Tuesday 3 August 2010

Emporium's Exterior Part 3 ....and a local fair.

I have completed a little more on the exterior today working with balsa and Creative Paperclay. The shop has a clear definition between the bottom two floors and the attic floor. Instead of using the molding that came with the kit I have decided to make some long 'stone troughs'. I made a basic box like structure from long pieces of balsa with built in gaps for flowers, vines and the odd animal maybe. Very basic I know and my initial idea was to spray them with stone effect paint.
I changed my mind, however, and decided to cover them with clay 'pebbles'. I am not sure if I did this right as I stuck the 'pebbles' to the balsa using PVA glue. It seems to have worked ok.
I started with 'pebbles' that were too large but gradually got into the swing and made them less uniform. I textured them with a nail brush and will paint them in various shades of grey. Other bloggers have had a problem with the clay shrinking, this will not be too big a problem I hope as I can feel the gaps with moss etc.
At first I was a little concerned by the weight of these troughs but as the clay has dried they have lightened up quite a lot.
On Sunday morning I went to the only fair that is local to me. It was arranged by Dolly Daydreams in a village hall. I went along as I knew two of the stands were being manned by Mouse House Miniatures and Terence Stringer. Above you can see all the lovely food items I bought from Mouse House. I have long come to the conclusion that miniature food is way beyond my competence with fimo or clay and I will gladly leave it in the hands of artisans who know what they are doing.
I have a number of pieces from Mouse House from various shows and I love them. These are all for my witch's kitchen or potting area. The cabbages are simply superb.
I also bought this tiny little hand-painted cottage from Terence. It is a hand turned wooden 'box', the roof can be removed, with an elderly couple who live in the cottage. This is for my toy shop.
I couldn't resist these bits and pieces from another seller whose name I didn't catch at the time. The paint and glue will find a home in my toy shop, while all the ribbons, wool and cotton reels will be great in my emporium and Diagon Alley.
Not a bad haul for a local fair and only a 20 minute journey!

11 comments:

  1. Some nice buys there...love the cabbages. I have little patience or skill with clay as well :-(

    The troughs look great...I would actually hope for a little shrinkage as moss between the pebbles will be very realistic.

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  2. What a wonderful minies you've found, the cabbages really are fabulous! And I love that little cottage, so cute :) And those bits and pieces are so well done! I want sometime to be able to go to a fair :)

    Really can't wait to see the Emporiums exterior to come together :)

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  3. Lovely minis, Janice!! Love the peas!

    Last week I ordered something from Terence Stringer, can't wait to get it!! His website is so full of exquisite minis.

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  4. Janice, it's great to see that you are experimenting with paperclay too!!! :o)) I can't wait to see how you colour your pebbles. I will be checking again on Hogwarts for cracks and shrinkage. No shrinkage to date, but some tiny cracks, but that's fine.

    Was you paperclay sourced in the UK? I had to ask! lol

    I love your new mini's from the local fair...just wonderful!

    Michelle xxx

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  5. Thanks ladies,

    Glenda you will not be disappointed. I only have a couple of his pieces but they are gorgeous. They are a really nice couple too and were really pleased to think of his house being part of Blogland.

    Jayne, not a huge amount of shrinkage today but I will add moss anyway. As I was making more pebbles today I thought - eyes - they would look fab peeking out from little gaps. Too late now but I am going to keep it in mind for Diagon Alley.

    Michelle, Hobbycraft now sell Creative Paperclay, I saw it the other day. I have had mine for ages but I think I bought it from a link Nikki put on her blog. I normally use the stuff in the red packaging and I really haven't noticed any huge difference in quality.

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  6. Looking forward to seeing how those planters turn out, a great idea, and the eyes would have been so cool. I made eyeball rose climbers on the outside of my witches hat shop. I saw paperclay in Hobbycraft too! wonderful buys. Sometimes the local fairs are good, always alot cheaper so you can buy more! Kate xx

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  7. Hi Kate, I used to travel to a lot of the local fairs but have got out of the habit and now only go to this one and one other that is a short drive.
    I agree though you can pick up 'fillers' really cheap.

    I would like to find some good quality eyes now though, any ideas where?

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  8. Thanks for that Janice, I will take a look next time I am there! I've not seen one in red packaging I only I know of 3 brands.

    Eyes sound like a great idea for the pebbles. Hobbycraft do sell some fab (tiny) eyes, but I don't know of other sources for you.

    Michelle xx

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  9. Not sure of a place for good eyes Janice, I just make mine from fimo, white/translusent, bake then paint with acrylics . use a small drop of blue/brown/ or green and then a dot on a toothpick for the pupil and dry. I then use a red pen to put in bloodshot lines and gloss. Then just dot them around in amongst the plants! Kate xxx

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  10. Thanks Kate, I will certainly have a go at this as some of the sites I have looked at are either very expensive or far too big.

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