My name is Julia Cissell. I was born and raised in Bartlett, Tennessee- a little town on the outskirt of Memphis. Since my first memories, I have had an affinity for tiny things with intricate details that are well-proportioned. For me, getting to see things in a much smaller scale than I'm used to seeing them in has a magical way of magnifying each individual detail in something, that I may find less noticeable when it is so commonly seen in its regular size.

As a kid, typical play for me was making things like intricate jewelry and barettes for my Barbies made from scrap wire from old appliances, and custom clothes made to fit them (with evenly hand-stitched seams so the outfits looked "real" to me, as though they were made in a factory). Over the years I have made many things in a wide range of mediums- crochet, painting, drawing, sculpting, and sewing, to name a few.

Early in this decade, I accidently discovered polymer clay while doing a search for "gigantic soap bubbles" of all things. I stumbled on a website demonstrating unique, profound techniques that can be used with it, and it blew my mind! I started experimenting with it- one thing lead to another, and I got myself addicted to making miniatures using polymer clay as the main medium.

I looked on ebay to see if anyone else was selling tiny things, and I quickly discovered the big world of dollhouse miniatures as handmade art-pieces for adult collectors, generally 12x smaller than actual size! I wrote pages and pages of things I would make in miniature, with butterflies being at the top of my list. Everything escalated from there, and now this is what I do. I'll make just about anything in miniature. Miniature butterflies became my trademark for several reasons though, primarily because they have shown themselves to be essential for miniature collectors of all kinds.

The shop where I sell my tiny butterflies is at www.GodsFlyingFlowers.etsy.com.

My work I am most proud of is a 1" scale miniature fairy tale scene called "Tickled to Tears by Butterflies", at my website www.Surreal-Garden-Miniatures.com (under construction at the moment, but all pics and descriptions of the scene are already there).

~Julia Cissell