Interlude: Stand for the soap shop

The soap shop is a project that goes on and off depending on my mood.  

After the haberdashery shop was complete, I knew almost inside out Zenas Miniature website, and upon searching for printables, I found a lovely product line called Aqua Spa.  And it being in a beautiful shade of turquoise, I simply had to have it for the soap shop.  Last saturday I purchased it, and I spent a couple of days crafting a display stand to showcase the products with the help of Corel Draw.  It only took four tries (it would have been three if I had not messed up the cutting of the last one) for it to be just perfect.

Today I finished up the mounting of the boxes, and I love the finished look of the set up:

Lots of self-care goodies!

The shop is coming along great...

The aquarium with the jellyfish has moved to Kassandra's new house.  She says everybody should have an aquarium in their home.  Hopefully the work there will resume this weekend...

Working in the soap shop

As I have said before, the work in this shop goes in batches!

For one reason or another, I always take up the work when I am on holidays.  This time was no exception, and so I started working on the little heart soaps:

Made of polymer clay and sitting in black-painted wood bowls.  The little basket has little shell soaps made with this mold.

I also printed (finally!) the designs of the towel boxes and the sheet boxes - they had been finished for ages, but I had never tried them out, to see if they fit into each other.  I had to fix the top of the towel box, but the rest was perfect!  I made the towels with printable cotton paper, rolled them and displayed them in the box - I even covered the window with a bit of plastic.  The little boxes have an Art Decó style design; I found them on Google - they are real vintage shell soap boxes, which could not be any more adecuate.  I simply cleaned the lines and reduced the size on Photoshop:

Then, more little bath bottles!  This time in green, and with a label for the Absinthe collection; and a couple of jars with bath salts (it is really salt, painted with a chalk); I love the little bows and the labels:

And here are images of everything in their final places:

I also made a little decoration for the round display, which I think gives it more character than just having it painted all white:

I do not have any decorative washi tape, so I made the decoration simply with Corel, and printed it.  I love that you cannot say it is just printed paper, even from a close distance!

The shop continues to grow, slowly but surely!

An update on the soap shop

It's funny how I do the work in this shop in batches!

Today I took up the soap shop again.  I am having visitors this weekend, and I wanted them to have a look at the scene and see how it is coming up.

I have been painting the furnitre in white these past days.  Nothing to report on that, just painting and letting dry.

But today I wanted to finish the cabinet of the Black and White collection.  So, I gave an extra layer of paint, and let it dry.  Then I took the drawers and replaced the plastic golden knobs by brass handles in the shape of a clam shell:

Love the clam shell pullers!

And then everything could go back to their place:

Yay! Finished!

 Plenty of things here!  I made some and bought some.  The cabinet comes from Beautifully Handmade.  The round metallic boxes, the white candle in glass votive, the brown-striped boxes and the fabric sample catalogues come from Syreeta's Miniatures.  The square boxes at the top (they have real candles inside!), and the white beauty products come from Sophia Miniatures.  The square boxes with a bow and little heart soaps inside, the room diffuser and the three striped and Toile boxes at the bottom of the shelf I made myself.  I don't remember where I got the clam shell pullers.  The basket was a gift from my mom.

And then, since I will be having visitors, I cleaned up the greenhouse.  The walls are not glass, but acrylic, but they are not damaged, so the scene can be seen quite clearly.  Here are some pics of the work so far:

Love my commode!

The glass apothecary jars are both from Sophia and Beacctrice's Miniaturas.  The one with the green soaps I bought ready made from Sophia.  The rest, I filled up and put the labels and ribbons myself. The round hat boxes and the black towels are also Sophia's, and the pitcher and the pillow with the crown are from Pilar Alén.

The box with the decorative papers I made myself.  The aquarium with the jellyfish (they glow in the dark!) is from Ángeles León.  The pillows with the marine decorations are from Vilia Miniature.  You will see that this shop will have a very dominant marine/ocean theme... The nesting tables are a gift from my mom.

This counter still needs a lot of work done...

The counter I bought on a miniature show called Kas y Tas.  The towels and the black basket are from Sophia.  The brown basket and the folding table are gifts from my mom.  As you can see, my mom keeps giving me stuff she does no longer need.  Not that I am complaining...

I will be crafting more little details as soon as I finish painting the last shelf.  And that one needs a lot of painting... Oh my!

Coming back to a long forgotten project

The work at Kassandra's house is never finished.  But sometimes I get an itch to do something different, and yesterday I began the work again in the already-mentioned soap shop in the IKEA greenhouse.

As it is usual with me, I begin these projects by starting with the most minute details.  Yes, I purchased the room, and even some furniture to fill it with.  And then I started crafting polymer clays soaps, pretty boxes, tiny toiletry bottles... I was so excited with all the media I was going to be using that I did not want to deal with furniture painting.  Or even worse, setting up an stable floor that would not end up with all the furniture and the decorations falling down - that happened, by the way.  Many times.

So, in my last trip to Madrid I purchased a board of balsa wood to set up a good foundation for the shop.  I thought it would be tricky to cut it to measure, but with the help of a new, barely used cutter, a metal ruler and a cutting board was piece of cake:

See the tiny pieces that I had to cut

As you can see, the floor may be good for plants, but not for tiny forniture filled with stuff

Once cut to size, I had to trim the corners so the acrylic walls would sit in place.  Then I glued the boards:

And then my favorite part: wallpapering!  I knew I did not want to simply paint the floor.  I wanted some contrast, since the forniture will be white.  So I head over Small Stuff's PrintMini and I chose a lovely tiled floor (that for some reason only exists in the 1:6 scale).  I printed 4 pages directly from the website, and off to mount them on the floor!

See all the stuff packed in boxes?  It's been there since we moved last Summer...

This time I used regular copy paper instead of the nice matte photographic paper.  Mainly because it is not walls, but floor, and really, it is going to be so full of things that I did not think it worthy to invest 4 pages of nice paper.  I took the double sided tape and covered the back almost completely:

Then I glued it to the boards and trimmed the corners:

And yay! It's finished!!  And the walls sit perfectly well in place:

It only took me about an hour of work, and I was very happy when I finished. It almost looks like it really was the floor of a greenhouse, and now the greenhouse is getting turned into a shop!

This morning I started painting the furniture (I hate painting furmiture!).  I gave a couple of hands, then let it sit until I came back from the lab, and applied a couple more coats where they were needed.  Then I took a commode I purchased a couple of years back (it came from El Rastrillo de Viti) and started working on it.

I had seen this beautiful commode on Minicler's shop, and wanted something similar.  But I wanted to use Toile paper in blue.  I find it très chic!  I also replaced the drawers wood handles by brass handles, and here is it the finished version:

I love it!

The shop is getting started... And you can see my minions, LOL!

I am very happy with these two days of work.  I hope I can keep up with the painting in tiny steps and it will be over soon.  I am anxious to start crafting decorations again!

Free soap box display printable

It's been some time since I made minis for myself instead of for sale.  Lately I have been doing printables to dress up the shelves in my soap shop.  I have still not picked up clay to make the actual soaps, but doing the boxes, the labels, and the box displays is being so much fun.

Funny thing, I had not realized that creating for others was as fulfilling as creating for oneself.  Now that my shop is closed, I miss sharing my creations.  So, since I do not think I will be selling printables again, I am sharing with you all one of my soap displays.  Remember the Ivory soap display?

Here is the printable for you to make as many as you like!  Just, as always, please do not sell them.

I hope I can post pics of my progress very soon.  Enjoy the crafting!

New cabinets on the shop

So, here is something new and totally out of my usual designs:

My mother purchased a pink bottle kit to decorate her dollhouse bathroom, and she let me had the ones she did not need.  I purchased a blue bottle kit and together with some extra stuff brings you this lovely cabinet for a fancy shop, drugstore or bathroom.  I particularly like the set of towels tied up with ribbon and the monogram.  The tiny soap boxes are just so cute!

Also, here is a new apothecary cabinet:

It has the usual bottles with their vintage labels and also a brass scale with scale weights of different sizes.  One of a kind!

Come and take a look!

Miniature soap box display available in my shop

I love tiny toiletries!  Even though my dollhouse does not have a bathroom, I love to peruse for them and create my own - and then gift them to my mother, who do has a bathroom.  

This miniature is very special, because it has a real vintage label from Ivory soap:

It is a display box that holds 12 tiny soap boxes, all of them with the Ivory soap label on both sides.  Boxes can be opened, and they come in 2 designs, white and blue.  They would look wonderful on a shop, spa, drugstore or pharmacy counter.

If you want more fun, why not make your own?  This design is also available as a printable for you to download and assemble.  Come and take a look!

New minis up for sale

Hello miniature enthusiasts!

My lab course had me unable to do anything creative-wise, but the lack of time and the lack of inspiration has passed, and I have been crafting like crazy these past weeks.  So I am very happy to say that I have new minis up for sale, with more to follow:

Apothercary cabinet

For those of you interested in medicine, here is a new apothecary cabinet, fully equipped for your pharmacy, doctor's office or mad scientist lab.

Witch or wizard table

 For those of you interested in magic, here is an enchanting table, with plenty of artifacts that will make the day of your magic-oriented mini people.  This table is one of a kind, and there will be no more like it.

Ironing board

For those of you with less extravagant tastes, here is a lovely ironing board for that forgotten corner of your dollhouse.

Also, I have available a vintage chandelier, an hourglass that actually works and the absinthe soap box is back again.  I am waiting for supplies to produce more absinthe fountains, but they will be up soon enough.

Come take a look!

More Absinthe crafting

But this time not in miniature. This time in real-life size, and for personal use, no less!

Have you ever crafted soap? It's so much fun, and I love to do it. The down side is that I can not craft soap all the time or my cupboards would be full of bars - although family and friends get their share sometimes, at Christmas or Valentine's Day. I confess that I don't know how to do the cold process method, and that I have enough with the melt and pour system. Yes, I know it's not the same, but it works for me. And I love making, displaying and using my own soaps!

Well, having fall in love with the Absinthe scent, I wanted to craft an Absinthe soap - that is, with anise scent. It was easy to find anise oil on eBay; I bought it from Bulk Oils, and it was an easy transaction with a fast shipping. But I was dying to get one of the Victorian Blossom molds:


Isn't it lovely? I found it some time ago in Southern Soapers; I could not resist more, and bought one. And with some clear soap, lime green dye, my new mold and the anise oil, I made this:


The two white thingies inside are a couple of real sugar cubes! Not only it looks beautiful, every time I enter the bathroom I can smell the anise scent in the air...