Autumn Halloween pumpkins

Well it feels like I've been away from my miniatures for an eternity and I'm finally getting ready to start working again. In the last few weeks I have moved house and I completely underestimated how much work is involved. We decided to move everything ourselves by hiring a smallish van. BIG MISTAKE! There was so much furniture to move that after the first two trips my knees were creeking unbearably and I felt incredibly tired and stressed with it all. Well luckily that was two weeks ago now and I'm now settling into my new place and getting things organised ready to start working again. My two cats haven't adjusted as well though. They skulk around the house and jump at every creek and bump the house makes (it's a lovely 1930's build). There seems to be many other cat lovers around here too as many cats have curiously wondered into the garden to say hello, much to the annoyance of my two. It's been a very busy time and not only have I moved house but have also undergone surgery this week which has rendered me unable to walk very far. It's going to take a few weeks before I get back to normality but I'm hoping that making my miniature furniture will take my mind off that. We've only just broken into summer and already I'm thinking ahead to the Autumn (my favourite time of year) and the wonderful colours that go with the Autumn months. The golden and red leaves, bright orange pumpkins, bonfires, Halloween, hot baked potatoes and sticky toffee apples...etc my mind is awash with all the wonderful things Autumn has to offer that keeps me inspired during my work. I've recently made a new batch of miniature pumpkins which you can see in the photo and soon they will be for sale in my Etsy shop and on ebay.

Please feel free to leave a comment or just to say hello! Would love to hear from other miniature enthusiasts :)

Miniature teapots

It's been a few weeks since I last posted on here so I thought it was about time I posted again. I haven't been creating much recently as I have been getting ready to move house and I've been so busy sorting out drawers, cupboards, trying to get rid of as much unwanted household items as possible through car boot sales...etc I didn't realise just how much time it all took. Well now that I'm a little more organised I thought I'd do a little sculpting. Recently I have been asked to make some miniature peacock teapots. They have been quite popular so I decided to make a few in different colour schemes and will be putting them for sale in my Etsy shop over the next few days. They are roughly 1 & 5/8ths inches in height (approx 4cm). The inside is hollow and the lids are removable. I have added some cute little roses just to give a pretty decorative finish to the teapots. Well I hope not to leave it too long before I post again and hopefully I will have moved house by then and will be all set up ready to start sculpting so new polymer clay miniatures :)

Peacock wedding cake topper

This is my latest creation. It is a wedding cake topper handsculpted from polymer clay. Two peacocks are clearly in love and are balanced on a fairytale gate. The gate is very symbolic as who knows what lies on the other side. Marriage is about going on a journey and through the gate is where the journey begins. I have also used pretty pink roses and leaves and flowers either side of the gate to give a bit of a woodland feel. This cake topper would look great on top of a wedding cake with a slight woodland or fairytale theme. As it's made from polymer clay it will make a great keepsake that will last for a very long time. I love how it's turned out as I love creating peacocks from polymer clay. I think the finished piece looks very pretty and have put it into my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/fizzyclaret?ref=si_shop

1/24 scale cottage chic shelf unit

Here is my first 1/24 scale mount board cottage chic shelf unit. I mixed a tiny bit of pale pink with lots of white paint to give a very soft pink glow to the shelves and then added darker pink polymer clay roses to the sides for the final finishing touch. I've made so many different shelves lately that I think it's now time to move onto creating something different for the dollhouse. This shelf is currently for sale in my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/fizzyclaret?ref=si_shop
As it's finally warming up weather wise and is beginning to feel a little more like Spring I have been out and about gathering bits and bobs from walks in the countryside with my three year old little girl. I want to incorporate my finds into my next project. I'm going to be creating some fairy style furniture and want lots of natural elements included such as twigs, dried moss, wood, dried flowers...etc to give the furniture a more natural feel. I'll also be using polymer clay to create tiny toadstools and colourful leaf canes to add to the miniature furniture to give it a more vibrant look. I'll keep you posted on how it goes :)

Pumpkin dollhouse tutorial by Tori West

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this amazing tutorial that shows you how to make a pumpkin dollhouse from scratch using paper clay. I was totally amazed at the finished house and thought it looked fantastic, a real work of art. This is something I'll definitely be trying at some point this year. The good thing about this tutorial as that as the house is built from scratch you can customise it to look like anything you want so lots of scope for the imagination. The tutorial doesn't have many photos although many of the steps are cleverly illustrated which really helps. Here is a link to the tutorial so you can have a look and maybe think about building your own pumkin dollhouse :

http://www.minimotion.com/HOWTO/quarterpumpkinhowto.html

1/12 scale dollhouse shabby chic rose shelf cabinet

Here is my first full piece of 1/12 scale furniture hand made from mount board and decorated with polymer clay roses. If there was ever anything that I was addicted to making it's polymer clay roses and I add them to just about everything I make. The roses on this cabinet give it a lovely summery country cottage feel. The shelf cabinet has been painted in cream acrylic paint and then the edges have been lightly brushed with gold effect paint for extra effect. I think the finished piece looks lovely and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. That's the trouble with starting a piece of work, you just never know which ones are going to work out well or end up in the bin. Thankfully this one didn't end up in the bin. It will be put up for auction tomorrow evening (Tuesday 19th March) on ebay (seller:fizzyclaret).

Not only am I addicted to making roses but teapots too. Here I have combined the two and you can see these new teapots in my etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/fizzyclaret?ref=si_shop.

1/4 scale pale pink rose shabby chic dollhouse furniture

My first set of 1/4 scale mount board furniture in the peach and cream colours was quite a success on ebay so I decided to make some more but with a more romantic feel to it. This latest set is hand painted in the palest pink acrylic paint and has a lovely pink rose design on the front doors. I have added deep gold acrylic paint to the very edges of the doors and the corners to give it an aged look so that it fits in perfectly with the shabby chic theme. The items that you can see in the above picture will be up for auction on ebay from this evening (seller:fizzyclaret) and will finish next Saturday evening(16th March).