News! News! (and commission update)

Happy New Year Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Apologies for being absent for a while now. If you have been following me on social media you might notice that I am still around - just not blogging as much. In fact I'm not sure how many people will actually read this entry but I'm still going to write some big news today.

First of all, there is going to be a new website! I have accepted the fact that blogging is now passé and this blog-based website is a bit 90s. I am currently creating a new website which is modern with a simple and better layout. The past years I have been pulling my hair out because editing my menu (pages) through blogger has been hell. The new website won't have any written entries but there will still be a link to this original blog. This blogger web address will revert to the original but you should be notified of the changes if you subscribe to updates. I will give more information when the changeover is complete but bear with me for a while since it's still a mammoth task to create a whole new website from scratch. To date I have over 3000 photos alone on this current blog and I'm linking them back to the new website one-by-one. I'm hoping to finish by end of this month.

This also means that I am no longer updating the pages with new items as I have already started shifting them to the new blog. Eventually when the new website takes over, I will also remove all of the pages from this blog so there is less clutter, redundancies and a more streamlined price structure.

Secondly, Littlest Sweet Shop is moving to a new address! Not me personally but there will be a new diorama for the 1:6 scale world. I love the original Littlest Sweet Shop in blue but just like this blog - it's old and made from cheap foam board so I knew that one day I will have to upgrade it. I'm not a diorama maker so this task has been handled by a very talented Korean artist. It will be revealed hopefully before this summer. 

Apart from web-editing, commissions, Etsy orders and being a housewife, everything is still pretty much the same. My Etsy sales have been great but it means I have less time to develop new miniatures or record YouTube video tutorials. I try to prioritise what's important now and blogging does not seem to gain me any traffic or new readers. However it is still my main outlet to talk about my commissions and anything interesting about running this miniature shop. 

Recently I made a commission for someone who makes shadow boxes. She wanted specifically these 2 boxes in 1:12 scale so they are only half an inch wide! Usually I'm nervous about making prints in 1:12 scale but these turned out better than expected and the client was pleased. I'm glad that it will be arranged into a personalised shadow box for someone.

1:12 scale box of candy

Only half an inch wide!

Kokomi with a box of Hot Tamales

Kokomi-chan with a Jelly Belly gift box

Other than that, I'm currently doing another 1:12 scale commission whilst balancing life! I put a lot of hard work in the last 8 years and since this hobby is always evolving, I'm still trying to catch up. Thank you to all of my supporters and loyal clients, I promise there are bigger and better things to come.

Bye!

Commission Update(s)

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers

I did a few commissions this month and here are some of the highlights.

This one is rather special since I developed everything including the cup artwork. The tropical punch Slurpee was always my favourite from 7-Eleven so it was fun recreating it. The crushed ice looks real and wet! Pictures taken with other 1:6 scale Littlest Sweet Shop products. I'm also making more Slurpees in different colours to list on Etsy.  

1:6 scale 7-Eleven purchases. Slurpee is the tastiest beverage to cool you down always!

Vacuum-formed cup lid. Paper cup.

The next Littlest Sweet Shopper ordered a variety of fruits and cereal.

Oranges, peeled oranges, an apple and a bowl of cereal

The order included a small bowl of cereal (Fruit Loops) and a spoonful of cereal with milk as well. The bowl was also hand-made using clay and the spoon is a vintage Sindy miniature. It wasn't supposed to be in 1:6 scale but slightly smaller.

Very small bowl of milk with Fruit Loops. 

Maya is obviously too big to model the bowl of cereal with milk! However she was the only one available at that time. Look how dainty the spoon looks like in her hands.

Client also requested milk with the cereal on a spoon.

Last but not least an order of oranges in various styles. This is one of our best-selling fruits of all time and I'm glad many dolls get to enjoy it. 

Commissioned various styles of oranges

That's all for this evening. I'm currently working hard to stock up new items on Etsy so make sure you be the first to know once they go live! Each item is one of a kind so if they sell out, it might not be restocked! There will also be a special Halloween Youtube tutorial that I hope to upload before Halloween itself even though I'm very busy right now. I only have one commission to do before I go to Paris for holiday and hope to debut more new items soon.

Bye!

Commission Update: Candy inspired by Dylan's Candy Bar

Hi again Littlest Sweet Shoppers

Here is a commission I made for one of our most loyal client! She always requests new things that I haven't made and I try my best to develop them for her.

Commission for client in 1:6 scale. Excluding bowls. Edamame, Loose Cornflakes, Cornflakes box, Berry Candies and Dylan's Candy Bar Gold collection chocolate

The first candy she wanted were also known as Candy Berries which are traditionally made in red and black colours. However Dylan's Candy Bar sells them in 5 different colours/flavours! It's also our new Pick'n mix selection.

Candy Berries

Tiny gummy candy developed for client

These are almond coated chocolate made to look like tiny cocktail olives. Inspired by Dylan's Candy Bar's Gold Collection, they are literally gourmet miniature sweets! Remember, we can always re-create any of your favourite sweets.

Inspired by Dylan's Candy Bar creations.

Edamame beans are loose and you can order enough to fit a miniature bowl. They are tiny and simple but great for Japanese dining scenes. Also available now in our Japanese menu.

Edamame beans with other Littlest Sweet Shop Japanese food

That's all for now! I will post new arrivals for September tomorrow but there are only a few items. However no new miniature is too small to debut!

There will be many great things next month including a lot of new items for the Etsy store and even more new arrivals! Make sure you visit Littlest Sweet Shop again in October.

Bye!

Commission update: Peeled oranges

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Back again with short post on a recent commission. Our peeled oranges have been selling like hot cakes on Etsy but a client wanted something slightly different. Since everything from Littlest Sweet Shop is handmade, it's possible to customise anything!

So the first orange she wanted has to have all of the peel taken off and also 3 segments remove from the main orange. I added the loose pieces of segments and orange peel skins for extra play value.

Client's order. Left: Orange with all peel removed and 3 segments removed. Additional loose peeled skin included

The other orange she wanted is same (3 segments removed) BUT still has the peeled skin intact to the main orange.

Orange with 3 segments removed and peeled skin intact

Last but not least she wanted one of our partly peeled oranges. There are still some listed on our Etsy store but act fast as there isn't too many left!

Partly peeled oranges

Since I was already creating oranges with skin still intact, I decided to make some for the Etsy shop

Orange with skin peeled off but still intact

3 created for the Etsy store

I also added more skinless oranges into the Etsy store.

Fully peeled oranges

And that was the commission update for June. Make sure you check out our Etsy store (Online Shop) if you would like to purchase some oranges or commission some yourself!

Bye!

Commission update: 1:3 scale packaged candy

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers

I know I'm lagging behind updates on this website. Any news will always appear via our social media channels first. To compile it all neatly into one post is not as straightforward but I will try my best to catch up next month.

Despite my lack of appearance in social media, I was still getting some small commissions which is all I can handle currently. A client was asking if our popular selection of packaged candy could be made in 1:3 scale. Since I designed the packaging, I said of course! And I made a pack of chocolate and a bar of Snickers for her Dolfie Dream.

Client commission packaged candy in 1:3 scale

It turned out so cute so I decided to scale up the others as well! I'm also happy that the client think they look so real. So now it's also available for other Littlest Sweet Shoppers to commission. They are listed in the 1/3 scale menu.

1:3 scale packaged candy by Littlest Sweet Shop

In other news, my Instagram channel was featured in American Miniaturist magazine June 2019. I think this is only my 3rd magazine feature and I'm truly honoured. 

This June is the season when I am the weakest since I am allergic to a specific pollen which triggers my asthma. I am trying my best to debut the new Yume (pastel rainbow) miniature collection and finally finish my big 1:3 scale project. There will also be the new YouTube tutorial I keep talking about since last month so I'm hoping that I can upload it by this weekend. I'm also going to mix things up a little on the YouTube channel - it is a surprise! So come visit again in June for the new collection and I promise there will be more new miniatures.

Bye!

Commission update - Tête de Moine cheese and Girolle machine

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Here is a unique commission I did in February for a Littlest Sweet Shopper in Australia. She's one of our favourite customers and requested something totally new. I can be a bit nervous about creating something which isn't on our website since clients (and myself) do not know what to expect. Luckily for me, this client gave feedback along the way when constructing this tiny little device! This is Swiss cheese so I only had picture references and I was so happy when I managed to get it as close as possible to the real product!

February 2019 commission

Tête de Moine is a semi-hard cheese which is shaved to make delicate rosettes. The machine is called a girolle and the handle spins around while shaving a very thin layer. The layers form into the rosettes which look way better than regular sliced cheese! 

After many brain-storming sessions with the client, I managed to get a wooden base in the required diameter and built the machine using nails, wires, wooden bits and PTEG plastic (for the blade). The parts which aren't metal had to be painted using silver paint.  

Littlest Sweet Shop girolle machine with cheese wheel and rosettes

The cheese is a specific brand from Switzerland called Tête de Moine. I made the cheese wheel and attached the label for realism. According to the client, the cheese wheel had to be maybe 1mm extra wide to be exactly like the one in real life. I'm still amazed that my calculations weren't that far off!

Tête de Moine cheese by Littlest Sweet Shop

You can order the machine with the cheese wheel and fresh Tête de Moine cheese wheels too!

Naru is trying out the machine. She's getting the hang of making those cheese rosettes

This new cheese is available in the Deli menu along with the machine. Another popular adaptation of the Girolle machine is turning it into a shaver for chocolate wheels! This will create fancy chocolate rosettes which people use in cake decorating. I also made marble and tri-chocolate wheels and some rosettes for each wheel. The marble wheel was the trickiest to make since the real process would be swirling molten chocolate into a mold. Clay isn't molten/liquid so it took me 6-7 tries until I was happy with the design! Even the rosettes were hand-crafted to look like they were shaven from the wheels I made. 

Marble chocolate wheel and Marble chocolate in girolle cutter

I can make the rosettes to match your chocolate wheel

Tri-chocolate wheel. Milk, dark and white chocolate all in one!

Chocolate girolle cutters and chocolate wheels are now available in the Chocolatier menu. It's a very high-end type of chocolate and would be a great addition to a miniature bakery scene.

Currently I am working on another video tutorial and trying to list as many new items as I can on the website. Some new items will also be listed on the Etsy store so make sure that is is one of your favourite shops so you will be notified when they go live. 

See you next week for some new arrivals!

Bye!

Commission update - 1:12 miniatures and food from TV's Breaking Bad

Good morning Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Our first commission is from a returning customer from America who wanted even more 1:12 miniatures! This time she ordered even more more frozen yogurt, half-eaten Crème brûlée from the Etsy shop, another Littlest Fast Food tray with onion rings, a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich, bear lollies and a pack of Lebkuchen.

1:12 miniatures commission

1:12 scale onion rings

1:12 scale selection of frozen treats

Super tiny 1:12 scale ice cream sandwich

Kokomi-chan with a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich in 1:12 scale

Once again we made 1:12 frozen yogurt using graphic requested by the client. Chocolate yogurt with pastel sprinkles and Vanilla yogurt with chocolate sprinkles

Like all of our products, everything is made to scale even for 1:12 doll size Kokomi-chan

Selection of packaged items

XS size Bear Lollipops fits 1:12 scale

1:12 scale Lebkuchen sealed in a pack

Another commission was from an English Littlest Sweet Shopper who wanted me to make some food featured in the series Breaking Bad and cheese nachos. These items are also already available for you to order.

Original artwork was designed for Breaking Bad food

That's all folks! I'm not doing any commissions now which means I can concentrate in getting more new stock into Littlest Sweet Shop as well as our Etsy store. I've uploaded another tutorial on the YouTube channel and will be developing a new collection for April. It's been ages since I have some extra free time in my hands so I also want some quiet play time with my toys which have been ignored for months now! I hope you visit us in a week's time or so to check out some new items in store.

Bye!

Commission Update - 1:12 scale fast food

Good evening Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

A short entry today about a recent commission for a Littlest Sweet Shopper in America. She really wanted Littlest Fast Food in 1:12 scale so I thought I'd give it a try. They are usually available only in 1:6 scale since I'm not confident my printer can produce high quality print at a smaller scale than one-sixth.

Luckily they turned out great even though I had to simplify the design of the Chicken Burger box and Fries box. The frozen yogurt had the label from her local yogurt shop so almost everything was bespoke. I am so happy that the new client loves them and here are the miniatures that I made for her.

1:12 scale strawberry yogurt with pastel sprinkles. Cup made with client's preferred logo

1:12 scale Curly Fries, Chicken Burger and tray

1:12 scale. Custom plastic lid for the yogurt

Made perfectly to scale

Kokomi-chan with a Frozen Yogurt made for 1:12 scale Picco Neemo size

Littlest Fast Food's signature packaging in 1:12 scale

1:12 scale chicken burger doesn't come with cheese. Little container of dipping sauce optional

1:12 scale Curly Fries

Kokomi-chan's quick lunch

1:12 scale 3D printed tray

1:12 scale Littlest Fast Food

That's all for now. I currently have 2 commissions to complete and many little projects on the side so I am kinda busy (again!) to take photos of the new Gingerbread Houses! I have an upcoming workshop in October so I am currently working on the course plan while trying to produce another YouTube tutorial.....................PHEW!

I do hope to see you again for another new update this month so please stick around ;)

Bye!