Busy, busy, busy....Filling up Honeydukes and Finishing the Windows.

I have been working in a bit of a frenzy the last couple of weeks as I am absolutely determined to finish, yes I did say 'finish', Honeydukes by the end of this summer. Quite a few late nights in the workshop and a lot of grim determination have led to a lot of progress I am pleased to say.

 Using the packet I bought from the Harry Potter Experience I made up  three different sizes of carton.

 The two smaller cartons I have simply filled with caviar and seed beads. Nice and easy. To make up the cartons I used this Tacky glue a product recommended by the ever helpful Jane Harrop when I visited her stand at Miniatura. This glue keeps contact very quickly so it was ideal for the smaller, more fiddly, cartons.

 The large carton, which will go in the window, needed much bigger beans so i decided to make these out of clay. I had toyed with the idea of just using real jelly beans but I was unsure how long these would last and whether the sugar would eventually react so clay beans seemed the better option.

 I have had to make a lot of beans but decided to only gloss those that would be seen, I am getting much better at taking appropriate short cuts! I am an avid follower and admirer of Otterine's Miniatures Blog and recently saw a post where she used double sided tape to help with painting multiple items. These beans have been stuck to my glass board with invisible double sided tape to hold them in place and then I just used Gloss Medium to add shine. This tip worked really well and I will use it in the future with thicker tape when painting wood pieces.

 The Exploding Bon Bons have come out better than expected too. These are double sided 'boxes', I cut triangles of balsa for the 'boxes' and painted them deep orange. The cellophane explosions are from Quality Street sweets.....the things we have to do for the sake of our Art!! Minis and chocolate the perfect way to spend an evening! These are the large ones....

 ....medium and...

 ....small.

I also made some tiny ones for the shelves of the shop. I couldn't cope with intricate cutting of this size so they have been simplified but stacked together I think they will be fine.

Two great products I have been using lately are Glue and Glaze by Deluxe Materials which can be used with acetate sheets for windows and clear plastics. It avoids all the mucky smears I usually get when using a normal PVA glue. 

While the wax paper, another great tip from Jane Harrop, is perfect for laying on your craft board when gluing or painting as the glued pieces do not stick. I have also lined my right angle jigs with was paper when building furniture and it works really well.

Ta Dah!!! The front of the shop very nearly finished. Windows all glued in place and they actually fit. I can't believe I have got to this point with this project. The lettering hasn't quite come out as I had hoped, the ink has darkened a lot and doesn't look very green anymore but hey ho. Just the guttering to go now.

 Bertie's Beans have pride of place in one window.

 With the bon bons sit in the other.

 While inside the shop they can be seen clearly.

I used all the different sizes to fill the window but ran out of cellophane for the giant bon bons, oh dear does that mean I have to buy another box of Quality Street?

Hope the sun has been shining on you and yours.