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.

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. 

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!   

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 

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.

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

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:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/191440687/dollhouse-miniature-ghost-blood-countess?ref=shop_home_active_1

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

March Madness Sale :)

March is a month of birthdays for me.  So in honor of the loved people in my life I'm offering a....

Sale :)  Here's my store link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/19thDayMiniatures

15% off all store prices, just type in coupon code "marchmadness"

during checkout (excludes custom orders).

Had your eye on something in the store but thought you didn't quite like the price?  Here's a percent calculator that will show you how much you'll save with the 15% off.  Just type in the price of the item you like (not the shipping included), then type 15 in the percent box, it will calculate your savings and show you if you like the "new" price :)

Percent off calculator:
http://www.percentoffcalculator.com/index.php 

Happy March to you all my dears!

Oh and welcome to any new followers, we're glad to see you here!

Updated-Another Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Honeydukes Cabinet with a twist!

Updated pictures of the completed cabinet here and it's available for sale here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/93571934/dollhouse-miniature-harry-potter

Wires taped flat yet still assessible should you need them by gently lifting the tape up (and I've folded the bottom of the tape over so there is a place to grab that isn't stuck to the cabinet back).  This will sit nearly flat against your wall now.  And this will be hidden from view because it's on the back :)  And the bulbs can be changed out, which I think is important for the longevity of the miniature.  No matter how many years of use it gets it'll never be no good due to wiring or bulb issues. 

Here's a crappy night-time picture that I tried to shoot in the dark because I wanted to show the pumpkins lit up.  And it doesn't matter if the little bulbs warm the pumpkins slightly because everything is made of metal and clay, and they can take it :)  It is oven bake clay after all!

I've recently discovered the fun of working with dollhouse lighting and as such I decided I'd like to use it on a Honeydukes Cabinet.  A lot of people have Honeydukes shops but what most don't have is a lighting cabinet.  So that's what I've put together.  The inside is a regular candy jar cabinet, but on top...four pastel candy container jack-o-lantern pumpkins, inside they have a full dollhouse-size, changeable lightbulb (in case one burns out you can replace it) that is wired to a 9 volt battery which will be included.  I have to make a barrel container for the battery pack with some lollipops sticking out the top.  The backside will be open to allow the battery pack to slide in and out easily.  If you are in a foreign country and you want this (I have no idea if you all have the same batteries that we have in the US)  If you want I can add a few dollars onto the purchase price and include some extra batteries for you.  A 9 volt battery should last awhile if you don't leave it plugged in all the time.  I haven't taken off the extra wiring on the back of the piece should you want to wire this into your dollhouse wiring so that it can be lit electrically instead.  I'll just tape the wires down flat so that the cabinet can be placed against the wall without any trouble.  This way you always have the option of wiring them directly into your house should you get tired of the battery option.  The candy container battery cover I'll be making at the side won't look like anything other than a barrel of lollipops so that will never be a problem :)  I have to pack up the witch bath set and a cabinet today to ship that out but I'm hoping I'll have time to finish and list this either late tonight or early tomorrow.  So if you like it, be watching!  It might not last long in the store, especially with the layaway option that we have at 19th Day Minis :)

I'm still having really bad trouble getting good pictures here due to winter time, so keep in mind this is about 100 times better than these icky pictures show!

As you can see the wires are just hanging there right now.  I'll have to secure them down after I get this battery pack cover made.  Until then I don't know where's a good spot to tape them down.  They look kind of awful right now but I'll fix them as best as I can before it's all over.  Like I said I don't want them clipped off because they may be needed by someone to wire them into a house or roombox.  You can see by the glare around the lights the pumpkins are currently lit up in the photos :)

Oh and welcome to any new members that have recently joined!

         

What I've been making since I last blogged

I have had a bunch of custom orders to get through and I've had very little time to work on anything, being so close to Christmas.  That plus a new puppy (who didn't work out and had to go back to the pound because she kept attacking my other dog and my cat.  Apparently she hates other animals :(  and finishing up work on my wood floor redo.  Plus December brings me:  My little cousin's birthday, my own birthday on the 15th on which I turned 34, my daughter's birthday party was on the 17th and she went swimming and stayed at a hotel with us and her little girl friends, her actual birthday falls on the 19th (hence the shop name 19th Day Miniatures, to which is a homage to my husband, daughter and son all being born on the 19th day of their respective months and so is my lucky number) and we had the regular family party that day, today is my wedding anniversary (14 years now, wow!), my aunt's birthday is tomorrow and then Christmas is the 25th of course.  Needless to say December is an extremely busy month for us!  So no time to work, no time to blog :(  Here's what I've managed to get done amid all the disruptions:

vampire themed cabinet (sold)

Missing from these photos was a hand-sculpted and mohaired disney-style squirrel I made that perched on the other bare side of the top.  I wish I had gotten pictures but I finished at night and they wouldn't turn out in the photocube.  So I'm sad to say we'll never see it here on the blog.  I was just too wiped out tired to deal with shooting it again before it shipped out :(  This was a custom order and my client was waiting for me to get it done.

(sold) smaller honeydukes themed tree for confined spaces or even the inside of a candy shop

(sold) A small set of Honeydukes candy bottles with a polymer clay chocolate frog

This was actually a gift for a friend of mine so it's gone too-Honeydukes themed cabinet

See this is what happens when I try to take pictures at night in my photocube :(  Yuck pictures!  This was a custom ordered (sold) Hogwarts chest with student items in it that a kid might take with them to hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.  Not that you can tell, but there were some neat items in there.  A defense against the dark arts book, a wizard robe with a gryffindor crest on it, a hand carved wooden wand, a bottle of felix felicis (liquid luck) a bottle of Amortentia (love potion), more spell books, chocolate frog, roll of scrolls and a feather quill pen, a daily prophet newspaper, and tickets for the knight bus and for the hogwarts express train.

Below, a captured fairy set-A little fairy was made to look quite worried about her currently living conditions :)  The other one sleeps it away as though nothing can bother her :)

*Update-She did in fact buy this so it is now sold.

Ok this was also a custom ordered item, but I have no idea if the lady will actually get this or not.  It was ordered a long time ago and I haven't been able to get to it til now.  I have no idea if she'll be able to pick it up right before Christmas or if she'll have to pass.  It just worked out like this unfortunately.  It may be available, we'll have to see I guess.  The pictures are perfectly horrid due to the weather here (it's not easy getting pictures outside in the winter when you're freezing your butt off while shooting them :)  and this is about 100 times nicer in person than these crappy pictures show :(  

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you have a great one :)

   

Updated pictures, my miniature Harry Potter Hogsmeade tree is done :)

**Black Friday Deal: use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY during checkout for 15% off from now until November 26th!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne
Offer not good for custom orders though.



Welcome to my new followers :)  Glad to have you around!

Ugh these pictures are perfectly horrid, but nonetheless I'll post them for now until I get new ones tomorrow.  Darn night-time photocube pictures!  They make everything look Gosh-Awful!

Sorry it took me so long, but I've been working on my floors AGAIN.  Have mercy, let them be done soon!  Big floor sander+ million year old hardwood floors+Tara=a huge mess!  I'm still not sure how I wound up getting this tree done in the middle of all this but somehow I prevailed :)  Probably because going upstairs to work on minis is VACATION for me right now :)  Ok ok, I'll zip my lips and show you these ridiculously awful pictures!  Please check back in tomorrow for a clearer view!
**I retook the pictures BUT-it was dark and foggy out this morning so they still aren't that great and only three of them turned out :(  Oh wells, what can you do?

Back view below-

Ok description of what's going on here:

This one is themed to go with the Hogwarts neighboring village of Hogsmeade and is made to be a business sign display for that village. Every business is represented here, which includes a business sign and a display of items related to what that business does or sells :)

Businesses include:

-Zonkos Joke Shop and it's display includes dangling extendable ears
-Gladrags Wizardwear who's items include funky socks and a pretty nightcap hanging from the sign
-Dervish and Banges for whom I have made an interesting cauldron and advanced potion-making guide
-Hogsmeade Post Office which has the owl in a nest who carries the post as well as several mail deliveries waiting to go out :)
-Honeydukes Sweet Shop which has a large climbing chocolate frog , chocolate bars wrapped in the actual candy bar wrapper as seen in the theme park in Florida, a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and 2 chocolate frog boxes.
-The Hogshead Pub sign features two bottles of butterbeer hanging from the sign as well as a metal tankard mug of questionable cleanliness :)
-The Three Broomsticks has 2 bottles of hand-sculpted pumpkin juice bottles as well as a single butterbeer bottle hanging underneath.
-Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop is gussied up in frilly style for Hogwarts date nights and outfitted with a lace-covered table top which holds the shop sign, detail painted teapot and cup complete with a lovey-dovey heart floating in the tea :)
-Hogsmeade Station has a train schedule sign with fluttering Hogwarts Express tickets which sparkle in the light like gold :) This is the station where the children get off the Hogwarts Express train and head off to Hogwarts
-and last is Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop who's sign is on the back of the tree with a pot of all different quills, scrolls, and envelopes, and three lovely books in different wizarding subjects.

Beside the tree is a welcome to Hogsmeade sign that I crafted very carefully to look rustic and very well done. It's wood, distressed and clear coated for durability. Below the welcome sign is an arrow sign pointing off to the side with "Hogwarts" on it. Meaning go that direction and you will find Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry :) And I have added Christmas cheer with a greenery swag and candy canes. All of this on a snowy base hand-crafted by me.
The detail is astounding, this is a very elaborate tree with tons of work in it. In person it's incredible! I think it may be the best one I've made yet :)
9 inches tall, roughly 6 inches wide at the base. 1/12 scale outdoor tree.

Available here in my shop:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86872180/dollhouse-miniature-harry-potter

And now I think you all should see Sherry's (my shop partner and my darling Mother in Law) newest creation, a completely hand-sculpted Marie Antoinette doll and Marie-style furnishings!

This set is currently on it's way to me and will soon be available in my shop for sale :)

Please follow Sherry on the 19th Day Miniatures partner blog:

http://19thdayminiaturessherrys.blogspot.com/