Inhae Lee: The Genius Behind My Milk Toof

An General by Liz

I am not a fan of cute, which is why when I first heard of My Milk Toof I scoffed. I said, “Bah! Who wants to read about cute milk teeth and their adventures?” I was a complete non-believer. One day, out of boredom, I read the blog and found myself back reading the whole thing until I reached the first post. Honestly? I have never been more wrong in my life.

So what exactly is My Milk Toof? It’s a photo blog about, well, milk teeth. ickle and Lardee loves to play and eat and try to be good milk teeth. The blog is not just riding on the coattails of cute. You can see the artistry and skill, the hard work and obsessive attention to detail that the creator puts in every photo. Out of all the blogs in the world, this is one of the very few that is truly a labor of love.

This interview is with the elusive Inhae Lee, the creator of My Milk Toof. Find out how she got the idea for the blog, how she makes the milk toof universe, and how great content is the best marketing strategy.

Your blog is all about ickle and Lardee, but very little is actually known about you! Please tell us a bit about yourself – your name, age, country, favorite things, profession.

My Korean name is Inhae, but I also go by Renee. I immigrated to the United States from Korea when I was sixteen, and have lived in Philadelphia and California. I’m the middle child of three, both sisters. My dad used to own a video store in Korea, so I grew up loving movies. I love cities, thrift stores, children’s books, matinee movies, and cupcakes. I used to work in the video game industry as a game artist but am currently taking time off, hence the blog.

How did you get the idea to create My Milk Toof?

When I began my work hiatus, I was exploring some possible personal projects. The idea for the blog came after researching the term milk tooth that I heard in a movie. Once I became inspired to create a tooth character, my original plan was to design a resin toy to sell. But my boyfriend encouraged me to start developing stories around the characters instead. Using the camera he got me for my birthday, I began photographing the little teeth around my apartment. ickle and Lardee are based on my two nieces, Jamie and Chloe.

What materials do you use to make ickle, Lardee, and their toys? Can you give us a short rundown of how you make them?

ickle and Lardee are handmade with super sculpey. They are then baked, polished, and painted. For props, some are handmade from fabric and clay, but the rest are from garage sales, toy stores, and ebay. Lately there has been a lot of sewing involved, especially for the Halloween episode which required Lardee to wear a pumpkin costume.

How do you usually get ideas for your stories? A random TV show, a scene from the street, a book, what?

My inspiration comes from my childhood, such as the story of Lardee nursing a tree back to life. Sometimes my sister calls and tells me a story about my little niece, such as the teething story. Often my boyfriend gives a lot of input into the writing process – he’s a story artist at Pixar. I love Peanuts comic strips from the 50’s- I especially love the Charlie Brown animation specials. Sometimes I pop in “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” and watch the opening of Charlie Brown making his Kite over and over again.

How do you develop your stories? Do you wing it as you go along, or is each one carefully planned and executed? What’s the process of creating and writing each story and how long does it usually take?

The process of developing stories used to be lot simpler, but as the storytelling has evolved, executing a story has become much more complicated. Storyboarding has become very useful, but sometimes I do improvise shots and ideas as I go.  Currently it takes about two to three weeks to come up with a story, storyboard, make new models/props, photograph, and edit. Sometimes I have to wait a couple days because I’m waiting for a prop I bought off ebay to arrive.

Why did you choose blogging as the medium for introducing ickle and Lardee to the world?

A blog is the simplest way to connect with people and share what you do. It’s also a great way to experiment and get immediate feedback for your work. I highly recommend it.

You have a dedicated fan base so every blogger wants to know – how did you promote your blog? Or did you lay off promoting but simply relied on the sheer awesomeness of My Milk Toof?

It helped making a Facebook page and having a twitter account. But word of mouth really got the project out there. I really couldn’t have done it if people didn’t start posting about my blog on their own blogs.

They say that the best way to have a successful blog is to have great content. Would you say that this is true for you?

I agree. I think people can see and appreciate the amount of work and craft that goes into each post, and that makes people want to revisit the blog.

Your work has now been published in print. Are your readers going to see less of you in your blog? (We hope not!)

I‘m doing my best to maintain updates, but the more sidetracked I get with products, books, etc…, the less I’m able to dedicate to the blog. My time management skills are tested every day!

What’s next for My Milk Toof? Any projects currently in the horizon?

There are some great things on the horizon that I’m not ready to announce yet. But currently I’m working hard on some fun Christmas stories.

This General was published on December 14, 2009 at 1:24 am • Did you like it? Subscribe!
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