Jeff Littlejohn: from acccomplished full-sized sculptor to...budding miniaturist!

Jeff Littlejohn is the man who messaged me on ebay. He is a phenomenal sculptor (among other things) and his work, like the moveable dinosaurs, is in museums. You can certainly see why!! Good god!! He is very interested in making 1:12 scale miniatures, particularly animals. He is scary good, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with!! I'm always curious to see how full scale sculptors fare when they scale waaaaay down, but I have no doubt that Jeff will crank out astonishing pieces. In fact, Martha Puff took one look at his website and is already interested in writing an article on him, once he starts. Come on Jeff, let's see it!! No pressure or anything ;-).

http://sites.google.com/site/jefflittlejo/home

Not fish or fruit

I will go back to making fish very soon (probably tonight, lol!!), but I slipped in a couple breakfast sets, for a change!

Mixed fruit bowl and Red Stripe Rockfish

I piled a bunch of fruit in this gorgeous handturned bowl that my buddy Thomas Saunders made.
And I made more fish since...well, there are so many types of fish to make! Someone contacted me today to compliment me on my fish, which was high praise indeed, considering the fact that he is a phenomenal sculptor, who has life-sized pieces in museums!! As in, a moving dinosaur :-O!! He makes smaller animals as well, and wants to get into making miniatures. Once he does, you can bet that I will will feature his work here!!

Tom's blog: http://turningsinminiature.blogspot.com/

Carolyn Mohler Kraft's gorgeous plants

My good buddy, Kristy Taylor of Mini Menagerie, maker of the cutest damned critters you've ever seen: http://www.minimenagerie.com/, introduced me to her good friend, Carolyn Mohler Kraft, maker of some mighty fine plants: http://www.carolynmohlerkraft.com/!

Carolyn has been making and selling her plants to discerning collectors since the early 1980s, and was first published in Nutshell News in 1987!! VERY cool!! She does NOT use paper punches- each leaf is made painstakingly by hand (something I don't see much of nowadays). Instead, she uses an "old-school" method, one that she prefers, because it makes for a much longer lasting and sturdier piece of art. Her late mother was also a miniaturists, and clearly, the apple has not fallen far from the very fruitful tree ;-). She would be very proud!

These are a few examples of her outstanding work:

A pig's head with a rose in its mouth

I got a purple rose as a free little gift when I bought something, so I stuck it in a pig's mouth. Speaking of roses, my tattoo guy wants to trade pieces of my work for pieces of his! He has been to my website and I think he is hooked on miniatures! The last time I saw him, a few days ago, I gifted him with something I made a few years ago. It was one of my root people scenes. I'm not sure yet what I'll make him for next time.

Mangoes

Here's a basket of mangoes. I don't eat too many of them, but I LOVE pickled mango!! This sounds familiar....did I already do a post on mangoes!? Anyway, my second grade teacher in grade school, an old Hawaiian lady, who was a completel psycho b*tch, made the best pickled mango that I ever put in my mouth. But she was absolutely frightening. When we were "bad", she put us in a closet, smacked us with a yardstick, and made the boys put on ballet tutus and sit on a stool in front of the whole class. And yet, she would sometimes bring us delicious pickled mango. Very strange woman.

WOW!!

Look at Catherine's metalwork!!!! Her miniature teapots are mind blowing!!! She's VERY talented (I adore that spatula too!), and I look forward to seeing the dollhouse she plans on building, too!  Here's a link to her blog and a picture of her teapots:

http://kilmouskiandme.blogspot.com/

Hearts

I made two hearts, one on ice, and one "growing" in a jar. I usually have avocado seeds growing like this, but I substituted a heart. Kinda creepy, no? Sometimes, the need to make creepy stuff creeps up on me. I can feel it coming.

Fish in an Igloo cooler

Someone has been fishing. There are a couple more beer cans, but they're buried under the fish.

Some of my chunky rings

Here's a pic of some of my chunky rings, the ones I wear the most. This is a blog centered around miniatures, but I sometimes like to sneak in other things I like as well. Food....and collecting jewelry, especially big ass rings!!  I LOVE shoes, too (especially platforms and clogs), but rest assured, I won't post a pic of my shoes ;-).

Eggs, eggs, and yet more eggs.

There's no question. When I start making eggs, I really get into it!! I had a difficult time stopping. I think I'm done....for now ;-).

A chicken laying Easter eggs

I made some Easter eggs and had lots left over, so I made a chicken laying a few of them.

My new bauble

And the last rose tattoo!!! I mean, besides the one on my back that is still being worked on and is growing every week. This little one in on my right wrist. My wrist is a bit swollen right now, but when she was working on it, she said that it was like tattooing a six-year old's wrist :-/. Not much room to work with. I wanted green vines at first but she thought it would look too bulky, so she tattooed  very fine, black thorny curlicues. The second pic is a wee bit blurry!