Birdcage Fairy Update

You may remember this sweet little fae, she has been waiting rather patiently for me to finally get around to finishing her. Well, I am almost done.

Additional curls

Petals, sleeves and belt

Close up

As you can see she is coming along. I have to finish her wings and then find a way to put her inside her new home. I love the look of her beaded tiara. It is exactly what she needed for that hair-doo!

Here home is almost ready for her. The rug is embroidered and the window flowers are in.I plan on making some curtains for the bottom area and then adding a chair but that will be after I finish her. I am not sure how well she is going to fit but I am going to do my best. If I can't put her on the perch then she'll have a different home... I'll keep you posted!

Up Next...

This week I submitted an application for a Craft Fair. It is, in my opinion, the best one in our area and I would be honored to be a vendor. It is a juried show and I had to submit lots of pictures with my application. I should hear something in the next couple of weeks. I am exited though trying to not be. I've already decided that if I don't make the cut I'll still be making the items I have planned and be putting a lot of things on my Sunflower House Art (SHA) Etsy shop which is currently up and ready but not stocked so not open.

I've waited until now to open the SHA Etsy shop because I really didn't want to sell any of my sculpted work until I was proud of the quality of my work. I love what I do, I am very happy with the quality of my sculptures and I am ready to share it with the world. So, you'll be seeing a lot more activity on this blog as I post progress pictures, regardless of which direction life takes me.

Here is one of my current works in progress. She just came out of the oven and I have a couple of ideas for her, we'll see which one she prefers.

I'll be working on the Birdcage fairy this weekend as well. She is still in the same state of costuming that she has been in for months. She is not going to be put up for sale so I am not in a hurry to finish her. I really love her and I've decided that she is going to be hanging out here in the studio rather than fly off to a new home.

My thoughts for the show and the shop both are of creating a mixture of regular and zombified sculpts, I have so much fun with the zombies and I think it shows, there is just somethings fun and fascinating about them. I'm also making a couple different styles of stands and hanging display boxes for my work. A good stand can truly make or break a piece.

I'll keep you posted!

More Birdcage Fairy Progress Pictures

I am getting closer to the finish line with the Birdcage Fairy. Her costume is almost done and then I'll finish her hair and create her wings. I've had a quick project come up that has put a hold on her until this weekend. See bottom of post for more info!

Costume Detail

Tiara - final Bits

I am currently involved in an online swap called Needful Things and I am creating a fairy for my partner in her favorite color. Check back later today to see the beginnings of the Indigo Fairy.

More Progress Pictures

Here are a few more in-progress pictures of the little faerie.

Mohair is a fabulous medium to work with. You can use styling products on it just like you do your own hair. It is easy to curl and if you don't like the way the hair style turns our all you have to do it wet the hair and comb it.

In the first two pictures I used a dowel that I cut into approximately 1/2 to 1 inch pieces and warpped water dampened hair on, making super easy curlers. I then clipped the "curlers" in place using these darling clips that I found at the dollar store. You can use larger dowels to change the size of the curls. I recommend sanding the edges of your "curlers" so the curled hair doesn't tangle in the cut edge. 

Her hair is full of curlers. She is just waiting for everything to dry to see how they turned out. 

Once her hair dried I was able to remove the curlers. Right now her hair is still a little wild. She'll be getting a crystal tiara and some additional curls once she is costumed. At that time I'll really be playing with those curls. 

She finally got her skin! It still looked a little rough here but that is OK! All of the "muscle" is now covered and she has a shape to her. Since she a younger faerie she does not have that slim, hourglass, figure but I think she is going to be just fine. 

This is the preliminary base of her wardrobe. She still needs lots of work but she is really coming along. I hope to finish her costume this next week and then get to work on her wings and tiara. 

Stay tuned for more progress pictures - hopefully soon!

Update - Fairy Progress

This is where she was when I updated last week. She had a basic face and limbs but that is it!

Hands and Feet!

Checking her proportions

Fleshing out the body

A little bit of makeup

HAIR!

Here is where we are now.

Now I am waiting for her hair to dry so I can style it. Next up I'll be adding a body stocking to hold everything together and then I'll work on her wings, costume and crown. A new bead shop opened up in Reno so I now have a great place to get what I need to make fairy crowns. 

Works in Progress

My first post of the year was almost on February 1st which would have blown my only resolution for this blog. Happily, as I worked on organizing my studio this month I kept looking at a couple of the sculptures that I am working on and realized that a post about my works in progress was the perfect first post to kick off this new year. 

Mermaid in Waiting

I wrote about this current work in progress on this blog several years ago, seriously, in January of 2010 to be exact and she is in almost the same condition. All I have done is strengthen her arm in preparation for the pose she will have. While she is hanging from the stand by her head, once sculpted she will be reaching into a treasure chest which will be lodged on a piece of coral of some sort or on the ocean floor. I am really looking forward to working on her this year.

Sometimes I think that they have been waiting for my skills to increase enough to work on them and do them justice. Hopefully they'll be satisfied!

Here are a couple of other works in progress: 

Young Fairy

Her home

This little fairy will be posed in the coolest birdcage I have ever found at my local Goodwill store. She is younger than what I normally sculpt but that is who she is and I am certainly not going to argue with her! I am looking forward to finally finishing her so that she can enjoy the home I am working on for her. I have already embroidered a rug for the bottom of the cage and if you look closely I have added potted flowers to the inside ledges. 

This is Alice, she is the first full body sculpt I ever made and she has been difficult. I had problems with the clay cracking and was pretty discouraged but I patched her up and moved on. She is waiting for me to finish her clothing and her stand. She is currently sporting a crown I made during a class. She really likes it so she may just have to be depicted as Alice after her visit with the Hatter :0) We'll just consider the crown a gift from him.

Finally, my Goblin, he was also featured here in January 2010. I’ve made a bit of progress on him. His mock-up detective style coat is in the process of being tailored to fit so that I can make a nice form fitting jacket for him. I’ve started looking for a suitable “Holmes” style wool print to make the final coat with and the chain that is draped around him will be used for a pocket watch chain (industrial strength in case of emergency). 

These are the projects I will be finishing soon, I hope! I believe they have waited long enough.  

Check back soon  to see who got finished first!