2012. január 20., péntek

Valentine's Day's St. Honorés / Valentin napi St. Honoré tortácskák

Finally I was able to take some photos about the heart shaped St. Honoré cakes this afternoon. I made the cookie cutter from metal, the hearts are 1 cm wide at their widest point. I made strawberry (the dark one) and rose (the light pink) flavoured St. Honoré cakes and two "big" ones, which are 2 cm wide. The cakes are decorated with tiny pink hearts and I used tiny red glass beads to simulate pommegranate on the strawberry flavoured + on the big ones as extra decoration.

















Yesterday and today I made 72 tiny chocolate petite fours (photos will come later) and on the weekend I plan to make a Mad Hatter style cake fully packed with hearts, dots, flowers, etc.

See you soon,
Orsi

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Végül sikerült ma délután néhány fotót készítenem a szív alakú mini St. Honoré tortácskákról. Fémből készítettem a kivágóformát, a szívek 1 cm szélesek a legszélesebb pontjukon. Eper ( a sötétebb) és rózsa ( a világos rózsaszín) ízesítésűt készítettem, és két „nagyot”, ami 2 cm szélesek. A tortácskákat kicsi rózsaszín szívekkel díszítettem, és apró vörös üveggyöngyöket használtam gránátalmamagként, mint extra dekoráció.

Tegnap és ma 72 apró csokoládé aprósüteményt csináltam (fotók később lesznek) a hétvégére pedig egy Bolond Kalapos (Alice Csodaországban) stílusú tortát szánok, tele szívekkel, pöttyökkel, virágokkal, stb.


A közeli viszontlátásig,
Orsi

American Miniaturist & Dollhouse Miniatures

I was published in the December 2011 issue of the American Miniaturist, in the Christmas Gallery (They especially liked my 6-tier Caréme inspired cake monster) and in the January/February 2012 issue of the Dollhouse Miniatures, in the IGMA Showcase section.
I cannot copy the article here due to copyright reason, but here are the links to the magazines' websites:

http://www.dhminiatures.com/page2_mag.asp

http://www.americanminiaturist.com/page2_mag.asp

I'm coming back in the next few days with more Valentine Day's goodies,
Orsi

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Megjelent velem egy-egy interjú az American Miniaturist 2011. decemberi, valamint a Dollhouse Miniatures 2012 január-februári számában. Az AM "Christmas Gallery" és a DM "IGMA Showcase" rovatában. (Az AM-nél különösen imádták a Caréme inspirálta hatemeletes tortaszörnyemet :)
Sajnos az interjúkat nem másolhatom ide a szerzői jogok miatt, de feljebb találjátok a linket a magazinok internetes oldalaihoz.

A napokban jelentkezem újabb Valentin napi cukiságokkal,
Orsi

2012. január 16., hétfő

The first Valentine Day cookies / Az első Valentin napi sütik

I started to make Valentine Day cookies last week. I made several pink, VERY PINK cookies: pink linzers, pink heart shaped macarons, pink heart shaped ispahans with raspberries or strawberries, marzipan hearts with pink glitter decor. To be honest I made not only the cookies, but the cutters too, as I didn't find the perfect cutter, which was good in size and in shape too.








The pink heart shaped mini St. Honorés will come later this week, followed by different pink heart shaped cakes.

See you soon,
Orsi


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A múlt héten hozzáfogtam a Valentin napi sütik készítéséhez. Számtalan rózsaszín, NAGYON RÓZSASZÍN sütit csináltam: rózsaszín linzereket, rózsaszín, szív alakú macaron-okat, rózsaszín, szív alakú ispahan-okat málnával és eperrel vagy éppen marcipán szíveket rózsaszín csillám díszítéssel. Őszintén szólva nemcsak a sütiket, de a kiszúróformákat is én csináltam, mivel nem találtam olyat ami formában és méretben is tökéletes lett volna.
A rózsaszín, szív alakú mini St. Honoré-k a héten következnek, őket követik majd a különböző rózsaszín, szív alakú torták.

Hamarosan jövök,
Orsi

Chair 2. / Szék II.

I promised to post more photos about the chair and now it is the time to reveal the real beauty  :)



The wooden tray was painted and distressed by me, the notebook is Italian (Pigna Nature chlorfree), the necklace is one of my favourite fashion necklaces.






I bought the perfume bottle in Versailles, the pen in Budapest and I made the fancy brooch: the picture is a portrait of Marie Antoinette, the French queen, decorated with lace, feather and different miniature items.



I'll be back soon with Valentine Day miniatures!

Take care,
Orsi

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Ahogy ígértem, még több fotót posztolok a székről, itt az ideje a valódi szépség leleplezésének J
A fatálcát én festettem és antikoltam, a füzet egy színben passzoló olasz darab (Pigna Natura klórmentes sorozat), a nyaklánc pedig az egyik kedvenc bizsum.
A parfümös üvegcsét Versailles-ban vettem, a tollat Budapesten, a brosst pedig én készítettem Marie Antoinette egy festményéből, csipkével, tollal és különböző miniatűrökkel díszíve.

Hamarosan jövök Valentin napi miniatűrökkel,
Vigyázzatok magatokra,
Orsi



2012. január 9., hétfő

Happy New Year! Boldog Új Évet!

Happy new year to everyone! The biggest change on the blog that from now on I will write both in English and in Hungarian.
The festive season is over and  I started the new year with some upholstering work. My pretty pale apple green leather swiwel chair is on sickness leave due to a wrong gas lift, and I had to put into use my old office chair. It serves perfectly and amazingly comfortable (it is a Swiss piece, which was made 20 years ago), but poor old lady was so ugly and didn't fit into the interior. This is a "partial before photo" about it, as the legs and the arms were made of black metal, but I took the photo after the first layer of white paint:


I had to leave the bottom of the legs unpainted, as these are tiny half balls fitted into the legs, so the chair can stand straight and balanced on uneven surface too.
The colour of the fabric was a bluish green, ugly and old fashioned. As I planned to use the chair mostly in the workshop corner and in the bedroom I tried to find a colour which matches with the wall and the bedcover and fits into the current style, which is a nice mix of the French country and calm Scandinavian.



 I bought this fabric at least five years ago on a sale, it is a sturdy one designed for sofas so I thought it will be perfect choice. I remember the words of Nancy Summers, who taught me miniature upholstering in the IGMA Guild School 3,5 years ago about upholstering with striped fabric: the most important thing to keep the stripes straight and match the seat with the back. This way the overall look will be neat and elegant.
I decided to make padded arms too, as the chair otherwise looked too modern and square and I wanted to look it softer and more elegant. I'm not completely satisfied with them, but the chair looks like an armchair now, and the padded arms are really comfortable. I promise I will post better quality photos about it, but the lights currently make it impossible to take better ones.



I used antique gold colour paint to soften the harsh white feet. I bought 4 meters of silk braid and only 7 cm left after I finished the decoration work.  


I will return soon with more miniatures,
have a great day,
Orsi


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Boldog új évet mindenkinek! A legnagyobb változás a blogon, hogy mostantól nemcsak angolul, de magyarul is írok.
Az ünnepek után az idei évet egy kis kárpitozással kezdtem. A csinos halvány almazöld főnöki bőrfotelem betegszabadságon van tönkrement gázlift miatt, így kénytelen vagyok a régi irodaszékemet használni. Nagyon jól szolgál, és fantasztikusan kényelmes is (svájci gyártmány, 20 évvel ezelőtt készült), de szegény öreg hölgy botrányosan ronda, és egyáltalán nem illik az enteriőrbe. Az első fotó egy „félig-ilyen-volt” kép, mivel a lábak fekete fémből készültek, de a fotót az első réteg fehér festék után csináltam.

A lábak alját fehéren kellett hagynom, mert apró félgömbök vannak beleépítve, így a szék egyenetlen felületeten is egyenesen áll.
A kárpit színe kékes zöld volt, igen rút és divatjamúlt. Mivel úgy terveztem, hogy a széket többnyire az alkotósarokban és a hálóban fogom használni, ezért olyan színt kerestem ami illik a falhoz, valamint az ágytakaróhoz, és illeszkedik a jelenlegi stílusba is, ami a vidéki francia és a hűs skandináv kellemes keveréke.
Legalább 5 éve vettem ezt az anyagot egy leértékelésen, valódi kárpitszövet, amit kanapékhoz terveztek, így tudtam, hogy ez lesz a tökéletes választás. Eszembe jutottak Nancy Summers szavai, aki miniatűr kárpitozást tanított nekem az IGMA Guild School-ban 3,5 éve. Ő mondta, hogy csíkos anyaggal való kárpitozásnál a legfontosabb, hogy egyenesen tartsuk a csíkokat, és egyeztessük az ülőrészen és a támlán futó mintát, így a darabunk megjelenése harmonikus és elegáns lesz.
Úgy döntöttem párnázom a karfákat is, mivel a szék túl modernek és szögletesnek nézett ki, én pedig elegánsabb és puhább, hívogatóbb darabot akartam. Nem vagyok teljesen elégedett velük, de az összehatás sokkal „karosszékesebb” lett, és a párnázott karfák nagyon kényelmesek. Ígérem, hogy csinálok jobb fotókat is róla, de a jelenlegi fényviszonyok mellett ezek lettek a legjobbak.
Antik arany árnyalatú festékkel enyhítettem a lábak erős vonalát és a túlságosan fehér festéket. 4 méter selyemzsinórt vettem a dekoráláshoz, amiből mindössze hét cm maradt, mire befejeztem a munkát.

Hamarosan visszatérek újabb miniatűrökkel,
szép napot kívánok,
Orsi


2011. december 18., vasárnap

Extra Long Post for Christmas

This is an extra long post packed with photos to you dear readers. As I will not have time to write before Christmas, take it as Christmas post J
In the last weeks I made a big improvement on the salon de thé. First I was scared to death to start the exterior painting, but I could not skip this step and leave it white... So collected myself and started to paint. I applied two thin layers of basic limestone colour (a mixture of cafe cream and matt white).

 then the „artistic” work started: I had to apply several layers of different aged and/or damp limestone shades, even dirty ones. For these layers I thinned the paint mixtures with water. All in all I used 7 different shades to get the correct effect.







I decided to paint the back wall really aged and damp, as it is usual when the building wasn’t renovated outside, but certainly did not want to repeat it on the front facade, it will not match well with the luxurious interior. Therefore the front got an average limestone look with smaller damp patches and some dirt at the feet.





Finally I took some „simulation” photos today, though the end result will not look like this. The floor will be white marble with tiny black squares, the walls covered with white and golden wood panels decorated with pink toile de jouy wallpaper and an ornate ceiling decorated with golden patterns. The golden décor will reflect the light of the wall sconces and the crystal chandelier. Mouth-watering extraordinary cakes will fill the marble counter, each windowsill will be decorated with a macaron topiaries and macaron tower, which will allow the guests to see the park, but will protect them from the visitors’ stares.









Dear Readers, I wish you merry Christmas, I hope you will return in 2012!

Orsi

2011. december 9., péntek

RL - Advent Preparation

This is a totally different post, because it is about real life and not about miniatures.
As the Christmas' approaching I try to switch the home into "Festive Mood". I am not the person who puts pine and yew branches everywhere, I usually use scents intstead of them. This year I found a new Greenleaf scent, called Merry Christmas, it mixes cinnamon and cloves basically and it reminds me the granny's kitchen and gingerbread. I hide 1-1 bag in the kitchen, the hallway and the living room, put some yew branches into a simple bucket and made a pretty decoration from planting pots, crystal, moss and pine cones. I usually use glass, crystal and silver ornaments, as they reflect the sunshine and snow perfectly and look like ice.





Beside them my two cactuses surprised my some weeks ago, when I wanted to remove them from their current spot from the window and found out that they are full with buds. I got them in spring and they were on sale because looked very weak and unhealthy, so I was really amazed when I counted 60 buds on them. It seems they like their current place extremely as they started to grow during the summer.



I am far from perfect gardener, I have to tell you, but like to take care of my plants, especially about my orchids, therefore the other surprise was my zygopetalum orchid which is now in full bloom (it shares the place with the cactuses... maybe it is a magical spot.. according to the feng shui, that is the love corner of the living room). Now every orchid has tiny new buds, they will be in bloom in January-February I suggest.



I will be back soon with miniatures.
Have a nice weekend,
Orsi

Birthday, Birthday

A very good friend of mine had her 40th birthday 2 days ago and a colleague of mine had the 50th yesterday, so I made them two tiny cakes as birthday gifts. I used their favourite colours, so Erika got a Mad Hatter style orange, pink and pale green cake with stripes, dots and curves, while Eva owns a gift box cake made of "chocolate", filled with chocolates and truffles and decorated with an orange ribbon.












See you soon,
Orsi

2011. november 27., vasárnap

Further Improvements

I wasn't lost :) just spent my days with pretty hard work during the last 3 weeks and now I can show you the latest improvements of my salon de thé. Until this I worked only on the flat walls, as the front facade will be joined to the "body" later with hinges. Working on the back wall was totally different experience and now I realized how big house this will be....
During the last weeks I worked on the back and side walls. As I mentioned earlier the back wall will get the same design as the front facade. I built it from cardboard and balsa and I have my 2 cents again: if you worked with balsa, I'm sure you realized how hard to glue the balsa to any other material, as it starts to curve at the moment the glue meets its surface. This time I didn't want to go through on this nightmare again and decided to varnish the balsa first with waterbased varnish originally used on wooden furniture. And IT DID THE TRICK!!! The balsa became sturdier and I could cut it and glued very easy. My last tasks on the outside before I will start the painting is making the decorative railings and the stuccos on the back wall. I hope I can start the painting procedure before Christmas. Fingers crossed. Probably I will do it between baking cookies or preparing some Christmas stuff.


Back wall - cardboard and balsa cut and glued



Covered with liquid wood and painted with gesso



See you soon,
have a great week,
Orsi

2011. november 12., szombat

M A Facade

I wish I could post earlier.... but I didn't have any time to deal with miniatures, I did some pre-Christmas clean-up in my flat and put together a lifesize chest of drawers which came from the blue-yellow Swedish shop (aka Ikea). As its total weight is 75 kgs (12 stones) it was a real challenge :)

But finally on this week I finished the stuccos on the salon de thé's facade and happy to post some photos about them. It was annoying to make the tiny grapes, I did not even count how many small balls needed to create them..... 1 stucco has 13 fruits, with 25-30 balls each, so we can count 300 balls per stucco, which is altogether 1200 small balls.... no wonder it took 6 hours to make one...






In the upcoming weeks I will spend my time with building up the back, left and right side and leave the stuccos for a while. And can I tell you something? I won't miss them. Though I'm happy with them it was PIA to make them. Now I'm eagerly waiting to finish the outer walls and paint them to a rich, aged limestone colour.

See you soon,
Orsi