Pottering Around Slug and Jiggers......

I have been Spring cleaning my real house this week but after so much hard work I decided it was time to return to doing some of the things I really want to play with. I hate housework with a passion, I know many people look around and feel a sense of achievement as they work through their chores, me? I just wish I had a cleaner!!

Anyway, I have stained and varnished the pieces for the upper room. I have sanded them down over and over again to distress them but the stain seemed to really bite into this wood. 

 I am not sure whether to tile the back of the sink or not, as it will be covered with gunge, debris and all sorts of bits and pieces I am don't think I really need to.

 I have also added the owl stand by Michael Mortimer as I think Mrs Slug would like a companion in her work. I bought the tiny brass handles at KDF from Pheonix Models and finished off the apothecary cabinet. I really wish I had tried to make a couple of open drawers but it is too late now. Next time!!

 The haberdashery counter has stained really nicely but I do think it needs a proper work top rather than the acrylic top. I bought the counter from Apollo Miniatures a long while ago.

 This is the back view which I really like, it seems a shame to hide it. The chiminea is a piece by Nikki Rowe and the pictures really do not do it justice at all. The coals look amazing. I have had this piece for a couple of years now but I think I have finally found the right place for it. 

 The skirting boards are now in and I have added some LED lights to the upper floor. I also gave the walls and floors a pasting of PVA and water mix to toughen up the interiors.

As I am now looking at the 'dressing' stage of this project I have been looking through various boxes getting together the pieces I have been collecting. This is great fun and sometimes a little shocking, but I do end up spending a lot of time playing.

I found these gorgeous wooden barrels and troughs by S and S Eismont whose work I absolutely adore so........do I put them outside? I want to fill the troughs with miniature herb plants but the barrels are so beautifully made I really don't want to mess with them.

 Barrels and trough?

 Trough high and barrels low? Decisions, decisions......

 I have also added a small table to the downstairs shop as an additional display counter. I even managed to match the paint effect quite well this time which was a bonus!

My next job will be to make some hanging herb sprays for the walls and ceilings and have a major play with all the bits I have been stashing away. I also want to add some copper pipe work upstairs, make a work top and decide where all my grunge, spillages and debris is going in the upstairs potion room. 

Oh and begin dressing all the furniture. More potions to make!!

Big Thank You to Nikki Plus Even More Potions......

In my last post I showed a photograph of Snape's office that I took at the Studio tour with all the lines of black capped potion jars. I asked for help and Nikki Rowe came up trumps in her usual way, with a simple but perfect solution. Now Nikki is a superbly talented artisan with a hugely generous spirit and I am so grateful not only for her help but for the time she set aside to think about my lids.

I hope she won't die laughing at my clumsy efforts....I have tried Nikki, honest!!

 Nikki came up with the idea of using card and this was my first effort, except I used back paper, not sure why, and although it looked ok.....

 ......the two pieces did not quite connect! The paper was too thin to join and not sturdy enough but the look was perfect. 

 I decided to stick on the labels first as my cutting and gluing is a little bit suspect. As you can see the circle tops sit on top of the rim band. I will let them dry and then cut the edges and carefully sand off the rough edges. These labels are from Etsy seller Angie and they are perfectly made for miniature potion jars.

 Still a work in progress, don't laugh Nikki!!

 These "mob cap" potions are ready to be placed on their shelf. These are 30mmx30mm and are part of the Witch E.T. Grubb range of potions exclusive to Slug and Jiggers. 

 The purple is repeated in the ties and on the label, as purple is the signature colour of this renowned brand. 

 The mob caps are made with the cheapest dish cloths stained with tea and small piece of purple netting that just about peeps through.

 These jars just need the corks grunged up as little before stacking on the top shelf. These are quite tall at 35mmx20mm, a little large perhaps but I do want a variety of sizes and Snape's office did have small and huge.

More from Witch E.Grubb and ingredients from Harry Potter. The labels are computer made using Word's Table formatting. The fonts are size 6 and 8. I decided not to age or burn these labels to keep the clean and ordered look in the shop as I want the top floor to be in complete contrast.

Very sleek apothecary downstairs. Mad, crazy potion mixing upstairs.

Well that's the plan!