Fantasy mushrooms

Oh wow, two posts in one day?? And during summer too!! Today must be a special day :D

So even though my life has been extremely hectic I did put my foot down and decided to take a break from real life today. It is Sunday after all.... And of course, taking time off means time for minis!

The making of.... you can see two unicorn horns in the corner..... I made a few of these too, and coloured them with mica powders. And since it's fantasy, why not make a black unicorn horn? More on these in another post, when they are all finished.

Potted mushrooms.... I decided to make them in various shapes, sizes and colours. They are all coloured with mica powders and they have a very nice shimmery look, although it doesn't photograph well (at least for me and my poor photography skills).

Two are potted with moss and one is potted only in soil *coughcoffeecough*

And here you can see a 10 cents coin to get a feel of the size. 

I also potted a few of them in a crate. I know that mushrooms can't grow in a crate but it's magic after all :)

Well there are still quite a few of these left for other projects so I still have to decide what to do with them. I can always make more of the cure little pots or crates. Perhaps a chopping block where the witch is preparing a new potion? It's very interesting that when you have enough time to make minis you usually don't have the inspiration, but when you don't have any time left you have a ton of ideas. I will have to start writing these things down!

Until next time!

*Poof*

Swap with Adriana

I'm finally able to post about my fabulous swap with Adriana over at http://minisdadrica.blogspot.com/

We arranged our swap quite some time ago but the packages took forever to arrive. But now we both finally have our wonderful minis and I couldn't be more thrilled with the ones she sent me. We decided on a very large swap since postage is very costly and so we crammed a lot of things in our boxes :) If you want to see what I sent her go and take a peek at her blog.

Lots of lace and some wonderful fabric for minis!!

Tiny bits for making all sorts of minis.... I love those little beads, they could be used for legs on furniture!

And the most impressive thing of all..... the furniture! I got all of these pieces, which Adriana made herself! I love them all. I will have to finish them myself since I asked her to leave them unfinished. I'm not sure yet where they will end up but I will finish them when I know where I'll put them. Maybe a shabby chic style? 

This was a wonderful swap and I can't wait to do more swaps in the future. 

Until next time!

*Poof*

Miniature top hat

2 weeks without minis!!! There were a lot of moments when I looked over to my table and almost sat down and started making minis. But I resisted the temptation! Hooray! 

I was very busy these past couple of weeks. I started working more, not to mention the horrible heat wave we had this week. Also we decided to do some major repair to our house and since my dad can do most of it himself we are all helping him with that. Of course on top of that there's my thesis.... Ok, I won't bore you any longer but I did get a chance for a quick project today. It's Sunday after all and everyone needs a break so after finishing what I could on my thesis I decided to treat myself to some mini-ing :)

I was also wondering if it's a curse that you feel the most inspired when you don't have any time left for minis? 

Ok, my little project was this top hat. I decided to keep the decorations to a minimum since this was just a prototype. I wanted to see how it would turn out. I'm semi satisfied with it, I think the top could be better but I will have to work out another technique for it. 

You can see the top isn't perfect although I'm not sure how else I could make this.

The little feather and rose work great and I think it doesn't need any other decorations. Perhaps I will try a steampunk version next time :)

Oh, and just for fun, I wanted to show you what I brought home from my walk in the forest today :) I decided to see if the wild blueberries were ready for picking and I did manage to get some. 

Mmmmm.... they're delicious!

Well, I hope to be finished with my thesis soon and then at least I'll get a bit more time for minis. I was thinking of making an apothecary or potion shop since I have quite a few potions now and some bottles left to fill. But I will need to make a lot of potion bottles from Fimo also. 

I did get a few blocks of Sculpey, which will be perfect for mini bottles and witchy accessories like unicorn horns and such. Perhaps a wand or two? We'll see.....

Until next time!

*Poof*

Sorceress' study lantern aka birthday gift for my mum

Ok, I admit, I broke my promise. But I did have a good reason - my mum's birthday. Granted it's not until the 20th but I just had to make her gift now. I did write a few more pages of my thesis though so I decided to reward myself with some mini-ing :)

Remember that lantern I showed you a couple posts back? Well, it was meant for my mum's birthday anyway but I didn't exactly know what I'd put inside. This is what I came up with....

Before I added the back "wall". Everything on the table is glued on. If you look closely you will see many of my creations from the past year. Everything here is handmade by me (except the kitty and bottles, which I bought but filled myself).

One of the books from my Burnt Owl Book range, a wand, some test tubes, potions,..... Everything a respectable witch needs!

And this is the final product. I added the back since I wanted a hanging shelf which I decorated with some potions. And yes, I know, horrible pictures again. I had to take these with my boyfriend's phone since the battery on mine died and also the battery on our camera. Like it didn't want to get photographed!

I love the little kitty on the right! 

I finished everything today and me being me I couldn't wait two more weeks to give this to my mum. I gave it to her today and she was super thrilled. Thank god she loved it! I really like how it turned out too. The only thing that's bugging me a bit is possible dust in the future. As we all know dust is our worst enemy in minis. I couldn't get the door to close any other way and so I'm a bit worried that after a while dust might start settling on the inside, but other than that I love it!!

Ok, now I'll be good and finish my thesis.... at least as far as I can get without another consultation with my mentor. 

Until next time!

*Poof*

OOAK Walnut dining table now on Etsy

Whew, it's done! The serpentine dining table that is!

I finished it with another coat of shellac, so that makes four in total. After waiting for over 12 hours to make sure the shellac was completely dry I added the finishing touch - shellac polishing oil (the one with lavender :/). And this is the finished product. Again the photos aren't the best but since it doesn't look like we'll be having any sunny days soon I photographed it anyway.

Although it's not visible so much it has a semi gloss finish. I actually prefer it to the truly polished finished like on pianos. I think that this way the table looks more realistic and less plastic.You can find this piece in my Etsy shop.

Now I have to be good and write my thesis. I already wrote 10 pages today so a couple more days and I should be finished. And then it's back to minis (hopefully next week!)

Until next time!

*Poof*

The Sorting Hat!! + an update on the serpentine table finish

In between waiting for the shellac to dry on the table I had a bit of time yesterday and so I decided to finally try making a Sorting Hat (you know, from Harry Potter *wink*). I'm not exactly what one would call talented with clay but I did manage to make something resembling a hat. I'll let you decide if it's any good :)

I didn't have any brown clay so I made him from some scrap clay and painted him. Do you think this could be the sorting hat (somewhere deep in a corner of a roombox)?

I also made some bottles. Nothing too fancy or elaborate but with stickers on they might look passable. With a bit of colour of course.

The one I really liked was this one and so I tried making a mould and casting in plaster instead of resin. It worked! I might make some more of these, to fill a shelf with eventually. It will need a light sanding and a coat of paint (not sure what colour yet though) and with a sticker it'll be a good filling for shelves in the future.

And an update on the table..... you can see the difference in finish on the scrap piece and on the table. The table has a second coat of shellac and the scrap piece has five coats. The scrap piece is also polished with special shellac polishing oil for a little extra shine. It's not shiny enough to be able to see your reflection in but it is a nice semi gloss. I think this is quite enough shine for the table. Now I only need to apply three more coats of shellac on the table.

I probably didn't mention the foul smell shellac has. Well, actually the alcohol has a distinct smell.... but that isn't all that bad if you compare it to the polishing oil. The oil has lavender in and so the smell is almost unbearable - for me at least, since I detest lavender and get nauseous every time I smell it. I guess I'll have to do the final polish on the table outside.

Hopefully tomorrow the table will be finished and then I'll have to start writing my thesis (I will, seriously, I swear! :D)

Until next time!

*Poof*

Walnut Serpentine Table - part 2

So between everything that's been going on in the last few days I finally managed to give the walnut table a coat of paraffin oil. I swear, I think everyone was just waiting for me to get a job and then they started having picnics, birthdays, doctor's appointments,... Lol!

Ok, on to serious business :) Yesterday before going to work I mixed my shellac flakes with alcohol to get shellac I can actually work with. You can get pre-mixed shellac I've been told, but I don't think they sell it here and I prefer to do it the old fashioned way anyway. So I mixed 100 ml with 24 grams of flakes and got a 2 pound cut. Shellac can be mixed in different "cuts", depending on what you're using it for.
And then after mixing in the flakes I had to shake it every few hours or so (well, my mum did that for me thankfully, since I wasn't home all day yesterday) and after 24 hours or so it's ready to go. Well, I did have to pour it through an old T-shirt first, in case there were any bits left that didn't dissolve.

On the left is the mixed shellac and on the right a small amount of alcohol to wash my brush with. The shellac would ideally be stored in a darker container but I didn't have anything else on hand. I will store it in a dark place though. I realised I mixed way too much even though I only mixed 100ml. But it would probably be harder to mix even less. I guess I'll have to produce quite a few more pieces in the next 6 months (which is usually how long mixed shellac has before going bad).

The table finally coated with paraffin oil. I had to do more sanding after the filling part was complete, but it was so worth the work! I love how rich the colour is! Now I have to wait until tomorrow for the oil to settle in and for the grain to lift. After that the table will get another light sanding and then, finally, it's first coat of shellac. At least I hope so, since I want to finish the scrap piece with at least four coats today. And then I'll see what kind of shine it will have and also if I have to put anything else on.

And again, the difference in colour. The upper piece is not coated with oil. It's amazing how a little oil can transform a piece so much!

The last thing I wanted to show you is the scrap piece. On the left is the first coat of shellac, already dry. In the middle the wood is coated only with oil and on the right side it's completely unfinished. You can see the difference in colour here perfectly. Also the shellac has a slight shine to it, but nothing drastic yet. Now I will have to wait for 2 hours between each coat of shellac but since I already have the second coat drying I will probably get to finish the scrap piece today.

Well hopefully tomorrow I can start coating the table with shellac. Will report on the progress and show more pictures of shellac layers as I apply them.

Until next time!

*Poof*