Frightened Oysters...and an incredible gift!!!

These are some of my goofy frightened oysters on the half-shell. But, enough about that ;-). I just got an email from a wonderful customer of mine who knows that I am planning on going to Chicago next year, and she wants to give me her frequent flyer miles (which will go unused by a certain date)!!! To me AND my mom!?? So we would be flying there and back at no cost, first class :-O!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Wow!! It can't be said enough that "miniature people" are the kindest, most generous folk on the planet!!!!

While browsing Etsy...

I found some really sweet Fairy houses and traveling caravans!! I am not a HUGE fairy person, as in, I don't buy actual fairies, but I just love some of the fairy like dwellings and furniture I see sometimes!! So rustic and charming and hobbitish. If I had a cottage, I would fill it with little mice or something!! Look at  these cool caravans and cottages (her sold items show more of her houses) that I stumbled across in her Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Centaur1201

Spaghetti with meatballs and Minestrone soup

I'm calling this Spaghetti because its got meatballs buried in there, so I always think it's not "Italian" enough, haha!! A customer asked me to make a plate of Spaghetti with two noodles hanging off either side for her Lady and The Tramp scene, so naturally, I made more and filled up an extra platter. Minestrone soup is one of my favorites, so I made some of that, too!

Catherine the Great

Seriously. Hers is the kind of work you gaze at and think.....FOR REAL??? Get outta here!! But it's true!  Her full sized pieces are just incredible, as are her miniatures! SO gifted, the type of gifted who can make anything, I know it. From ornate copper teakettles to tiny kirchen strainers to a freaking furred kitty cat!! I'm seriously scared.

She attended the Tom Bishop Chicago Show this past weekend and snapped some GREAT pics:

http://kilmouskiandme.blogspot.com/

She also met the amazing Carolyn, my good buddy and maker of such lifelike plants that make me wish I owned a greenhouse to house them all. Or, screw the greenhouse, let me just have one of each and I'll be very happy!! She secured a spot, at the last minute, from Tom Bishop himself, and she rocked it:

http://carolynmohlerkraft.blogspot.com/

So, I have decided that, next year, come hell or high water, I am GOING to the Chicago show!! Hear that Kristy? Start saving, baby!! I am going to start, by cutting down on my music, shoes, jewelry, and clothing OCD!!

Here are some pics from Catherine and Carolyn. She RAVED about Carolyn's plants. so go have a look at her blog to see then at the show:

Catherine:

Carolyn (Love you too, darlin' ;-)):

I can't stand it anymore.

Am I the only one who tries to grow their hair out, then asks themselves.....WHY?? My hair was pretty short just a few months ago, and I decided I wanted a change. Well, I can't take it anymore! It feels like a dead weight on my head, so tomorrow, this mop is coming off!

Raw seafood platter

Here's a platter of raw seafood on ice. Presumably, this is to be cooked, but you could probably eat most of it raw, no?

More wonders from Patricia Cabrera!

Does Patricia ever sleep??? She lives on a farm, tends to her animals, and even makes her own soap!! And yet, she keeps churning out these amazing pieces!! She is going to appear in Dollhouse Miniatures Magazine soon, too!!

http://woolytalesminiatures.blogspot.com/

An award!!!

And it is from my good buddy, Kristy of Mini Menagerie: http://minimenagerie.blogspot.com/
Danke Shoen, my little fart head!! In turn, I would like to bestow this award to the following five peeps:

1- My good friend Thomas Saunders, because I love to annoy the living shit out of him: http://turningsinminiature.blogspot.com/

2- Because I lurv TINY: http://lerevetompouce.blogspot.com/

3- I love all the fine details and I admire someone who takes on a big project and follows it all the way through. I only wish I had that kind of patience. Remarkable!!

4- She's a nutcase! Hilarious, talented, runs (several) immensely entertaining blogs, and I plan on visiting her sometime so we can eat weird food and get tattoos ;-). Oh, and it is the only site I visit where I am not urgently compelled to turn the music off (I dig it)!  http://sansdollhousediaries.blogspot.com/

5- Last but not least, to Carolyn, a master AND good buddy: http://carolynmohlerkraft.blogspot.com/

I love Thomas Saunders because....

he always has wood ;-)! My darling and talented great friend, Tom, has recently moved and is just now getting around to the monumental task of setting up his new workshop. In honor of Tom, I have used one of his gorgeous woodturned pieces for a cheese and fruit display! Check him out:

http://turningsinminiature.blogspot.com/

And be sure to keep your eye on his etsy shop for new works: http://www.etsy.com/shop/turningsin

What to do with extra potatoes

Make potato heads! Make some eyes, make some teeth, a tongue or two, bake them, them stick them into an unbaked potato. Bake again. The end result, a goofy batch of potato heads! I've made these before, because for some reason, I like putting faces on food. I don't know why.

It's not fruit...

it's a freaking basket of vegetables :-/.  Whenever I make stuff like this, ie, fruit, veg, eggs...even seafood, I sometimes make a ton, so I put all the extras in a stack of little drawers on my worktable. I have stuff in there from years ago, which, when I come across, I look at in horror and throw away. Yesterday, I found an old crab that is the most ghastly thing I've ever seen!! But it is also kind of gratifying to see how much you've progressed over the years, no? I will never be 100% satisfied (is there such a thing?), but at least I'm not making crabs with eyes ON TOP of their shells, haha!!!!

Ok Kristy, you asked for it ;-)

I wasn't going to post this decidedly cartoonish, heinous creation, but it appears that Kristy has an appreciation for the ugly as much as I do (despite the fact that she makes the cutest animals on earth, which I can attest to, because I got my smoking possum set today and it is KILLER!!!! In fact, even better in person, which, often in my experience, is rather rare). This started out as an actual fish, one that exists in the deep. When I make fish, I find out as much information about it as I can, but I just jumped in on this one without doing any real research. You would assume, looking at the sheer hideosity and enormous head  and mouth (with the long fangs) that it would be pretty sizeable, but alas, it is actually a small ass fish!! The verdict? Never assume. So, in a nutshell, what started out as a  Fangtooth, has morphed into, simply, one butt ugly fish :-/. By this point, I thought, the hell with it, and added spots as well.

A very drunken octopus

I've made a drunken octopus before, but this one is on his way to getting blotto. Hammered. Three sheets to the wind. See all the bottles? I gave him a little snack in a shell, too, for drunk munchies ;-).

Roasted chicken, and round....I can't count anymore.

I made a roasted chicken, perhaps the 200th that I've made. Oh, and I also got drilled for two hours today. My God, this cover up is turning into an ordeal!!! I am having it reworked....AGAIN!!! On one hand, I am so happy that the old one is completely gone, but on the other, I can't rest until it looks the way I want it to look!! I wasn't thrilled with the way it was turning out (the shape, color, everything), so, like the faithful masochist that I am, I returned to start yet another overhaul :-/. The lower half is looking better, but now I need to finish off the upper. Mind you, I am slightly swollen and VERY red....and the colors will fade some, like the intense red and the swirley bits, but this is a sneak peek ;-).

MINE!!!!!

My good buddy Kristy made me this amazing piece: a smoking possum!!!!! I am in love with him, just as I am with all of Kristy's work!! But my very own possum, with a ciggie yet...I can't stand it already!!! Check him out:

http://minimenagerie.blogspot.com/

This is kind of gross

I had to make another human heart for a customer, so I made an extra one and incorporated it into this gruesome scene :-/. I'm a little freaked out, to be honest.

It's a Greek Easter at Sophia Twaddell's house!

My friend Sophia has returned to blogging!! Yea!!! Shes laid out a delicious spread on her dining room table. I spot my leg of lamb, green beans, grilled eggplant, and spinach pies among her offerings! I'm stopping by your house later, Sophia!!

http://smalltalk-minilover.blogspot.com/

More bananas, and a crappy pic of my back

I was commissioned to make more bananas, this time yellow(ish), green, and red, so I made extra to sell on ebay. The last time I made red bananas, I mixed a reddish clay, but this time I took some pale yellow and chalked that sucker. The other (crappy pic) is my growing tattoo, the one that is covering up the old tattoo that I got when I was young and impulsive. Wait....I'm still impulsive :-/. It still needs work, so I will continue making pieces for the fat biker in exchange for inkage! Oh, and pain. Because the pic is so overexposed, you can't really see that it is surrounded by black and grey roses and foliage, but it is.

Hey!! Here's some fish and fruit!

I decided to make some fish...and fruit (well, citrus, as in Buddha's Hand)!! Again!!!  I don't think I will rest until I've made just about every kind of fish on the planet. Or rather, in the ocean, stream, river, aquarium.....