Welcome..

I have a new follower Taenia who's blog is called Taenias Miniatures.
Welcome to my World Taenia. Taenia is from Vienna in Austria and has lots of tutorials on her blog.
As always please go over and say Hi, to this very talented Lady...

Some Other Goodie's...

Here's some of the other Goodies that I got from Matlock Miniatures. The Dove Cot is for the Diagon Alley Street Scene, it will be suitably distressed.
The tiny spindles are going to be used in Eeylops Owl Emporium, for perches for the Owls.
The tiny little plastic mice, well I have a couple of uses for these. One being that I want to make another mould, so that I can make uniform sized sugar mice for "Honeydukes" and then paint these ones and use them about Diagon Alley.
The tiny wooden Barrels are for the inside of the Apothecary.

Apothecary Unit....Distressed

I finished the units. I did give them another coat of paint. The third picture gives a truer colour of what they've come up like.
I then used a very fine sandpaper and gave them a good rub, to take it back to the wood in certain places.
Need to fill all the trays on top now....

Apothecary Unit....

Just tried out the units I painted earlier in the Apothecary. The Flash has made them look lighter then they actually are. Think I might give them another coat of paint before I distress them. Want them to be more the colour of the Barrels, that I did before.
My Friend Nikki had a brilliant idea about building a shelving unit coming off, of these units, to place jars etc on. But the ceiling height downstairs, is quite low compared to upstairs. So I've lined the units up, in the middle of the floor, under the central Beam, to see how much room I have to play with. I may end up putting little hooks in the beam and hanging stuff from there over the unit.. Still can't decide! Decisions, Decisions....
In the Harry Potter books, this is what it says about the Apothecary...
The Apothecary is a fascinating shop crammed with all sorts of interesting things. There are barrels of slimy stuff lined up on the floor and jars of all sorts of powders, herbs, and the like along the walls. Bundles of feathers, fangs, and claws hang from the ceiling. The whole place smells very bad, a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbage.

Distressing....

In the comments on my last post Donna from Never Enough Time, asked me to share how I distress my furniture.
So here's some pictures of how I do it.
First off, I water down some Acrylic paint, the colours I've used are Burnt Umber and Tree Bark Brown.
I mix quite a lot of water in with the paint, so that its nearly transparent. You can see it on the tile next to the counter. This is then painted all over the piece and left to dry.
I then mix up some more paint and water a little thicker this time and go over the top of the first coat. Then leave to dry.
Remember I want these pieces to look old and worn for Diagon Alley. In the bottom picture you can see what the counter looks like after two coats. You are still able to see the grain of the wood through the paint. Once this is fully dried, I'll see whether it needs another coat. If not that's the time to distress. I use a very fine sandpaper and sand, where the unit would be worn through year of use... I share the finished results with you once its finished.

Another Delivery...

I had another delivery this morning.
I ordered these bits from Matlock Miniatures yesterday! How about that for exceptional service.
I've been really pleased with everything that I've ordered from them so far and can't rate them highly enough. I know when I posted the shop units on here, that a few of you also went to their site and brought items and you were also impressed with the quality and service.

The large shop unit is for inside the Apothecary in Diagon Alley. I've brought two of these and am going to put them back to back, so my Witches and Wizards will be able to walk around it.
I brought another 3 tables to distress and dress with lab equipment for Greedbay aka EBay.
The screen is for another project which I want to start, so will go in my Stash until I'm ready to use it..
There's some more goodies in the box, which I'll show you later....

Hello Dollies...

Nikki's already shared this on her blog, but I thought I'd post it here as well.

Tomorrow night at 7.35pm on Channel 4, UK time, they are airing a programme called Hello Dollies, it is all about Miniatures and Dolls Houses.
The write up says:-
Kat McShane delves into the world of Adult Dolls House enthusiasts, exploring the attraction of creating Miniature worlds, through the stories of some very British eccentrics...
Don't you just love the way they call us eccentrics!

They are supposed to be showing some footage of the Kensington Fair that took place in December. I wonder if we will see any one we know?. I know a few of the Artisans over on CDHM were at the show....

I've already set the Sky to record it.
If you can't get Channel 4 where you are you can watch it on line here:-
http://www.channel4.com/watch_online

I'm off to my bed now, before I turn into a Pumpkin.. Night Night..

Feedback From Blogger Re Follower Gadget..

I've just had this comment left on the previous post from Rik Klau, Project Manager, Blogger.
We have been heard Ladies and Gents... Please go to the link in this comment and it will explain, why they have changed the Follower Gadget... Please let me know what you think...


Hi Debbie, thanks so much for the feedback. Really sorry you don't like the outcome - but hopefully I can share a bit more background on why we made the change here. In short, we were trying to respect individuals' privacy - but as I note in the post I linked to, we're considering other options that would show total numbers so that those people set to private aren't subtracted from your overall total.

At the very least, rest assured that the total number of followers hasn't changed.

Thanks again for the feedback, and thanks for using Blogger.

Regards,

Rick Klau
Product Manager, Blogger
http://tins.rklau.com/

Welcome...

Well after all the upset about the follower gadget. I have two new followers and they are at the top of the list.

Welcome to Linda of Une Petite Folie. I've been following Linda's blog since she started it a short time ago. Linda has built the most Stunning House. The attention to detail is fabulous. Its like looking at a real life Glossy Magazine. In a word Beautiful.
Welcome also to Teresa of Tiny Ter Miniatures. Teresa is an IGMA Artisan and also has her own website TinyTer Miniatures. Teresa makes the most wonderful miniature food.
Please go over and say Hi to both of these very talented ladies.

Just Found This On Blogger Help Page..

We are in the process of integrating with Google Friend Connect, which may temporarily affect the Following feature for some users. Specifically, users who already use Following and Friend Connect may notice missing blogs in their profile, as well as a decrease in the number of public Followers on their blogs.

This is because we have set these users to "anonymous" to avoid linking the profiles of Blogger and Friend Connect users without their permission. They are still following privately and will able to make themselves public again.

After the official launch of the Friend Connect integration, we will communicate with the affected users and instruct them how to reset their relationship to public. To reiterate: the number of Followers has not changed, and we believe that the launch will improve the visibility of your blog and community. We will post more details on Blogger Buzz as the launch approaches.


Well that's all well and good for them then, but obviously by the comments I've had on the previous post, we all hate it.
I've also noticed that I've lost followers! At least five..
And to top it all I went to my Dashboard to check the blogs that I follow and guess what everyone's blog has disappeared and it says, YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWING ANY BLOGS!!!!!!
Well for your information BLOGGER! YES I BLOODY AM AND HAD 200 ON THERE. All I can say is thank goodness that I made the Tiny Treasures Mini Link Page...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Aaaaaarg Follower Gadget...

Well what can I say I am not a Happy Bunny. For those of you that have the Follower Gadget on your blog, check it and see if it has changed.. I liked it the way it was, it enabled me to Welcome people as they added themselves as followers, newest persons photo would show first in line. Oh but not this new Gadget, its mixed everyone up, so I'm not going to know who's the newest follower. So if your a new follower to my blog and I haven't welcomed you, please forgive me. Please email me via my profile page or leave a comment on my blog and I'll share your site with everyone.

To say I'm P****d off is an understatement...

I've Been Playing With My Glass...

Well as you can see I've been playing with the Glass, that I received this morning from Mary & Ed. I've done a dry run on how I want it to look.
Doesn't it look wonderful. Can you tell how pleased I am with it?. If you click on the pictures they will pop up bigger.
If you look at the bottom picture, can you see what's under the table? There's Dragon Egg's, these were made by my friend Kat from Kat The Hat Lady. Kat is the lovely lady that makes all those wonderful hats. I have some new ones to show you later, that I won from EBay the other day..

Wizards Apothecary Glass

Remember I told you about Ed, the man that makes all my glass for me.
Well just over a week ago I sent Ed, the table that I'm going to use in the Apothecary and asked him if he could make all the Laboratory equipment for me to fit on the table.
Well the parcel arrived this morning and I'm totally blown away.(Excuse the Pun, as all Ed's glass is hand blown!). Ed makes Laboratory Equipment in the real world, so he scaled the glass down, exclusively for me. Hopefully, if everything works out, I will be selling this Miniature Laboratory equipment, in the not so distant future. Ed also sent me a drawing, to show me how it all fits together and labelled everything. He even made me a little holder for the test tubes and a retort stand for the retort.
Ed made me a Bell jar, Filter Flask, Filter Funnel, Carboy, Airlock, Storage Jar, Coil, Beaker, Test Tubes, Retort, Measuring Cylinder, Conical Flask and a Boiling Flask.
The Beaker and Measuring Cylinder even have the graduation lines on them. And just look at the Coil it's orgasmic. Can't wait to get it all set up on the table. I'll post some more photo's later.
Thank you so much Ed. Sending big hugs & kisses. xxxx

Video Clips..

I've just uploaded a couple of short video clips over on my Hericus Blog page of Apollo, that I took on Sunday, if any of you are interested.

New Followers..

A big Welcome to my new followers they are:-
Zaphia who's blog is called O Mundo de Zaphia. Zaphia's blog has the most beautiful photographs of her Miniatures.
Minialev who's blog is called Minialev.
And last but not least is Golden Unicorn Miniatures who has a blog called Golden Unicorn Miniatures and also a website.
As always please go over and say Hello...

I've noticed that I've lost a couple of followers over the last couple of days!

Just to let everyone know as well, that you can only follow 200 blogs, how did I find this out? Well I went to add myself to someones blog yesterday and it wouldn't let me. Said I was already following 200 and that's your limit. So I'm going to have to reduce them, please don't be offended if I disappear as a Follower to your blog, I'll still be popping in to catch up as I have everybody over on my Tiny Treasures Mini Link Page.

Blog Awards.. Thank You Kat & Casey..

Yesterday I was awarded an Official Witchy Witch Award from my friend Kat, over on Kat The Hat's Blog page. Kat awarded me my Official Witch award for my work in Witchy Miniature Making. Thanks so much Kat, I could see quite a few of us huddled round a Cauldron having a good ole cackle.. LOL..





And today I have been awarded a Your Blog Is Fabulous from my friend Casey over on Casey's Minis. Now with this one I have to list five of my addictions, then pass it on to another five people.
Well let me think !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My addictions are:-
1. Miniatures and anything Dolls House related.
2. Miniature Shetland Ponies (Do you see a theme continuing here?)
3. Blogging, which is nearly all Miniature related!
4. Chocolate. Well I'm sorry, but what would us Girls & Boys do without some of the Sinful Stuff?
5. Mmmmmmmmmm can't think of anything else at the moment!

Now here's the tricky part, I read so many other blogs and I think they are all fabulous, so I think it will be names in the hat again.
I award the award to:-
1. Marsha at Sassy Mini Dolls.
2. Susanna at Elamaa Koossa 1:12.
3. Marja at Marja's Wondere Wereld Van Miniatuur.
4. Jean at Jean Day Miniatures.
5. Linda at Linsminiartform.

Another 1-12th Miniature Horse Link.

After my last post, Jody from Mini Leaps and Bounds left a comment, pointing me to another Miniature Horse Pony Site called Rio Rondo Enterprises, they claim to have the most exclusive collection of Miniature items for Model Horses in the World.. Its well worth looking at, but I did notice they don't have any English Saddles!...
Also Jodi from Creager Studio's asked me how many Miniature Shetland Ponies we have here.
Well Jodi, in answer to your question we have 23, yes I did say 23! We are also expecting some Foals from our Mares in late April early May. If you'd like to see all my babies they are over on my other blog Hericus Miniature Shetland Stud. There are lots of pictures and some video of one of our babies being born last year. Have fun...

Miniature Horses & Ponies..

While I was reading through the March edition of Dollshouse World. I came across a couple of Sites, where you can buy Miniature Horse's and Ponies, in 1/12th Scale.
Now as everyone knows by now, my Miniature Shetland Ponies are the other great Love of my life, so I was quite interested in having a look at these sites. I can feel a Miniature Stable coming on.. Another one to add to the wish list.. LOL..
Here's the Links to the sites if any one is interested, Utterley Horses and Scale Farm..

Miniature Turnings

After looking at Mike's wonderful wood turnings yesterday, over on his blog Just Mike and another Crazy Idea.
It reminded me that I also had some Miniature turnings in my collection. So last night I had a root round and found a few to show you.
All of them except the large Urn with lid were made by a lovely Gentleman Ron Davie, who I used to attend the Dolls House Club with in Kent.
I do have some other turnings by Ron, including a lovely little wooden Tea Set, but it's still wrapped and packed somewhere.
I think my favourite in this batch is the tiny squat pot with the lid, which is the second photo from the bottom.
The large Urn and lid, was brought when we were on Holiday in Corfu and is made from Olive wood.

Welcome Savannah...

Welcome to my new Follower Savannah.
Savannah is very new to the blogosphere, and has only just started her blog called Miniature Mumblings.
Please go over and say Hi and Welcome Savannah to the blogoshere..

Nikki's Cauldron

My friend Nikki, is doing a tutorial over on her blog Witch and Wizard Miniatures, on how to make a Witch/Wizards Cauldron. Nikki's doing it in stages, making it easy for you to follow.
I'm going back over there now to see how far she's got.
Be sure to pop over and check it out...

Mini Links...

Just to let you all know that I've added quite a few more Miniature links over on the Tiny Treasures Mini Link Page. There is nearly 400 Miniature related blogs on there now.. That's without all the other links.
I've also added the follower gadget over there, as I just wanted to know who's using it and are you all finding it useful?.
I've been going through all the Miniature Magazines and adding the links to Miniature Artisan's Web sites and Etsy links.
Please email me if I've missed your blog and I will gladly add you, or if you find a link.
Have fun everyone...

PetitPlat By Stephanie..

Stephanie from PetitPlat, tried out my Truffle Tutorial. (see previous posts)
Stephanie will be displaying and selling her beautiful wares at SIMP 2009. the International Miniature Fair in Paris. She is currently working flat out to get enough creations to take to the Fair. I Love the little boxes filled with Macaroons, and just look at the little round blue box of Chocolates, it is beautifully decorated. If you click on the photo's they will pop up bigger.
Stephanie has kindly allowed me to share her pictures with you. Thank You Stephanie.
Can you see the little bowls of truffles she made. Please go over and say Hi to this very talented young lady.

Welcome Mike Rowe

I have a new follower Hello Mike and welcome to my world. (Waving)..
Mike has a blog called Just Mike and Another Crazy Idea.
Mike is a Wood Turner who makes the most wonderful Miniatures. Mike also has an Etsy Shop where you can buy his wonderful creations.
As always please go over and say Hi, to this very talented Gentleman..

That reminds me I have some Miniature Wood Turnings, in my collection. I'll pull them out and share them with you later.

Collector's Case..

I rang Nikki today from Witch & Wizard Miniatures, to tell her there is a picture of some of her work in one of the Miniature Magazines. But she'd already seen it. While we were chatting I was telling Nikki about this Miniature Collectors Case and she asked me to post some pictures.
So here they are.
The top photograph shows the Butterfly collection, housed in the top of the case.
The first drawer, contains a collection of real miniature shells
The second drawer contains tiny little precious stones and in the bottom drawer is an egg collection.
I brought this some years ago either at Excel in London or at Miniaturia in Birmingham. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I still haven't decided where I'm going to put it.