Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Mermaid Nautical Christmas Tree 1/12 scale

I haven't had a lot of time due to personal issues but I did finally finish this nautical mermaid tree I made:





I wish I had more time to talk about it, but I don't right now :(  The details are pretty much in the photos I guess.  
Available here in my store:

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Sewing Witch Halloween Christmas Tree and Fairy Fireplace 1/12 scale

Hey everyone, I have a couple new miniatures I haven't posted yet so I wanted to share them with you.  I have a new theme tree done and only one more planned for the rest of this year.  This one that's done is a sewing witch tree similar to one my MIL Sherry made years ago.  I never made one and I had one mini sewing machine left so I figured I'd make one too.  Here it is:



Description:
Even witches need a holiday that doesn't involve tricks or treats! This tree belongs to a crafty little witch, who knows how to turn a stitch :) She likes her trees black, her hats pointing and droopy and tricked out fancy, her potions nefarious, and her sewing is divine! What a woman!
This tree reflects her personal style. Topped with a jaunty leather witch hat with a tiny owl clutching onto the side while a snowy owl perches below on the tree, the rest of the tree is covered in tiny brooms, potions, candles dripping wax, all sorts of witchy goodness. Underneath the tree sits an antique singer-style sewing machine working away with a pile of tiny sewing patterns for various witch outfits sitting around it. Sewing baskets, a witch boot pin cushion with needles, a bubbling cauldron with oozing green potion, a cute little broom decorate the base of the tree on a witchy tree skirt. This tree is completely tricked out and hand-crafted from top to bottom. Amazing!

This tree measures roughly 7 inches tall, close to 5 inches wide at the base give or take a little because of the stuff sticking off the sides.
Available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/207151429/dollhouse-miniature-sewing-witch?ref=shop_home_active_1

And this is a fairy fireplace I did beforehand:

Available here:

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Nightmare Before Christmas Tree is done!

All done, finally yay!!!  Wow wow wow is all I can say about how difficult and time consuming this tree was for me.  It took weeks of work, and man I will NEVER make it again!  By the time I finished, I had to breathe a sigh of relief because I was finally free lol!  This little booger was a hard one for me.  I had a heck of a time making Jack, he felt like punishment to me in the end :)

So here it is, all done:



I took these in different light so the colors are different from the two different places I shot it.  One was inside and one was outside.

This item is available for sale here:

Have a great evening everyone!  :)



Monday, September 15, 2014

A New Dollhouse Miniature Halloween Witch or Wizard Bed, and an update on my Nightmare Before Christmas Tree

I thought I'd share my new witch or wizard bed with you all, as well as let you know what's going on with the tree I was working on.

New bed:



And my tree hit a little bit of a roadblock because of finding fabric for Jack's suit locally.  Apparently our only store in the area that carried a wide assortment of fabrics was shut down due to relocation and the new store was not open yet.  Whaaa.  I had no idea since I hadn't been there for awhile, so that left me searching for another source for tiny pinstripe suit material.  I think I finally have one that works as of yesterday, so I'll get to work suiting that little skelly man :)  Everything else is done.  I'll post a couple photos of what I have done and the tree will be all done once I get Jack dressed.


 That would be the backside of the tree.

One step away from completion.  Jack is sculpted, just not dressed.

Be back later with my final update on this tree.

Thanks so much for your kind comments everyone, sorry I didn't answer back.  It's been mad around here and we just tore down our old upper cabinets the past few days.  BIG mess.

I assure you I read the comments and appreciate them all :)  Hugs-Tara, 19th Day Miniatures  



Friday, September 5, 2014

New Dollhouse Miniature Halloween Project

Hello fellow mini buddies :)  Fall is fast approaching and I thought I'd share my one and only (I think) major mini project I'm working on this season.  I was watching a documentary on Netflix called Maidentrip about a young dutch girl who sailed around the world on her own.  During the show I noticed that she wore a beanie hat with Jack Skellington's face from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas.  It reminded me of my MIL Sherry's tree she made in that theme and I realized I never made one of my own in that theme.  Nightmare Before Christmas was such a well loved movie, and is still brilliant to this day.  It was amazing to me the impact it had all over the world and that even today people still love it and wear the apparel.

It made me want to do a tree myself.  So I've been working on it little by little because of the amount of clay work required for this theme.  I got a little carried away making characters and things I saw when I rewatched the movie.  I still have a ways to go before it's done.  Zero the ghost dog needs another coat of glow in the dark paint (he looks a little streaky right now but glows so ghostly and spooky in the dark!) Here's what I have so far:


The little swirly knoll thing will have Jack Skellington standing up on it handing a candy cane to Zero his dog.  Behind him I plan on having a moon with Oogie Boogie's shadow on it, as shown here:

Pretty much the majority of everything on the tree is hand-sculpted or painted by hand or both :)  I made several characters from the movie worked into candy displays.  Even the little zombie duck with bullet holes is on there which is a toy gifted by Jack to a child on Christmas when he impersonated "Sandy Claus".  Hehehe :)  Even the funky headstone is the one Sally hid behind in the graveyard as Jack sang about feeling lost and bored with his life.  There is also a platter of fancy assorted creepy foods like an eyeball cocktail with a candy cane stir stick, eyeball toast hors d'oeuvres, and moldy cheese on the tree.  Watched over by the cutest little bowed Christmas mouse with a candy cane.  He's so tiny it's hard to see him on the photo but he's adorable.  I picked him up on ebay.

I'll post an update when I have this tree done.

Happy collecting everyone :)    




  

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Honeydukes Candy Trolley with House Elf finished :)

I'm all done and I managed to turn out a decent enough house elf to push the candy trolley, yay!

I'm not great at body sculpting but I did ok on the  face I think.  This is meant to be a random house elf, not Dobby exactly but loosely based on him.  This is a Honeydukes shop hand at work selling candy to the children.

Without further explanation, here it is:


He's not quite as grungy as most house elves, because hey he's a candy server.  Who wants to buy candy from a dirty little elf???  Exactly :)  Ewwww.  Slightly smudged, but not much.  And he has a tiny Honedukes badge on his chest.

This cart was already spoken for but I can always make more-although I'm never going to make exactly the same thing twice out of respect for the original buyer.  There will be small differences to keep them unique.

Friday, July 25, 2014

New Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Honeydukes Candy Cart Trolley 1/12 scale

Hello, happy Friday everyone!  I've been working when I can on another candy trolley and I'm getting closer to being done so I thought I'd show you what I have so far.  My photos are pretty bad because we have a storm rolling in and I had to shoot them quick before the rain came on.  The wind was blowing pretty bad so they didn't turn out very well, I was struggling to keep the miniature from blowing over, yikes.  So these two horrible shots are all I could get to turn out:




Here's a shot of the Cornish pixie from the movie:



The Cornish pixie still needs wings, but I think considering how small he is (not an inch tall) that I managed to work a lot of detail into his face.  His face is about the size of the head of a pencil eraser, so you can imagine how hard that is to make look like the movie original.  It took me forever to make that little guy! And I still need to make wings.  Otherwise I have cupcakes, acid pops, the pixie is sitting on a bottle of butterbeer (labeled with the real butterbeer label), a frothing glass of butterbeer with a nice foamy head on it, a peppermint toad painted chocolate brown, red, white and mint green.  A large display of red licorice candy ropes, a sectioned cauldron of foamy colored potions with candy sticks and ice cream cones rising out of the potions, and in the back you can see two large sugary purple and green cotton candy cones.  The pixie appears to be reaching for a bite of the green one while he sits atop the butterbeer bottle.

Up next, I attempt to make a house elf which should be more easy I should think because he's as tall as the candy trolley.  It should be so much easier to get detail on a face and body that's larger.  I thought the pixie would be easier, ha!  Yeah right.  Too small to be easy :)

Anyway, this looks a lot better in person because I had no time to shoot a good photo because of the weather.  So many of the details are not showing up in the bad photos.  Ah well, maybe next time.  Happy collecting everyone!  And have a great weekend as well. 





Friday, July 18, 2014

Sold-Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Candy Cart Trolley Update

Hello, happy Friday everyone :)

My trolley is finished, a second one started.  I believe they both may be sold all ready, this one for sure.

Here's what I ended up with:



So as you can see I did manage to sculpt an acceptable owl, although I'm always hard on myself that I couldn't do it as perfectly as the real animal photo I work off of.  It's very difficult with something so tiny to work in the detail.  My thumb is larger than this owl, so you can imagine how hard it is to get the look right.  

My next plan of action for the next cart is to try to the best of my ability to make a house elf pushing the cart (if I can turn out one decent enough to use that is)  and I'm hoping to add in some mischievous Cornish pixies to stir the pot, so to speak.  If I can sculpt them that small and manage to turn them out ok then they should be causing all sorts of havoc on the candy cart :)  If I can manage the sculpting, then this cart should really be something special.  Stay tuned for more photos of upcoming work and have a happy weekend everyone!   

Monday, July 14, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Candy Cart Trolley Update

Work has been interrupted here and there by summer activities (the kids are out of school of course) and things take me longer this time of year because of it.  So I've not gotten as far as I was hoping but I'm getting close enough I guess :)  I plan on adding an owl on the top of the cauldron stack, a couple more little things to the top of the cart, and a climbing chocolate frog to the front hanging flap of the cart and then I should be done.  I'm working on an owl right now and I hope it turns out good enough to use but only time will tell.  If it's not up to my standards its not going on.  So we'll see.  So far it looks good though so I have high hopes of being able to use it.  Always, I'll go ahead and show you how it looks so far:



You can't really see them but the Fizzing Whizbees are little chocolate bumblebees, I had nothing to go on but the commercial Honeydukes shop version of this sweet because they were never shown in the movie so that's what I made.  Anywho, I'm hoping the next update will be the finished cart with an owl on it.  I hope :)  Stay tuned!  Hugs-Tara, 19th Day Miniatures 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Potions Ingredients Cabinet with Sculpted Owl

Hey everyone, I just got done with another potion type cabinet that I wanted to show you, also to update you on a couple new projects I have started in the Honeydukes theme.

Here is my new potion ingredients cabinet:


located here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/195863366/layaway-available-dollhouse-miniature?ref=shop_home_active_1

And here is one of my upcoming candy carts at the beginning stage of decorating:


I plan to pull out all the stops on these carts (I have two of them, only one is painted right now), to make them fuller and better than previously done before.  More magical as well :)  Keep in mind my version of Honeydukes will always be faithful to the aged and timeless movie version of Honeydukes, not the commercial muggle shop in Orlando Florida.  That shop is lovely, but it is just a regular human shop.  I will be staying true to the movie version because to me it's wackier, more fun, and more magical than the pristine human shop.  The movie version seems as though it has stood for ages, and has had little witch and wizard hands all over it for generations :)  

Please stay posted for further updates because I will be blogging them and taking suggestions as I go along and I'd like you to see what I'm doing as I make them.  Alrighty then, happy mini collecting!  And have a lovely summer everyone.




Friday, June 27, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Honeydukes Sweet Shop Candy Display

Hey everyone, I finally finished my Honeydukes Candy display.  Whew, so much going on around here that it's hard to find mini time.  So I won't beat around the bush, here it is:


This is a candy display similar to the one seen in the Harry Potter movies and in Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park.  Now my version of Honeydukes miniatures are based more off the version seen in the movie instead of the pristine perfect universal studios version which is a lovely shop, but it's a regular commercial human shop and I feel it lacks the antique charm and weathered finishes of the movie version that looks as though it has been serving magical children for generations. I like the more aged magical version seen in the movie (for a video clip, watch here):
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/File:Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban_-_Honeydukes
And so I've aged the finish to look as though children have been around it for generations. Nothing in the movie was perfect or new, in any shop or in Hogwarts either. Anyway, the cabinet is a skeleton candy display, with an additional jelly rainbow candy display for added color. The skelly pops are in their own tiered display box. Inside the cabinet are a variety of random candies and a Honeydukes price list on the door. The miniature stands just under 6 inches tall, and just under 4 inches wide because of parts sticking off the sides. 

Available in my etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/194522798/dollhouse-miniature-harry-potter?ref=shop_home_active_1



Tuesday, June 3, 2014

News and upcoming miniature projects :)

Hey everyone!  How's your summer going so far?  Good I hope?

Well we're in a whirlwind of activity at the ole Hays House, still in the middle of house-wide renovations as well as decluttering and cleaning out the house of all unnecessary junk.  Don't you just hate that?  You look around and figure out that the place is a cluttery mess and you have to do a "house purge" to get everything cleaned out and reorganized.  In my case, I had 15 years of stored crap in my basement that has to go before I lose my marbles.  My workroom has been moved downstairs due to lack of space anywhere else (which is why I wasn't working on minis for so long), and as it is I'm starting to feel like the thing under the stairs in the deep recesses of the house.  Yikes.  Must. Get. Junk. Out. Now.

So that's what we're doing.  And laying kitchen tiles as the same.  And I'm trying to work on minis as well now.

I was contacted by the new editor of American Miniaturist Magazine and invited to submit work for the upcoming Halloween edition.  Right about that time, I got the blue screen of death on my computer and lost all my previous work photos until I get someone to fix it.  Ugh.  Do you ever get the feeling after a rash of bad luck that you're under some sort of curse?  I'm starting to think I've got a curse on my head :)

So anyway, I'll be making some new really good (I hope) minis for that and shooting some new photos since my oldies are currently under blue screen lock down.  I hope something ends up being good enough for publication-that would be so much fun!

I'm currently working on a low side cabinet in the Honeydukes theme which I plan on pulling out all the stops on.  It should be pretty exciting.  I've been getting some requests for more of that theme so I must do a few pieces before I get started on my spooky Halloween stuff.  Speaking of that, I just redid Sherry's (my MIL) Marie Antoinette doll, table and chairs set she made previously.  I really felt it needed to go in a different and more exciting direction and that her hand-sculpted doll would be much more fun as a Halloween type miniature instead.  So she has been re-imagined into the ghost of the Countess Bathory, the infamous blood countess from Hungary.  For the horrific story of what she did, view her wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory        

Oh my goodness, what a crazy woman!  So anyway, I thought it would be neat to make a miniature of her and her atrocious interests for Halloween.  Check out the bloody axe on the table top:

 To make a long story short, she was rumored to have bathed in the blood of her beautiful young victims (possibly numbering in the hundreds if the witnesses were credible) in an effort to stay young herself, as well as drinking the blood. In essence, she was a complete psychopath! Sherry did a wonderful job making her beautiful in sculpt, hair and dress while I took the pleasuring in painting her skin/eyes to look white and sparkly (ghostly) with the blackness of her soul running down her face. She is meant to look tattered, ghostly, haunting, and spooky. In her hand, a wine glass of blood from one of her victims. I decorated her table to reflect her terrible hobbies: bloody candelabra with bleeding candles, bottles and tottles of unknown nefarious purposes, a handcrafted bloody axe, Transylvanian Gazette newspaper, fortune telling orb, a bottle of vampiric blood, a book on vampire forensics, a death warrant scroll, a terrible place setting with a severed skeleton hand holding a red rose, silverware-all covered in ghostly white spiderwebs with one little spider perched on top of a red rose flower arrangement. Tatty black tablecloth covers the table top as well. 
Fit for the finest haunted house or room box in your home :)
Available here at this clickable link below:
Please stay tuned for soon to be new Harry Potter items that I'm currently working on.

Have a good summer and have some adventures everyone!  Hugs-Tara


Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Fairy Fireplace and Witch or Wizard Cauldron

Hey all, how are you this fine day?  I hope you're doing wonderful :)

I'm back a couple new minis (the new shop downstairs is working out well and I feel I'll really be able to work again, time permitting with the reno on the house).  I have a big kitchen floor project coming up (new slate tile) so that might put me out of commission for a little while.  I saw this gorgeous tile floor on the Houzz website and just fell in love:
http://www.houzz.com/photos/7495891/Millsbrae-Kitchen-Remodel-farmhouse-kitchen-cincinnati

For anyone who might want to know where to buy it's located here at home depot (free shipping to a local store):
http://www.homedepot.com/p/MS-International-Montauk-Black-12-in-x-24-in-Gauged-Slate-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-10-sq-ft-case-SHDMONBLK1224G/202919773?N=5yc1vZash2

which shows the tile unsealed (it must be sealed with natural stone sealer to get the look in the Houzz photo).

Ok well anyway, back to the minis again :)

Here's the first, a romantic little fairy fireplace fit for the queen of fairies:


located for sale here:

and this is my witch or wizard cauldron/potion bottle set:

This is the cauldron of nefarious intentions for any witch or wizard of ill repute :) Clearly, something wicked this way comes! This is a larger floor model of cauldron, with bubbling green potion inside. A boney hand reaches up from the depths of the cauldron for help or harm-who knows? A blood like substances swirls around the extended hand, melted flesh and blood perhaps? Drippy candles on the sides of the cauldron, a filigree backer with ledge for holding the leather potion book with page open to "Wing of bat elixir". A detailed beaded page holder book mark holds open the correct page, it looks very wizardy with a full moon hanging off the end. 

You get with this a cool little evil-looking potion bottle as well, with a skull and cross bones on it warning the user that this potion means business! It's solid and well made. A cute little tag hangs from the side. 

Located here for sale:

Have a wonderful week everyone!  Be blessed :)




Thursday, April 17, 2014

Dollhouse Miniature Nautical Mermaid Cove Grand Buffet 1/12 scale

Hey everyone, long time no see right?  I've been very busy working on my house and haven't had much time for minis for quite awhile.  Sad :(  Part of my problem is I took my work room and made it into a much needed bathroom upstairs.  Nothing worse than trudging down the stairs in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  Too much information right???  Well it did really bum us out to have to do that.  So now I'm lacking a proper work space.  It's much harder to make minis when you feel displaced and have no decent area to work in.  No matter, I'm soon to be fixing up the basement in order to have a work space of my own again.  Hopefully before you know it I'll be churning out minis left and right all over again.  I really look forward to having a work space.  It's be wonderful to be able to be creative again.  Anyway, I did manage to get a moment to myself to make a cute little mermaid buffet cabinet and I have to say that was quite a job.  I sculpted some ea creatures and they weren't easy to do for me.  I do think they turned out quite well though, despite that.  I'm sad they didn't photograph as well as they look in person though.  I feel they are really detailed in person, but it doesn't show up well in the photos.  Well here goes nothing:


  
I've managed to get glitter all over it, which shows up as specks on the cabinet finish.  It's quite pretty in person and yet looks like dust in the pictures, ugh.  And my octopus seems to have a glue stingy behind his leg, which I have pulled off now.  Oops, my bad :)

What's on this: cake pop display in a vase, filigree mermaid picture, sculpted octopus and lobster, mermaid mirror, clam tower with pearls, pastel french macaroons, weathered teapot and platter, bowed flower, seashells and water type plants.  Inside is a few little things like a pot of shrimp in sauce and a basket of seashells.  More photos can be seen here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/186529047/dollhouse-miniature-nautical-mermaid'

I'll soon be back with more little projects.  I've really been missing my mini-making and I want to do a little more of it when I can.

Hey everyone, have a lovely spring and may all of your dreams come true this year :)  Hugs-Tara