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.

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 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

Back with a new Miniature Witch or Wizard Mucky Cauldron Tower :)

I've been long gone for awhile now, but I'm finally back to work.  I had to take some time off for home improvements.

Here's what I made this time around, a stack of mucky cauldrons with left over potion in them, what a mess! I think these would look fabulous outside a witch or wizard shop, or even inside a wizard-themed room.

Here's the official description:
  The piece roughly measures 4 1/4 inches wide at the base, a little over 5 inches tall, and is a little over 2 inches deep. It's completely hand made, all the cauldrons are hand sculpted, the owl is hand sculpted and painted. The little bottle of cauldron cleaner has a handmade brush for scrubbing the cauldrons out. The cauldrons are mucked up with left over potions, all dribbling and oozing over the sides of the cauldrons. I have a process uniquely my own for making vibrantly-colored faux water or in this case potion :) No one can reproduce this effect but me because I am the only one who knows the process. I personally feel this gives the best effect possible. These are so much better in person, I'm having a rough time taking photos due to the weather right now. Trust me when I say this miniature scene is very nice in person and anyone who buys it will be pleasantly surprised when they see it in person. 

The floor is faux flagstone.

Here's the photos (bad due to weather, look at all the snow we got!)

Ok so it's available here and it's ONE OF A KIND, please don't ask me to make this again anyone!  It was time consuming, yikes.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/125503749/dollhouse-miniature-witch-or-wizard-shop?

I would like to draw attention to a charity campaign I just learned of called END7.  Here's a video (it's disturbing, please be advised) for anyone to watch to see what it's about if you choose to:

   

Please like END7 on facebook and anyone who can help out there is information there on how to donate:  
https://www.facebook.com/EndSeven

Thanks for viewing and God bless.

Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Death Eater Cabinet is Complete!

I decided to make this far more elaborate than I thought I would so it's taken longer than I planned.  But I finally finished it last night and I am so happy with how it turned out!  I feel it's my best cabinet ever so far.  This is so much better and more detailed in person, I couldn't get it to photograph well at all and it's really wonderful in person, trust me :) 

Oh and by the way, this is OOAK, I can't make another like this because some vintage parts were used and I don't have more of them!   

It's jam packed full of dark goodies including: a cloudy Foe Glass Mirror as seen in Mad Eye Moody's office in Hogwarts in the movie Goblet of Fire, Mad Eye's eyeball eyepatch as stolen from him by Death Eaters after his death in that same book/movie, a hand-sculpted skull wand display with 5 different miniature wands in the top of it, a real stone creature idol sculpture on metal stand, dark wizard books including one on Horcruxes and on it hangs the necklace locket Horcrux containing a part of Voldemort's soul, a labeled dragon embryo bottle, a beating human heart jar that looks like a real heart, scroll, severed creature head bottle (labeled), the gruesome hand on a pillow that grabs Harry's hand in the movie Chamber of Secrets, potion bottles, dark crystal ball, a steampunk wizard gadget with gears and hoses on a wooden stand that couldn't be photographed well-for some reason it never turned out clear in the photos but it's really cool in person. On top of the cabinet: A gothic caged owl, tall elaborate potion bottles, a very intricate large dragon embryo bottle on a pedestal stand, a large crystal ball in a pewter dragon claw stand, ghostly white-ish mosses. The cabinet itself is really spooky looking with filigree finials across the top with green crystals (for Slytherin) and a large gothic blackened metal skull and crossbones topper in the middle. The cabinet I decided to distress to look ancient and creepy, as though it came right out of Bourgin and Burkes, the dark wizard shop frequented by the Malfoys. I could see this in the home of Bellatrix LeStrange or any other of the Death Eater crew :)

Underneath the cabinet is a hand-sculpted Nagini snake/horcrux as seen in the Potter movies. I had to make her, and she's so much better in person! She's glued underneath the cabinet and is not removable. She's very well done, I took my time on her with the sculpting, texturing of the snake skin and the painting of the pattern. I referred to the movie while making her so she's as close as I could get her. Also, she's very sturdy. I have no doubt she'll be safe during shipping because she's pretty strongly made.

The cabinet is a little over 7 1/2 inches tall, and roughly 5 inches wide due to the moss sticking out on the sides. 1/12 scale dollhouse miniature.

Ok now for the pictures which really don't show how detailed this is and really make it look worse than it is in person :(

                                                     That snake looks so much better in person :(

Ok the foe glass might need a quick swipe with a windex q-tip before I ship it out lol!  It was supposed to be cloudy, but not fingerprinted too :)

          There is a steampunk gadget with gears and all that in the bottom right hand corner of the cabinet that
                                          didn't photograph well.  And it's so cool too!  Sad :(

                                                                         
                                                                          Available here in my store:
                                https://www.etsy.com/listing/114795224/dollhouse-miniature-harry-potter-death

Also, I've been working on Sherry's store and making some jewelry myself as well :)  We've decided to go in another direction in Haunted Mansion Jewels, and go with a more "gemstone" jewelry theme and get away from the costume jewelry so much.  What I've made personally:

                                                 
                                                    These are genuine Druzy Stones

                                                        These are genuine rough Emerald crystals

Some of it isn't listed yet but some is:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/HauntedMansionJewels?ref=usr_faveitems&atr_uid=7202128

Sherry's new stuff:

All available at the above shop link :)

By the way, thanks everyone for the kind comments :)  I love hearing feedback, no matter which way it goes :)

The Deatheater Cabinet, another Harry Potter inspired Dollhouse Miniature

Hi everyone, it's been so long since I've been able to blog.  How are you all doing out there?

I'm busy as usual, had a few custom orders that kept me busy for awhile but I'm back making some new things.  My poor store is so nearly sold out, even the Dumbledore Memory Vial Cabinet sold.  It's like a ghost town in my Etsy store right now.  My washing machine broke and that threw a wrench in my work time lately.  I'm on my second week of waiting for the technician to come and fix it (of course they didn't have the part and had to order it) so I've been packing our laundry to the laundromat, ick! Our local laundromat leaves much to be desired, ugh.  I'm to the point where I think Sears extended warranties are worthless.

Ok enough whining :)  I'll live, lol. I've been working when I can and I'm working on a Deatheater Cabinet.  You know, like the bad wizards on Harry Potter.  Well it could certainly work for any wizard setting too, just a little on the dark side :)  I still have plenty to do, because I want the inside of the cabinet FULL.  I have plans on making the weird skeletal hand on the pillow that grabs Harry's hand in Chamber of Secrets.  A bottle with a real looking heart inside, more books and wizard gadgets, a horcrux locket, Mad Eye Moody's eyeball eyepatch, etc.  All manner of dark wizard goodies :)  What I've already made:  A gothic-style caged owl, tall potion bottles, a large dragon embryo bottle on a stand, a pewter dragon clawed crystal ball, a creepy skull wand display (inside the cabinet so kinda hard to see here), more jars containing severed parts, a dark crystal ball, a foe glass as seen in Mad Eye Moody's office in the movie Goblet of Fire, a black leather Horcrux Book, a pedestaled real stone statuette that looks like a creature of some sort.  And the cabinet itself is really spooktacular :)  Weathered, distressed, blackened, crowned with crystal spires (green for Slytherin of course) and a totally great blackened metal skull and crossbones topper.  And ghostly white mosses around the stuff on top.  And I've added a set of blackened metal gargoyles to the bottom of the cabinet doors as well.  Ok I'll just show you all what I have done so far (keeping in mind I'm far from finished):

 My pictures aren't very good, too bright out right now.  They kinda glared up a little :(  Anyway, you get the idea of where it's headed.  I should be done with it in a couple days and get it listed.  And then I'm onto some theme trees, including a super exciting Wizard of Oz theme tree!!!  I'm really excited about trying that one :)

Thanks for viewing everyone and have a lovely day!

A few Halloween or Witchy Haunted House Miniatures and some more of Sherry's jewelry

I've put together a couple of goth/haunted house/witchy/ etc. minis in time for the Halloween season, a canopy bed and a goth curiosities cabinet as pictured below:

A little spell board and spell book sit on the bed as though set aside for a moment :)

The glare on the glass is making the magnified tarantula spider in the bottom right hand side of the cabinet not show up in the pictures.  In person it's completely clear :(  These really aren't good pictures (too early in the morning outside for good light so I'll have to reshoot them later today).

And now more reshoots of Sherry's jewelry:

Man I love my new camera!  So much better pictures :)

All jewelry available here in Sherry's store:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HauntedMansionJewels?ref=usr_faveitems&atr_uid=7202128