What I've been up to lately in Dollhouse Miniatures :)

Ok I have been working, I just haven't blogged for awhile.  Really busy around here like usual, yikes.

Here's what's come up since I last blogged, although some of it has now sold:

Fairy fireplace (sold)

Steampunk Wizard/Witch floor chest with Leafy Forest Dragon guarding her eggs (available)

Cottage style magically pouring fairy tea set (sold)

Cottage style magically pouring fairy tea set (sold)

Romantic style magically pouring fairy tea set (sold)

And finally this I just finished up today, another fairy sewing notion cabinet and stool set:

Available here:

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

And I'd like to post a link to Sherry and I's jewelry shop once again:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HauntedMansionJewels

Some new things will soon be added to that shop as well.  And many nice things are currently in there now :)

Ball Joint Doll Elfish Apothecary Chest Complete

Whew, that was a hard one!  I think I did ok considering I started with nothing but some sheets of wood and built this from the ground up :)  And I'm proud of how it turned out, although my pictures are crappy like usual (awesome camera of mine) :(   Anyway, this is how it started:

and this is how it ended:

Now no one get excited, because these are LARGE potion bottles compared to what we all collect!  The tallest is around 3 1/2 inches tall so not 1/12 scale.  And the sand timer?  Over 4 inches long!  This is just a sample of the bottles I made for this, there are so many more.

What's in this?

Top lid ingredients are as follows-

seeing stones

dried jasmine

bluebird feathers

spring sprigs

snail shells

heather flowers

wild berries

nibbles

forest floor

magic toadstools

and one elfish dispensary spoon



side doors that swing open:

purity potion

elixir of divine endurance

essence of the wolf

shape shifting aura

fairydust

essence of the sea


first drawer of the apothecary:

birds nest with eggs labeled "relocate to tulip tree"

two perfumed oils with acorn cap lids

one jar of hippogriff feathers

one chinese-style metal chest containing a beautiful chinese fireball dragon egg

a bottle of the first spring flowers

a mortar and pestal with unspecified ingredients inside

two unspecified vials of potion

one bottle of giant octopus ink


second drawer of apothecary:

mushroom box of candied rose petals

mushroom box of seashells

hand-dyed silk bowed container of mermaid scales

metal container of far east spices

bottle of "sands of the undying lands"

chilled box of first winter ice

bottle of giant beanstalk seeds

a bottle of enchanted sleep

a vial of ghoul ash

and one fancy sand timer vial

Customer pictures of her Sweeney Todd Basement Scene and a larger BJ Doll Apothecary Chest

My dear customer has sent me pictures of her Sweeney Todd Pie Oven I made her sitting in the middle of her excellent roombox scene :)  With her permission I am posting them for you all to see because it's a cool little horror scene and fun to look at :)  Here's what she sent me, I know the Sweeney Todd fans out there will appreciate these:

The dolls were created by doll artisan Sharon Cariola from San Diego, California.  I made her the extra couple of buckets of bloody meat you see on the floor as well :)  Can't be Sweeney Todd without some blood and meat ickies, right?  I love her meat grinder you see in the background!  Thank you for permission to use and show your photographs Nancy!  Your roombox is coming along great :)

Here's what I've been making, and this is the last of my custom orders (for right now anyway) so I can get back to working on my other customer's rabbit hole.  This item pictured below is a custom built Elf's apothecary chest made for a 26" tall ball joint elf doll collection.  The measurements on this are 7 1/2 inches wide, 5 1/2 inches tall, a little over 3 inches deep.  The first pictures are of the building stage:

The lid was still off and one of the side doors wasn't hinged on yet at this point.  I was trying for very rustic, lord of the rings-ish design  like something the elves would have.  Here's the finished chest (minus some door hooks and the top medallion) that hasn't been filled yet with potions, etc.  I'm doing that tonight and tomorrow:

I love the handles, I made them out of 4 individual metal parts so they're one of a kind handles.  I'll post pictures when I get it all filled with stuff.

   

Updated-Dollhouse Miniature Harry Potter Potions Master Chest of Ingredients completed

A couple new pictures showing details you couldn't see before:

*What you are looking at are pictures taken outside in a snowstorm :o My inside pictures never turn out, everything looks 10 times worse if I do that. So out I went, and the result isn't much better. Tiny snow bits show up on the miniature, so of course it doesn't really look all white spotty. The sky was dark so the pictures are still unclear and this is so incredibly MUCH MUCH nicer than these pictures show. I'm really proud of this mini, in person it's a visual feast for the eyes if you like witch or wizard miniatures.


Ok, that being said-I'll tell you about what you can't see in the photographs. The chest is black, with antique gold metal filigree pieces on the sides of the doors (which you can't see here) and also on the top of the chest. In the center of the filigree is a single tiny red crystal like on the drawer fronts. You can shut the doors on the sides and the top folds down as well, although they don't shut completely and there is a tiny gap because the cabinet is so stuffed with potions ingredients. Every nook and cranny is filled to the brim with bottles, filled bowls, and labeled ingredients of every kind from the books and movies. A list of included ingredients and potions:

-Ashwinder Eggs

-Bezoars (the thing Harry gave Ron when he was poisoned after eating chocolates containing love potion in the Half Blood Prince)

-Boomslang Skin

-Belladonna

-Mandrake Root

-Billywig Sting

-Black Beedle Eyes

-Venomous Tentacula Leaves

-Balm

-Bulbotuber Puss

-Amortentia Love Potion

-Acromantula Venom (from the giant spiders in the movie :)

-Bulbadux

-Asphodel

-Erumpent

-Vux Myristica

-Knotgrass

-Dittany

-Mushrooms

-Blood Root

-Bicorn Horn

-Doxie Eggs

-Bat Spleen
Each drawer contains the ingredient it's labeled for, such as tiny eggs, blood roots, tiny mushrooms, grasses, tiny sculpted horns and bat spleens, etc. All of the tiny bottles are well decorated and clearly labeled. The top of the cabinet holds small dishes holding various ingredients and they are also clearly labeled. A small Potion Book is strapped to the lid and it's made of real leather. It's removable should you want to take it out, although I would be careful if you do.
I'll try to get better pictures in the upcoming days if I can due to weather conditions here :( I really wish you could clearly see all of the wonderful details that this is packed full of. This is a highly detailed miniature that took me two days to make.
Here's my icky snow covered pictures of it:

Available here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/90358653/dollhouse-miniature-harry-potter-potions

Updates on miniature projects and some progress on the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole

I know I haven't blogged for awhile but I really really was so tired from Christmas and everything else going on.  I had to take a little break!  I was simply exhausted:  minis, redoing the floors, Christmas shopping and cookie making.  Not to mention all of the regular work around the house and cooking.  I think I slept for two days on and off from sheer exhaustion.  So I took some time off, working very sporadically.  I have gotten a little done, and I'm now getting back to work a lot more than I was.  Here's what I have done to the rabbit hole first of all, and keep in mind that I have so much more to do before I'll be happy with the inside enough to start adding in furniture and other things:

Much of this will be less visible anyway after I get stuff inside the hole.  And the bottom floor (the 3 different colored walls) are just started, they need the trim work like up above.  And each section I'm trying to give it's own individual look so they don't blend into each other so much as the original sculpture.  I want each section of wall to have a life of it's own like in the original Disney movie.  Like I said, still so much to do and add in.

It will evolve as I continue my work.  The outside has nothing new added but I have begun adding a large rim around the top so I can add a scene up there that will be full of life and cool things.  Right now it's nothing but raw clay with nothing added so it's not worth a look yet.

So anyways, that's where I'm at right now on that project. 

I'm waiting on a little help from my husband who has been too busy thus far to help with my meat pie oven project.  I bought a thin metal pipe thingy that needs to be hooked together and cut off (which is where he comes in).  I don't have the strength to use tin snips on it so I have to wait on him :o  But the fire unit came in the mail so I have a good start on supplies :)

Also, I have some interest in the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman movie so I thought I'd make a creepy little gothic chest in honor of the new film.  This chest was made to me quite nefarious in nature, slightly gothic, and most definitely evil :) Evil in purpose anyway :) Why evil? Well what else could it be when it's made to hold poor Snow White's heart? The evil queen did in fact send the huntsman after her and asked for her heart to be brought back in a chest. And so I've made it: a tiny human heart in a jar of fluid, a long dagger/sword with a smidge of blood on the blade, a casting crystal orb on a stand, a poisoned apple, a bottle of poison apple potion as well. The outside has images of the evil queen (Charlize Theron) and snow white (Kristen Stewart) from the upcoming movie Snow White and the Huntsman. The inside has a classic Disney Snow White image of the evil queen and her magic mirror in the lid.

Here's my icky winter time pictures of it:

You can't see it but there's a heart inside the glass bottle :o  Pretty convincing!

Finally I've had this jewelry chest sitting around for quite some time waiting on time to make it.  I didn't want to do a regular jewelry chest out of it, I wanted to make something neater.  So I decided to paint it black, stain the pink lining a dingy red, and make a wizard or witch ingredient chest out of it.  Like an advanced potion ingredient chest, with lots of labels with the names of Harry Potter potion ingredients on them.  There were some great potion and ingredient names from those books and movies.  I managed to find a long list of them.  Here's the cabinet, although it'll be far more tricked out in the end than what you see here:

This doesn't look like much right now, but give me time and you'll see a really cool miniature in the end :)  I plan on adding metal filigree details to the outside as well, and this will be one of a kind because I only have one of these chests.

 

 

Updated-Projects, custom orders, and Holiday Cheer :)

Another blog only deal:  Type in coupon code "christmasblog" during checkout to get your complimentary 15% off the purchase price during the month of December only.  This deal is only for those who have read my blog because it's not posted anywhere in the store :) 

Gosh I haven't blogged in awhile!  Too busy :(  The holidays are upon us, and this means not only do I have the house renovation and store to deal with, but also family and shopping :o  Sheesh!  Thanksgiving was madness as usual, with an extended family as large as mine.  I made eight dozen deviled egg halves!  Eight dozen!  Lord have mercy on me because Christmas dinner is right around the corner too.

Enough about that.  What have I been doing?  Custom orders for one.  I made this for one of my new customers, a custom snow white evil queen chest based on this chest the evil queen is holding here in this picture:

It was given to the huntsman to bring back proof in the form of a heart that snow white was indeed dead :o

Here's my version:

The bottles inside have apples, poison apple potion, a sculpted heart, beauty potion, malice (has a knife in it, hehe) and a bottle of wealth.

I have another custom order for her to do when the piece I ordered comes in.

This chest will be a snow white themed item, made to look like something of hers while she resides with the 7 dwarfs.  I'm planning something woodlandish, with sweet little details made to look like something of snow white's.  I think this piece looks exactly like it could have been in that wooden cottage of the seven dwarfs!
Another upcoming custom order, and it's a major big one!  The same lady wants me to make a Alice in wonderland scene, quite large compared to what I normally do, based on this:

I'm planning on making the structure of air dry clay and wire.  There will be only one Alice though.  Three just looks odd to me.  And the scenery inside should be quite different and more true to the movie.  This will be the cartoon version, not the Tim Burton version.

So I'll post updates as I build it.  It will take awhile, and I also have to have a working light unit inside it.

Otherwise, I just finished this up last night:

a witch's birthday party table and chair set :)  See the overflowing cauldron birthday cake?  This is so flippin' cute in person, the pictures don't do anything for it :(  In person, it rocks!  And it's available now in my store.  I no I won't make another one, lol.  If someone buys it, it's gone!

And one last thing in the spirit of the Christmas season, a short story:

When I was a little girl in second grade, we had a house fire right before Christmas.  Our entire house burnt to the ground.  If it hadn't been for my Mother, I wouldn't have made it out alive.  She ran down a burning hallway that was completely engulfed in flames to get me.  She had part of her hair burnt off and her eyebrows were burnt off (it all regrew, but now you get how dangerous it really was)  we lost everything we had.  I sat across the street and watched our refrigerator melt!  There were no longer any walls left by that time.  In the aftermath, we picked through the rubble looking for any sign that anything had survived the fire.  There was absolutely nothing left not burnt up or broken, save this:

I have all of the pieces, but they weren't out yet in this picture.  This single thing was left.  The entire nativity set was in one piece, and wasn't burnt up.  You can see the charred look on the paint of the people, which shows it went through a fire.  But nothing was broken.  Matter of fact, the burnt look added to the authentic look of the set.  It made it look more realistic if anything.  My Mother had LOTS of nick knacks and porcelain figures.  Everything was reduced to rubble.  Every single thing we had ever had at that point in our lives was destroyed.  Why then did this entire set come through the fire without a single chip?  It was on display, like all of her other things at the time.  Everything else was most likely knocked to the ground when the walls came down or the furniture they were sitting on burnt up.  Yet we found every piece of this nativity set unscathed.  Strange, huh?  And our town rallied around us and gave us back all the stuff we had lost and I ended up with more toys and clothes than I had before :)  The true meaning of Christmas revealed???  You decide :)

"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!" Dr. Seuss