Let me tell you a Tale...

Fans and customers often ask me what I do when I am not making miniatures for Pixie Dust Miniatures to sell to collectors.

Well I thought it might make a good post topic!

When I'm not making minis here or working as a VFX artist, I work at a small production company (which I actually founded) called Tall Tales Productions. We make miniature model sets and character sculpts for other production companies and some private collectors also.

We're currently working on our own short film called 'Myrtle the Witch' which is being made using several miniature sets and hand-sculpted characters made by us to our own designs. We're filming it here in Los Angeles using green screens and adding visual effects. It will be available in 3D also.

So, if you're interested in seeing miniatures in motion and miniature filmmaking, then follow the Tall Tales blog or find us on Facebook and stay connected! The main website is here.

Stills from 'Myrtle the Witch' showing her pet snail.

The Tall Tales Productions website...

Me (Caroline) shooting miniatures...

Me working on non-miniature projects (which occasionally happens!) and below an original ogre sculpture

The Pixie has Landed

Hello everyone,
Yes I know... it's been absolutely ages since you heard from me and my online Pixie Dust Miniatures shop remains closed at this time... sorry!

As you probably know, I had to close this shop (and other shop) for a few weeks whilst I had the messy move from NZ to UK to US with plenty of Embassy meetings, packing, flying and landing going on around this time. Well... the Pixie has landed! 

So, please note that Pixie Dust Miniatures is back in Los Angeles, California and will be re-opening in just a few more days (keep your eye on this blog, or the shop or on the Facebook page so you know when) and I'll be launching some fun new miniature magic ranges, furniture, a free-to-enter competition and a new coupon to apologize for my absence!

As usual, feel free to email me if you have any questions!
Warmest wishes, Caroline
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Tutorials and more for 2013!

Wondering what's in store for Pixie Dust Miniatures in 2013....?! I'll tell you. :)

First of all, I must apologise for my absence for a few weeks of this year thus far. I've been busily preparing for my move back to the US and also had some exciting work in miniatures at a film company... for an insight into my miniature work outside of Pixie Dust Miniatures see my professional blog here.

Now, as for 2013 - I'll be moving back to Los Angeles in about 10 days time (during which I am afraid my online Pixie Dust Miniatures shop will remain closed)... then I will re-open, all miniatures will ship from LA and I will soon introduce my new ranges. Yay!

Expect to see a magical Valentines range as well as fantastical new unicorn horns, more bottled magic, cauldrons, books, a Pixie Dust Miniatures FURNITURE RANGE and a whole lot more in store which I'll be a bit secretive about for now! Follow this blog here and / or become a fan on Facebook here and you'll be able to stay ahead of these new ranges, new coupon codes and a brand new competition coming soon....

Anyway, here's my first Pixie Dust Miniatures tutorial available for sale here. It's a clear and easy to follow step-by-step guide on how to make a miniature Grinny pumpkin cauldron in one inch scale. It comes in PDF form with full color photographs (as seen in image two). It is for Beginners / Intermediates (age 18 plus).

Happy 2013 and Shop Announcement!

Hello everyone!
Happy New Year......! Yes I know, it's already 11th January 2013 and have only just found the time to wish you all a Happy New Year but I've been a busy bumble bee as of late! Hope you all enjoyed the countdown and have set off on the right foot.

Thank you to everyone who jumped on my big post-Christmas sale. All orders were shipped out promptly via First Class Delivery of course, and everything wrapped ready for gift giving as usual. :)

SHOP ANNOUNCEMENT
I am off to Manchester, England to work on some miniature sets for a film company, so I have set my shops to 'vacation mode' for a bit (hopefully not much more than a week or two). So please note that as of today my online Pixie Dust Miniatures shop will be on vacation, but you will be able to buy again soon. Feel free to email me if you have any queries.

Until then - have you seen the latest Pixie Dust Miniatures YouTube video? It's from Halloween of last year and I finally uploaded it yesterday!
Click here to watch it or click the image below.

Merry Christmas & Jan Sales!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, fans and customers!

Contrary to initial plans, I spent Christmas in England instead of America. My plans are now to head back to Los Angeles within early January (if visa plans hold up). :)

So, I had the most wonderful Christmas at home with my incredibly large (and expanding) family. We started the day with champagne, devils on horsebacks and quail eggs with Cornish sea salt. Then my mum made a 26 lb turkey with homemade traditional apple and pork stuffing, chipolatas, roast parsnips, roast potatoes, roast carrots, Brussels sprouts and amazing gravy. We pulledcrackers, doused the pudding with brandy and lit it ablaze and had it with double cream and brandy butter. Later on we ate mince pies with mulled wine. The following day (Boxing Day) my mum made lobster thermidor as an hors d' oeurve followed by 3 roast ducks between 11 of us with braised red cabbage, mashed swede, English peas, apple sauce and again - phenomenal gravy. We finished with trifle and chocolate roulade. 

Okay - so out of my non-British friends - how much of the above did you understand? Come on, be honest - not much, right?! I provided links with definitions to some of the above I thought my non-British / non-European friends might not be familiar with.

And now for the fun stuff...... it's COUPON TIME!! I am starting my January sales early! 

How. To. Use.

Just click to buy whatever you like, and then before you pay you just need to enter the coupon code: JAN2013 at the checkout. 30% will be deducted from your entire order but not from postage.

Where. To. Use.

This coupon is valid at my online Pixie Dust Miniatures store only.

When. To. Use.

It's available right away and expires on January 8th. 

Conditions.

You must be a follower of either this blog (follow now by clicking here) OR a fan of Pixie Dust Miniatures on Facebook (become a fan by clicking here) in order to use the coupon code discount.

You can click on the icons below to follow or become a fan also. :)

Email me if you have any problems or queries. :) C xXx

Gingerbread Candy Village

Trudge through the snow, away from your world and far from the madding crowd, and you may just find yourself in a clearing, sparkling with snow and a marvelous village of houses made from candy and gingerbread.
My Pixie Dust Miniatures scouts found this village and I've separated the houses and made them available for sale at my online shop this Christmas 2012.

;)

All in one inch scale (1:12 scale) and entirely handmade by myself including every piece of candy and candy cane. Everything is made to my own designs. Some of the candy has hearts or Christmas trees inside - measuring just 2 mm in width. I've given everything a Willy Wonka inspired, whimsical appearance.

These three gingerbread house designs are all available in store now. They come in pastel shades of pink, green and blue.

Read about the making of this village here.

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You're a Rotter, Mr Grinch!

Not having grown up in America, I only discovered 'the Grinch' (a peculiar green creature who steals Christmas - created by Dr Seuss) at the recent age of 29. I only actually watched the cartoon this festive season! Good thing too as I needed to create a winter wonderland this Christmas and a hand-sculpted rendition of the 'rotter' in question.

Here's my Grinch... he's absolutely not spot-on but he's okay for a first draft. Not that a second draft is on the cards - this was a quick make which I did in a couple of hours a few days before I caught my flight out of New Zealand. 

He's one inch scale, as is the candy gingerbread village display which he is disrupting. 

***

Shop News!............................................................................

Pixie Dust Miniatures has re-opened after a few days closure whilst I packed up my entire apartment and workshop and left New Zealand (after a 5 month stay there). You can find my online shop here.

Thank you for your patience whilst I took a little longer to re-open than planned. The 30 hour flight (pausing in Auckland and then Hong Kong along the way) was fine but on arrival in Heathrow, London, I found that one of the large suitcases containing my miniatures, tools and craft supplies had split right open and there was a gaping hole in it! All's fine now and the airline even sent me a brand new suitcase. 

New Christmas miniatures will be made available in store very soon, I promise. 

Please also note that Pixie Dust Miniatures will be stationed in the UK for a few weeks and then returning to California, USA after that. :)

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Christmas Preview and Shop Announcement

Hello everyone,
Hope you're all wrapped up warm and starting to feel the Christmas buzz...
I'm currently in New Zealand and it's technically the end of their spring / start of summer, so it doesn't exactly feel like Christmas is coming any time soon for me!

Above is a glimpse at some of my new Christmas Range for 2012. This is my gingerbread candy village and as you might have guessed there will be magical and whimsical gingerbread houses available in all shapes and sizes. Everything (including all cane candy) is made by me.

!IMPORTANT SHOP ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am flying out of New Zealand in just less than 4 day's time and arriving in London Heathrow, UK on Wednesday 21st November. This means that I will have to close my shop for a couple of days whilst I fly. Don't worry - I'll open up again very quickly and make the full Christmas Range available so you can place your orders and get them in time for Christmas.

Until I fly (on Tuesday) there will be a DISCOUNT CODE available at my online Pixie Dust Miniatures shop! Do me a favour and lighten my 'carry-on' load by grabbing something at a discounted price now. ;)

Just enter the coupon code: FLIGHT
after you click to buy but before you pay. A massive 20% will be deducted from your entire order but not from shipping. The coupon code is valid immediately and lasts until I fly out... a few days from now.

Happy shopping.... and please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

My Workspace... making a Gingerbread Candy Village

"Making Christmas... making Christmas... making Christmas time!"

I'm working my sweatshop of elves hard this festive season. They're frantically creating a unique and magical village of gingerbread houses, with frosting rooftops, gumdrop tiles and candy trees for Christmas 2012. It's going to be a fun display when it's finished!

Take a look at my work in progress photos.

A fan of miniature food in general and not yet a 'fan' or 'follower' of my other blog - dedicated to realistic miniature food? Then I suggest you click here pronto and follow! Or if you're simply interested in seeing my traditional gingerbread house I made for Christmas 2012 (which is currently featured in a magazine at the mo) then click here for this post.

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A Posse of Possums

Do you remember when I mentioned an unusual commission for two one inch scale possums toasting marshmallows on sticks for a client's campfire diorama? I blogged about making them here just a couple of weeks back. Thought you might like to see the finished possums just before I glued their marshmallow sticks to their little paws.

It's November now and I'm starting to think about Christmas.....! There's a lot more Christmasiness happening at my other blog, but there'll definitely be some Christmas themed miniatures coming here soon also, so stay tuned!

On another note, I am currently still in Wellington New Zealand, and I leave in just under 2 weeks to fly back to the UK and then in the first week of Dec I'll fly back to the US. So my shops will have to close here and there (I'll give notice at the time). If there's anything you had your eye on that you definitely want in time for Christmas then you might want to make your purchases from my online Pixie Dust Miniatures shop before I leave NZ just to be safe. I don't want to see anyone disappointed! :)

Happy Halloween 2012!

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween! Hope you all have fabulous plans for tonight and fabulous costumes.
As many of you know, I am living in New Zealand for a few months (leaving next month on November 20th) so we're a day and a half ahead of you in America, and 12 hours ahead of the UK. I've already celebrated Halloween dressed as a pirate wench at a Weta Halloween party!

Thank you to those of you that used the exclusive Halloween coupon code advertised in The Dolls' House Magazine this month. Hope you enjoyed your 25% off coupon. And thank you to all that took advantage of the discount mentioned on my Pixie Dust Miniatures Facebook page (see page here). Glad to see so many of you jumped on this also. :)

Don't miss all the Christmas wonders coming very soon to this blog and of course to my Pixie Dust Miniatures online shop...

PS Did you know you can browse all the different Pixie Dust Miniatures seasonal and holiday ranges by clicking here?

Potting Magic in the Garden....

Got green fingers? So how about a spot of magical gardening? These potted toadstools have already been grown for you in terracotta pots, so you can simply keep them on your kitchen windowsill for cooking with, pop them in a shelf in the dampest part of your potting shed or re-plant them at the bottom of the garden.

One inch scale and handcrafted by me to a high standard... these potted toadstools are now available at my online Pixie Dust Miniatures store.

Interested in how they were made? I wrote a blog post whilst these were being made with photos of the works in progress. You can check it out here.

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Jack O Stack Lanterns!

Have you seen the Jack O Stack Lanterns ® I've created especially for Halloween 2012? I made one set in one inch scale, and another a little smaller which could work in either a one inch or a half inch scale setting.

Entirely handmade by me without molds of course.... they have faces quite different to what I usually do when I make Jack O Lanterns, and funny smiles.

Available at my online Pixie Dust Miniatures shop and at a great price in the lead up to spooky time.... ;)

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