Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goodies in the mail!

There is nothing I relish more than getting packages in the mail. The more the merrier!! I like a steady flow. If a week goes by with nothing, I have to up the Zoloft dosage :-/. Today, I received some leather Tudor shoes and a coin pouch from my buddy, IGMA Artisan Carol Cook! I adore them! They are fantastically made, as I knew they would be. I may not have a Tudor house yet, but when I do, these prized pieces will be ready and waiting ;-). I'd like to see her make other leather goods as well, since I do love them! Hint hint...

The second thing I received a few days ago was the Chinese soup spoon that I had Linda Master carve for me! I am so pleased with it- it's exactly what I wanted. So delicate and fine..and smooth! And yes, perfectly shaped, just like the real thing! You can't tell from this angle, but it dips down in he back, too. My mission now is to have a master mold made of it and reproduced, so that I can use them for my Chinese soups and stuff :-D








Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Maryland Crabs

Here are a few crabs I made today (people aksing for seafood). I have tried eating these before while visitng Maryland, and I just can't get into it. SO much work for so little payoff (meat!). Plus, even worse, there is almost nothing to dig out of the main body!! No delicious greenish/brown gunk (my favorite part)!


Tom Saunders in Dollshouse and Miniature Scene!

My buddy Thomas Saunders is in the new issue of Dollshouse and Miniature Scene Magazine! YEA TOM!! It's a great article, and he also shows you how to make a beautiful lidded pot. I've scanned just the first of his multi page article for you to see:


Monday, December 28, 2009

Bread

I don't make alot of bread, but it's kind of like cheese- when I start doing it, I keep going....and going...and going. I made these, and something kind of freaky, which I'm not so sure about.




Saturday, December 26, 2009

After Christmas Nightmare

I wasn't going to go shopping today....but, there were so many irresistible sales that I dragged my ass out of bed and hit it. I stood in one line at a shop for nearly an hour, my arms drapped with clothing I had gathered after a rocket tour. I almost left when I saw the line snaking around for what seemed like miles. Did I REALLY want another pair of jeans and black cords?? Ones that made my ass look even SMALLER so that I looked like Keith Richards younger , equally as strung out sister!?? Apparently, I did :-/. Then, it was off to lunch at a conveyor belt sushi joint, where little plates of yumminess go around and around and you just grab what you want as it goes by. By this point, I was drained and needed sustenance. This is not exactly fine dining, but I was so famished that I would have eaten a horse (which I did once, accidentally, in France). The place was SO cold, like a meat locker, so I shoveled down the food and ran outside to thaw out. My fingertips were completely numb and I felt like I was back at college, in Colorado, in the Winter (where I really DID get frostbite after tooling around on my scooter without gloves). I thought I should make something, so I watched "An Education" on my laptop while I made some fish to put on scales. GREAT film!! The lead actress is astonishing! Anyway, I feel like crap now, so it may be awhile before I update my blog, but here are pics of the conveyor belt sushi and my fish on scales.














Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Nantasy Fantasy

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Nantasy Fantasy! Truly unique stuff!! Check out the autopsy and the man in the outhouse below!! I can even see the hairs on that guy's thighs :-O

http://nantasy-fantasy.com/miniatures/index.php?main_page=index




Monday, December 21, 2009

Blue Moki fish


Sometimes I like to google pics of edible fish to make, and I found a saltwater one named Blue Moki. Never heard of it before! And well, it's bluish and I wanted to use my blue Pearl Ex pigment ;-).


Saturday, December 19, 2009

Spam, a Hawaiian staple

People in Hawaii LOVE their Spam! You can find Spam Musubi (riceballs with Spam) just about everywhere....every 7-11, gas station, you name it. Sometimes there is egg sandwiched between the rice and spam. Today I stopped by a market to pick up lunch to go (salmon, shrimp, and rice), and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a big display of Spam flavored Macadamia Nuts!!!! WTF?? Here's a pic of the nuts and an old pic of some Spam Musubi that I made:


Friday, December 18, 2009

Patricia Cabrera's world!!

If you haven't already, I highly recommend taking a look at Patricia Cabrera's work. All of it!! She makes amazingly lifelike animals, dolls, soft wool sculptures and illustrations, marionettes......whew, I could go on, but it's better just to go and drool for yourself ;-). It is ALL magicial!!



http://woolytalesminiatures.blogspot.com/

http://themagicalmarionettetheatre.blogspot.com/

http://woolytales.blogspot.com/

http://patitadolls.blogspot.com/

http://linktonowhereland.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Articulate Matter...

makes me smile EVERY time :-D!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/articulatematter/


The bags are out of control!

Wow, my eye bags are now holding bags. I have nesting bags, like a Russian doll. I need a porter to carry them!!! I think these are permanent. Between the disfigured thumb, the eye bags, and the disappearing ass from sitting for so long, I am paying the price for all this miniature making.


Linda Master's carvings

Thanks to Karin Corbin, I had a new look at  Linda Master's website and saw some amazing carvings!!  She made an an entire Noah's Ark scene in 1:144 scale, and she carves tiny things that can sit on the head of a pin! Here are a few pics and a link to her site:

http://www.miraclechickenurns.com/




Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My critique!

Ok, I promised to report on the critique I received from the IGMA committee, so here it is. Note that some of the comments seem disjointed and there is a contradiction about one of the items (the peppers). I am guessing that comments were made by different individuals, so some of them differed in their opnions.

Positive:

Wonderful overall appearance- appetizing and exceptional realism.
Fish is superb.
Good variety of foods, textures, and colors.
The meats look like meat! Good shaping of the carrots, and the tops (where the greens have been removed) are well colored- nice touch.
Roast looks so real! As do the fish. Very nice. Textures for the individual food types is right on. Good scale.
Root vegetables are well done- everything looks well in scale. Good shaping. Everything sits naturally.
Outstanding roast!! The best I have seen. The fat, color & transparency is great. Peas are wonderfully realistic. Agree about the carrot tops. Biscuits are great.
Good accessories. Love the stuffed peppers.

Areas of Improvement:

The stuffed peppers look to bright to have been cooked. Cooking dulls the colors, especially the red and green ones.

Fish plate could use some "juice" or something to make it seem to sit there more convincingly. Salsa is not convincing.

- Ok, that's it! I completely agree with the comment about the stuffed peppers. I should have dulled down the colors! About the fish "juice", I am usually a fanatic about "juices", but for some reason, either it doesn't show, or I didn't add it at all. I no longer have those pieces because I donated them, so I can't check. The fish are char grilled, so I'm not sure how much "juice" would be visible because of that. I am going to look, the next time I eat char grilled fish and report back ;-)!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Won Ton soup, without spoons :-/.

You have no choice but to raise that bowl to your mouth ;-)! If anyone finds some Chinese soup spoons, just let me know!


Sunday, December 13, 2009

Bananas

I try to eat a banana every day for potassium. Isn't that the most interesting factoid you've ever read :-/ ???


Friday, December 11, 2009

Grace's Books and other goodies!

Grace, of Treefeathers, has a new shop that isn't ebay :-D!! She is always adding cool goodies (love the new mini statues and busts), and I just now bought some books from her. She has a wide variety, and is adding new titles and genres as we speak. I know first hand that they are perfect and so well made! Here is the link to her blog, shop, and a couple pics:

http://blog.treefeathers.com/

http://www.treefeathers.com/





My mom

Her's my mommy, at work (making me something) and eating!













Me at work and play

Well, not really play. Here I am, sitting at my cramped workspace, making something on the world's smallest tile, on my old laptop (this pic is about a year old). The other one is more recent. I am checking out the goods at a Japanese market. I look ratty indoors and out :-D!





Thursday, December 10, 2009

I want some toys

Please tell me that I am not the only one who goes shopping to buy gifts and sees stuff they want...almost ALL the time?? I found this cute little shop with "animated" paper models and anatomical model animals. Here are a few things I am eyeballing:

http://www.kikkerlandshop.com/

















Leg of lamb

I made a leg of lamb, snapped a pic, scrapped it, then went back and added some meat bits to that bone sticking out in front. I like to add a "healthy" amount of fat to red meat because I umm....like high fat content :-/.


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Mangoes and Papayas

in something. There are different varieties of Papayas, but these are the kind I usually eat. Pickled mangoes are yummy, too!





Monday, December 7, 2009

A little Tudor goodness

I love anything Tudor, and I stumbled upon an old bookmark for a site that made me drool! There isn't a lot of stuff, but what's there is really neat. And they make crooked houses :-D!

http://www.saalt.co.uk/index.shtml












Cheese board

A customer of mine asked me to make her several cheeses in a basket, so I went a little nuts and made this cheese board, too. And I have lots left over. I don't make cheese very often, but every time I do, I get really into it because there are endless varieites to make! You can just make something off the top of your head, and chances are, it exists
;-).


Sunday, December 6, 2009

Beef stew and rice. No fork!

There is no fork or spoon to eat this with. Chopsticks only ;-).


Saturday, December 5, 2009

Seafood in jars

Yes, as you may have surmised, I like to put food in jars, not just baskets ;-). Here's a selection of jarred seafood.
















Friday, December 4, 2009

Homework?

There is an Asian site that I bookmarked a long time ago named "Homework" and I thought I'd post a few pics that I liked. The first pic (beef stew?) is really good- it looks sooo juicy:

http://www.h6.dion.ne.jp/~home_w/index.htm