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

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:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/190174489/dollhouse-miniature-romance-of-the-fairy?ref=listing-1

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:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/190227797/dollhouse-miniature-witch-or-wizard?ref=listing-0

Have a wonderful week everyone!  Be blessed :)

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

Dollhouse Miniature Witch or Wizard 4 piece set just listed

 Just listed these in my store for sale:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/159436614/dollhouse-miniature-wizard-or-witch-owl?ref=shop_home_active