Awful things I've made a looooong time ago

Ok, do you know how you come across pics of some truly ghastly things you've made in the past and you just cringe? I have a bunch of pics that I am not proud of, and when I see them (I try not to), I just think: what the hell was I thinking?? And I'm not talking about the human excrement in a jar I made not long ago, but stuff I made when I was kind of just starting. Well, I am going to post a couple now, but just let me know if I should stop or you want to see more (I kind of hope you don't!). You may just want to gouge your eyes out, though. By the way Cindy, this is for you :-D! First is a roasted GOAT'S head, with lemon. WHY???  I don't know! The second is a bat hanging upside down from a branch in a planter. Ok idea, bad execution! It looks like a balding bonzai plant with a deformed black rat hanging from it!

I have crabs

..and they are goofy looking!

Bootsy, our newly adopted kitty!

This is Bootsy! We adopted her a couple days ago. She was hiding in the cat pen at the shelter amongst all the short-hairs. My mom took one look at her smashed face and it was all over. She HAD to come home with us.

Re-Ment

They're playscale, they're plastic, and they're highly addictive. They triggered my collecting and hoarding instincts something fierce. Am I alone in this? About six years ago, I discovered Re-Ment, a Japanese company that makes these highly collectible miniature sets- food, furniture, accessories, etc. I only bought food, and I limited myself to the traditional Japanese food and product sets, which is all I wanted anyway. I didn't want them by the piece (or box). I had to have the ENTIRE set (usually about 10 boxes). So, I started collecting them and went a "little" nuts. I kept telling  myself that it was for "research"...that I was "celebrating part of my heritage", haha!! But it became a problem, like Japanese heroin or something...so I had to quit cold turkey. I had to bar myself from visting any site that might have them for sale. If I was on ebay and happened to come across any of it, I quickly clicked away.

But damn. I was shopping on a website last week and spotted a dried fish set.  I am proud to say that I did not go ape shit and buy the entire set. I got just the ONE box! From now on, if I buy any, it'll be single boxes, like the dried fish set below. I must admit, it does bother me a little that, among others, I don't have this one though: http://www.re-ment.co.jp/products/susimeguri/index.html

Real (bizarre) cakes

My mom sent me these pics of real cakes. I'm not sure I could bring myself to chow down on a piece of that kitty litter cake, complete with turd!

 

Fish pie weirdness

I like making weird pies. In fact, I don't really enjoy making them unless they're weird. Nothing wrong with a good old fruit pie, but really, show me something new! A few years ago, a customer asked me to make the weirdest (real) pie I'd ever heard of: a Stargazey pie, with real fish heads sticking out, their bodies baked into the shell. Oooh, I was going to relish this! I looked up some pics and did a little research, then set to work. I had been making strange pies before this, but this was pretty over the top! Since then, I've gotten alot of requests for Stargazeys, and I've enjoyed making every single one, adding a bit of variation . This simple fish pie, like the one below, is another one that I don't mind making more than once or twice....but that may be because I just like making fish, period. Would I want to eat it? Probably not, because the combo of pastry and fish I find a bit.... revolting :-p

Gorgeous (real) mushrooms

I thought I'd share this stunning photo of real, wild mushrooms that has been sitting on my hard drive for eons. Real pics (if we can't have the actual thing sitting in front of us), as we know, are the best things to take inspiration from :-). I love how natural they look- NOT perfect, which is much more realistic. It is sometimes the little "flaws" that make some miniatures more lifelike, for me. This is probably why I am more drawn to "messy" scenes as opposed to sterile, "not a hair out of place" ones. Maybe messy is the wrong word :-/. But sometimes the perfection leaves me cold. I want to see "life" in them. In the case of mushrooms, the nicks and the dirt and the mishappeness (and these are in pretty good conidtion, considering)!