Coming soon this Christmas...

I've barely blogged here, nor at my magical miniature blog, or at my personal blog either! Just been so busy busy...

Anyway, thought I'd show a snippet of what's coming this Christmas to Hummingbird Miniatures... inspired by the wonderful ballet - 'The Nutcracker', this Christmas is all about sugar plum fairies, ballerinas, fine furniture and golden fruit.... stay tuned and don't forget to follow on Facebook and keep an eye on my Etsy shop as well! ;)

Making Christmas 2013...Part 2

Still creating a little Christmas magic over at Hummingbird Miniatures, and thought I'd share some snaps from this morning and yesterday.

I hand-painted a buffet / sideboard and created a faux marble top to it and added gold details. Here it is below when I bought it (stained with dark wood-stain), then with a coat of primer and then *almost* finished.

I've also been making very pretty luxury items akin to the sort of things you'd see in English shops, such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Fortnum & Mason such as festive topiary and wreaths... stay tuned for finished items!

Coming soon this Christmas...

Thank you to everyone who gave me their vote on how they'd prefer to see my roast turkeys! I had a massive response on Facebook and the overall verdict is that most prefer an un-carved bird. Good to know. :)

~ This is just a sneak preview of the Christmas range which you'll see coming from Hummingbird Miniatures this year.

Stay tuned, and don't forget to 'like' the Hummingbird Miniatures Facebook page to stay on top of updates and see lots of photos and such.

The online Hummingbird Miniatures Etsy shop is currently stocked with Halloween cakes, donuts and cookies and you can find it here.

Making Christmas... 2013!

I've recently started making some small Thanksgiving / Christmas 2013 Ranges, starting of course with some roast turkeys (last year I did roast goose as part of my Christmas 2012 range for a change).

I decided to upload some photos of these roast birds in-the-making because I am keen to ask everyone's opinion. Do you prefer partially carved roasts, or do they look better un-carved?

Please take a look at my quick snaps and tell me if you think I should carve all my birds or leave them un-carved? I'm selling these as collectors items of course (they're not for a larger commissioned project for a change) so that's why I ask your opinion! Leave a comment on this blog or on my Hummingbird Miniatures Facebook page. Thanks so much!

The Forgotten Patisserie

Years ago, back in 2010 I think, I created a French patisserie. It was built solely to showcase the growing range of French patisserie cakes I had been making at the time, and was not built as a roombox for sale.

However, this patisserie was never shown here on my blog or even on my Facebook page, as was intended. It seems I completely forgot!

I was digging through my archives - looking for some photos of cakes which I promised to a magazine editor when I stumbled on them and realised they'd never been shown. So - just to remedy that and keep my blog up to date with all that I create, I have decided to upload them today!

This French patisserie, built in 2010 and filled with pretty packaging, cakes, religieuse pastries and eclairs all made by me is not to be confused with the modern London patisserie / cake shop from 2012 (here).

Incidentally, you can still find detailed handmade French pastries at my Etsy shop. See the chart showing all the different varieties of religieuse pastries.

And this is my modern London patisserie and cake shop which I made in 2012. 

Ch-ch-ch-Changes....!

Logging onto my Etsy shop today I realised there are yet more changes to the site again and I have had that David Bowie song 'Changes' in my head ever since. ;)

So, not long ago Etsy allowed sellers the chance to create an 'About' page for their shops so that they could tell their shop's story and talk about how they make their products and so forth. I love this new tool and created an About Page for Hummingbird Miniatures which you may have seen here, (or see preview below).

Today I see that they have changed their 'Feedback' section and now instead of three grades of feedback (positive, neutral, negative) they have a 5 star rating. Okay, well I am not sure this change is a benefit, but I will wait and see if I get anything less than 5 stars (and be totally distressed if I do!) See how the Five Star Review section looks (image left).










Below is how my shop looks on Etsy today.

Whilst we're talking about Etsy, some of you may have noticed I have added very little to my shop since Independence Day... but I will have a small Limited Edition Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas range this year, so look out for that! I wont be making 10 of every item and usual - maybe just 1 or 2 of each as I have so little time these days.

Stay tuned... :)

My Workspace... Building my Retro Kitchen!

I've been a bit quiet about this, but have been slowly building out a colourful vintage / retro kitchen in one inch scale (for a project and also magazine feature I'll share soon).

The space was built by me out of MDF (and in part, foamcore). I made several pieces of the furniture, and other pieces were altered by me quite significantly (see previous post about the kitchen island here and about the hutch/dresser here). I made wooden panels for the back wall, and have put days of work into it. Here are some in-the-making photos I have taken along the way. I'll share the finished project here and on my Facebook page in a week or less.

Note that there are fun and unique kitchen goings-on at my other blog (here) so check that out too!

Don't forget to follow and like!

PS The last two photos were quick snaps of the kitchen as it is today but I am still arranging the furniture and making changes, so the finished kitchen will be different... ;)

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