Inspired by Miss Pickerel

Thanks to Ellen MacGregor, I spent many hours with Miss Pickerel when I was a child. Miss Pickerel and I went to Mars and the Moon, to name just two of our destinations.





I didn't set out to travel to outer space today, I wanted to create a scene around Megan Hornbecker's Cubed Art Sculpture that I purchased from her Shapeways store. The Cubed Art Sculpture is very futuristic.



As I was building my scene, Miss Pickerel came to visit. She asked "why not set your scene on the moon, after all, I traveled there, and you are using my living room." She was right, I wanted to contrast the Cubed Art Sculpture with something very different, and I had borrowed Miss Pickerel's (and Miss Marple's) interior decor, right down to the lived-in armchair and the suit of armor.





Writers often write about how their characters actual write their story. I have had more than one author tell me that they are often surprised where the characters lead them. That experience happened to me today. I started to create a futuristic interior around Megan's Cubed Art Sculpture, and I ended up in space, in Miss Pickerel's living room, with her cats......






Wishing you only good things,
Neen

Giveaway winners

Thank you all for participating in my three-year anniversary giveaway, or, if you decided not to participate, for your lovely words of encouragement.

Here is the list of the seven winners in the order in which their names were chosen:

Diva from Downunder
Mad for Mod
NarinaNapertaa
Hannah
Penelope
The grandmommy
12create

Please email me your mailing information. My email address is universe.in.miniature(at)gmail.com. If you didn't list the book you wanted in your comment, plus two alternatives, please send it in the email.

Thanks again for participating and for following my blog!


Wishing you only good things, Neen

Was Edgar Allen Poe a yellow marshmallow bunny?

No, the mighty Poe was never a yellow bunny during his lifetime. He was, however, depicted as such by yours truly in a very recent contest sponsored by the company that manufactures Peeps marshmallow bunnies. The photos above are the ones submitted to the contest. The brokenhearted bunny Poe is gazing at his lost Lenore, while the, made from marshmallow, raven nags from the couch with his "nevermore" harping. I tried to make the scene as dark and gothic victorian as I could, considering the subject was a yellow bunny. The photo below shows the real, plastic, Poe confronting the bunny interloper.


Finally, after getting the bunny to leave, Poe sadly reaches for his lost Lenore,



Check out my Giveaway
To celebrate three years of blogging, I am giving away books having to do with miniatures. There are seven books and there will be seven winners. To be a part of the giveaway, please leave a comment here, or on any of my posts before March 31st, letting me know which book you want, plus two alternatives. Click here to learn more.
Here a few more photos of the books that will be given away:

























































































Wishing you only good things, Neen

Boxtrolls and its amazing miniatures

By chance, I ran across videos produced by the creators of Boxtroll, a stop motion animation movie. The enormous talent and artistry that went into creating the film's beautiful and intricate miniature characters, props, scenery, and costumes is mind boggling.











According to the producers:

One week was the average amount of time for an animator to complete 3.7 seconds of footage

Each animator had a goal of creating four scenes per week

24 kinds of weeds were created for backgrounds by the greens department

55 different sculpts of prop cheeses were made; different scale sizes were needed for wide, medium and close shots

20,000+ props were handmade for the film

55,000 facial expression pieces were 3-D printed, with the potential for approximately 1 million combinations

And

125,280 individual character poses were needed to create the 87-minute film.
































What did the costumers state was their most important inspiration? This painting:



Check out the magic for yourself:

Let's Dance

The challenge of designing tiny costumes ;
http://youtu.be/Q2dFVnp5K0o ;
http://youtu.be/o4dYsR4xNRk ;
http://youtu.be/Di_w1K5fEMg ;
http://youtu.be/j1El1xVRrkA

Check out my Giveaway

To celebrate three years of blogging, I am giving away books having to do with miniatures. There are seven books and there will be seven winners. To be a part of the giveaway, please leave a comment here, or on any of my posts before March 31st, letting me know which book you want, plus two alternatives. Click here to learn more.


Wishing you only good things, Neen

Photos from http://www.animationmagazine.net/features/behind-the-scenes-with-boxtrolls/ and wired.com