Kitchen table

This is the table for the smoky kitchen I made. There is some crazyness in making something with so much care (accurate joints, fine sanding, even painting) then coming at it with a knife to do so many scrapes and cracks as several years of use can do. But who says I'm not crazy? Perhaps the table needs more damages!

Flesh

Modelling flesh is a hard challenge. This is not my first try, but the previous ones were awful. First I tried to mix a fleshlike color from fimo, but it's impossible. The flesh is different everywhere! So I gave up the mixing, builded up the shape only from white, and added all the colors after shaping.
Now it's on my Etsy shop, but telling the truth I don't know who needs a halved pig. Perhaps it's good for a miniature butcher's or a historical scene. At the worst it would be a perfect Christmas gift for a butcher as a cellphone charm!

New project

In the last two or three months I was engaded with my Etsy shop, but I very missed making a roombox. Many ideas are spinning in my mind, the first is an old Hungarian country kitchen, the so-called smoky kitchen. It didn't have any chimney, so the smoke left the house right through the door. Of course the floor was simple the packed soil. This kitchen always had a furnace, sometimes with a behive shape, like this. They used this furnace for baking bread and heating the kitchen in winter. There was a smaller spare oven next to the furnace for cooking in summer.
For the furnace and the oven I used box cardboard, then I coated it with gypsum. As you can see I used everything in our house to fixed the parts while drying. My husband had bought these weight discs to train himself. Do you guess how many times he used these plates? You can divide the number you thought by ten. Now I realized how they be right for keeping the parts from moving. And in the background there are my childrens' building blocks making the perfect mitre tool.

I made this tiny cheese board and the strawberry sponge cake for my Etsy shop.

Christmas dinner

I showed all the Christmas miniatures I had made in the last month, this is only a scene with these minis. I entered for a Hungarian polymer clay competition in Christmas theme. In Hungary using the polymer clay is in its infancy, almost everything is some jewelry made from fimo or other brand of clay. So only my work is a miniature amongst the others, and all this miniature world is absolutely unknown. The editor of this competition put only the "Christmas dinner" title next to my photo, but not mentioned that it's a miniature. Somebody of the commenters confusedly asked "This is a very nice arrangement, but what's from polymer clay?". This is the best praise about my work I've ever got.

I sent also this second photo for the editor, but only one was allowed to participate in the competition, and she choosed the photo without the dice.

Basket again

Ok, I'm a basket maniac! At last I bought a book about basketry to learn the appropriate weaving techiques. Now I know how to make the different borders. But I have to practice a lot!

And I use wires I paint after weaving with the shades of brown and yellow. The weaving is not too even, but I like the result. 

On the last photo there is a basket, too, somewhere under the napkin. But the point is the content of the basket, tiny scones not more than 5mm in diameter.

And I have many many new followers I haven't welcome yet. Sorry, now I haven't flowers in my garden for you, but I'm very happy you are interested in my works.

Sweets of Colors

I'm in sweet fever! Nowadays I make individual pastries in various colors and shapes. As I looked at my works a logo emerged out of my mind. I sat to my pc and created my patisserie, Sweets of Colors.

It would be great making a pastry showcase!
I have many embarrassing problem with cream piping. I made some star shaped piping heads from various materials, but the results were mostly awful! Although I prefer creating my own tools now I coludn't choose but ordering piping heads from Miniature Sweets on Etsy.

I made some ornaments for my miniature Christmas tree. The tree is still under construction. I hope it would be ready soonly!

The last photo shows my mini figs I put onto my Etsy shop.

Hungarian Christmas

There is a twist about Santa Claus In Hungary. Our children (and we, of course) don't wait for him at Christmas but on 6th December, on Nicholas' day. Children clean their shoes thoroughly and place them onto the window, and Santa Claus  put little red bags of sweets into the shoes. Bad children get birches, too. The bag always contains a chocolate Santa Claus.

At christmas the little Jesus brings the gifts under the tree. Nowadays Santa Claus comes also at Christmas, I think this is adopting western customs. But it's a great thing we get gifts two times in December!

There are some essential details of the Hungarian Christmas table. We eat fish in any form, but mostly as chowder. Now I made grilled trouts onto my miniature table.

We always eat roast duck or goose, the whole family love it.

Dessert is the Hungarian speciality, bejgli. It's a rolled cake filled with grinded walnuts and poppy seeds. 

Another hungarian peculiarity is the Christmas fondant candy or szaloncukor originated from the 19th century. This candy is wrapped into metal foil. The wrapper is as important as the candy itself, because we use these sweets as tree decoration. The original szaloncukor was filled with fondant, but now it's made with other flavors as strawberry, caramel, cherry, coconut or jelly.

This last miniature is also connected to the Hungarian Christmas, because in my childhood we can obtain tropical fruits only at this time ( except watermelon). Good communism and shortage economy!

Let's feast!

When I first mentioned making foods rich in calories I didn't think only about pastries. This little piglet has been on my desk waiting alone for about a month. I always postponed making the garnishing and the wooden board. Today I collected all of my strenght! The large amount of colorful and healthy vegetables try to compensate for the fat roasted pig.

And, of course, there is a new little cake! This time a black forest cake, my own version.

 
Both are available on my Etsy shop. I hope everybody isn't on a diet!

Cake obsession

I wouldn't have think cake making was so funny. I'm sure I will "bake" tons of them in the future! This time a cottage cheese cake and a chocolate milk-loaf are in my larder. I used glass paint for the jelly.

I can't deny myself! I still love to make fruits, too. I tried to peel one of a great heap of bananas. 

I've already made a raw chicken, now I roasted a turkey. In Hungary we don't eat turkey only very rarely. I've never seen a whole roasted turkey before, so I had to serf on the net searching photos.

Sweet time

As the weather are getting colder my heart orders to make miniatures with much more calories as the fruits and vegetables have. And meantime I realized how I enjoy making miniature vakes and pastries and their fellows. To compose a perfect cake is like home decorating. You must take into consideration the colors, the ratios and the shapes. Here are the fruits of my sweet days.

Christmas is at the door and I planned to make so many miniatures I don't know how I would be ready in time. But the first Sunday of Advent is closer than Christmas, so I had to make this little wreath earlier. The wreath was made from a pipe cleaner. I had to paint it because I had had only pink color in this thickness.

And the miniatures goes to...

At noon I puuled out a folded paper strip with a name. And the name on the paper is MARTA (http://martapelliseg.blogspot.com/)! Congratulations! So my miniatures will go to Spain. Thank you for signing up to my giveaway, I'm happy you are so many to be interested in the Hungarian minis. I took a picture about the forgotten grapes. They are the part of the giveaway, too. Marta, please send me your address by an email (ebodzas@vipmail.hu)! 

I made a new Christmas mini, a gingerbread house. You can see the before and after stage of the house. I used acrylic paint for the icing and the head of a mechanical pencil for a tube. Next time I will icing the walls separately before gluing. I could hardly come at the parts of the house with the tube! As you could learn about me, I don't stand for extreme decoration. I like better the simple type, like the only white icing on this gingerbread house.

Preparing for Christmas

I love Christmas! It's always very tiring for me, but I still love it. It became more wonderful with the girls around me. They still believe in all the miracle about the whole thing, and it's so funny. And of course I prepare for Christmas in my miniature world, too! First of all here are some gingerbread cookies. The gingerbread is an important part of the Hungarian folk art. We make them not only at Christmas time, but for present mostly for our sweethearts. The so-called "written" gingerbread is very famous. I have no skill of decorating as the masters have, but I used all of my ability to make these tiny cookies. I mixed some white fimo with water to make it creamy, and pulled very thin fiber out of this mixture with a pinpoint, and tried to embroider the shapes. Now I have to make a pretty box for the cookies (or a plate?) and it's ready for my Etsy shop.

Yesterday the postman brought me a beautiful present from Flora. She never missed my posts and leaves very kind comments. I'm not a good commenter at all. I always be ashamed not to leave comments on so many blogs, but I have time to make it only on a few ones a day. So I admire Flora to be so attentive!

And her present is wonderful! I will put these minis into Edit's room. (New souvenirs from Italy.) Thank you, Flora! 

I contuinously develop my basket making technique. My latest invention is twisted raffia with glue. This bread basket was made by this technique. And for the first time I used my printable fabric I bought several months ago.

Only one day is to the drawing of my giveaway!

My giveaway

This is the great time to keep up my resolution to make a giveaway. These are Hungarian miniatures, a water can, a milk can, a big loaf of bread, a basket of apples, a plate of grapes and some peppers and tomatoes. I will pull out the name of the lucky winner after one week, on the next friday at noon. The only thing you have to do is leaving a comment on this post. I don't ask for putting a link on your own blog but would be happy if you did. Good luck for everyone!
I just realise not to put the grapes among the others! But a plate of blue and muscot grapes are the parts of this giveaway, too. I soonly make up the photo.

It was a very very busy week, and I'm so tired! I was engaged with an important work, but not a miniature at all! As I mentioned before we built a new wing for our daughters. And the last week was the time to make the insulation for the walls. It took me a whole week to finish the whole house, and now I have polystyrol beads even in my ears! But it's over, the plaster-work will be the next horror!