Adelaide and the Fireflies

Adelaide in the firefly jar.

For months, a large mason jar sat collecting dust on my "ideas to bring to life" shelf at the mill. Yes. I do have a shelf with such a name. Anyone at the mill can tell you, it's full of a rather eclectic, albeit plain, collection of items. Most seem rather boring alone - like the jar - but put them with a faery and there's a story for each item.

Adelaide

Meet Adelaide. I've always loved that name and found out it's a name of a woman swinging high up the older branches of my family tree. I'd like to imagine that woman would love this faery (more likely: my ancestors gossip about me like those griping cartoon ancestors of Disney's Mulan).

Adelaide the faery is a little miffed, if you can't tell from her expression. Picture it - you're a faery (oh go on, imagine it... no one's watching... and honestly, everyone suspects you fantasize you're a faery now and then anyway so just roll with it). The cool night air mingles with the warmth of the remains of the first day of summer. Fireflies zip around you silently. You flash your wings, lure them in and SWOOSH! You caught a few! No.. wait... that was a loud swoosh. Faeries make tiny swoosh sound effects. You look around. You see fireflies... and glass. You've been caught by a firefly catching human!

Adelaide's Wings. ^_^ It's hard to tell but there are 4 of them. She had to have small dragonfly wings so that she would fit into the jar.

The green "fireflies" are actually LED lights. There's a battery pack on top of the lid so they'll never wear out. Adelaide herself is hand sculpted. You know me - I never use molds. Unlike my miniatures in bottles, Adelaide was sculpted outside the jar. I made an aluminum foil circle the size of the jar opening, and when I sculpted her, I did so on top of that circle so I knew she'd fit. She's mounted on a clay base that I covered with cloth, silk leaves and the occasional late spring silk flower.