Rare Welsh Bits...

A little while back I wrote about my design process for the character Mabyn Mossback, who is the Welsh witch from Good Witches Bad Witches ™ and also the latest character addition. You can see the post here.

Finally, here she is!

Mabyn Mossback is a 1:12 character sculpt - handmade by myself using clay, wire and mixed media. She'd be about 5 foot (5 inches) if she stood upright. Mabyn dresses in old fashioned Welsh attire complete with red wool shawl, green knit open finger gloves and a Welsh stovepipe hat. Her cart is carved like a wooden love spoon (again, read more about the design here) and there are dragons carved into the cart - a tribute to the national emblem for Wales - the dragon. Finally, Mabyn's cart is pulled by a black ram with a copper cattle bell around his neck.

I added a flickering light to this piece, just like the lantern I made for Captain James Hook here. This lamp is a Welsh miners' lamp. They're amazing objects, don't you think? Growing up back in my English village, we had a brass Welsh miners' lamp hanging in the kitchen and it gave such a wonderful glow.

Enjoy the photos of Mabyn below! As with all my witches you'll be able to learn a lot more about them and see more working photos in my book - out later this year. Explanation as to why the book is delayed is here.

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A Strange Dog, a Flood and a Man...

A strange dog, a flood and a man walk into a bar....

...no, not really. This Welsh proverb sounds like a joke at first glance. I like it and since this blog post is about something Welsh, I include it.

"Three things it is best to avoid - 

a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise."

~ Welsh proverb.

If you're disappointed and wanted a joke, scroll to the end of this post for my standard joke I tell in pubs. Few enjoy it as much as me.

This post is about my design process and how I arrive at something I am happy with.

Almost two years ago I designed and sculpted a Welsh witch character called Mabyn Mossback for 'Good Witches Bad Witches'  and showed her here on this blog. 

This was the initial sketch.

I had to include a sheep because Wales and sheep are inextricably linked. I had the sheep led by a leek on a string (naturally) and gave her a traditional Welsh stovepipe hat and red wool shawl. Also, she's knitting. I was never convinced this was the right design though...

Here's her sheep.

So a year later (April 2016) I found time to sketch her again - still riding her white ram and dressed mostly the same. This time I added an umbrella and a mushroom to her hat. It still wasn't right for 'Good Witches Bad Witches' so I shelved her again and worked on others.

This was the watercolour sketch.

This year I sold her since she never quite belonged to the 'Good Witches Bad Witches' world.... she was detailed and nicely made, but the design didn't work for me. I re-imagined her, this time without the leek on the string... and this time I suddenly realised that of course her ram had to be black, not white. I kept (but changed) the Welsh stovepipe hat and red wool shawl. I kept the umbrella. But this time, I designed her not riding the ram, but sitting in a modest cart, pulled by the ram. The cart is carved like a Welsh love spoon. Balls of wool sit packed up at the back of her cart. 

Here's the design...

And here it is as a better sketch...

Check back at this blog soon as I'll share images of the new sculpted maquette... the finished Mabyn Mossback (Welsh witch) and then in a few weeks there will be a video all about making her at the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel here. Please subscribe to the channel if you're interested in watching me work and stay tuned for tutorials to be added this year as well (that is, if interest is there!)

A glimpse at her and her ram...

And finally, my joke.

Two chemists walk into a bar. Bartender asks "What can I get you?"

The first chemist says, "I'll have a glass of H2O."
The second chemist says, " I'll have H2O too."

The second chemist dies.        tall tales productions, caroline mcfarlane-watts, cs mcfarlane-watts, animation, stop-motion, scale models, miniature models, miniaturist, concept maquette, maquette sculpting, sculpting figures, character design, laika, tim burton design, aardman, miniature characters, mackinnon saunders, peter lord

Hooked!

Last post was about this new character maquette - Captain J. Hook, sculpted in 1:12 scale miniature by hand using polymer clay.

There's a new video for you up on the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel here, so you can learn (in just 60 seconds) how this character was created from initial sketches to the final piece. It's not an in-depth tutorial, but it gives a fun insight to the process which I hope you will enjoy. If you like any of the content at the YouTube Channel, then be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss updates. There will be many tutorials coming soon (they've been shot already and are getting edited as we speak).

WATCH HOW IT'S DONE!

Maquette sculpting and Painting video...

And here is a video from the exhibition opening night at Center Stage Gallery, Burbank.

Photos of the exhibition...

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Second Star on the Right

Second star on the right and straight on 'til morning.....
.... yep, we're off to Never Neverland today to see my Captain James Hook.

If you follow Tall Tales Productions on Instagram (here) or Facebook (here) or even Twitter (here) then you've probably caught some behind the scenes of this character coming to life. If you live in Los Angeles and can get over to Burbank tomorrow night (Friday 5th May) then you can see him in person! He is about to become part of a group show at Center Stage Gallery, Burbank where the theme is Neverland. So he's a great fit!

About how he was made...

Like most of my work, he was made using polymer clay over wire. I sketched him first and tried all sorts of different ideas based on J.M. Barrie's description of him in the book. I wanted to give him a huge flouncy beard but since none was mentioned, I resisted. He is described as imitating King Charles II in his personal dress and wig, so I went that direction whilst trying very hard not to let him look like Disney's famous interpretation of Hook.

Captain Hook holds a lantern with Tinkerbell trapped inside it.The lantern is wired to flicker with a battery powered bulb.

He's 1:12 scale (standing at about 6.5 inches without his hat) which would make him 6'5" in real life. A tall and imposing bloke.

Enjoy the photos below and if you want to see more then do make sure you follow along on social media places so that you don't miss out. There will be a short video about him soon and I have a new witch character from Good Witches Bad Witches ™ for you soon as well.

“You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.” ~ J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

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