Take a Bow, I Have Finished a Whole Room....The Leaky Cauldron

Today I have put in the last finishing touches to the bar of The Leaky Cauldron and tacky waxed in everything. This is it the room is officially done. There will be no more tweaking, primping or procrastinating, I promise to leave it alone.

The bar is open for business.

Three changes since yesterday: the blackboard showing all the Leaky's Specials, a very un-PC goblin head by Debbie Lyons and one of Sarah Hendry's wonderful cat sculptures.

This room has taken shape after two years of collecting and planning so I hope you will enjoy my walk through of all the different areas and perhaps discover a new miniature artisan.

These three raucous hags are all by Jain Squires, I adore Jain's work as it is so quirky and each doll is beautifully dressed. 

They are celebrating a birthday and have certainly taken full advantage of all the the Cauldron's hospitality. The poor cat, from Miss Sally World,  is exhausted by them. 

 I always find it really hard to begin piecing together each little scene as it will mean 'spoiling' a piece of furniture that it may have taken a while to source. So I thought long and hard  about my celebration table and asked the extremely talented Linda Cummings to create a Hag's Birthday Cake as my centrepiece. Linda is a real artist and we had lots of email discussions about size and design using photographs from the internet.

 As you can see Linda has created an absolute masterpiece that stands proudly above all those empty bottles!! The top of the cake has a crash landed witch with her red slippers and broom with actual bristles!! There are striped candles and flying bats as well as mushrooms and grisly fingers. Wow!! It is a total work of art and I am so glad I approached her at the Kensington Festival. Lin is a very talented lady who is so enthusiastic about her work and I feel truly honoured to own such a unique piece. Many, many thanks Lin.

 I have spent a lot of time trying to source bottles for this project and ended up buying quite a few off Ebay.com simply because of their shape, then I went to the Alexandra Palace Fair and was able to find quite a few there for a fraction of the cost!!

 I have also bought some gorgeous handblown miniature glass pieces from Glasscraft at various fairs. Although do check the size of the decanters necks if you are a solid water beginner like me. All the glass can be coloured with glass paints and I opted for this method too.

Ray Storey not only makes fabulous lights but also a range of very intersesting hand blown glass and I have used a number of shapes and colours, brown and green have worked really well.
My Tiny World also has a quite a varied range of glass, mostly jars, in all sizes which are of a lovely quality. 

 As my witches are more than a little tipsy they have spilt quite a few of their drinks. For these spills I decided to use Scenic Water from DeLuxe Materials. This is a very easy product as you simply, and carefully, heat the amount you need in the microwave. I used a little plastic tub with a jelly cube amount at a time, about the size of my thumb, in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds but do be careful it gets very hot!!!!

Scenic Water can be coloured with water based paints, the specialist colours sold by Deluxe or even food colourings ( although I have read that these can fade ). Add tiny amounts until you get the colour you want. Scenic water sets quite quickly but it can be re-melted in the micro wave for a couple of seconds to make it runny again.

I simply spilt it on the table a bit at a time and then helped the drips stay in place using cocktail sticks. Scenic Water does not harden in the same way as Solid Water which is why food miniaturists use it for jellies but because it sets quite quickly it is good for spills.
Gosh I haven't got very far tonight but I am so pleased with this room I want to take my time sharing it.
One room down, nine more to go!!!

New Kid on the Alley.......

A little while ago I discovered the wonderful characters of Jo Medvenics of Pocket Pygmies.

After seeing one of her commission pieces I asked her to make me a Hogwarts 6th former with attitude for my Diagon Alley.

I loved he way she had sat her commissioned piece and definitely wanted the same crossed leg pose.

As you can see I have exactly what I wanted and more!

A wonderfully crafted piece with all the fashion sense you could hope for in a teenage witch.

Isn't the hair just fabulous!

She also came with her own chair and all the necessary bits and pieces a serious student of magic would need, even her own frog to practice on. 

My Diagon Alley is set many years after 'He Who Must Not Be Named' so I feel sure that this girlie must belong to the family of Cho Chang.

Look at these shoes and stockings.

I just adore their drama.

Not sure where I am going to sit her yet, maybe practising outside 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

Now pop over to Jo's Etsy shop and enjoy looking at all her quirky and beautifully made characters.