You may expect a lot of things here; from crafting experiences to corsets and rumblings about my everyday life, all of it showered with my interest for absinthe.
Perusing through Kate's blog entries, I found out about two miniature-making books.
I was aware of Sue Heaser's publications, but although I am familiar with Angie Scarr's name, I did not know she also had published books for making miniatures with polymer clay. For those of you who did not know either, here they are:
I am one of those people that when find a theme that they like, they squeeze it to death. I was watching yesterday the special features of the Sweeney Todd movie, and found out a lot of interesting facts.
The one I liked the most was founding out that the writer of the original Sweeney Todd tale was Thomas Prest, and that the original title was "A String of Pearls", published by the penny dreadfuls. Being a huge fan of Gothic literature, I ran to Amazon and found the tale available for Kindle, along with a complete version of Varney the Vampire. Of course I purchased both, and I have already begun the lecture of "A string of pearls".
I also didn't know that there was a theatrical musical version starring Angela Lansbury, and I may purchase that as well. I am going to immerse myself in the legend...
I bought the room box over the weekend and my seller shipped it out yesterday. It's coming from New York, so I hope to have it here maybe in a couple of days. I'm so so excited I can hardly wait...
I re-watch Sweeney Todd just so I could take notes on how the pie shop it's set, and I have been searching eBay like crazy looking for minis to fill it up. I am so impatient because this is the first time I will be decorating a kitchen, and there are so many things that can fit in... Of course, I want to preserve the original ambiance so the room is recognizable, but I also was thinking on how neat and clean should have been for the grand re-opening, so I am kind of mixing both the degraded and the clean state.
I found here a layout sheet so one can design the room before purchasing the furniture and know where everything goes and how much room one have left. My room box is not very big (15 x 10 x10 inches) and I don't have a lot of room, but so far, I am having fun mixing up the furniture, thinking and discarding options.
This project is giving me so much energy that I bought yesterday the BSO of the Sweeney Todd movie, and I don't get tired of hearing it... Specially "The worst pies in London" and "Have a little priest" tracks :)
It have been sometime since I wanted to make this. My friend Arantxa gifted me with a lovely Heidi Ott top hat. Lovely, yes, but also plain. So my lady vampire friend insisted that I needed to embellish it up for her. This is how it was before:
And how it was after:
Nothing fancy, as you see, but enough to make it a riding top hat suited for a lady. Here is a pic of it hanging in the hall of the house:
The big project is something that I have been wanting to do for some time. I know that I'm not very original, and that there are people here in blogland doing it as well, but as a big fan of Tim Burton, I was dying to make a Sweeny Todd dollhouse. And recently I found a house that seems made precisely for that. Here it is:
Isn't it perfect? It even has the exterior stairs, and the place for Mrs. Lovett shop has a central door and two windows. But sadly for me, I don't have the room to have another dollhouse. I was quite upset about this, when my husband suggested that I could make a room box, because those can be hung up on the wall, and I became all excited again. I know it's not the same, but what I enjoy most is the decorating part, rather than the building up. So I am now in the hunt for a nice room box, and I can't wait to begin. I will probably make Mrs. Lovett's place first. I love the Tonsorial Parlor, but the posiblities for a meat shop are more wide. After all, Mr. Todd's room is almost empty...
It's done! I have put the last new bottle inside it today. This is how the cabinet was before changing:
Halloween sweets and chocolates boxes for the most part.
And this is how it is now:
I think it's pretty filled up... I wanted to add a couple of test tubes in the lower shelf, but I don't want it to appear excessively cluttered. I don't know... The round glass jar has leaves inside that still need to be processed. Here is a pic of the cabinet in its place inside the shop:
I just love all the different jars that I have found!
I stored the Halloween candy and the chocolate bars for future projects, but I could not bear to take out of the house the chocolate boxes, so I simply made some gift bags, and put the boxes inside them; they are currently waiting in the hall of the house to be stored away...
Sorry it's taken me so long to announce the winner. Since I only got two correct entries, we tossed a coin, and the winner of the Give Away is Debbie from Tiny Treasures.
Congratulations!
Edited to add: The answer to question number 2 - What was the name of the girl victim of Carmilla? - is Bertha. If I interested you enough to read the tale, Jonna, I am happy :) It's public dominion, if you want to look it up in the net: Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.
Miniature Food Masterclass: Materials and techniques for model-makers
Making Miniature Food and Market Stalls
The room box that I ordered
And how it was after:
Nothing fancy, as you see, but enough to make it a riding top hat suited for a lady. Here is a pic of it hanging in the hall of the house:
Isn't it perfect? It even has the exterior stairs, and the place for Mrs. Lovett shop has a central door and two windows. But sadly for me, I don't have the room to have another dollhouse. I was quite upset about this, when my husband suggested that I could make a room box, because those can be hung up on the wall, and I became all excited again. I know it's not the same, but what I enjoy most is the decorating part, rather than the building up. So I am now in the hunt for a nice room box, and I can't wait to begin. I will probably make Mrs. Lovett's place first. I love the Tonsorial Parlor, but the posiblities for a meat shop are more wide. After all, Mr. Todd's room is almost empty...
Halloween sweets and chocolates boxes for the most part.
I think it's pretty filled up... I wanted to add a couple of test tubes in the lower shelf, but I don't want it to appear excessively cluttered. I don't know... The round glass jar has leaves inside that still need to be processed. Here is a pic of the cabinet in its place inside the shop:
I just love all the different jars that I have found!
A birthday surprise from my husband.