Thursday, April 29, 2010

Taste of Chocolate kit finished

I finally finished a kit from the wonderful Lisa Engler of Lisa's Little Things.

This kit is called "Taste of Chocolate".

The display is placed in my patisserie.


Lisa's kits are wonderful. I might be her biggest fan.

I just received a package in the mail today with a few more of her kits for another bakery room box that I am currently working on.



Here is a closeup of the pretty chocolates that are displayed in the heart candy box.




MMMMMmmmm. Have a chocolate and enjoy!

Mini hugs,

Donna





Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Chicago workshop with Rik Pierce

"Fair Rosemond's Bower" is the name of the workshop that I took at the Chicago International.
Rik Pierce is a kind, down-to-earth man and a great teacher.
I learned so much in the class that I feel it was well worth the price of the workshop.
We worked from 8 o'clock in the morning until late at night for four days.

In class, I completed some of the paper clay on the exterior of the structure. Here at home, I am working on finishing the stone work. After I complete applying all of the paper clay, pressing in individual stone shapes, and cleaning the grout lines, I will be ready to give the stone a watered down wash of black and dark burnt umber paint to tone down the white of the paper clay. Then I will start to add washes of color to the stones.


Rik supplied everything for the class. He gave us all of the paper clay, the tools, and even the board, tile and a piece of plastic pipe to roll the paper clay to the right thickness.


This photo is of the ground floor interior that I finished in class. The base of the structure is just foam core board and surprisingly lightweight. I still have to add the flooring.

This photo is of the upper level. We learned to distress the timbers in class with a make-shift saw blade. We also leaned to make the stained glass windows. One of my favorite techniques is the plaster covering some of the brickwork.
I will keep posting photos as I make progress. When it is finished, the house will sit in a wood base supplied by Rik.
If you ever get a chance to take one of his workshops, jump at the chance!
Have a great day,
Donna





Thursday, April 22, 2010

Finished Old Shoe House

These are photos of the Old Shoe House that I completed. It is a Quarter scale house kit from Suzanne and Andrews Miniatures. They make wonderful kits in quarter scale.
The third floor is the dormitory and bathroom for all of the Old woman's children.

The second floor is the living room. The kitchen is in the shoe part. You can barely see in there unless you have a flashlight but I put a stove and dry sink in there anyhow.


The landscaping was so much fun. I added grass, a brick path, hollyhocks, vines and even made some trees from twisted wire.


Now that I have finished this project, I am working on the Pickett Hill in Quarter
Scale from Suzanne and Andrews Miniatures and Fair Rosemond's Bower from a workshop that I just took with Rik Pierce. I will be posting photos of my progress soon.