Thankful for You.

Hello Art Fans!
As it is getting very close to the Thanksgiving Holiday, I wanted to take the time to mention one of the things that I am thankful for...my customers. Without you all I wouldn't be able to do what I do every day.
And a big part of how you help my business grow is by leaving reviews for my work. Your reviews help other customers find and make decisions regarding my shop.  Reviews also help me to know if I am doing a good job providing services or if/where I need to make improvements. Your thoughts and comments help me adjust my work or shop to get the most out of my business.
Here are a few of my most recent reviews. I just want to say how awesome it was to read these and to know that I made someone's experience a good one.

This review really tugged at my heart strings. :)

I love this little guy so much! My university mascot is a bear and I'm actually an amputee, so when I saw him I had to have him. He's beautifully made and shipped very quickly. I definitely plan to buy more sculptures from MysticReflections in the future!

The fabulous platypus has arrived safely, he’s perfect and astonishing of details. Contacts are simple and clear, you can with no problem buy magic objects from this shop. Thank you so much for your talent

Absolutely amazing. Stunning. I am tickled by this beautiful piece of art and I will treasure it forever. I'll be back to build my collection.

To read more of the reviews on my shop and merchandise or to leave a review, Please visit my Etsy review page. :) 

I appreciate all the feedback and Love that you all show my work. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn 

Con Sketches!

Over the past 10 years I have vended at many Conventions. Cons can be super long weekends and are extremely exhausting. But when I am not chatting up customers, having crazy geek conversations or making new con buddies, I need a way to past the time. A great way to deal with the few down times of a convention is to do CON SKETCHES!!! Creative individuals ask for special custom artwork and I am more than happy to oblige. And it never fails to surprise me how imaginative people can be with some of the sketches they request.

Farscape and Dragon Pals

Foxy tea time

Dragon Con Dragon Pal

Firefly Dragon (Dragonfly) :D 

Nick the Fox

CrisCross Bat

Gwenpool Banana Phone

Gwenpool Mary poppins

There are plenty more sketches that I haven't posted and there are many more sketches to be sketched. So if you see me at a Convention, feel free to walk right up and ask for a Con Sketch...I'm probably not really doing anything anyway. LOL :)

Can't think of a sketch you would like? No problem, check out my Etsy store for some fun prints.

Thanks for reading Everyone!

~Caralyn 

The Steampunk Pals take Dragon Con!

Last day to get things in order before we leave to set up at Dragon Con. I am packing everything up today, all my little creations will be wrapped and put in tubs for the ride to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which will be their home for 4 days. They are super excited.

I will be in the Art Show September 2nd through the 5th. I have a Gallery, Auction Table and a Booth where I will have prints and sculptures available. My booth is on the back wall where I usually am, the 8th table from the right but you can just look for the Mystic Reflections Banner. I will have new prints available at my booth along with my Steampunk animal pals, Gryphons, Dragon Pals and their Steampunk Dragon cousins.








Also this year I am going to try something different and I hope fun...Mystery Boxes! Each Box will contain a retired Myxie or Fantasy sculpture, these mystery boxes will be $50 each ($100 value sculptures) I only have 5 available. Exciting to see which piece you might get.

I hope to see you all there, Lets get this Con started! :D
Thanks for reading

~Caralyn

How to Make your Dragon

I have had a soft spot for Dragons since I was a little girl. Then I grow up and still can't get enough of them, it's obvious from my collection of little hand-sculpted polymer clay cuties. I have been sculpting Myxie Dragon Pals for several years now :)

But I thought it would be neat to make a big one. So first I started with the general shape I wanted. This Dragon was going to be framed so I was just sculpting the head and neck. 

After pressing in his glass eyes I sculpted the details on the face. With a sharp clay tool I etch each scale into the soft polymer clay. His teeth were sculpted using transparent polymer clay so his toothy grin would look more realistic. 

Not sure what the fleshy part hanging off the neck is called but I've seen reptiles with one so I assume Dragons have one too... so I sculpt one on my Dragon and add more horns down the back of his head :)

After adding his chest plates, a plate at a time, I then add his scales, placing each one by one. Making sure not to forget to add the scales in the frame background to give the appearance that he is coming out of the frame. The process took a while. 

Once each scale was in it's place I was able to attach his large horns. And then he was ready to be baked. Usually with my larger pieces I bake them in sections but I was able to heat this guy all at once.

 Now to paint on the details and my Dragon is ready to hang on anyone's wall. I painted in all the cracks and corners with dark blue paint and then wiped the excess off to make the end result a lovely light blue.

This Dragon was such an awesome experience. I was able to stretch my creative muscle and try out techniques that I haven't been able to try on my smaller pieces. This piece took me over 30 hours and approximately 7 ounces of polymer clay to complete. He stands around 8 inches tall and is probably my favorite of my sculptures right now. :)

This dragon will be displayed in my Gallery at the Dragon Con Art show in September for those of you that would like to see him in person. 

I hope you all enjoyed my Step by Step process. 

Thanks for reading!

~Caralyn 

Riding a Steampunk Carousel

    I have always loved carousels ever since I was little and didn't have people yelling at me to get off and let the children have a turn...Who says adults can't go to carousels and ride while screaming that they are a princess...Annnywhoo
So I made my own carousel horse and due to my love of all things steampunky, I put a fun little twist to the traditional carousel ride. :)
It's all about dat base so that's what I started with, take several small wood circles, glue them together and drill a hole through the center. ( I got my husband to help with that part because I can't be trusted with power-tools.:P ) Then paint your base, I used white and gold.

 Now for the main part. Sculpt a rough shape of your horse; I usually sculpt the body and limbs separate. After you finish the details on the face you then attach the limbs to the body with wire.

Then you can sculpt any more details to the piece. I usually sculpt pieces that stand freely but this sculpture was a little more challenging because I had to sculpt each part while it had a large wire through the center of it. Made it very difficult to put down, and figuring out how to bake my horse was another chore entirely.

Time to add the steampunky accessories! Using clay and metal jewelry and watch pieces I bring my steampunk carousel horse to life.

All Done! Despite the size of this sculpture, he almost looks like he could carry children around and around until they got sick. FUN!!! :D

I am super happy with how this piece came out, I would love to make a few more steampunk carousel animals but I am not sure if I will be able to with the up coming Dragon Con Art Show I will be attending in September.
Keep checking out my Blog and FaceBook page to see what all I will be working on as the show approaches. :)

Thanks for reading.
~Caralyn

Searching for Treasures

My sister and her husband are expanding their little family through Adoption!

We are so very excited and they are getting everything ready but they need some help to make this possible. They are holding an Auction to help raise money. They have some great pieces for you to bid on, including a few pieces I donated to this awesome cause, a Teddy Bear handmade Sculpture and some matted Dragon Doodle Prints of mine. 

My husband has also donated signed copies of his 1^st and 2^nd Book in his Winston and Baum Steampunk Adventure book series, along with Prints of the cover art. But THAT’S NOT ALL…My sister is amazingly talented with a sewing machine and has made some incredible quilts for you to bid on, any of these will make super gifts for the Holiday :)

Don’t feel like bidding and just want to get a piece now? Well you are in luck, my sister has an Etsy Store where she sells her wonderful purses and handmade bracelets. 
Don’t want to buy anything but still would like to help, you can make a donation through the site Or if you can't donate, Share their page. Spreading the word helps just as much.

I cannot wait to meet the little angel that is able to Bless this sweet couple with your support, Thank you so much for helping a dream come true for this family :)

Thanks for reading!

~Caralyn

How Time Flies when you’re having Fun!

So I’ve been complaining a lot lately about not having enough time to work on my art. I work Monday through Friday and I don’t usually get home until 5:30 or 6. Then with dinner and making some time for my husband that usually only leaves me 2 to 3 hours a night for working on my art…and that is only if nothing else interferes with that small window of time. A Myxie can take me 6-7 hours to finish, Yeah…So needless to say when it came to cranking out pieces the progress was slow going. But I’m super excited about this year BECAUSE…. I am cutting back on a few of my hours at my 9-5 to make more room for my art. Ohhhh I’m so hoping this will allow me to get so much more done. I will gain about 3 more hours a day for just arting it up, Suh-weeeeet! Also my sweet husband got a new camera for me so I should be able to post photos of how I’m taking advantage of my extra time. Oh I can’t wait to get started!

Thanks for reading and keep checking my blog for updates.
~Caralyn

Words are coming out my mouth but I'm not saying anything

So I’m trying to get a few more things done this year, I have been working on Myxies a lot lately and need to spend a bit more time on my other art. I have had a few sketches that I have been planning to finish for months now. They are just a few ideas I had while I was supposed to be working. I jotted them down but then got caught up in other things (being lazy) and just never went back to them. So that is what I plan to work on this week. I’m going to dust off my drawing board for an evening of just me, my pen and probably some Alanis Morissette blasting in the background. Jagged Little Pill Baby!
I have one picture I’m working on that I am pretty excited about. It is of an elf girl and her pet baby dragon. She has a confused look on her face and behind her is a person with a long black robe. It is supposed to be sort of a death like creature. It still has a long way to go since I am only at the sketching stage. After that comes filling in the details, inking the picture, scanning it onto Photoshop and lastly adding color. The whole process will take a few days…mostly because I can’t work on it for too long cause my fingers get tired. :/
Well time to get to work, these pictures aren’t going to draw themselves…too bad, that would save me a lot of time.
I’ll keep you all posted on my art, because I’m sure you are all just DYING to know :)

Talk at you all later!
~Caralyn

This year I'm going to mark it off my list!

Hello People,

Goodness I have so much I'm planning to do in 2009. I have a list bigger than the one I had for Christmas…hard to imagine, I know.
This year I want to get a jump start on my business. I want to take it to a new level and to do that I need to start putting more effort into getting my art noticed. So first step, I'm going to increase my inventory. I have had a pile of art I'm "working on" for the past couple of months and have just been putting it off for the Holidays but now they are almost over, so NO MORE EXCUSES! I gotta get on that!
Also I need to broaden my advertizing. My plan (and I'm only sharing this with you all because I know I can trust you, we're like Family…that only talk though blogging) is to get my work in more locations so it has a better chance of people finding it. I'm going to try to get my art in retail stores and more online stores like Etsy. So you can go by my stuff at da Wal-Mart. :P
Last year I worked a few art Shows but this year I'm going to do more. I have at least one scheduled every month this year, man am I going to be tired, but I believe it will be worth it. And for all my fans out there never you fear, I will keep you posted on the times and dates so you can be sure to mark your calendars :)
Art contests are another thing I am going to be trying this year. Entering my work in contests is a great way to get my stuff noticed and to meet people. Plus the chance of winning prizes is always a good thing.
And then there's all the other little things I'm going to be doing that I won't bore you with. But with a little luck and a lot of determination 2009 will be a Splendiferous year for Mystic Reflections. I can't wait to get started........ *whimper*

Happy New Year Everyone!
~Caralyn