Lettuce Have Peas


I was on the couch this week but managed to complete a few more of the food props for Rana's kitchen.

A yellow platter holds a sculpture of green peas that were built up from layers of porcelain and paint on real flower seed pods that grew here at some point.

I spent a lot of time finally finished the ravaged ripe pomegranates, my favorite food. Each little seed bead encased in a drop of clear glaze. The hardest part was adding layers of porcelain coating to create the white rind over the round seed pod bases.

The red leaf lettuces were made by gluing embossed fabric leaves around a styrofoam ball, making them rigid with porcelain liquid and finishing with paint.

Lastly, I took apart a red silk dahlia, cut down the rings of petals, painted them with many layers of porcelain and white paint, sculpted lotus centers and sewed and glued them into two little lotus blossoms ready to be added to the Time Frog's pond near their floating pads and roots.

Still wobbly, but staying in again tomorrow with high hopes for planting some growing things on the Halfland set.

A Political Note, at this historic moment for my nation:

Of all the very moving sweeping grand and beautiful images of Barack Obama in the news this week, this one, by campaign photographer, Callie Shell, taken late during during the 2008 US presidential campaign reaches in for the gripping essence on my emotions. It captures the faces of two small African-American boys at the end of their many hours long wait to see this candidate, their eyes drinking in, memorizing, watching every movement Barack made as he passes near them. Their expressions tired, scrutinizing, yet also having a quality of dignity with them. The power of a man to inspire and influence the young as never before. In that, this has become, to my mind, a whole new day.

Comments

  1. They look so cute! You are seriously incredible, all that artistic talent rolled up into one person. Amazing.

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  2. These are beeeeyootiful! I love the lettuce and pomegranates especially, but they're all adorable!!!

    I'm working on some miniature cabbages at the moment, so thanks for the leafy inspiration!

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  3. New chapter.....and excellent food work there!!

    jriggity

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  4. Perhaps not so profound, but still made me smile

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/3005646834_2b4fd2d689_o.jpg

    Your veggies look edible - yummers

    mf

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  5. holy crap those are cute! the level of detail and love in them is palpable even from here. i think this will be one of those movies you want to watch over and over again just to be able to appreciate all the little details; something new each time!

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  6. Your food is darling and your tribute to the heart-felt win by Obama is moving. We have waited so long...
    and hardly dared to hope. The whole world is now living through a Berlin-Wall-Coming-Down time.

    Nothing changed in my life the day after
    but everything changed and it has made what
    we each do in our lives more meaningful.

    Following one's bliss never meant so much.

    (I've seen all of Callie Shell's photos on line and they move me to tears just thinking about them.)

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  7. Such talent!

    You do things on at such small scales, how? How is this possible :) They're Great Shel.

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  8. I love those tiny veggies Shelley, especially the lettuce, excellent work!!

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  9. Thank you, dear Elva!

    Thanks, Stephanie! I just finished painting a real dried cabbage core (desiccated in silica powder for weeks). It looks completely real, which doesn't work for Halfland. Shall I send it to you as a project totem?!

    Thanks, Justin!

    LOVE the picture of the little child with the Obama headline, Mark! What a great image! I'm saving some iconic images for a journal of these days and that one goes in! Thanks for sending!

    So touching, gl! What you said there means the world to me.

    Thank you, Ms. Carlson. So nice to hear your remarks! I agree wholeheartedly with them.

    Small scale, Rich!?? HA! These props are H U G E! compared with most stop mo sizes, even your recent directorial one. I like to work at this scale because I can get in to render the amount of detail that satisfies me. I can work smaller, but this size gives me more to work with so the stuff doesn't look as simple. Stylized as the rustic look requires here but one could go way more reality like. Have you seen things like this hand-made tool box---couldn't find the link. It was the most precise and exact replica of reality I've ever seen. The only way you would know it was miniature work would be if you saw a penny in the same shot.

    Thanks, Jeffery! Monch.

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  10. Anonymous4:55 PM

    I can do peas, carrots, potatoes, simple things like that...

    But how on half-earth did you do the lettuce, with the blushing crinkley edges, and those yumptilicious pomegranates? Well, you said how, but still, how you do dat?

    Amazing, beautiful work!

    Great idea using little seedpods for the peas.

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  11. Hi Shelley
    I just love the pomegranates - thanks for stopping by my blog I've missed you :)

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  12. Thank you so much Mr. Nick! The lettuce was a cheat of using kid's play vegetables as the starter. I peeled the embossed fabric leaves apart from 2 of the six I bought and glued them onto the remaining heads, painted them with porcelain stiffener liquid and them painted with several greens and edge tints of wine color.

    A friend told me years ago that half HA! the trick of prop making is finding things to use in the right scale for your project, and embellish them (that last bit is my idea).

    I made more veggies that I'm posting up not, so, check those out shortly AND for a real treat of miniature cabbage making please take a gander over at Stephanie's blog! Holy cow! She's such a fine artist! She used rice paper for corn's sake!

    http://www.forkstudio.com/blog/?p=870

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  13. Me too you, Rachel! I haven't forgotten about you and your marvelous work for a moment though! I keep adding images and things to a packet to send to you, still!

    I'm hoping you'll flow with me somehow and end up making the puppet for the film at the right moment for you. It's safe to say there's no rush as the pace is terribly slow around here.

    Please wait for my package and then we can make a Flowering Thought puppet just right!

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  14. Absolutely womderful attention to detail Shelley. Rana is lucky to have such a bountiful kitchen provided by her puppeteering Goddess. Great stuff!

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  15. Thanks, Paul! I really love the idea of being a Halfland goddess (small g). It's just what it feels like over here!

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