Miniature Crafts - Pottery

For my latest attempt at miniaturising crafts I had a go at pottery. I chose to use air dry clay to try and make some tiny pots, and I love the results!

Check out the video at the bottom of the post to see exactly how I made them.

I think this pot is my favourite. It's almost circular with a small opening at the top. I was able to achieve a gold ombre effect with acrylic paint. To make the dried flowers I used bits of potpourri.

 

This plant pot is more classic in shape, but then I painted it with a trendy design, which I sealed with PVA glue to give it a shine.

I made the Monstera leaves out of painted paper and I even added fake soil to the pot, made out of shredded dried bits of paint.

I made this irregular shaped vase with lots of texture on the outside. Then I decorated it with painted flowers and made some paper daffodils to go inside.

For this jug and vase I wanted to experiment with the 'glaze', which I did by applying layers of PVA glue with flecks of chalk and charcoal mixed in. I love the effect and like with real fired pottery you don't know how it's going to look until the end.

I love my collection of miniature pots. Which one is your favourite?

Framed Minature House Commission

Today I'm sharing a recent commission I've just completed. It's a miniature framed house front.

I've made a front door like this before but not the whole front of the ground floor. The bay window was an added challenge!

And I was asked if I could possibly make a working porch light! This was quite easy once I found the right lights; a set of fairy lights with a slimline battery and switch. I only needed one light so the rest are hidden in the frame. 

All of the plants were another challenge which took a bit of experimenting but I ended up using a combination of bits of sponge, pot pourri, and dried mixed herbs.

I think my favourite thing about this piece is the hanging baskets. I found a couple of wooden beads that I was able to saw in half to use for the baskets. I built up bits of sponge for the plants and used an old necklace for the chain which I attached with small pins.

I cut a custom mount for the piece and found a shadow frame which had a bit of depth to house the porch section and keep everything neat. 

Framed Miniature Front Door

Today I'm sharing this framed miniature front door. What I like about this miniature project is that it also doubles as decor as it can be hung on the wall.

Check out the video at the bottom of this post for the full run through of how I made it. But first, here's a few details.

I created the brick wall by using a handmade stamp made from a rubber. I used this technique a lot when I was at uni, as you can see here.

I added some 3D elements to give the piece some dimension, like the plants on the doorstep. These were made using little bottle brush trees which I trimmed to give a flat side and painted a more realistic colour.

I think these would make great presents to celebrate a new home or commemorate leaving an old one. They'd be easy to personalise and you could even write the house address on the mount.

Miniature Kitchen Scene

Recently I've been flexing my miniature making muscles with a series of little kitchen set ups.

I started by making a little kitchen cabinet to be the base of the scenes. The work top is a sample of wooden window blind from when we recently redecorated my husband's office and was perfect for this use. All the scale measurements were made based on the size of this piece.

For my first scene I decided to make miniature toast, including a toaster, plate, jar of jam, knife and the toast itself. I had a few challenges with this, like, how do I make a jam jar? Answer; a wooden bead cut in half with the top of a split pin. 

Then I made a cookie scene because you know I like getting salt dough involved. In addition to the cookie dough I also made a bag of flour, a cookie cutter, a rolling pin, and a baking tray. I think the baking tray might be my favourite part!

Check out the videos below for a more in depth look at how I made these and what materials I used.

And let me know if you have any ideas for other kitchen scenes I could make.

Baby Yoda Pencil Topper

I recently finished watching the second season of the Mandalorian so wanted to make a mini Baby Yoda, a bit like the Groot ones I made a few years ago. To give the model a purpose I made in into a pencil topper!

I started by making a wire maquette which I wrapped in foil, to save on how much Sculpey I would need to use.

Then I covered it in Sculpey and sculpted it into Baby Yoda.

Once I'd baked the Sculpey I painted the model using acrylic paint. I left the body blank as I was going to cover this with fabric to make his little coat.

I used felt for his coat, which I glued to the Sculpey, and strips of fleece for the trim.

Super cute right??

Check out the video below to see the whole process of how I made it

Miniature Food Made of Salt Dough

Do you remember when I made a tiny table full of miniature salt dough food? That was 9 years ago!

So I thought it was about time to give it another go and see what other food I could create (and see if my skills have got any better).

I decided to focus on pastries and made croissants, pain au raison, cinnamon swirls and Danish pastries.

Check out the video at the bottom of this post for the how to!

After baking the salt dough I painted the pastries with acrylic paint and used PVA glue to give them a shine.

I also made a little wooden tray out of lollipop sticks because presentation is everything. This is a tiny brunch I'd like to go to!

Miniature Tardis Decoration

After making a few miniature wooden houses I decided to try making some iconic buildings. Starting with...the Tardis!

I made the Tardis from a base of balsa wood with the details built up with cardboard.
I drew out the design first and worked out the different layers, which I then cut out of card and stuck together using PVA glue.

I painted the whole thing using several layers of acrylic paint.

I cheated a little bit with the signs and just printed them off the computer. My tiny writing skills aren't that good!

For the light on the top I used a little bead with a flat piece of card on top.

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Miniature House Ornaments

Do you remember the miniature pink beach house I made? After I posted it on my Instagram I was contacted by my favourite Etsy customer with a commission to make two miniatures houses; one of her previous apartment building and one of the house she lives in now.

Having spent most of my time at university making miniature models I always get excited at the opportunity to make something tiny. I like drawing out the plans, scaling everything down and seeing how much detail I can include.

Google street view was my best friend when working on this commission. The customer gave me the addresses of the two buildings so I was able to find them online and see them from different angles. Being able to view images from previous years on Google maps meant that if there was a blossoming tree obscuring my view one year, I could check to see if there was a photo taken in winter when this wasn't a problem.

I also find it really interesting looking at houses from other places. These buildings are in America and they look nothing like the houses I live around here in England.

I added ribbon loops to the backs of the models so that they can be hung on my customer's Christmas tree. She already has a felt dog ornament and another custom ornament so I'm slowly taking over her tree!

Clay Cartoon Figurine

I've been doing a few cartoon style illustrations recently and got the idea to try making a 3D figure in the same style. As I've done enough self portraits over the years I decided to make a miniature version of my boyfriend.

I got my air dry clay out and starting moulding but quickly discovered that having a sketch of the figure would help me keep everything the right size. When I've made figures in the past out of Sculpey I've constructed a wire skeleton first, but as this model would be pretty bulky in comparison the only structural element I added was a bit of a wooden skewer through the neck and down one leg to put the head on.

Once I'd added all the details I left my model overnight to dry out. As it's been particularly hot here in England recently I thought I might have a few issues with cracking which can happen when clay dries out too quickly. When I went back to the model I found the head had detached from the neck. Lucky I put that wooden skewer in!

To fix this, I cut the skewer down so the head would touch the neck again and used watered down clay to glue it together.

To paint the figure I first covered it in a coat of white primer...

... and I painted it with acrylics.

And now I have a little craft room companion!

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Miniature House Ornament

This little project came about when I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a photo of Young House Love's pink beach house in the snow and thought, 'I want to make that'. So I did! I decided to make a miniature 2D version of the house using layers of card on a wooden base.

After drawing out a template for the house I cut the shape out of wood using a saw.

To make the features of the house I used cartridge paper, brown card, mountboard and a wooden kebab skewer.

I tried my hardest to mix up the wonderful shade of pink that the Petersiks painted their beach house. I used acrylic paint on a piece of cartridge paper glued to the wooden base, which I scored with a craft knife to make the slats.

I think my favourite details are the fence at the front and the little top window. I had to work with the tiniest slivers of paper!

The house turned out just as I was hoping. I think it would look lovely as an ornament on a mantlepiece, or as a Christmas decoration if I looped some ribbon on the back.

Now I'll be on the look out for other cute houses to recreate in miniature.

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