The Pixie and the Bee

Sorrel the Pixie always loves moving the acorns the squirrels bury every autumn!

 Autumn has begun to command a presence in southern NH. Apple picking is phenomenal right now (thank goodness I never tire of apple crisp!) and the sugar maples are just starting to turn red in the wetlands - a harbinger of the changing foliage for all the rest of the forest. It's been slightly chillier, and I started thinking about a faery to represent Halloween for The Silver Branch. Last year was Ti'ree and her Venus Flytrap antics. Before that was Ebony the Witch and her frog prince in the cauldron. This year? I wanted to go steampunk but I'm not completely inspired on a story for one yet. So, I went for honey bee.

Mellifera the Queen Bee

Meet Mellifera. I feel a little egotistical having a faery so close to my own name, but when I looked up the scientific name for the Western Honeybee (the honey bee that is found throughout the USA and Europe) I discovered it was Apis mellifera. It's out of my hands! :)

This was before I painted the base black.

Mellifera's dress is almost entirely sculpted of polymer clay (need I say - no molds were used on her or her dress or staff or crown? That should be a given by now). I added a bit of gold tulle underneath her honeycomb underskirt and a little antique black lace to the sides of her dress to give her a little more bustle action.

My other creation, almost done on the same day, was Sorrel the Pixie. I came across his facial style while I was making Goblin King Pocket watches (yes, they tell horrible time, but no one seems to mind). The one thing I love about sculpting goblin faces is that there are no rules. You can play and color outside the lines, so it gives me lots of leeway to try out new faces and techniques with my old tools. You might notice which goblin inspired my little Sorrel. I'm probably going to make a whole line on Pixies now. They're too cute to sculpt just one.

One of my Goblin King Pocket Watches - the one that inspired me to try one of the faces on Sorrel.

Sorrel in the garden.

Sorrel in the forest

Goblins tell horrible time.

"The Goblin King's Pocket Watch" sculpted September 2013. Yes. I've been obsessed with Labyrinth since I was 5. Pretty sure it colored my whole life.....

Goblins tell horrible time - at least that is the excuse I'm using for not updating the blog as often as I should. As usual, it's been flat out madness around the studio, and it's only going to get revved up higher as the holiday season starts to rear its unfashionably early head.

"The Mermaid's Cradle" Sculpted August 2013

 Normally, I would have a couple of new faeries to share by now, but it's been the year of custom orders for The Silver Branch, and very little time for the work I dream up on my own. I think I'm going to start changing that and making my own dreams a priority once again - cutting back custom orders to a quota per month. Since Branwen, I have really only made one larger sculpture to submit for your entertainment - this new mermaid, The Mermaid's Cradle

 

Checking on the baby... being part fish, I think mermaid babies should be called fry?

So tiny and cute.

The mermaid mother's tail is inspired by the black and white plecostomus.

(Sorry for the random formatting - sometimes I just can't get blogger to put the photos where I want them because of my page format.) So! I still have  - I think, so far - six more shows before the New Year. I'm hoping to have a special "Steampunk Faery" ready in time for the Milford Great Pumpkin Festival in October. I'll be sure to share her here when I do. In the meanwhile, I am trying to get a gaggle of pocket goblins, pumpkin gnomes and sgnome-men, and grumpy faced mushrooms ready for next weekend when I will be at the Canterbury Shaker Artisan Festival. And then there's Grotonfest the weekend after.... oh dear.... *runs away to sculpt some more*

wedding gnomes - this is just a few out of  177 to be exact

okay - not a sculpture. But this is a frequent visitor to my studio gardens and worth sharing with my friends - it's a Hummingbird MOTH. How cool and twisted and fae is that?!