Mandrake Table Without The Mandrakes... lol

Thank you everyone for emailing to check i'm ok. I'm ok and really haven't vanished, lol.
Just been busy going to the dentist every day this week. It's an hour there, and hour in the chair, an hour back and then by 2pm the kids are home from school (daft school hours i know). Then its dinner, another round of washing and ironing, housework etc and finally by the evening i've been fitting a few hours of mini work in. Just not had time for the computer.
My teeth are almost complete and have a four week gap now while my gum at the side heals where i had the tooth removed. Kind of ran out of cash too but determined to get the gap filled ASAP, so have it scheduled for end of April.
I'm now not in the slightest scared of the dentist, i jump into the chair these days like a pro, lol! Mind you the removal i had to brace myself for, it wasn't in the least nice but at least i have that behind me now.


Thought i would share some new mandrake tables i'm in the middle of making. For ages ive wanted to make and create messy tables. Being a neat freak it's hard to make the mess and i tend to put tables together like im on a military operation. But really, i'm going to make these my messiest yet. Once the pots are filled with the mandrakes i'll get to work on making even more mess... promise!
Ive also worked in a completely different way and as yet dont even have the mandrakes.
If you remember i started some witch food tables a few weeks ago. I try so hard to create food and food scenes, and after much debate in my mad head decided it just wasn't happening and did this to them instead. I do have a few more tables like this i will keep trying the food out on but not making any promises.

While searching the other day i found this fantastic drawing of mandrakes taken from a the book ‘The Poison Diaries’. Its a fantastic book with the most amazing sketches!
In particular i was drawn to this one.
Think i'm going to have to buy this book too... love all the images!



The way the mandrake at the front is yawning with his eyes half open really captivated me and would somehow like to recreate this in my own style. The way he is stretched almost in a screaming pose is what i would like for these tables.
The leaves are amazing and would like to have a go at making my mandrakes leaves in various sizes and wispy like this.
Not going to copy it but instead use as my inspiration for improving on my sculpting.

Heres another image from the same book. I think this or something similar would be amazing in miniature!



This one is fantastic! I love the way the fatter one at the bottom is grumpy with her hands on her hips and the handbag on her arm, and the tall one looks mischievous and makes me wonder what he'll get upto next... amazing!







Click here for more images and info about this book and the artist.