The Enchanted Potting Shed

You may have caught some behind the scenes of me making these toadstool characters and such a few days ago (here)... well here are some final photos from this project. I'd say more about it if I could, but you know how it is!

Watch me make mandrake seedlings in timelapse over at the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel here.

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See a magical glimpse taken of the shoot using my iPhone here or below

Adopt a mandrake seedling / grumpy toadstool via the webshop here.

Enjoy the photos!

Don't Give up your Day Dream

Do you know another thing I love about living in LA?! It's the fact that they do such things as host all-night outdoor fantasy screenings. Just recently I attended one. I spent a warm summer's night under the stars, drinking wine with 2000 like-minded people and watched The NeverEnding Story (1984), followed by Legend (1985), followed by The Labyrinth (1986). It ended at about 6 am! Scroll to the end of this post to see stills from these fantastic fantasy films.

The event was hosted by Cinespia, and if you're in LA are not on their mailing list then I suggest signing up. Even last Sat they showed Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), which is my all-time favourite horror film.

Back to the fantasy night - they actually brought a unicorn to the affair. I took a photo with my iPhone which you can see below. This all leads me to a post about unicorns... so much has been about unicorns lately, from another variant on a fairytale kitchen I had to make in miniature (with unicorn horns on the table), to watching Legend, to breathing a huge sigh of relief that Scotland is remaining part of the United Kingdom. (Info here) Did you know that the unicorn is their national beast, and that the Scottish coat of arms depicts two crowned and chained unicorns? Brilliant, isn't it? (Another link for you - John Oliver explains it).

Unicorn in LA - photo taken by iPhone at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Some photos of another fairytale kitchen piece, including unicorn horns. That's my hand in one of the photos as well. Scale 1:12.

Stills from The NeverEnding Story, Legend and The Labyrinth.

Scottish Coat of Arms.

Come inside my Fairy Ring

It's been hotter than hot in LA this week. Halfway through September, and for this English girl it's like walking on the surface of the sun. Despite that I managed to get someone's cold this week if you can even believe it!

So, over the weekend I went to a newly discovered treasure trove in Burbank - The Train Shack and found wood and scenic scatters I needed for a section of enchanted forest I've been building. Heading into Burbank was even hotter than my area (Los Feliz), as this iPhone screen-grab shows! (103°F = 39.5°C)

Despite my cold and feeling like I'm dying of the Plague, I've continued to work on my forest and taken a few photos along the way. I made the bluebells based on a method created by brilliant miniaturist Georgina Steeds. You can see some of the process in the photos below. The toadstools, trees, and everything you see was built by me in 1:12 scale. I'll share more on this when it's finished.

Note, that the photo of the forest above and second to last are simply close-ups of the scene I lit and photographed today. They are not Photoshopped. I mention this because people assume a lot happens to my photos in post (light added, colours changed), but actually what's in the photo is what's sitting in my workshop surrounded by a 3-point lighting kit. ;)

Get regular updates by following the Tall Tales Productions Facebook page, where you can ask questions about any of the miniature work there by leaving comments.

This fairy forest project reminds me of a photo shoot I did for a talented New York photographer, Leyla T. Rosario, almost 10 years ago. I dressed as a fairy in Hyde park, London in the wee hours of the morning after a night shift. Photo included below, last.

Items from model shop - The Train Shack.

Me, as a fairy in Hyde Park, London, 2004.

Deadly Sweet Tooth

Having a sweet tooth can be deadly. Well, maybe not deadly but it's not great - I should know, I have to schedule a root canal filling this week. Grrrr...
But anyway, this is something I've been working on for the past 2 days... props for a scene in 'Myrtle the Witch' inside a cake & pie shop, run by a witch, naturally.

I did a sketch of some designs (below) and have been sculpting them out of clay and mixed media in one inch scale. Here are some snaps of my work space.

Stay tuned for character design of this witch and watch this scene come together as I build the set interior.

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Fantastical Beasts and a Journey into the Hidden World

Well I have to begin this blog somewhere. I'll start with some images probably familiar if you came here from my Tall Tales Productions website. 

These are characters I created for the book and episodic series 'The Hidden World'. It's about the magic hidden among us in the real world - just out of sight. These are watercolour character designs.         

I created natural habitats for 'The Hidden World' characters. 


                  



This is a collection of articles and instruments I designed as part of my 'Hidden World'. Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.