Miniature licorice allsorts

Licorice allsorts are colourful lollies with layers of flavored fondant and licorice. They are very recognisable and so make good miniatures.

You will need:

White clay

Black clay

Red clay, plus more if you want more than one colour.

First roll out the white clay to 3mm thick and the black clay to 1mm thick. 

Sandwich the white clay between the black and trim it so the the edges are straight. 

Next roll out the red clay to 3mm thick.

Then sandwich the black and white clay between the red.

Then roll the clay to between 5 to 3mm thick.

The cut the clay into cubes.

Continue with different colours until you have a selection of colourful lollies.

Etsy

I have started an Etsy shop,
so I can sell some of the stuff I make, because once I've made it I have no use for it, but it's fun to make.

Dancing Shoes

My second attempt at shoe decorating was much more successful.

 I bought a pair of warehouse shoes removed the original decorations and replaced them with ribbons.

 I did three pairs altogether.

Dolls house story part 6

The new boarder moved in to the room Miss Sharpe had recently vacated, and the room which had not been carpeted ye. He said he didn't mind 5th lack of carpet as he would have a hard time keeping it clean anyway.

He was a doctor/perfume creator.

He brought a lot of equipment with him.

And he wouldn't tell them his name.

Doves

On the 6th of August, Frost and Pumpkin hatched their first egg, they now have a healthy, ugly, chick.

I forgot to say when it happened, but Jack or Jackie as she should be called, was attacked by a cat and died the next day.

Dolls house story part 5

Not long after Miss Sharpe came home one day and announced that she was getting married next week.
This, understandably, caused a fair amount of fuss and panic, especially when she said that she was going to make the dress herself. In one week.

So they all pitched in to help.

It turned out all right.

After the wedding Miss Sharpe moved out, 

and Mrs Edwards had to find a new boarder...

Dolls house story part 4

Finally the day arrived when Mrs Edwards had to accept that they could not afford servants, it was a blow to her pride more than anything else, she and her daughters could cook and clean and do everything the servants did but having servants meant you were rich, meant you could afford someone else to do the house work and you could, in theory, sit around doing embroidery all day.

Actually the servants were just a cook and a nanny but they were better than nothing.

But mostly Mrs Edwards had put off the day they had to fire the servants because they were like family, and telling family that you couldn't afford them anymore was not a pleasant task. But it had to be done, Martha and Rose were very understanding about it, they had known this would happen they said, and they even gave the girls a few cooking lessons before they left.

Dolls house story part 3

Miss Sharpe

Miss Sharpe was a late sleeper normally rising around 12, she would join them for lunch, then get dressed in a beautiful gown and leave for the opera, ball, party or some other form of entertainment, returning about 3 in the morning.

When asked why she went out so often she replied "I need to find a husband with lots of money, I hate being poor, it's horrible having to be economic. I'm going to marry some rich man who will let me spend as much as I want, then I'll be happy."

Scarlet thought Miss Sharpe was fabulous, and occasionally accompanied her to a party or ball. This, in Mrs Edwards opinion, was not a good idea as it invariably lead to Scarlet falling in madly in love with someone she had met, luckily the feeling was never mutual and she generally recovered after a week or two.


Mr David

Mr David was... well...he was polite...and they all liked him (particularly Scarlet)...but apart from that it really was hard to describe him. No one knew what he did, he obviously did something, sometimes he would be gone for days with no warning or explanation, when Mrs Edwards told he to warn her if he was going to be away he replied that he couldn't because he didn't know when he was gone either or he wouldn't be. Mrs Edwards decided not to pursue the subject in case it transpired that he was actually a dangerous insane criminal on the run from the Law.
When she asked the Law about it however they told her there was very officially no such person please don't tell anyone or bother us again you will probably be fine.

Turmeric dye

Today I tried dyeing with turmeric. It was surprisingly successful.

 First I mordanted with alum a pillow case, a scrap of silk and some scraps of sheepskin.

 Then mixed turmeric powder and water on low heat, then I added the fabrics.

After about half an hour I removed and rinsed the fabrics.

Wool, silk, pillow case

Turmeric is the strongest natural dye I have yet found. Unfortunately I didn't measure anything so I don't know if I could do it again.