It's a Piece of Cake

How many of my fellow '80s kids read the title of this post in the voice of Sarah from 'The Labyrinth'?!

It was my birthday this week and the most fabulous thing about it was the cool gift I got this year - a very powerful and brilliant new light complete with barn doors and gel filters! I've already begun using it. And being my birthday I decided to make myself a small cake (pretty much so I'd have something new to shove in front of my new light).
Only last week I'd been in miniature cake-making mood anyway, since I had to make black forest cakes. So, the cakes you're seeing here are small enough to fit on a quarter. In fact both are smaller than a quarter. At 1:12 scale they are only 3/4" in diameter. As with most of my photos, the images you see on your computer screen are bigger than the miniature items themselves.

But onto something much more interesting (making miniature cakes bores me to high heaven and low hell), I have just started on a new witch character. Take a look at this glimpse into my workspace below and stay tuned for much more interesting updates by early next week!

Before I sign off, I want to share another 'Caroline illustration' by Dreamworks artist Nico Marlet. He captured a funny moment at the awards the other day. I had settled into a comfy big auditorium seat, and as I tried to rise to greet someone, I found myself consumed by the chair which wouldn't let me back up. I've always been sparrow-like but this was ridiculous and my friend Nico found it so funny, he sketched it and gave me this. Funny, isn't it?!

Getting on my Wick

It still bemuses me when I throw out an everyday word or phrase and find that no-one here in America knows what the heck I'm on about. A week ago, in a shoe shop, I asked the bored twenty-something female staff where the 'trainers' were. This was met with confused stares quickly succeeded by giggling. Here in America they're not 'trainers', they're 'sneakers'. I don't want to train, I want to sneak up on people, apparently. My friend translated for me and after I'd been led to the right aisle they asked "what word did you say before??!!" followed by "what language is that?" I said, "oh, it's what we call them in England" to which the response was "oh, is it like old English?"

Similarly I recently learnt that Americans don't use the phrase 'getting on my wick'.

Yesterday's commission saw me making dozens of 1:12 scale fiddly realistic candles with dripping wax, and minuscule wicks that I had to attach using jeweller's tweezers. The phrase "getting on my wick" sprang to mind for obvious reasons. Points if you bother to Google the definition and etymology!

On a side note, I was so pleased to attend the Annie Awards on Saturday evening with friends from Dreamworks who worked on the film which won Best Animated Feature - How to Train your Dragon 2. However, it was hard to see The Boxtrolls not receive as much recognition as I think it deserved.

And just because it's too cute not to share on this blog, my friend Nicolas Marlet (character designer on How to Train your Dragon 2) did a new drawing of me. It's meant to be me sitting at my local coffee shop, The Alcove, sipping tea.


Here are some quick candle photos from yesterday. They are not wax, but a blend of polymer clays with enough translucency that they do look like wax when you hold them to the light.
fantasie miniatuur modellen