A Dress Rehearsal.......The Cauldron Shop.

Whenever I am about to attend a dolls house fair I always have a dress rehearsal of the current project in order to clear my mind of all the items I definitely don't need!

I have finished the shelving for the top floor displays and then remembered that I had a chimenea made by Nikki  for her Kensington debut. It fits just beautifully against the wall and doesn't dominate the small space in the same way as the fireplaces I has tried.

 I have also 'sooted' up all the individual fireplaces in the main shop using a mixture of railway modelling soot and glitter. I decided to dirty up the surrounding floor as we all know floo travelling wizards and witches are likely to make a bit of a mess!!

 The upstairs is meant to be a sort of witchy kitchen shop.....A place for all those little pieces I love to collect really!! My Diagon Alley will only pay lip service to Harry Potter in many ways as I do adore gathering together items that take my fancy and then working them in to a scene.

 Here you can see my wonderful collection of witchy themed teapots by such wonderful artisans as Nikki, Lory and Jaqueline Dunn.

 I also want to add a few witchy recipe books and was pleased to find these by Pixie Dust Miniatures on Etsy. I quite like this little display with the brass cauldrons and Lory's gorgeous candle display but they may be moved in the final scene.......

I have also been collecting these marvellously witchy bisque pieces by an Ebay seller called Blue Sky Miniatures. He makes a varied range of pieces not just for Halloween at amazingly reasonable prices. They are extremely fine and beautifully hand painted.

Remembering this is a Cauldron Shop.....there are a couple of very special ones hiding on the top shelf waiting for a real place of honour!

The main shop floor where most of the cauldrons will be displayed is also taking shape, minus cauldrons......I know, I will get there eventually!

Here I will also display all the copper pots and utensils especially loved by the wizarding community. Mostly because I think they are stunning!

The range looks just right but I am going to enclose it in its own fireplace, not fully but I have tried out the structure around it and this will finish it off nicely.

I haven't done anything with the fire baskets yet as I have been waiting for some lighting supplies to arrive. I am planning to light each grate so that each.....cauldron, yes I promise there will be cauldrons.....can bubble away self-stirring and all.

 The corner mantle is a perfect place for pots and pans and eventually I will hang the utensils and floo powder containers. Still lots of gaps but I am learning not to expect to finish each project completely but to wait........

 The range will also have a couple of copper pieces but if you look closely you can spy.......a cauldron!! Made by the very talented Mags and bubbling away.

These pieces are what started me thinking of all things copper. They are the most beautifully made pieces with tiny rivets and brass handles. They are perfect copies of the real thing and bought them a long time ago now from a US site J. Getzan Dollhouse Miniatures. 

My photographs do not do these pieces justice so do pop into their webshop to see the fabulous range of items they make. A real shop to browse and drool!! Still Christmas is coming. Hint. Hint to my family!!!