slightly strange, they really are something special.  Here is the custom ghost doll I ordered and as you can see she needs some clothes :o




She will have clothes after we get her some.  But you can see the quality of the work.  The artist's name is Sarah Moninger and you can order from her here at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sarangelo
Her stuff sells as soon as she lists it so it always shows nothing in her store.  Like I said, I had to custom order this doll.  But you can view more of her work on her sold items list:
to get an idea of what all she makes. 

Anywho, I'll post updates as we work on this stuff.  None of it will be for sale but you can order your own items through the sellers I posted above should you like anything enough to do so :) 

Sherry is also working on a really funny mini that will be for sale.  She bought a harpsichord on ebay and set out to decorate it.  Apparently she's made cousin It from the Addams family sitting on the bench and Thing (the disjointed hand creature) will be on the keys.  Isn't that funny?  I can't wait to see it!

Visist Sherry's blog here to see what she's been working on!





 

  

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A gift for a friend, and new items

I finished up my gift for a mini-collecting friend of mine as a housewarming gift for her.  She collects a variety of movie-themed items and this one is for her Coraline collection (here's a photo of what it was based on):


If you see the movie this scene has a black box of these beetles and I couldn't find a picture of it other than to pause the movie while I worked.  Here's what I came up with and it's as close as I could get it.

I've just listed some new creations of Sherry's in the store, by the way.  Really awesome stuff :)

Monday, February 14, 2011

New cabinet hell, and my Valentine's present from Hubby :)

Ok so you guys all know I'm taking a break from minis in order to do some renovations.  I have just one word for you...Ick.  Hubbs has decided to handle all of the work ourselves and let me tell you it's so not fun. 

Cafe brown composite granite sink


This is mainly to show Sherry what we picked out :)  You guys probably don't care all that much :)  Hi Mom!  What do you think?


Oh and here's what my hubby got me for Valentine's day.  This is a fairy sculpture done by Kate Sjoberg of Red Wyvern Studio.  She does amazing horse/unicorn sculptures as well.
Here's my darling little fairy my honey got me:









She's 1/12 scale and so pretty!  I'm doing a nature/mythical creature scene on a shelf in my house that people walk by regularly.  After I get the scene set up with moss, rocks, stream, etc. I'm glassing it in.
 
You can check out Kate's work here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/redwyvernstudio

Monday, February 7, 2011

A temporary hiatus from mini making for me, but not Sherry

I'm taking a small break from mini making (other than another Coraline mini as a housewarming gift for a mini collecting friend of mine, Mrs. Gerbz who scored the lovely Red Queen dessert cart by calling first dibs :)  in order to do a little home renovation.  I'm ripping out my old kitchen-cupboards, walls, ceiling and all!  Eeeek!  Whatta mess!  I have an old two story farm house in a small farming town in Illinois and it's well over 100 years old.  Needless to say, its full of old character but needs some attention and updates.  We've begun the painfully awful process of tearing into it here and there.  This time it's the kitchen.  We're handling the work ourselves so I'm thinking I'll be a bit pooped out at the end of each day until it's over. 

That being said, Sherry is working on two fantastic items, both a bit gothic in nature and very exciting.  She's claiming one of them is her best work to date.  This is a bit of a mystery for you guys-I'm staying tight-lipped about this one.  Should you like to be the first to know when her items will be listed in the store and therefore have first crack at them-I would suggest you follow us on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/19thdayminis where I will post the new items right after I list them.  I am very excited about one of her items, I think this will truly be a one of a kind 1:12 scale miniature that has not been made by anyone ever.  The idea is fantastic and I'm very excited to see the finished project.  Both items would work well in a haunted house/witch house/vampire/zombie...or any gothic style setting.  In case you missed a previous cabinet of hers, here is a picture of her amazing witch cabinet that sold previously:
Just a little idea what she's already done and sold
so you can see how much work goes into her gothic pieces.
This one didn't last long before someone snapped it up.  I think it may have made it a whole week before it sold :)

Anyways, I'll be back with new and exciting projects as well as the Red Queen cabinet when I get somewhere on that. 

And as always, in my store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne
there is always layaway plans available for the asking-just contact me and we'll set something up.  So should you like what Sherry makes you can be the first to get it by letting me know you'd like it and I'll let you lay it away :) 
   

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

A Finished Miniature Dessert Cart, Red Queen Style

I'm not sure yet, but this item may be sold already.  I guess it depends on what the Lady thinks of it.  Not sure right now.  But I wanted to stick it up for you all to see anyhow :)  I'll let you know if she takes it or not. 
Full view of the cart

a close up of the foods, notice the red queen's favorite squimberry tarts on the top tier of the three-tiered plate stand?  One has a bite taken out of it...perhaps by that sticky-fingered frog?  Or has Iracebeth bitten into it herself?  Who knows.  An assortment of fruits, tarts and cheese are piled all over the plate stand.  Every dish and every utensil has been carefully hand-painted and designed in high red queen style by me.  The cake is completely hand-sculpted and decorated the same way. 

The frog has confessed under extreme pressure that he has stolen the squimberry tarts.  The queen shouts "Off with his head!"  He begs her not to kill him, saying "I have little ones to look after!"
Does this appeal to her sense of decency or honor?  NOPE.  She tells a fish, "Go to his house and collect the little ones.  I like tadpoles on toast all most as much as I like caviar." 
Since this is her dessert cart, of course I had to make her request come true :)  I painted a cooking pot to look like a nice hammered copper pot and added a polymer clay red heart finial handle.  Then I hand-sculpted the tiniest tadpoles you'll ever see and added them to my own special blend of "Green Jelly" which is a process I've developed of my own to make it truly look like wet jelly that is completely hard and dry :)  The effect is that of tiny tadpoles swimming in jelly.  Some hand-sculpted toast triangles with a little tadpole each along with the jelly over top complete the look.  
This pic is a little crooked but still ok.  I can't ever take a picture that truly shows how nice the things I make are.  The pictures really are a shadow of what each item really looks like in hand.  It's sad, and I wish it wasn't so but it is.
  Underneath is just an assortment of "extras" one might have on such a cart.  A stack of hand-painted plates, mugs, bowls, and an extra wrapped set of cutlery.  A red heart-printed place mat sits underneath some of it.  The bottom shelf remains open for whatever the customer wants to add in or nothing at all, as I prefer it.  I personally wouldn't want every surface covered in clutter-but that's just me.  Maybe she'll find something extra cool to put there :)

Well that's it for that one.  What do you all think?  Do you honestly like it?  Next I'm making the Red Queen cabinet that isn't spoken for yet :)  Should look pretty close in style to this, actually.  I think Iracebeth is all about patterns and the colors red, white, gold, and black.  Wouldn't you say so?