Miniature Tin Ceiling Tiles

  Happy day my friends!  I haven't been able to decide what type of ceiling to put in my Apothecary.  Sometimes you just need to walk away and focus on something else for a bit and the answer will come to you.  I decided to try using heavy duty aluminum foil as tiles.  And lo and behold it worked!  The process was really fun and easy with very little waiting for glue to dry.  

First, I rounded up some jewelry findings (I don't know what else to call them).  I found one that I thought would be the perfect size (one inch across) and shape and hot glued it to a small piece of scrap chip board.   Then I cut pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil into about two inch by two inch pieces.    

I placed a piece of foil on top of the jewelry piece and held it down kind of tight with one hand then pressed with my finger on top and also using some of my clay working tools to go around the piece to get as much detail as I could.   

Then I flipped each piece over and spread hot glue on the inverted side to fill the design.

I cut a piece of chip board to glue the pieces of foil to to make the ceiling.  I found this much easier than trying to glue each piece into the apothecary.  I wound up needing more tiles as I trimmed the foil and had to make more.  35 in total.

I glued each piece to the chip board with a dollop of hot glue.  After they were all in place, I used orange, brown and black acrylic paints to aged them up a bit.

I then cut and painted wooden skinny sticks to serve as the borders and glued them down using E6000 glue.

I gave the borders a coating of gloss ModPodge to finish them off then glued the whole thing into the box.  The whole shop is just a square box I have had for literally years.

And there you have it folks!  My "antique" tin (foil) ceiling!  Pretty easy and made for a fun afternoon!

Thank you for visiting!

XOXO ~Laurie

Miniature Book Stand and Open Book

 Hello Mini Friends!  I decided that my apothecary needed an old-style book stand and possibly an open book.  I say possibly because I've never made an open book and for some reason couldn't wrap my head around how exactly to do it.  I watched a tutorial or two but was still intimidated.  After my stand was finished, I decided to just jump in and try it.  

I am pleased with the way they turned out!  Let me show you!

I'll show you the process of making the stand first.  I used a dollhouse wooden spindle, chip board four beads and a piece of lace.

These are the cut pieces of chip board.  I layered to pieces for each part for depth and strength.

I sanded the edges with my fingernail file.

Just to help the spindle stay in place I added some pieces to make a frame underneath the top.

I cut the edge off of a piece of lace and also used a piece of embroidery string to go around the bottom of the spindle to clean it up a bit.

She needed a little wear and tear so i scuffed her up a bit.

For the book, I browsed the internet for some book pages that I liked.  I figure I only needed the top pages that were going to show.  I printed some in different sizes and then sprayed them with a clear coat to seal the ink.

I cut two strips of copy paper and then cut them down to size to match the book pages.

I stacked the pieces and folded them all in half.

I used my ice pick to make two holes then used a needle and thread to bind the pages together just like when making a life-sized book.

Next, I let my sewn pages take a good dip in some leftover coffee.

Then while the pages are wet, I used my tweezers to curve and wrinkle the pages.

Next, I let the book dry overnight.  This is the hardest part lol... waiting.

The next morning, she looked like this and is dry and kind of crispy.

I went over the edges with a little dark brown paint to age both the book pages and the colored top pages.  I did cut the apart and trim them before I glued them on top.

I also added a bookmark made of three strands of DMC floss or cross stitch thread.

This is what the back looks like.  I originally made a book cover but didn't like how stiff it made this book look.  I might try something like this again and make it with a cover.

And here she is!  I actually made a second book for this tutorial.  I didn't take any pictures the first time because I wasn't sure my method would work.  

The final measurements are 3 1/4 inches tall by 1 1/2 inches wide.

I think she turned out lovely!  What do you think??

Thanks for visiting!

XOXO ~Laurie