Thursday 7 February 2013

"To Market, to Market...."


"TO MARKET, TO  MARKET, TO BUY A FAT PIG!  HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN,  JIGIDY JIG....TO MARKET , TO MARKET TO BUY A FAT HOG, HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGIDY JOG"
So when I was thinking about a title for this post, it was almost called GETTIN 'JIGIDY' WID IT (then thought NOoo, maybe not).....  So by now I am sure you've guessed that I am doing a post about market baskets not pigs or hogs.  My little piggie "Arnold" is just waiting for the scraps from the market basket to make up his afternoon snack.  If the baskets are left on the floor  too long, Arnold might also be able to eat his dinner at the same time as his lunch!
(rats! another fuzzy photo)

I've made up 3 market baskets so far.  I am trying to use the items that  I have been making and make the itty bitties look more substantial.  An example is the bunch of green onions that are on the table top.  Not much to look at on its own, but snuggled into the basket it becomes...... A CONTENDER! (cue theme from "Rocky")

For whatever reason, the grapes did not photograph very well?  I looked at this pic and then at the actual basket and there is a big discrepancy!  You'll have to believe me when I tell you that they do look like grapes in the basket.  Moving on, I shall tell you what is also inside. I've already told you that I made the green onions.  I made them from fake flower stamens that you get from the craft store. I had planned to do a tutorial on them but they took too long! and I started to bore myself charting the procedure so you will just have to buy some 'stamens' and find the 'stamina' to try it on your own.  hahah  I made the breads from air dry clay and you can see how many I made by referring to my blog #2" Nights before Christmas.  There you will see just how many of these loaves I've made and why it is so important to find something to do with them.  Who wants just bread??? (Oh boy, I better get on with it) I made the jar of honey with the blue cap from a cut up glue stick and glass paint.  The 'Edam' cheese is air dry clay coated multiple times (with a red nail polish) to look like red wax on the outside.  I used a cheese label that had a picture of Napoleon on it but it reduced to nothingness by the time I had scaled it down.  It is a pretty color though.  The radishes are tiny foam balls that were  berries picked off of some fake christmas tree and they reminded me of radishes so I found some old railway landscaping stuff and glue the balls to the foliage;  results Radishes!   The tulips are dried grape hyacinth pods and the leaves are plastic from Fat's Finds at the dollar store.   I included a garlic bulb( seed pod) and some dill ( plastic flower stamens)
And here is basket #2 .  It is a summer basket ( the first was spring with the tulips)  this has pink roses  which began life as dried flowers which I've had for decades. I touched them up with some glass paint to liven them up a bit.  I put some mild blue cheese in this basket and also some of the countless nectarine/peaches that are also in blog #2( if you want the full impact.)

Another view, showing the "roses"

There is close, and then there is TOO CLOSE!  

Here is Basket #3, also a spring time arrangement.  Tulips, radishes, honey. green beans (plastic flower leaves) a wheel of Brie cheese that I wrapped in cellophane and wedged into the centre, too bad you can't see it better because it really looked like Brie!

Verging on blurry:  The radishes are front and center and the honey to the left side.  The breads and the tulips ( see blog #2 Nights before Christmas, to see ALL the potted tulips!) 

And here is the back side of the basket.  You can see the tulips better  from this angle.  I think that no one does a better job of mini anything than God and so I am always happy to let Him do the hard work for me in making the flower heads, that I in turn, can just dry and paint up and take ALL the credit for! hahahah.?????... ( I'm Just kidding, God.)

Now this is a Market Basket!!!!

This beauty was made by none other than my dear friend and comrade in arms, JANINE!   She hand sculpted this whole basket of veggies from Fimo and gave this to me as a gift, back in the late 90's, ( I believe, she'll phone and correct me if I'm wrong) The contents are all sooo real and as Janine is an avid gardener with a food production from it that allows her and her family to Eat Fresh all summer  long and then into the fall.  Fatima and I enjoyed some delicious home-made soup there last November, with the veggies picked directly from the garden.  Yum.  Knowing how exacting Janine is, you will appreciate the details of the basket.  Leeks, potatoes,  green peppers, tomatoes, still on the vine and some tiny green beans tucked under the spuds.

Now I think that this is a melon( or a squash?) Anyway, I think it  IS a melon ( winter melon?) and look at the way it is colored and mottled!!! I could NEVER do this kind of work!  My efforts in Fimo are....let's just say."NOT GOOD".  Janine has some carrots to the right of the melon and it all sits in her remade basket that she cut down to the size she wanted and then re-inserted the bottom into.  It is perfect and the cloth draped over the edge is in harmony with all the colors of the arrangement.  It is wonderful and she should make some more.  Right now she and Bruce are working still on the garden of her french doll's house.  Soon you'll see her mini veggie garden where all this produce came from, right Janine? (now she'll phone me to tell me that not everything will be in the garden, I know her soo well, hahah) You will all just Have to go and have a peek over at MINWORKS to see what Janine has in store.  Meanwhile, here is the pig again!   To market, to market, Good- Bye, you fat pig.....  ( errrr,... no offense)




elizabeth





















24 comments:

  1. Thank you Fillitsa, They were fun to do, and I hope to do a few more smaller baskets to try and use up some of the many baskets in my collection. I really enjoyed these especially since I didn't need to use fimo. Not that I haven't tried to improve my skills there, but I just don't have what Fimo needs: skill.
    Thank you for your prompt response and I look forward to our meeting again!
    elizabeth

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  2. I love the baskets! The photos are great!
    I hope the little piggy go to market in the 'pets' area. ;)
    Hugs.

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    1. Hello Eiliana, You ARE correct! This IS a PET pig, who is very well behaved. Just look at how cooperative he has been for this photo shoot! He has a face that is just made for the camera! and when he was just a piglet, he starred in the T.V show, 'Green Acres', were he had a couple of humans as side-kicks,( just for laughs! )
      He has retired now and lives a life of ease as My house hold pet. That's Some PIg!
      elizabeth

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  3. hi Elizabeth, love your work. i know i sounds like a broken record ;)
    gr. AM

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    1. Hello Am! Back at you!!! I never get tired of looking at Southhampton Grey and your incredible skills at building and aging your projects. You always achieve the perfect patina: really lovely! Thank you, and I appreciate your comments, at anytime!

      elizabeth

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  4. Hello Elizabeth,
    What incredibly beautiful basklets! i love them. So many individual artwors combined into great groups. I love it! I hope you realize that every miniaturist who worked on these has a messy workroom...I just know!
    Big hug,
    Giac

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    Replies
    1. Hello Giac! NOw you know, Giac, that there is messy and then there is MESSY!!!!! Even I couldn't work in it any longer! It had to go or else my mind would vacate the premises, so I spent the entire night last night cleaning it up! I had the challenge of trying not to make any big noise as I cleaned since people were sleeping. I Finally went to bed in the wee hours and was able this morning, to enjoy the tidied and organized space....NOW ....I feel better.
      Thank you for your encouraging words about the market baskets ,Giac.
      Big Hug back
      elizabeth

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  5. These baskets will do very well at the show Elizabeth! You always add a lot of interest in the display and I'm 150% sure they are better in real life....hmmm a contradiction .....almost an oxymoron in this case. And I totally agree with Giac. Every time I start another experiment I try to start with a somewhat organized room and then and EXPLOSION occurs and the bead drawers hang out, the paint drawers come out, the baskets with the numerous quantities of paper, fabric and nick knacks etc etc...it all ends up out of place and the battle begins. But I think that is part of the process. In your case a genius at work!
    Ok...I'm just getting mushy now...should stop and perhaps go tidy up my room and try those amazing grapes! But wait! Where did I put the silica gel beads?
    ciao
    fats

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Fats! I think the baskets are a good way to get rid of some of the loaves that I have been wondering what to do with and accompanied with the other things in the basket, they will present well and hopefully sell at the M.C.B.C. show. Thank you for the "genius at work" compliment Fats but it is far from the truth. "Lazy, should work" is more accurate! hahaha
      The workspace is Now cleaned up and for the time being, I am mentally rested. But I do agree with you and Giac, and Creativity Does Not happen in a Vacuum, but one does need to pull it out and use one occasionally!!!
      elizabeth

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  6. Whoops forgot to mention. Yes the vegetables were created in the late 90's perhaps even in 98. Janine came over to my house and showed me how to make them. I was just a mini baby and had never heard of fimo. I possess and cherish a basket with all the veggies she taught me to make. Her ability to teach was so awesome that I get so many compliments on the basket. Thank you Janine!

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  7. the baskets are all so beautiful- I love the cheeses!

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    1. Hello Kim, Thank you, I am pretty pleased with them and the cheese DID turn out well, esp. with the label attached. I had printed that label from an actual one that I peel off from the wrapper and then reduced on the copy machine about a month and a half ago. Then I filed it away so that I could have it when I needed it, and when I needed it I couldn't find it! !??? I had to pull out much of my carefully filed papers and mess them up again before I was able to track the labels down. All's well that ends well, but the confusion just added to, and compounded the already existing mess. It always happens this way for me, How about for you? Are you a tidy well- organized person or like me, Fatima and Giac??
      As always I appreciate and thank you for your comments Kim.

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  8. Always great to see the eye candy here. :-) All the baskets and their contents are superb. Love the piggy too!

    Dale

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    1. Thank you Dale! Eye candy, is a Good Name for veggies!!! I really enjoyed making up the baskets, although they did take longer to assemble than I thought they were going to take. The piggie, I found at the thrift store and originally, I gave him to Janine to use for her French house. (That was while she was still undecided about the direction her garden would be taking.)
      Raising a pig, didn't quite fit the criteria, and so she returned the piggie to me. And so this pig has travelled to market and them home again, home again! (smiles)
      elizabeth

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  9. Beautiful baskets so artfully put together! Don't worry about your workroom, Elizabeth, just have fun in it and keep on creating those beautiful things!

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    1. Thank you Lucille! As I just told Dale, the baskets took longer than I thought, but the end result was worth the time spent. I have a few more to do and I shall try to get them finished while the inspiration is still high. I shall show them all, when done so stay tuned.
      elixabeth

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  10. lovely baskets hon ;) it is probably just the transparency in the grapes, I have had that happen before where they looked funky.

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    1. Thank you Jane, I would never have thought of that but that may be the answer. I also think that the grapes had dried with the flat side showing out and that contributed to the flat scratchy look when view through the lens. I added a few more rounded grapes to the fore and it does look better and fuller. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what I see and what the camera sees, they don't always agree. Thanks for the heads up and the encouraging words!
      elizabeth

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  11. I like the first fun scene! The baskets are perfect.
    Bye Faby

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    1. Thank you Fabiola! Yes, the pig made the scene very amusing, because you can just see by the look on his face, that he is biding his time until our backs are turned. ( the rascal!!!) I am happy that you enjoyed the baskets, I did too. The best part was using up the bits and pieces of things that I had already and making them fit together to form the whole. For me, they were a nice surprise.
      elizabeth

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  12. Thank you Elizabeth, for all the great tips. Red nail polish for cheese, foam balls for radishes and silica gel for grapes. I totally agree with you on God's creations, so I use a lot of them too. :). Your baskets are really pretty.

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  13. Thank you so much for your comment Sans! I firmly believe that God blesses those who share with others, which is applicable to fun things as well as the serious and more substantial things of life. I enjoy the 'Ah Ha'! moments when something comes together as it should, but when it won't ,then I am grateful for the combined knowledge that others have shared along the way and made available for the rest of us to try.
    I am so glad that the baskets are something that you have enjoyed! Looking forward to sharing God's goodness in more mini ways!

    elizabeth

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