Mushroom book.

Casey over at Casey's Mini's found a lovely book while out hunting bargains today. Its a 1963 mushroom identification book and she has shown some of the beautiful hand painted illustrations on her blog.
I've wanted one of these myself for a long time so had a search on greedybay and did find an exact copy but it was quite pricey to have shipped from the states to the uk.
So i've managed to find an alternative here in the uk. Would have liked one like Casey's but im sure this one will be wonderful to sit infont of me as i work.
My book is the top picture and Caseys is the bottom.
If you're into mushrooms like me then have a look on ebay for other alternatives. It brought up some wonderful finds.

Fly Argarics as pets and bad photo day.

My son Patrick age 13 took my camera out in the garden when it was snowing with a little bit of rain mixed iin, got it soaked and ever since i can't seem to take good photo. Can you believe he was holding it up to the sky to take pictures of the snow falling towards him. The only trouble was he did this for about 5 minutes.
I then sepnt hours taking it all apart to dry for two days.
Can you believe i've taken over 100 shots today and this picture is still not that great. But i suppose you get to see them complete.
I've set them up in a temporary setting so you can see them with soil and scatters of moss with stones. I just wish there colourful cheeks would show more.
When i have my camera sorted for all my recent work i'll be able to take final pictures
and then i'm going to try CDHM rather than Greedybay to sell them.
So if you're a customer of mine i will send you all emails as to when this date will be, or if you read this blog on a regular basis then the info will be here at some point by next week.
Been in a bit of a muddle recently. I'm tired of repeating my miniatures or making slight variations and want to start creating a wider variety of witch and wizard mini's. I've also been doing lots of research for the last two weeks, reading books and trying out lots of new materials and techniques. I've been runing tests and creating samples for future reference and drawing too. Plus sorting my craft room and chatting lots to some wonderful people through this blog or by joining lots of groups and forums to further build on my future plans.
My other plan is to have some time working on my own house and witch shop and still manage to somehow be a good mother (even a good wifey). I've spent far too much time ignoring the kids on sundays when photos have needed to be taken and then sitting and listing items for sale in the evening. Evereyhting has been too much of a rush, never had time to eat, let alone sleep for long. Which is why i've been a bit all over the place at the moment.
Also from now on i won't be taking commission work because i like to create on a whim. As much as its a good way to know you have lots of sales it kind of puts me in a panic, and when i want to relax i don't knowing i'll be letting people down when i'm running late. Plus i find i actually make less items when doing a special order because my brain just goes dead... lol. Honestly it does.
I'd also like to work on projects for publication, and somehow with my lack of computer knowledge create a making witch, wizard and haunted miniatures book working on various spooky items, with hints and tips, product research and stuff like that.
But then there is a whole future so i'll take it more easy and catch up on some badly needed sleep

The guessing is over!

Yes, Debbie you are correct. Thought you wouldn't get it!
These are going to be pet mushrooms or fly argarics (the ones with the red tops and spots). They are bigger than what i would normally make because i had to get the details in, but once i mix them in with tiny babies they will look fine.
I'm going to sell these loose so people can either pot them up or plant in their gardens and will leave part of the woden sticks on so they can be poked in where needed.
I also have some in jars with soil, which have a wire carrying handle (forgot to take the picture).
Can't show you them with their tops on today because need to paint the dots on.
As a little tip for panting tiny dots forget a paint brush. Use a cocktail stick instead. They make perfect little dots. and once dipped in paint i can get 5 dotd per dip as an average.
Will take new pictures in te morning.
Photo not great today but can see see their rosy cheeks?

Really don't like that.

After signing in this morning i discovered they have changed the members view area on the side bar and really don't like it. When you click on a member you now have to scroll through all the details and so don't like it. I'm a visual person and if i can't see it then i can't do or use it.
Is it just me this has happened to or do blog spot make changes without you knowing?
Such things put me in a panic. I hate change and wish people could leave things that work well alone. Its the same with blooming greedybay (my friend Debbie calls it this) and they keep on changing everything. Just when i learn one thing that isn't hard for others off they go and make unwanted alterations.
Grrrrrrrr.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I'll be a little late today showing you what the little faces will become. Had a bad day yesterday and then the kids come home from school so nothing much was done. Then an evening of cooking and housework (very dull).
Off now to work on them.

Can You Guess?

Can you guess what i'm making?
Yes, i know everything i make at the moment seems to end up with a face, but 'm just happily into faces at the moment.
I shall show you tomorrow what they become more like the real thing, and think i'm so going to love them.
A few are going in jars and some will be loose, so when i sell them people can pick and choose what they want them to do. I'd so want them for my own garden!

Stir It Up and friends!

Yey. stir it up is complete and his friends too! I think his friends look great but not 100% happy with the main man and may do something extra to him. I made his spoon to match so he looks like dirty copper. I dont know if he should be filled and if so with what. Non creative brain these last few days so may ponder this a while.

See... i do finish eventually something i start.

Fab Blog Award!

Casey from Casey's Mini's has presented me with this award today. How wonderful to have another this week and thank you ever so much Casey. Check out Casey's blog which always makes me laugh.
I have to give this to 5 other bloggers and can't give to two of my faves because they already have it, so i'd like to pass this onto my other favourite blogs. You need to each pass this onto another 5 blogs, and then each person has to list their 5 addictions too ans so on and so on.
Kat the hat - always top of my list.
Joyce Stahl - love everything on this blog, just everything!
Laurie Hardin - Love everything about this blog and the beautiful work!
Silke - The Art of Silk Janas schloesser - such wonderful creations!
Following Troll Tracks - brilliant blog and work!
I also have to say 5 of my addictions. Well, i do like cakes (any cake). I also love chocolate (any chocolate), watching the sopranos (biggest fan), making my witch and wizard miniatures (could do that forever and even unpaid). Hmmmmmm the last one..... hmmmmmm, not sure. Oh yes, i do love cleaning floors, so i suppose thats an addiction and i do get withdrawal symptoms if i don't. Sad i know, but it does actually make me happy... lol
Thanks Casey for this fab award!

For Kat - The Cure

Hi Kat. Couldn't be bothered to open a new page and wanted to tell you the Cure are playing on Jonathan Ross this Friday. Can't wait. Gosh, he must look so old now.

Those boys are still not back, my hair looks great for the first time in ages and twiddling my thumbs.

Final Picture of the cauldron

Here's the complete cauldron. For some reason my camera is taking awful pictures again today but at least we have the colour right. Quit please with it and shall have it in my witches garden.
Still can't get the sides to show up as aged in the photo. I think i need to sort my camera out.
Off to do my hair before the boys are back, then out for dinner. Yum Yum!

Just thought i'd post some pictures of recent work.

Just thought i would post some pictures of recent work. I know many of you have seen them already but if you're a new followere then i suppose they are good to see. My favorites stil have to be the mandrakes.

At long last!

Yey... at long last we are so near the end. Bet you wish you hadn't started!

Anyway, the next step is to make up little bits of colour with your left over liquid fimo we coloured earlier in the day. Plus a tiny little bit of yellow. I've just done these colours on the paper next to the cauldron.
Start to dab a little bit of each colour here and there. They will all blend into each other and will look better than just one colour of green. Then bake for the last time. Bake for about half an hour now because you need to give the whole pot a good bake through. Remember we filled the pot with fimo earlier and it will be quite thick, hence why the last bake should be long.
Also ignore your husband that endlessly goes on about all the wasted electricity while you left it empty all day with the actual cauldron on your desk. Or your wife for that matter. Both moan lots so just simply ignore while thinking, but not saying you couldn't agree more!

Then give your bubbling mixture a coat of varnish. I would suggest the polymer clay varnishes.
The makers of fimo do a brilliant one called Eberhard Faber Gloss laquer. It's the one with the red lid and will make it nice and shiny. Or you could use their other version which is water soluble and has a blue lid. This will also give a shine but not as high as the red lidded pot.
I can't remember what or why but some varnished react with polymer so its always best to use one specified for the product.

If like me you have made a little bit of a mess on your cauldron with all this painting and baking you can always tidy it up using paint like we did at the start of this tutorial. I'll tidy mine up in the morning and hopefully post some finished pictures tomorrow night... but...
I'm going out for dinner tomorrow with my family so may not get time. Hurray for meals out (and pudding). I so hate cooking and it's lovely to think there shall be no washing up. Then as usual every Sunday night have a fab and filthy rugby kit to wash. I so hate muddy sundays!
Night Night!

Layers of liquid fimo.

Now tip your caulron back over so it's standing the right way up. Start dabbing your colourd liquid fimo into all the little gaps between and balls and then all over the balls working down the side a little. Then bake.
Once baked and cooled give the balls another coat of the coloured liquid fimo and bake for another 5 mins. Then another and totally allow to cool.
I know that meant lots of trips to the oven but it is worth it,
Next stage: The final colour using a darker green and yellow.

Filling in and sorting those bubbles!

As you can see i have now glued the glass balls all the way around the edge. At the moment they just look like stuck on balls but once we have painted them with the coloured liquid fimo i made earlier they will start to look wonderful.
Tip your cauldron upside down and start to dab all the way around with your small brush and the coloured liquid fimo. Work it into where the balls meet the caulron so that it looks like the liquid is stuck to the cauldron and not just the balls. KEEP THE CAULDRON UPSIDE DOWN AS YOU BAKE. This is because you dont want the liquid fimo to run down to the bottom of the pot and spoil all you work. Don't make this too thick though or it will run too much the other way and spoil the top of your cauldron.
Work this all the way around and do a 10 min quick bake again.
Once back out of the oven and cooled do this again all the way around the edge, then bake for 5 mins. Doing this will also make sure the balls dont fall off. Even though we super glued them earlier they were still quite fragile at that point.

Over the edge.

I have tried several things to make the balls stick to the sides. In the end as a last attempt i have used super glue which worked well.
Start to stick balls all over the sides so it looks like the brew is bubblng over. To do this i used a cocktail stick which i poked into a pudle of super glue, made a tiny dot on the cauldron side and stuck each ball on.
Once you have done this all the way round, we can move back onto using liquid fimo in preparation for the final coat of varnish and your finishe cauldron.
At the moment with the bad lighting it's not looking too great but i promise by this time tomorrow evening i'll post a wonderful complete miniature.

Back in a while with the next stage. I need to work on the back of the cauldron now and stick more balls. It's quite a slow process so play some nice music while you work.

Over spill for the cauldron

Now we shall make the bubbles spill over the edges. Using your smallest glass ball start to arrange them all around the edge. Make them go as far as you can to the edge ready for the next stage.
Now bakes for 5 minutes. At the end when we have totally finished we will give it all a thorough bake. The short bakes for now are just to enable you to move onto through the stages quickly.
I leave the oven on when i'm doing such things and just do quick bakes back and forward to the oven.
PLEASE NOTE: I'm taking my photos with bad lighting. The bubbles are much brighter and you can't see all the faults on the cauldron. Tomorrow when the light is good i'll take some nice picturs of the finished work.

Making the bubbles for your cauldron.

Note - I'm working under bad lighting for the photo so the colour in real light will be a lot brighter
Using another ceramic bowl pour out some of your glass balls (all sizes if you have them) and mix in some of the coloured liquid fimo from your other bowl (picture above).
When all mixed and all the balls are coated pour this into your cauldron (picture below). Fill up to just below the rim. You may need to use a cocktal stick to prod and push the balls around, Now bake in the oven for around half an hour as to your fimo and liquid fimo instructions.

Next stage coming up shortly - will make the bubbles spill over.

Filling the Cauldron.

My Friend Debbie has said its ok for me to use her idea of a bubbling cauldron. Go over and check out her fab blog called Tiny Treasures. If you look at the picture the glass balls most towards the front are what Debbie sent to me for my work. I do have more left in a bag. She's ever so kind.
Anyway, so now we are going to fill the cauldron with a green bubbling mix.
For this you will need: Liquid fimo, any colour polymer clay, tiny glass balls (various sizes if you have them), green, dark blue and brown oil paint, cocktails sticks (i think), paint brush, small ceramic mixing bowl, and of course your cauldron.
Just to make you laugh before we move on. When i cleared up after the final stage i chucked out £50 while in a rush (i do everything in a hurry). So i've just been right through the most yucky bin ever and found it at the bottom... totally yuck... lol.

First of all fill up your cauldron with fimo (as shown in the picture above) leaving enough room for a thick layer of glass balls and liquid fimo mix. You don't have to bake this yet and can do so after the next stage.


To make a coloured liquid fimo use oil paints (picture below). I'm making a green bubbling mix but you can do any colour you like. You can pick up cheap oil paints in discount shops.
Using a cermaic bowl mix your chosen colour into the liquid fimo with a paint brush. Add the oil paint slowly because i little goes a long way. To make my green i've used 3 different greens, some blue to darken it and then brown so its not so bright. Keep adding and mixing until you are happy with the colour.

Final Stages for cauldron.

Using raw umber paint do the same as before with the dry brushing. Don't cover the whole cauldron and work on the base and the handles and build up further shade. Try to make it represent a burnished pan. Picture above

Once the above was finished (picture below) i still wasn't happy with the surface and decided i needed some white paint. I dipped the brush in the white paint and rubbed and rubbed onto paper until there just the slightest amount of paint left on the bristles. Then i gently ticked the entire pot to enhance its appearance further. You wouldnt know it was white and looks a bit like a pot cooked on an open fire. I then diped in the white again, rubbed the paint of and worked on the bottom part to build up a little further shade.

The pot is now complete and ready for filling but you can of course leave it empty. I'm hoping to fill mine with a bubbling mix that spills over. My friend Debbie made one of thee a few weeks ago so best check with her first if this is ok for me to do.

Ageing Your Cauldron.

My cauldron's had its final coat of paint (top picture above) and now needs to be aged. As you can see this is a large cauldron and would be perfect in size for an outside witches cooking scene. Where all the witches gather together and stir up their brew in the open air
For the next stage you will need raw umber paint and burnt umber paint. If you dont have these colours use something similar. You will also need a firm brush, kitchen towel or paper and water.
We shall make the cauldron look like its been used many times and get rid of the solid black.

First of all use raw umber paint (Bottom picture below).Dip your firm paintbrush in and then wipe most of it off either on kitchen towel or paper (either is fine). There should just be the slightest amout of paint left in the bristles. This is called dry brushing and you will need to rub the brush all over the cauldron on the inside and out. Its almost like a tickling and you can build up layers of shade. Tickle one coat all over the pot to get rid of the solid black.
Dip your brush back into he paint again, rub most of it off onto tissue and then dry brush your handles. Dipe the paint again, rub most of it off your brush and working around the base of the cauldron start to build up shade. Like what you see on pots that have been over a flame where the base becomes tarnished. You may need to do this a couple of times.
Can you see in the picture that the cauldron now doesn't look all solid black and has beome quite matt rather than shiny like it was before.
Its dark here and working under artificial lightso the tones are not showing too well.




Back in a few mins with the next colour... took my time with this one because had to eat.

Making a handle for your cauldron

One of my customers has just emailed me asking how to make the handles for cauldrons so here's another mini tutorial.
Cut two bits of wire to your desired length. Think about what shape you would like the handles on either side to be or just copy mine.
In my picture i have glued the handles on with superglue prior to the painting as in my earlier post today. You can use almost any wire and the one i have used is florists. Its a little bit thin so have a think about the thickness of the wire before you make them. I can make these ones thicker by just applying several coats of paint.
I've shown the shape you will need to cut and make next to the pot. The handle shown next to the pot is too big but i've done this so you can see the shape easily.
I would glue the wire handles on before you paint the pot inside and out.

I'm now off to paint the pot, wait for it to dry and then we can move onto the next step of ageing.

After that we shall move onto fillings.

Making a Cauldron with Fimo or any polymer clay.

Quite often in the past i've searched high and low for miniature cauldrons with the end result being nothing suitable for my needs. They were either too big, too small, bad quality, too expensive and a never ending list of not quite right.
I've only been making miniatures for 2 years almost and so had to think of a way to make my own.
So after lots of wasted time, efort and money i just happened to have some plant pots infront of me and decided to cover them with clay. I've found this to be the best way to make cauldrons and cooking pots alongside a mixture of others.
You will need: polymer clay in any colour (will be painted later), skewer or cocktail stick, blade and a flower pot. You can also use a rounded straight modelling too but i don't.


Smudge bit of your fimo all over the pot so that later the fimo will stick to the pot. I just push bits on and smudge with my thumb so its all nice and flat and a thin layer. You dont have to do the whole pot, i dont.

Now roll up lots of long sausages making sure they are long enough to wrap around your pot. Dont worry about them all being the same lenghth because you will chop off whats not needed later and start to wrap them around your pot and press on lightly. Chop off whats not needed as shown in the picture. Where the pot needs to be fatter around the middle do a second layer of long thin sausages until you are happy the middle will be full and rounded.

Using a skewer or cocktail stick start rolling up and down the pot to squash all the sausages into each other, tryng not to loose your desired shape. Keep doing this until the surface is nice and smooth. I then just go all the way around with my finger and thumb to make it smooth ready for baking. Then bake. Once baked if you think some areas are sticking out more than other give them a sanding. Then coat you whole pot with a layer of black acrylic paint. When this is dry give it a second coat but this time stipple the paint so you creat a slightly rough texture lke used cast iron. To do this dab and dab with the brush all over. When dry you can stipple on more paint to bring out this texture more.
You dont have to use a flowere pot like i have here. If there is a pot you like the shape of you can cover that too with clay. Its a case of experimenting and sometimes the surface you will apply the clay to may need a coat of pva or even a sand down and a coat of pva. I've discovered poylmer sticks well to brass pots without any need for preparation. Wood is also fine and is safe to bake in the oven.
The pots showing below were made from unwanted copper pots and i removed the handles. These will have faces. I've made the arms with wire which i glued on with superglue before applying the polymer.
As usual please ignore all my spelling and typing mistakes... lol

Will be back in a while to show you how to make the pot look used and not so perfect.
Will also show you how to make handles.

Present for Kat the Hat.

Here's the Mandrake Twins that i've made for Kat the hat. Kat is always sending me lovely little parcels of feathers and other interesting bits so this is my thank you to her.
I couldn't take a briliant photo today for some reason so they look a little dull. They were also meant to be identical but mandrakes i think have a mind of their own and refuse to be copied, with each one always being unique no matter how hard i try to achieve the opposite. Perhaps they can be non identical twins or best of friends.
Their arms wrap around each other and if they're ever pulled from their pot the two together will make an almighty scream... lol.
Hope Kat likes them and finds a suitable spot in her garden/house/shop
Check out Kats link which will take you to her wonderful work and also if you click on older posts at the bottom of the page you can go back to the hat shop she has been making for the last year. Full of wizard and witches hats, with potions and other wonderful and unusual miniatures.
Coming up - going to show you how to make cauldrons for a witch, wizard or haunted scene. Well, thats if i find the time today.

Welcome!

Welcome to 6 new followers. You can find all their blogs by clicking on my most recent followers.
Trixie - No blog as yet.
Rosanna - Rosanna's blog is called La Stanzadi di giuggiola.
Rita - Rita's blog is called Ooak Fairy Sculpture.
Mike Rowe (no relation even though we have the same name). Mike's blog is called Just Mike and another crazy idea.
Tallulah Belle. Tallulah's blog is called Tallulah Belles Originals.
Cindy Lietz - Cindy doesnt have a blog but has a fab website for anyone interested in polymer clay.

After the bake!

Here it is after the bake. Its now more translucent but has darkened and breaks quite easily.
Even though it breaks quite easily with the shape i made it would still be fine for cheese and a variety of other miniatures.
The clay is beautiful to work with, doesn't stick to your fingers, is resisitant to finger prints while working it it, but takes on identations and markings better than fimo. I would imagine its better for detailed work such as the mandrakes i've made recently, and so going to use it to make the faces on some cauldrons i have on the go at the moment. I also had a little play with it to see how it loses its shape when you're working with it. For instance if i was making leaves wit fimo theleaves can distort and lose their shape while working and moveing them, but this clay didnt.
From the whole colour range i do prefer the colours because they look more natural and have a lovely subtle tone to them against the bright and vibrant fimo colour range.
I would also imagine its great for items such as candles like my friend Debbie is making at the moment so shall give these a o when i have finished my weeks work and hopefully post next week.
Overall a nice product to work with, that retains its shapes and indentations to a high standard, not sticky and probably the best replacement for translucent fimo 00 that i have tried since they removed this product.

Sculpey Premol Translucent Clay Test.

Last year Fimo stopped producing their clear translucent clay number 00 and this left quite a lot of people unsure what product to switch to to. Especially not good for people that were learning techniques from the angie scarr food book where she used quite a lot of this clay.
I used it mostly for cheese because if you look at real cheese it has a translucent look to it and it was especially good for brie and other soft cheese.
So today i'm running a test of Sculpey Primol translucent 5310 to work out what i will be able to achieve. It's baking at the moment and not sure if it will dry with the colour showing through the packet. It looks quite creamy with a slight ochre colour to it at the moment. Let's see what it's like when baked, how strong it is and if it will lighten in colour.
Back in a while when its baked.

Making Crows Eggs or Any other speckled Eggs Tutorial.

Easter is almost here so though i'd start preparing lots of fillings for witch and wizard easter treats, plus i'm making eggs today for one of my customers thats wants a variety for some jar filings. So if you're reading this John then i'll also pop in some loose ones too to scatter around your wizards kitchen.
Here we go, its ever so simple. I started this at 4.15, made up the clay and took the pics in 25 mins so this proves they are so easy to make.

Crows Eggs.

Make up some blue/green polymer clay mix, by using white, blue and green clay. When all mixed and you're happy with the colour mix in some ground rice. Have a look at the picture so you can work out roughly how much. Use a rolling pin to work it all in. This makes the clay have a nice texture and stops all the little eggs sticking to your fingers later.


Do the same again with a brown mix of clay and work all the ground rice in.



Roll out your blue/green clay and roll into a long sausage.



Roll out your brown mix of clay into thin sausages and stretch along the blue/green clay. Try and do this so its equal in ratio to what is showing in the picture.


Start to chop this all up into slices like shown above. Once you have done all the slices gently quash all the clay back up together again and continue chopping. This normally takes around 6-8 times of pushing back together and chopping again.



It should now look like this with tiny fine flecks of brown.




Gently squash all the mix up together into lots of long sausages. Try not to roll but squash and stretch into the long thin sausages, Once all your sausages are long and thin cut lots of slices and roll each of these into little eggs as shown in the photo. Then bake.

You can use any colour combintaions you want and can use more than one brown if preferred to makes the speckled bits. You can make them in any scale or even use at a larger scale for easter cards and ornamental baskets etc. I'm going to be making jars and baskets in 1:12th scale and anything else thats comes to me as i work.
The ground rice is available in most supermarkets and stops the clay being sticky, makes the eggs have a nice texture and matt look to them. Plus it makes them ever so easy to roll and flick onto your baking sheet.
Mixing ground rice into clay also makes wonderful bread and is also ideal for making cheesecake bases and crumbly cales and biscuits.

I tend to work on sheets of safety glass which can be placed in the oven. The surface i have worked on here is an old insert from a dining table. I also have a glass topped work table which is just perfect for polymer clay because its easy to clean, dosnt scar when you use blades and i would say is the best birthday present i've recieved .. ever!
Mind you wouldnt have minded a box of chocolates and flowers to go with it, but then i must not complain... Lol!