Busy, busy, busy.  Between grandsons, house renovations and my business, I don't have much time to play but I thought I would share my latest creation with you.

I used the cold porcelain clay that I made the other day to make potatoes and after paint and chalks, this is the result.

All they need is a good wash and a peel and you can cook them up for a tiny dinner.  :-)

These are for sale on my website at:

http://www.grandpasdollhouse.com/potato/

I hope you like them.

I will be back soon with more creations.............I hope.

Good day all, Liz

Progress and Discoveries..........

Hurray.  I managed to carve some time out of my day today to play!  Yipee!  It has been too many years since I took the time to play with clay.

When I had my retail store open, I made all of the food that I sold in the store.  It worked well because I could work in between customers, doing something I really enjoyed.  With the closing of my brick and mortar store and the arrival of two gorgeous grandsons, I did not have much time to "create".

Yesterday, as you read, I took the bull by the horns and made a batch of  cold porcelain clay.  I am happy to say that the batch turned out very well.  Here is how it looks after sitting for 24 hours........ready to use!  Awesome.........let's create!

The first thing that I did was add some yellow chalk to a chunk of the clay and made some bananas.  They turned out okay.  I still have to add the details with bits of brown on the ends and I think I need to work on the shape a bit but it is a start.  Then I added orange chalk to more of the clay.  I did not like the colour so ended up adding paint to it.  This is what I added:

A word of warning, when it says multi-surface adhesion, this includes hands and nails.  My hands look like I am turning into a pumpkin.  Next time I will use gloves when I work with this paint.  Live and learn.

Here are the carrots and bananas that I created, still put aside, giving them time to air dry.

I also made potatoes but they are not dry enough to paint yet, so they just look like lumps of white clay with spots.  I will post photos of them when they are finished.

I also made some bread.  I am very pleased with how they turned out.  I have sliced the loaves and put them on cutting boards.  I think I will add these to my Etsy site soon.  I made these with Sculpey instead of the air dry clay because I wanted to add the holes to make the inside look more realistic.  They are still a work in progress but it just feels good to be making mini food again!

Here are the three loaves of bread that I have finished so far:

I am going to add a knife and some other food to this one to fill the cutting board.

This one is on one of the cutting boards that we make with our laser.  

I may keep this one for my own collection as it is the first one I made.  Once a mini addict, always a mini addict.  :-)

This is all for today.  I hope to find some time to finish up the bananas, carrots and potatoes tomorrow.  If I do, I will share the finished items with you then.

Until then, mini on and have a great time!  ----Liz

Have time to kill?? Want to make a mess?? In need of a manicure anyway??

This morning I answered "yes" to all of the questions in the above title.  I decided to make a batch of cold porcelain.  I have made this once before and I don't recall it being so messy.  Therefore, either my memory is fuzzy or my age is making me messier.........probably both!

Here is an example of my mess.  I don't like this as I was taught to clean up as I go along when I am baking, never having a mess when I am finished.  However, this recipe requires a person to work fast and clean up time was hard to come by.

I love to work with cold porcelain clay because it is easy to work with, you can add any colour you like, easily, and it is air drying.  Yes, it is awesome.  Making it, however, is another story.

I will post this photo of the rather messy recipe first, in case you feel the need to attempt to make some without my pertinacity for disaster in the kitchen.

A word of advice.......check the power of your microwave as mine, I believe, is not as powerful as 1000 watt and it took about twice as long to cook it.  (new microwave since I last made it)  This was okay, except that the clay got very hot, making it difficult to knead.  :-)

I managed to complete the 10 minutes of kneading without doing too much damage to my hands from the heat (by the time I was finished, it had cooled down nicely, of course........:-)

Here is the finished product, formed into a log, with the blob of face cream on top.  (BTW, I used inexpensive face cream from a dollar store with good results)  Now I need to smooth the cream over the dough and coat the inside of the bag.

Another mess ensued when I smeared the cold porcelain into the bag  to let it sit for 24 hours.  An extra set of hands is very much recommended when you are making this recipe.  The extra set of hands that are normally available to me were busy taking amusing her 4 1/2 month old son (my grandson, Cohen).  I forgave her for that fairly quickly.  :-)

I did it!  Now to find the patience to wait 24 hours until I can use it!  

Until then, back to work adding items to my website.

www.grandpasdollhouse.com

Until tomorrow..........fingers crossed for success.............Liz

It has been a long while since I posted on this blog.  I had almost forgotten that I had it, until a wonderful young man told me today that he reads it.  He introduced himself to me here at the Miniature Enthusiast of Montreal Miniature Show & Sale.  His name is Giac and I am going to check out his blog when I get home.  He showed me photos of his amazing dollhouse that he has been working on for the past 8 years.  It is an amazing piece of art and I look forward to seeing more photos as he progresses with the building.

If you are anywhere even remotely close to Montreal and can make it to this show tomorrow, please come.  The club displays are amazing and the dealers have some very, very wonderful items for sale.  (including us, of course)  :-)

Check out their website here to get the information:
http://www.mem-miniature.com/index.php/mem-show-2016

I am sorry for this short post but I promise that I will get back into posting again very soon.   In the meantime, here is a photo of the newest mini in my life, my 9 week old grandson, Cohen.

A fellow miniaturist from Nova Scotia recently posted that she found a Primrose dollhouse at a local charity sale.  (a very nice one, I might add).  I told her that I made one of those kits (only $19.99 on our site) into a gingerbread cottage and promised to post photos of it.  I figure this is the easiest way to show them all, so here goes.............

This is not totally finished but it is on my list of projects that I want to get at soon.  Take a look at the snow.  I made that by mixing half shaving cream and half Weldbond glue and it is still looking good after about 5 years.  (yes, I admit, it has been that long waiting to be finished.........)

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Chicago International Show in April of this year with a group of amazing friends.  5 of us attended a workshop called The Acorn Cottage presented by Jill Castoral and Pat Holstram from Florida, USA.  Here are some photos of the work in progress and what I have done since I got home.  This project is so much fun and I look forward to having more time to spend on finishing it.  Actually, I don't want to finish it........I don't want the fun to end.  This project is in 1/2" scale.

Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the shell that was provided for us.  However, I have to say that the prep work these ladies did for this workshop was phenomenal!

The chimney was a cast resin piece that we painted in different colours and attached to the front of the house.  We painted the front steps and added egg carton sides and bottom to differentiate from the hill.  The white clay on the trees is Delight Clay.  It works really well and does not shrink like Paperclay does.

We covered tree forms on three sides of the structure with the Delight Clay and added texture as we saw fit.  I found the roots to be the most difficult part.  Heaven only knows why.

This fireplace is also made of resin.  We painted it and finished it with gel stain.

The inside walls got painted a cream colour and then antiquing stain was blended in when wet.

We scored, painted and aged the door and shutters in a colour of our choice.  I liked the green that was on their sample so I went with it.  I think that most people did the same.

This is the side shown earlier, after the gel stain was applied.

Same side and front (also shown earlier) with gel stain applied.  It really brings out the details in the trees!

Close up of the front after gel stain.

Once again, I forgot to take pictures during the next few steps of the project.  :-(  However, last week, I was able to start on the landscaping so I will share those photos with you now.

The little raccon peeking out of the hole in the tree was sculpted and painted by Jill and included with the workshop.  I love him!  I made the fence with sticks and added the flowers.  I still need to add more but I am happy with the progress so far.  The tall pink plant in the middle next to the house are actually weeds that were growing near the road in front of our house.  Love them!

BTW, the grass is static grass.  I like the effect of the standing grass.  Nice stuff!  This is just the beginning of the landscaping in the front.  I filled in cracks in the staircase and added a few coloured plants by the tree and the front door (bought this at the Three Blind Mice show in Chicago).  I purchased the gnome from Spencer's Nook at the Chicago Int. show as well.  I have lots more to go in this space but ran out of time.  

I am excited to do more landscaping.  I also made an acorn Welcome Mat for the front entry but you will have to wait til next time to see it.  

Til next post.........happy mini-ing!

~Liz~

Every September, my husband and I venture east to Cornwallis, NS to attend Camp Mini Ha Ha.  It is an amazing "camp" for miniaturists that happens every year.  It is run by a wonderful rotating group of volunteers and is an experience like no other for miniaturists and crazies like me.

Details can be found here www.campminihaha.com.  A few years ago, we made a castle room and I would love to share my finished box wit you.  I made it into a mad scientist's lab and it is inhabited by the monkey gatekeeper and his family.  I hope you enjoy this.

Room overview

The lights are all battery powered.

Evidence of the madness of the inhabitant is in the fireplace.  The mice who live there don't seem to mind though.

This is the monkey gatekeeper.  I found him at the local Goodwill and I love him.  His son is playing on the floor beside him with a mini mini castle.  His lantern and the candle on the window ledge are batter powered but not turned on for this photo.

Lots of spell books on the shelves.

Mr. Dragon guards the castle while the mad scientist is away.

The door at the stairs leads to.............

Lots of book and weird ingredients for the spells and experiments line the table.

This box of scrolls was made by Sherry Parker of Nova Scotia.  She is a fellow camper and does lovely work.  I won this in one of the nightly giftie swaps!

The old hound dog is a faithful companion (made by my friend, Karl Blindheim)

What exactly is in that back jar????

I love to make clutter in mini!

More evidence of the madness of the inhabitant is in the garbage pail.

This is a close up of the fireplace and the mouse house.  The fireplace started out as a regular wooden fireplace.  I added the gargoyles on the front, paper clay stones all over and then painted it all with grey paint mixed with sand.  It was great fun.  There are flickering bulbs in the fireplace as well.

I hope you enjoyed my castle and please check out the Camp Mini Ha Ha site.  It is such fun!!