I'll Be Back!

I realized today that it's been 2 years since I last posted on this blog! Think it's because I started directing more energy into trying to update my Instagram daily! 

However, I plan to return to this blog at least once a month with Tall Tales news and such. Thank you to those still subscribed! I'll see you all soon with a big two year update soon...

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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Whose Pastime is to Make Midnight Mushrooms

Who knew that the title of this post is a Shakespeare quote from 'The Tempest'?!

"...and you whose pastime is to make midnight mushrooms..."

As the year draws to it's close I go through my endless folders and see what was done, what was finished and what's outstanding. It's at this time I often notice that things have been done and not written about.

So here we go! Let's catch up, and allow me to share a toadstool project from September of this year. Grumpy toadstools and mandrake seedlings (I'll write about them later). If you follow me on Instagram and Twitter then you've probably caught videos and images of these things in the making, but if you follow me only here and on Facebook then this post is for you.

I made quite a number of tiny 'terracotta' flower pots (no bigger than thimbles) and proceeded to pot each one with a colourful toadstool and scenic grasses / moss / soil. Learned a lot about toadstools in the process. Did you realise that they grow naturally in such a variety of psychedelic colours? It's amazing. Yellow toadstools (Amanita muscaria var. guessowii) and blue toadstools (Clitocybe odora) and so forth. So inspiring. 

I went on to make crackled glazed pots and filled them with grumpy toadstools with fabulous little faces. Each one of these is a 'one of a kind', and they're available at my webshop here.

See a making of video here...

Behind the scenes photos and more... Enjoy!

Talk less, Say more

Funnily enough, I made mention of viking raids in my last post about 'Good Witches Bad Witches' (here), so perhaps it's fitting that my newest character I present to you is..... the Swedish witch! AKA den Svenska häxan.

What do I know of Sweden? Aside from pickled fish and raids of the British Isles courtesy of Norse seafarers beginning in the 8th century... I know that today Sweden is a brilliantly modern and progressive country. Only a small amount of Googling will fill you in on why that is, and you may also learn that they're responsible for more than Ikea, Abba and Volvo. Add Skype and Spotify to that list. Didn't know that, did you?!

Okay, last words about Sweden... my best friend, who I met when I was only 19 hails from Eskilstuna, Sweden. The first Swede I ever met, she impressed me with her perfect English, incredible brain and waist length pale gold, lifeless, silky hair. She gave me some advice when creating this character so if anything comes off as offensive as opposed to funny, then do take it up with Ms Jonsson's lawyers. ;)

My Swedish witch!
She has the lightest skin tone of all my witches thus far, icy blue eyes and pale blonde hair. (That part was inspired by my Swedish best friend). She has a typically Scandinavian cleft in her chin and mackerel protruding from her mouth.
She's big-boned because I wanted to create a great strong lass, capable of pulling down trees and building a longboat. Her hair is plaited (US English - braided) in keeping with the crazy hairstyles of all my witches. She wears a leather apron, blue woolen dress (colour of the Swedish flag), furs, carries a bronze cauldron with Norse embellishments, filled with mackerel. Her familiar (witch's pet) is the Swedish wild boar pup.


Scroll past the note for my Swedish friends below to see photos from behind the scenes! Don't forget to follow on Facebook and Instagram!


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Till mina svenska vänner, det här är en kommentar till er…

Om ni kan läsa engelska så vet ni att min bästa kompis är svensk och att jag genom henne blivit utsatt för en massa fina svenska fenomen (mestadels mat och traditioner) och att jag älskar skandinavisk kultur. Jag hoppas att jag har skapat en karaktär som ni ska gilla och ta med en nypa salt. Det här är min svenska häxa!

Jag skapar karaktärer ifrån hela världen för ett projekt med namnet ‘Goda Häxor, Onda Häxor’ och jag har gjort engelska, skottska, franska, italienska häxor etc. och den här gången har jag skapat en svensk häxa. Hon är min egen design till den film jag håller på att producera åt Tall Tales Productions (websida här). Jag skapade henne för hand med hjälp av Fimo lera och ståltråd. Tack för ert intesse för mitt arbete. Om ni vill se mera så besök min Facebook sida (här), mitt Instagram (här) och Twitter (här). En video av när jag gör häxan kan ni snart hitta på min YouTube kanal (här). Med vänliga hälsningar - Caroline
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In personal news, taking advantage of these warm summer nights in southern California, I just went to one of Cinespia's famous outdoor screenings and watched Hitchcock's 'The Birds' with 4000 other people! Fitting since 'Tippi' Hedren is of Swedish descent.

*Final thought*
Post title is from a Swedish proverb - "Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours."

It's all Greek to Me

Credit to all those that knew the phrase "It's all Greek to me" was written by Shakespeare!

I have another witch for you today, and this one is of course.... Greek. She is part of the project 'Good Witches Bad Witches' and was designed and hand sculpted as a miniature maquette by me. Please check out more characters at the Tall Tales Productions website here.



I have tried to make my witches relatively contemporary (stuck in the past at times regarding their dress sense, but still part of the modern world.... ish). However, this Greek witch doesn't look all that modern! Whoops. I did however give a lot of thought to Greek culture and the momentous things the Greeks have done for us. The Greeks 'invented' democracy. They were pioneers in so many fields including the sciences, geometry, philosophy, maths, astronomy, history... I love that it was Pytheas who described Great Britain as a 'wonky triangle' when he was the first to circumnavigate it. In medicine, doctors still refer to the Hippocratic oath, instituted by Hippocrates, however despite the Greeks being pioneers in the study of anatomy, their unusual ideas about the so-called 'four humours' of the body perhaps misled English doctors right through the middle ages!

Anyway, I tried to convey my inordinate respect and gratitude to the Greeks for their contributions to the world by making my Greek witch a wise seer-type serious witch and an astronomer, complete with an armillary sphere - also invented by the Greeks.

The Greek witch has owls for 'familiars' (pets), Greek 'meander' patterned dress, gladiator sandals and of all my witches she has the warmest skin tone yet! Stay tuned as witches of other races will be coming soon.

Now a little note to my Greek friends and fans. Please scroll past to see the images of the behind the scenes process.

Έλληνες φίλοι μου και θαυμαστές μου, αυτό είναι ένα σημείωμα ειδικά για σας!

Αν ακολουθείτε αυτό το blog, τότε πιθανότατα γνωρίζετε ήδη ότι σχεδιάζω μια ταινία με τίτλο «Καλές Μάγισσες Κακές Μάγισσες» (Good Witches Bad Witches) και ότι δημιουργώ πολλούς από τους χαρακτήρες των μαγισσών από όλο τον κόσμο. Είμαι μια καλλιτέχνιδα στο Tall Tales Productions (website) και η δημιουργία αυτών των χαρακτήρων είναι πολύ διασκεδαστική και έχω βάλει πολλή σκέψη σε κάθε σχέδιο. Είναι γλυπτά σε μικρογραφία χρησιμοποιώντας πηλό. Μέχρι στιγμής έχω ήδη κάνει την Αγγλίδα, τη Σκωτσέζα, την Ιρλανδή, την Ουαλή, τη Γαλλίδα, τη Γερμανίδα, την Ιταλίδα, τη Γερμανίδα, την Αμερικάνα, την Ολλανδή και τη Ρωσίδα μάγισσα! Ο καινούριος χαρακτήρας είναι μια Ελληνίδα μάγισσα.

Προσπάθησα να τιμήσω τουλάχιστον μία απίστευτη συνεισφορά που η Ελλάδα έχει κάνει στον κόσμο και ως εκ τούτου αυτή η μάγισσα είναι ένας αστρονόμος με ένα σφαιρικό αστρολάβο. Ελπίζω να την δείτε με χιούμορ και να θυμάστε ότι δε θα ήθελα να προσβάλω κανένα με τους χαρακτήρες μάγισσσες. Είναι μια σοφή και ιδιόρυθμη μάγγισα και η φούστα της έχει σχέδιο μαιάνδρου.

Αν σας αρέσει το project, μπορείτε να το ακολουθήσετε στη σελίδα του Facebook και σε Instagram και το Twitter! Ευχαριστώ!

Behind the Taste

Catch my miniature parodies of the awesome 'Tasty' videos yet?!

(Tastys are 60 second cooking tutorials created by Buzzfeed video.)

Today Instagram is celebrating hitting 500 million users and they contacted me and two other Instagram users (out of 500 million of us - yeah, I feel special!) to profile the three of us to mark the occasion. They got Buzzfeed to cover it and it all began at the weekend, which I spent creating something a little special just for them.

Buzzfeed writes about it here.

I created two miniature parodies of two of Buzzfeed's 'Tasty' videos.

* Tasty video 'Shrimp And Avocado Salad' - watch the REAL TASTY VIDEO here!

My miniature parody is here!

Or, watch my parody on buzzfeedtasty's Instagram here!

* Tasty video 'One- Pan Sriracha Chicken and Veggie' - watch the REAL TASTY VIDEO here!

My miniature parody is here!

Or, watch my parody on buzzfeedtasty's Instagram here!

The behind the scenes process...

I created all the components for both recipes, which included raw chicken thighs, slightly cooked chicken thighs, more cooked chicken thighs, shrimp (again, cooked in three stages), raw bell peppers, onions and potatoes, cooked  bell peppers, onions and potatoes, avocados in 5 different stages of prep, whole lettuce leaves, chopped lettuce leaves etc etc! It took me a whole day just to create the miniature ingredients, and I used polymer clay and mixed media for all of it.

Then I set up a camera on a tripod, set up some bright lights, picked out my best miniature mixing bowls and cookware, and started filming the recipe process whilst watching the real videos for reference!

I edited them together, changing the speed at times to match the real videos. Voila! Besides my Instagram, you can also find these videos on my YouTube channel here.

Why choose me?!

Apparently it was the timelapse pancakes video that caught the attention of Instagram! Watch it here.