Tuesday 12 February 2013

Take a Bow, I Have Finished a Whole Room....The Leaky Cauldron

Today I have put in the last finishing touches to the bar of The Leaky Cauldron and tacky waxed in everything. This is it the room is officially done. There will be no more tweaking, primping or procrastinating, I promise to leave it alone.
The bar is open for business.
Three changes since yesterday: the blackboard showing all the Leaky's Specials, a very un-PC goblin head by Debbie Lyons and one of Sarah Hendry's wonderful cat sculptures.
This room has taken shape after two years of collecting and planning so I hope you will enjoy my walk through of all the different areas and perhaps discover a new miniature artisan.
These three raucous hags are all by Jain Squires, I adore Jain's work as it is so quirky and each doll is beautifully dressed. 
They are celebrating a birthday and have certainly taken full advantage of all the the Cauldron's hospitality. The poor cat, from Miss Sally World,  is exhausted by them. 
 I always find it really hard to begin piecing together each little scene as it will mean 'spoiling' a piece of furniture that it may have taken a while to source. So I thought long and hard  about my celebration table and asked the extremely talented Linda Cummings to create a Hag's Birthday Cake as my centrepiece. Linda is a real artist and we had lots of email discussions about size and design using photographs from the internet.
 As you can see Linda has created an absolute masterpiece that stands proudly above all those empty bottles!! The top of the cake has a crash landed witch with her red slippers and broom with actual bristles!! There are striped candles and flying bats as well as mushrooms and grisly fingers. Wow!! It is a total work of art and I am so glad I approached her at the Kensington Festival. Lin is a very talented lady who is so enthusiastic about her work and I feel truly honoured to own such a unique piece. Many, many thanks Lin.
 I have spent a lot of time trying to source bottles for this project and ended up buying quite a few off Ebay.com simply because of their shape, then I went to the Alexandra Palace Fair and was able to find quite a few there for a fraction of the cost!!
 I have also bought some gorgeous handblown miniature glass pieces from Glasscraft at various fairs. Although do check the size of the decanters necks if you are a solid water beginner like me. All the glass can be coloured with glass paints and I opted for this method too.
Ray Storey not only makes fabulous lights but also a range of very intersesting hand blown glass and I have used a number of shapes and colours, brown and green have worked really well.
My Tiny World also has a quite a varied range of glass, mostly jars, in all sizes which are of a lovely quality. 
 As my witches are more than a little tipsy they have spilt quite a few of their drinks. For these spills I decided to use Scenic Water from DeLuxe Materials. This is a very easy product as you simply, and carefully, heat the amount you need in the microwave. I used a little plastic tub with a jelly cube amount at a time, about the size of my thumb, in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds but do be careful it gets very hot!!!!
Scenic Water can be coloured with water based paints, the specialist colours sold by Deluxe or even food colourings ( although I have read that these can fade ). Add tiny amounts until you get the colour you want. Scenic water sets quite quickly but it can be re-melted in the micro wave for a couple of seconds to make it runny again.
I simply spilt it on the table a bit at a time and then helped the drips stay in place using cocktail sticks. Scenic Water does not harden in the same way as Solid Water which is why food miniaturists use it for jellies but because it sets quite quickly it is good for spills.
Gosh I haven't got very far tonight but I am so pleased with this room I want to take my time sharing it.
One room down, nine more to go!!!


36 comments:

  1. It looks fantastic with the final touches Janice!
    Love the little head on the wall from Debbie.. I have to admit, from a distance, I thought it was a pigs head until I looked closely and realised what it was! Such a fun idea

    The trio of dolls by Jain are brilliant laughing away in the corner!
    The cakes is simply beautiful, such an amazing piece, she truly is a talented artisan!
    All the bottles look great too and you've filled them perfectly! I love the idea of the spilled glasses too.. I'd have been panicking pouring things on mike Mortimer furniture haha :D
    Ooh, where's the tall candelabra from Ericka going to end up I wonder? :)
    Cannot wait to see the next room (will it be the upstairs bedsit or a room in another shop? :D)

    Lovely to finally see everything you've collected come together

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    1. Hi Michael, the upstairs will be a guest bedroom with two girlies who have come to do their pre-Hogwarts shopping. Lots going on but not quite as stuffed full as the bar, although knowing me I won't know when to stop!

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  2. Hi Michael, the cake is a masterpiece I am so glad I approached Linda at KDF it is certainly one of my real treasures. I have some other photos of it on it's own that I will post at a later date.
    Next job the upstairs bedroom and this is where the candelabra will be going!!

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  3. It's fantastic Janice...you should be so very proud of it! There's just so much in there to comment on...where to begin? I too absolutely love Jain's dolls, they are so full of character & your hags are fabulous! I just love the exhausted cat too....it made me really smile! I'm so pleased that your cake has found such a wonderful home!

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    1. Thanks Linda, I am very lucky to be able to have so many fabulous pieces by wonderful artisans like yourself. I am so pleased your cake is part of it.

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  4. Fabulous. You can really feel the jovial atmosphere. Some miniatures feel very static but this scene feels very alive.

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    1. Thank you, I had a lot of fun putting it together.

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  5. Que escena tan bonita, me gusta mucho ver lo bien que lo pasan las de la mesa del fondo y lo trabajadores que están los demás....besos

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  6. Oh well done! You must have a real sense of achievement and pride when you look into this amazing miniature scene. Such treasures you have found and wonderfully nothing competes with another item, they all fit in together to make a complete whole. So much to look at!

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    1. Thank you Christine. I do have some fabulous pieces and I wanted to make sure they were all displayed and not lost in the clutter. I think I have mostly managed to do that.

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  7. Wow, that's a marvelous scene and so full of fun . I love the three witches,you can hear them laughing :-) And the cake of Linda is really a masterpiece , the dot on the i to the birthday scene. But you have also done a great job by filling all these bottles , it makes everything so real ! Congratulation Janice, a brilliant job !!! Jeannette xx

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    1. Thanks Jeannette, that really means a lot from an artist like yourself who has such an excellent eye for detail. I adore the cake and I know you are a great fan of Linda's work too.

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  8. Woooow... Janice. You´ve put it all together and how great it turned out. Som many many details and items to look closer at. I had to enlarge each picture to get a closer look. Ever how much I looked and fell in love with lots of the details, my favorit is the exhausted cat lying on the table. Thanks for sharing...and giving credit to the artists who contributed with their miniature art to the scene...

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    1. Hi Annie, the cat is great isn't he, such a disreputable creature just right for the scene. I hope he is exhausted and not drunk!!

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  9. Congratulations! What a great and fun room this is! So many wonderful details to look at. I agree the cake deserves te be the centrepiece, it is a fantastic creation!

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    1. Thank you Josje, I am so pleased with how the scene has come together. It has been many years in the planning and collecting!!

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  10. It is simply spectacular Janice!

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  11. I like the cats in this room. The cake is a masterpiece; perfect on this table.
    Bye Faby

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    1. Hi Faby, the cats are real charcters aren't they.

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    1. Thank you Nina, I am glad you enjoyed reading all about it

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  13. Wow, every little detail looks Great, good photos also. Keep up the good work!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Troy. I am glad you enjoyed the photos.

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  14. Love how you've set out your leaky Cauldron Janice. Some fabulous treasures by some fabulous artisans..

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    1. Hi Debbie, I am very lucky to have all these pieces in my collection and feel they have all come together really well.

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  15. Una escena espectacular y muy bien planteada,todos los detalles son fantásticos!!!
    Besos.

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  16. Janice, this is a small pub but it look so complete! I love the 3 hags and their cat ! And everything!

    Thanks for the links to the glasses. I thought I bought a bunch at the Arnhem at very good prices too but glass bottles, you can never have enough. 2 nights ago, I filled up half a bottle with realistic water. It has yet to harden at the time of this comment! I think I nearly got fume poisoning from blowing into the bottle . The neck was just too narrow for the viscosity of the "water" Can't imagine how you did so many!

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  17. This is looking just fab Janice, so good to finally finish something, but i just bet you manage to sneak something else in there one day !
    julie x

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  18. Well done - it all looks great and there's so much to see. You must be really pleased with it all.

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  19. You have done the most wonderful job on this - I love it :)

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  20. es un trabajo maravilloso e impresionante la felicito
    un abrazo

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  21. je découvre ce bar à sorcières , c'est absolument géniale , j'adore !

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