Trash to treasures - Egyptian jewel

Have you ever notice that when you want to make something in miniature, you have stuff laying about that is just precisely what you needed to finish your piece?  That happened to me today.  Let me explain.

I have decided that I am making an scene as a curator workshop: lots of ancient artifacts, everything mixed together, in an ecclectic collection.  Remember the Natural history cabinet?  It will be the first piece of the collection.  I may also include the chest with the coin collection. It really is out of sight in Kassandra's study, so I hope it will be more visible in the curator's shop.

Well, as usual, instead of starting putting floors on thinking about displaying furniture on the scene, I started with a minute detail.  I bought this golden crescent finding from Bindels Ornaments long ago.  I always knew it was going to be a jewel, but wasn't quite sure about what kind.  Today the answer presented itself.

Here is the finished piece: 

My husband uses microscopy covers that are 12 mm round, and they come in these cute clear plastic boxes.  Naturally, they have no use for the boxes once they are empty, so they discard them.  But I had a couple of them and I could upcycled them, which gives me great satisfaction.  I thought it would make a great display case for a recovered Egyptian jewel, and voila!  It was super easy to do.  I simply covered the protective foam with red velvet paper, and inserted it in the box:

Then I simply added some red "rubies" to the golden piece, and glued it to the case.  It measures 2 square cm. Love it!

Some time ago I used another one of these boxes to make a Ferrero Rocher box for my mom's patisserie.  This was so much fun, and she loved the final result.  I simply baked some small polymer clay balls (18, to be precise), covered them up with golden paper from a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, and used the tiny sticker in the bonbon to make the label for the box:

You  can't get more authentic than that!

I hope this is the first post of many in the making of the curator office.  It is such an out-of-the-ordinary scene that I can't wait to start crafting!

ETA: I have just found out that Bindels Ornaments is on Etsy, selling beautifully handmade lamps and some other knick-knacks!  Go get yourself something, you won't regret it!

Crafting sweets

As mentioned some entries below, I purchased some round tin boxes to turn them into patisserie boxes. It was such joy to make these, with the help of the Kemper cutters! It took me more than I expected, but I wanted them to be simply perfect. I am so happy how they turned out:

Shortbread cookies box and chocolates box. They both have colored tissue paper on the bottom, and the sweets are glued in place. I was very lucky to find a picture of the typical Danish butter cookies tin to decorate one of the lids!

This is how they look inside the pastry cabinet, in my dollhouse shop:

I made another chocolate box for the living room, to accompany the Absinthe tray. What is Absinthe without a bit of dark chocolate indulgence?

Probably the next cabinet that I'll do for my shop will have at least one chocolate box - this time made from scratch - as well as sweets, or Halloween goodies. We'll see...

Making miniature delights

Browsing the work of great miniature artists that featured little chocolates and cookies with the most whimsical forms I could not help but wonder "How in the world can they make something so tiny?" The answer is simple: cutters! Trivial, right? Well, wrong. Most of the cutters I found at craft stores or Amazon were designed to make jewelry or beads. Not knowing any brands, it was quite difficult for me to find cutters for miniature work.

Until the day I searched for "miniature cutter" on Etsy and came upon the brand Kemper. I was quick on purchasing a set of five, and I couldn't wait for them to arrive and begin experimenting. This is my first set of "shortbread cookies" made from polymer clay - they are a gift for my mom:

In the following days I am going to make more of them, as well as chocolates, to decorate the miniature tin boxes that I mentioned some days ago. Can't wait to see them finished!

Hectic August

Wow, it's almost Fall and it's been some time since my last entry!

On my behalf I would say that it's been quite a hectic August; we went on vacation to Baltimore and Philadelphia, were I have begun a new collecting habit - penny coins. Sure you have seen those machines that you put a penny into and it squeezes it and engraves a design. No? Then, take a look at the Penny Collector web page.

I have been browsing a lot, looking for inspiration for new designs; also making little treasures for my mom's dollhouse; and of course, hunting for new objects for my own dollhouse.

I have purchased some little treasures since last time I shared pics, so here they are:

A whimsical working hourglass for the magic shop; a bit expensive, but worth the price, I think

A door bell for the shop

The lovely mortar and pestle for the study

An unusual book buggy; all these four come from Kerbey Lane Miniatures on eBay

I have been refining my chocolate boxes making technique; I bought a punch to make the top and the bottom more attractive than a simply square. And recently I have acquired some molds to make the bonbons and cookies.
I am waiting for some tin round boxes to arrive to begin crafting like crazy!

Found a fun project...

Every dollhouse needs a box of chocolates! Yes, even one owned by a vampire. Vampires have visitors, you know?

When I found the blog of miniaturist Debbie, I knew I wanted to try her design of chocolate boxes. It didn't take me long, and here are the results:

The one with the black rose is for me; my vampire has a glass counter with sweets in her shop. Who said witches don't like to pamper themselves? So, the box with the black rose will go there.

The other one is for my mother. She simply loves miniature food! As soon as I show her Debbie's design she wanted one for herself. Wish granted!