What's the Buzz?!

What's the buzz?! ...This week the buzz is all about the videos I made as a parody of the 'Tasty' recipe videos.

Full post about it here on my blog, yesterday.

One of my videos has already had 500k views in less than 48 hours. It's the second most watched video at Buzzfeed video this week. Pretty decent for a video I put together quite quickly this weekend, following a call from Instagram who asked me to do something special to mark the occasion of them hitting 500 million Instagram users. :)

Buzzfeed thought it would be fun to show their fans a 'behind the scenes' glimpse of me working, so I went over to their studios on Sunset Blvd, two days ago, and we shot a 20 minute segment of me creating realistic miniature food including bagels and lox, limes, iced donuts, cake with birthday candles and shrimp fajitas.

It broadcast as a live-stream on Buzzfeed's DIY video channel here. You can find it there or see a clip from it at my Instagram here. 

Stills of this video piece!

And in case you're wondering what all this miniature food is about when you started following this blog because you were interested in my miniature witch sculpts and 'Good Witches Bad Witches'... don't worry! I am working on a new witch right now (you might have seen the sneak peek a few days ago here on Instagram) and she's almost finished. Stay tuned for many more witches coming soon.

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.

The Icing on the Cake!

If you're addicted to cooking / baking shows then you'll have heard of celebrity baker Duff Goldman's new show - 'Cake Masters', which aired its first season on the Food Network last month. Cooking shows not your thing? -This one's different....!

'Cake Masters' makes for uniquely fun viewing. Duff Goldman is the star - it's his world, and this is a guy you'll fall in love with before the first commercial break. He's adorable. But it's his vision and talent that makes the show such fun. In each episode he and his team create crazy 'work of art' cakes, themed for a particular event. They bring in a guest for assistance with some of their cakes and I was delighted when I got a call from the producers to ask me to lend a hand in the final episode.

Some of you who've followed my career for years might know that I used to make elaborate creative cakes back in London and that sugar crafts was my game before edging further into the film industry and the miniature world, more specifically. I traded fondant icing and sugar figurines for clay and movie maquettes! So doing this episode held even more interest for me.

We shot the episode in February (actually we happened to film on my birthday, which was a pretty fun way to spend it) and my episode aired last night here in the US. If you missed it you can find the entire season on Amazon here.

The Cake Masters episode (entitled 'Duff's Rockin' Dockers Cake') was about creating a San Francisco cityscape miniature scene cake, for clothing label Dockers to celebrate them turning 30. What a challenge! Duff's talented team made the cake and I was tasked with creating the miniature figurines (12 of them) to go on top, and each had to be wearing Dockers outfits through the ages.

It really was enormous fun, and also brilliant to work with the production company 'Authentic Entertainment'. What a fantastic crew! Not to mention Duff Goldman's team as well in his sugary imaginative domain in Beverly Hills. If you are in LA then swing by his Charm City Cakes on Melrose and get a cupcake.

Below are some fun stills from the episode and also my 'making of' photos of the figurines!


Rent the Duff's Rockin' Dockers Cake 'Cake Masters' episode here


Don't forget to like Tall Tales Productions on Facebook and follow me on Instagram and Twitter for more regular updates!

NOTE - I will be away for the next three weeks in Europe, and back with new and exciting things to show you in the second week of June. Stay tuned!

Caroline McFarlane-Watts, miniature artist, hollywood miniaturist, cake masters Caroline, CakeMasters Caroline, miniature artisan, scale miniatures, Tall Tales Productions

Where Sunsets are Longer

Only my second witch of the year! Appalling, isn't it, but soon I'll share the client projects I've had this year and then you'll understand. ;)

This witch is the latest character for 'Good Witches Bad Witches', brought to you by Tall Tales Productions. She's a Russian witch.






Warning - I'm about to gush about a passionate love of Russian culture. Skip past the next paragraph if you're diabetic.

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This Russian witch is second in importance only to my English witch. Most of you know I am an English girl currently residing in Los Angeles, but you didn't know I am also part Russian. I have always had an affinity for the culture. I studied Russian at school (and still believe it's the most attractive language), grew up listening to Red Army Choir, Borodin (The Polovtsian Dances is my favourite piece of music of all time),Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. I've eaten blini with caviar, paskha and many other Russian dishes through life and celebrate St Nicholas' Day. Dr Zhivago is one of my 'desert island' films and I've always found Александр Годунов jaw-droppingly wonderful. (To digress further, my teenage crush was Андрей Подошьян). In short - I adore Russia and anything Russian. The poetry, the music, the ballet, the architecture, the balalaika.... everything.
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I put a lot of thought and planning into this witch because even though I love Russian folklore and fairy tales, like all my other characters I want to carve out something of my own and not do an homage to Baba Yaga for example.
She wears a quilted shawl (with Kandinsky inspired design), a red silk scarf with bat motif, ushanka hat, bear skins (yeah, pretty sick), and pushes a pram (American English - 'baby cart' / 'stroller') full of Russian blue cats, which are her 'familiars' (witch's pets).

She's designed and sculpted in 1:12 scale by myself using clay over wire and other mixed media. Soon you'll be able to watch a video of me making her at the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel, but until then, here are some photos! PS The next witch will be Greek...


A little note to my Russian friends and fans...
Мои русские друзья, это послание для вас...

Если вы умеете читать на английском, то могли знать что я частично русская и абсолютно обожаю русскую культуру. Я настолько люблю все русское, что возможно даже я буду жить в России и заведу там семью вместо Англии! Я создаю персонажы в виде ведьм со всего мира для проекта "Хорошие ведьмы Плохие ведьмы" и я уже создала английскую ведьму, шотландскую, французскую, итальянскую и так далее, и сейчас я создала русскую. Это не Баба Яга, это мой собственный дизайн персонажа к моему собственному фильму который в процессе развития с Tall Tales Productions. Я сделала её руками, используя застывающийся клей и проволоку. Она может показаться немного пугающей, но я надеюсь вы воспримите её с хорошем чувством юмора. Спасибо огромное что проявляете интерес к моей работе, и если вы хотите видеть больше, то пожалуйста загляните на мою страничку в Facebook, Instagram и Twitter и VK, и так же я размещу видео как я делаю эту ведьмочку на моем YouTube канале очень скоро!
Спасибо вам!
Каролин МакФарлейн-Уотс. x

Blog post title quote - “But Sasha was from Russia, where the sunsets are longer, the dawns less sudden and sentences are often left unfinished from doubt as how to best end them.” 
― Virginia Woolf, Orlando

Berned or Trumped?

As an outsider, a Greencard-carrying 'legal alien' living in the United States, I get to watch the political debate in this country objectively.


This blog post does not reflect my political stance.


My cartoon is an attempt to capture the mood in the United States at present, and specifically the way these two politicians are, for the most part, viewed in the state I live in (Los Angeles, California).



I drew this cartoon and coloured it using Photoshop, as creating cartoons is still new to me and I want the practice playing with my tablet. It shows two politicians in the United States today, both vying for the position of President, and both so diametrically opposed to each other that this drawing practically drew itself.

Many around me view Bernie Sanders as heaven-sent; an honest man with compassion, decency and plans to make health care a right - not a privilege, to reduce gun violence, resolve international conflicts peacefully, allow immigrants a path to citizenship, allow women the right to choose what they do with their bodies, address global warming by cutting US carbon pollution etc...

As Paul Waldman (The Week) put it -

"Sanders' supporters are idealistic, hopeful, and looking for dramatic change that is rooted in liberal ideology. They want more comprehensive government benefits in areas like health care and education, higher taxes on the wealthy, and greater restrictions on financial firms."

Conversely, the mood around me in Los Angeles suggests that Trump is viewed as a dishonest bully who denies global warming and has unrealistic plans and policies which belie racist and misogynistic convictions.

Paul Waldman sums up Trump's supporters' opinions of Trump -

"Trump's supporters aren't motivated by hope and idealism but by anger: anger at immigration, anger at Muslims, anger at foreigners, anger at a changing country that seems to be leaving them behind. "

So I created this cartoon to put this mood to paper! The armband on Trump is because many compare his policies regarding immigration and religious intolerance to Fascism. The bird alighting on Bernie is in reference to a small bird which landed on his podium during a speech in Portland, Oregon, which got a standing ovation from his crowd.

For my non-American readers, if you're unfamiliar with these two politicians, Bernie Sanders is the likely candidate for the Democratic Party and Donald Trump is the nominee of the Republican Party, for the 2016 election.

Disclaimer - Tall Tales Productions takes no sides.

In other news, I have almost finished a new miniature witch character for 'Good Witches Bad Witches', and you may have caught some work-in-progress updates on Instagram and Facebook! Coming soon.

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Life, in a Teacup

In a nutshell / teacup... in other words, condensing my past month into a quick update!

My website has had a face-lift and is hopefully a little easier to navigate around. And if you wait another couple of days there will be an online shop attached! Many of you probably know that I've sold miniatures and art prints on 3 Etsy shops for the past 5 years, and that wont change, but you can now buy directly from me as well. This means prices will often be lower, so worth a look if you're someone who shops for individual miniature pieces / figurines and prints.

Tall Tales Productions website here!

Behind the Scenes...

You've been asking for more photos and videos of what goes on behind the scenes, so I'm endeavouring to oblige. If you follow me / Tall Tales on Instagram then you probably caught this!

I've also made another quick little video up on the new YouTube Channel here which shows me making the Trick or Treat scene. More video tutorials / time-lapses will show up soon.

Also...

Another watercolour painting or two (which I've yet to scan and share)...

Another article which you can see more of on the Press Page of my site!

In other news, I am really honoured to be included on the Creative Talent Network's site here. It's run by Tina Price and if you're at all familiar with CTN you might even know that they're having an event this weekend. Details here. If you're in LA then come along and say hi to me there.:)

Aside from work, I'd love to share with you a new place I discovered in LA. The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Went there on Easter Sunday and it was out of this world. Put it on your 'to do' list, but mind you pick the right time of year to see it. Bye for now and have a fantastic weekend!