First Try at 1:12 Scale Herbs

Hello fellow bloggers and blog visitors, tonight I'm sharing my very first attempts at making 1:12 scale herbs ready for the herb garden that will eventually be part of the Dolls House Apothecary Shop that I've begun making.

So far I've dabbled with lavender, calendula and thyme, I'm not 100% happy with any of them, the thyme is so naff that I'm not even going to share a photo of it on my blog. It was a last minute effort with some bits of Lycopodium left on the desk after the lavender making ended for the day all I did was dab on some glue to the trimmed greenery and then added a shake of flower soft and the results are rather lame.

The lavender flowers are too "fluffy" I used flower soft and its not the right colour, but I couldn't find a darker purple, I'm also not sure that the texture is right. Lavender isn't as fully, you get occasional bits when the buds open out towards the end of the flowering cycle, but the buds are more closed and more solid in texture and form than fluffy.

So I'm going to try craft sand dyed with alcohol ink next, that way I can get the colour that I'm happy with because I can create it myself.

I do like the little butterfly twists I added to the lavender, those will stay for the next attempt because I can then make French or Butterfly Lavender and some English Lavender minus the butterfly tops. The tops are just some small petals cut from tissue paper and stuck to the end, but they are effective, I didn't add any shading to the stems or the 'leaves' yet, I need to play with mediums to get the effect I like the most.

Of the three herbs I made tonight I'm chuffed to pieces with the way that the calendulas have turned out, although they aren't perfect and still need some perfecting. I die cut lots of tiny petals and used a tiny embossing tool to shape each layer before layering them together with glue.
There are no leaves on them yet and I forgot to add the shading and edging with some 'Spiced Marmalade' distress ink on one, in my excitement to get a few flowers finished. You can tell the difference between the two, the one with the white edges to the petals on the left is the one I forgot to edge and I do think it looks better to add some shading and highlights.

As I said above, none of the flowers are properly fixed in to their pots yet, no point in wasting pots because I won't be using the ones I created tonight because I'm not happy with them, I also don't have any dolls house plant 'potting compost', I need to pick up something soil like to use. As soon as I am happy with the results I'll share another photo with my progress and the finished articles.

Something else to share, when you're making miniatures for your dolls house, having a hubby with a 3D printer is a real bonus and tonight I was so grateful that Si supports my hobbies like I do his. The white pot is from a set of 4 different sized pots that Si 3D printed for me tonight, and he's going to make me more and also make some different shaped pots. They need a little sanding and I'm going to paint them terracotta and try to weather them, but they are brilliant and I'll be making up displays for some room boxes I want to make.

Not all the herbs I'm making will go in to pots because I want to create a garden scene, but some things will be in pots. I have ideas for creating some Chamomile and Poppies next and maybe some Hollyhocks and before anyone says that hollyhocks don't belong in a herb garden... the flowers were used medicinally for their emollient and demulcent properties, which made them useful for treating chest complaints, they have a similar action to Marshmallow, which is another herb I could add now I think about it.

I've seen kits for making Mullein, Sweet Violets, Madonna Lily and Foxgloves some of which I'll buy, although I want to make as many of the herbs as I can myself, but more practice and a magnifying lamp is called for, but I think I that I'll be able to do it with patience and time. I also seen some wonderful pots of basil and chives that are made from fimo and something called cold porcelian, neither of which I have any experience of. I do have some fimo though so maybe I could try playing with some of that soon.

Finally for this post a quick update, I doscovered that there is a small dolls house shop not far away from me, they don't have a huge range, but I visited today and picked up 2 dorma windows for the attic rooms and some skirting boards. Still waiting for the copper tape and lights to emerge from the loft before I can make a start but progress is being made 😀