The Masquerade Faery

Brand new as of 10 minutes ago! Meet my newest one of a kind creation. And like all my creations, the name usually doesn't happen for at least 24 to 48 hours after I'm done with the sculpture. Until that time, let's just call her the Masquerade Faery. She's all set for any goblin king hosted ball!

Like most of my faeries and mermaids, she was created around an idea from a found object. In this case, a clearance priced bunch of feathers from the craft store. I flipped them upside down and immediately thought up this dress! Despite the grand garb, I took special pains to sculpt her figure. I timed myself. With the distraction of occasional snacking, she took 9 and a half hours to sculpt. That was just her figure. It took me about 7 hours to get her costume, hair, coloring, mask and wings done today. That was record timing for me.

I'm hoping to figure out a way to put her up on etsy, but like all my faeries, I'm terrified of shipping her.She's pretty strong, but the thought of her tumbling about in a box across country or the ocean, no matter how tightly packed, scares the jitterbugs outta me! I wonder how other art doll creators do it....

The scary doll and other tales.

The scary doll's wabbit.

I realized with horror that my last post was in May. MAY! Where'd June and July go?? Oh, well let me tell you a few things I've learned. One: you want to have a booth or table in a show? You better realize you do at least 6 months in advance or all the spots are taken. I've been really lucky and managed to find the applications to shows and festivals a week or two before they are due. Two: some people actually do take your business card AND contact you in a few days. I always thought that was just a line people say to be polite. Three: Heat waves and polymer clay are not good bedfellows. We had a week where the clay felt like melting chocolate. I couldn't sculpt with it and it kept me craving dark Lindt truffles.

Well insert montage music here and allow me to recap the highlights of the past 2 months. :D If you care to go beyond the pictoral feast, I've included captions! Yay!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANNA! (she turned old on July 29th) Ok - about the doll. No. She's not a faery. No. I cannot pay for anyone's therapy bills for viewing her. But yes, Janna has these sort of tastes at times. Janna is my best friend and needed a doll to act out all her Tim Burton-esque fantasies with. The wabbit at the top of the screen is the polymer clay "rag" doll in this doll's arm. This doll was sculpted with a mix of polymer clays, air dry ceramic, paint, fabric, vintage lace, llama wool and the theme to Coraline as well as the Dresden Dolls stuck in my head.

 

This gnome is my tiniest yet. Seriously. The bottle is only about an inch long inside. I've been having fun making very tiny miniature scenes. Gnomes are my favorite. This one comes complete with house and flopsy ferns. ^_^ Photograph courtesy of Andrea Pirkey.

This lovely vessel was handmade by Jason Powers of Powers Art Glass. With a tiny needle, I sculpted the grass, mushrooms and little faery to fit inside. We made a couple of these fantasy vessels; another contains a gnome! As far as I know, this little cutie is still for sale.

My newest faery baby. :) I can't believe I'm up to 23 of these little cuties! 

This fire phoenix was one of my favorites. I hand carved each feather and placed them individually. This was one of those instances where I found an item and instantly saw a sculpture in mind for it. This was a large, gorgeous daisy from a fabric store.

This baby sold a while ago - I just always loved this picture. ^_^

My "Naturally Shed Faery Wing Necklaces" have been fun to make this summer. They catch the sunlight so well and I was thrilled to actually see someone I don't know at the post office the other day wearing one! The metal is silver plate, but I also made some in sterling silver for a gallery in Chicago, IL. I'm thrilled to be there! :D

New OOAK faerie! - "Oliver's Snail Mail"

"Oliver's Snail Mail"

Faeries can deliver mail at the speed of magical wings - be sure to specify "air mail" for that service. For all else, there's snail mail. This is Oliver's first job. He's already gotten rather used to the pace.

This art doll sculpture started with a large shell. I'm sure it's some sort of seashell, but it just screamed "garden snail!" to me. I thought about turning the shell into a garden gnome house with a little chimney and a lawn, but I wasn't in love with the idea. It sat on my shelf at the studio collecting dust for at least 2 months before I decided to create the snail that went with it just to see what it would be like with some clay breathing life into it. Once I formed that bizzare little critter, I was on a roll. I saw a mail bag, letters all over the place and a faery fast asleep on the mail bag as he delivered urgent letters. Hence, Oliver was born. ^_^

 

Oliver will probably go in my Etsy shop later in the week, but for now, you can also view him up close at Riverview Artist Mill if you're in the NH area.

(by the way - Charly, if you read this, I posted my letter to you this way. You should recieve it... soon? heh)

***NOTE: I'm doing a raffle for a wicked sweet handmade faery wing pendant for anyone who comments on my blog this week. See the bottom of my previous post for more details on the contest!****