A crazy summer....squeezing in time for miniatures!

Hello again! I've wondered if I'll have any time at all for minis this summer.... turns out that even when I had a week off and not going on vacation I still didn't get any mini time. Wedding preparations are in full swing over here, dress fittings, looking for this or that (I swear that I'm not going shopping for a few years after the wedding!!) and then there are the parents to consider (both sets of course) and managing everything.... it's a lot of things at once but still fun :) I'm enjoying everything even if it can get a little crazy at times :)

Last Sunday I decided that I needed a break and after cleaning the whole floor in the morning I sat down for some mini time and didn't come inside from my balcony for the entire afternoon. I came up with a few little things.

A book with pages flying out of it... I've wanted to try this for some time. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's blank because the printer ran out of ink and I figured I might as well try it with blank paper first.

A stack of books and other magical items. I've also added this to my Etsy shop in case anyone is interested.

It has four books, one of my hand turned scrolls, one Daily Prophet (my own design) and a mushroom jar with a tiny butterfly. I'm very pleased with how this turned out.

I had a few spare Daily Prophets and decided to make a stack. I like to think they've been burned by a baby dragon, hehehe.

Another project on the 'to-do' list have long been these step stools. They're very tiny, the measurements actually came from a step stool I own. It look ok but I think the wood is still too thick. I just used some spare wood I had lying around.... Any thoughts?

Another stack I started. This one isn't finished yet although I can't decide what else to put on it. This one has a scroll that's been burned a bit more on one side, hehehe (don't tell anyone but I didn't actually intend to burn off part of the handle.....)

And something I did at the beginning of summer. I forgot to post it on the blog. It was another Sunday afternoon and I've wanted to make a chess board for some time. I saw something similar in a picture and although it definitely needs improving it didn't turn out half bad for my first try. Perhaps I should have used matt varnish instead of triple thick. I got Triple Thick at a store here and was overjoyed so of course I had to try it out on something. Maybe the next one would  really be better with matt varnish....

And I finally finished the mahogany table. It needed four coats of shellac and last week I had just enough free time each day to do one layer of shellac. I love the rich colour, it really is lovely. This is also listed in my shop in case anyone is interested.

Well, despite the busy days miniatures still remain a large part of my life. And it just proves that even though things get hectic and we can't always create as much as we'd like even a Sunday afternoon can produce great results! :)

Have a great summer everyone and I hope to report on some new miniatures before the wedding :)

Until next time!

*Poof*

Some very curious mice...

I had a bit of free time this morning and was able to finish the mice that are crawling into the Daily prophet.... or perhaps they are rats since they seem to be a bit big....

Some curious mice are crawling into the Daily Prophet... perhaps they're searching for news....

A coin to compare size.

And the whole front page with the coin for size reference.

Until next time!

*Poof*

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*

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*

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*

New toys - making moulds!!

I finally got the mould putty I ordered and today I got to play with it! Thank to Jane over at minifanaticus for suggesting that I make resin stoppers for the potion bottles. It was really a stroke of genius and probably something I would never have thought of. So thank you very much Jane :)

This is truly a magical thing! I already have quite a few ideas what I can make with it, although I'm going to save this for a while since it's quite expensive (again, had to order this from eBay since it seems I can't get anything in my country!)

And these are the moulds I made. Both are stoppers for the potion bottles I made a few weeks ago.

And of course I couldn't wait to pour the resin in the moulds! Here you can see the polymer clay original and the resin ones.

The only thing I can't figure out is why the resin didn't cure clear like it did in the jars.

The skull is supposed to be as clear as the resin inside the Devil's Snare potion. Has anyone had any experience with epoxy resin and does anyone have any ideas why it cured cloudy instead of clear? I would very much appreciate any advice!

It was very difficult to photograph but still I love how this turned out! Of course this is only a temporary mould, a kind of trial and error thing. I will try to make a more decent skull once I perfect the whole procedure. 

There was some leftover resin already mixed so I decided to try mixing in mica powders. It worked great! You can see the difference between the mica powder and food colouring in the right bottle.

And here is the lantern I wrote about in my last post. I bought this for 10€, which is a great deal. I've been looking for something like this for some time now. I want to do a mini scene inside although I'm not sure yet what exactly. I was thinking of putting in some floors/rug, curtain,...

I want to make this for my mum's birthday, which is in one month so I won't be able to be extremely picky now that I don't have the whole day to mess with minis. I was thinking of putting in the table I made last week and maybe some wrapped gifts on the table.... I would love to make some shabby chic style things but my mum doesn't like that style, so they will have to be either natural wood or painted dark like the table.

If anyone has any ideas please save me :) 

Well, this is all for today. Hopefully I will be able to resolve the resin problems soon. 

Until next time!

*Poof*

You have to label your jars, or you'll forget what you put in them....

Today I only had time for a quick project and so I've decided to make potion labels. I actually spend over an hour making this really nice label with a nicer swirly border and I was very satisfied with it. But when I scaled it down to size and printed it, it was so light it barely showed on the paper. I don't exactly know why that is, perhaps it's because the lines on the border weren't very thick.... I'll have to try some new borders sometime.

But for today I just made up new potion names and used the label template I already had from my previous attempt at potions from beads.

The labels are big enough to be readable. 

I tried making lids this way but I'm not very satisfied with the result. I also tried one in black but it's not much better. But I did love an idea Jane over at minifanaticus had - to make a few examples from Fimo, then make a mould and then make resin casts. I think that clear "glass" lids would be way better... if I can pull it off that is :)

And I tried photographing the pickled bat again. It looks really great in person.

Just playing with a scene and some of the minis I made..... This will look good all put together someday!

Now I need to wait for mould putty to arrive from the UK next week and then I can make the lids.

Until next time!

*Poof*

What's your poison? - New mini delights!

I'm back from my mini break and full of new ideas. We didn't actually go anywhere but it was nice to turn everything off for a few days and enjoy the company of my wonderful boyfriend. We did go hiking one day and to the movies another, but other than that we had a few lazy days.

But I got a new toy in the mail yesterday so back to minis it is :)

Epoxy resin!! I've wanted to buy this for quite some time and I finally ordered this one last week. So of course I had to play with this right away! 

These were the trial potions. The instructions say you shouldn't pour the resin more than 3mm thick but I've seen people filling whole mini bottles in one shot so I decided to experiment. All of these dried perfectly fine. Perhaps the one that's completely filled isn't as hard in the bottom but it really doesn't matter. This won't run and there isn't any change in colour.

And this is my messy workspace from today. I had a ton of paper towels all over the place, hahaha. I used small syringes to get the resin inside the bottles and small cups to mix it in. I added food colouring to get different colours and it turned out beautifully. I read that epoxy resin shouldn't be mixed with acrylic paint and since I don't have any oil based paints at home this was the alternative. Has anyone tried colouring resin with acrylics? I'd love to know if it's ok to do so.

A small pickled bat. Sadly this was the best picture I could get but you can just make out his crossed little wings. 

Some gillyweed :) Or if you prefer, some artificial moss added to the jar.

And just plain coloured ones. The one on the left was a failed attempt with epoxy glue, it turned orange after it dried even though I added purple glitter. So I just decided to fill it with some leftover resin from today. 

And I also filled a cauldron. I'll have to work on the cauldron, I decided at the last minute that I wanted to fill it when I already had the resin mixed so I was in a bit of a hurry. 

These now need labels and lids. I already made some lids but am still deciding on the colour.... I tried black, silver and antique gold but there always seems something off..... any suggestions? I thought about making cork stoppers but then decided against it.

Well, now I need to think of some names for the new concoctions :D Again, if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to contribute!

Until next time!

*Poof*