Continuing my "better late than never" month. . . .
Just a quick post with a few inspirations to share this week.
First, even with all the social media out there I am amazed that we can still find things we have never seen before. . . I stumbled upon this site/work while researching some polymer clay options.
Forest Rogers Sculpture
A-MA-ZING!!!
I figure, another ten years at this and I may be able to create work like that. . . I've spent a lot fo time this past year working on the design and technical aspects of more elaborate figurative pieces and though most of those first attempts will never see the light of day, each teaches me something new.
National Geographic recently had an issue devoted to the art and culture of Ancient Egypt. It's funny, there were not more than one or two images that I hadn't seen before and yet it still pulls me like it did when I was 8 and first encountered it. Such wonders. . .
In May, one of my favorite podcasts, "Unexplained" by a delightful Brit, Richard MacLean Smith, took up the story of the discovery of King Tut's tomb and the accompanying curse
The Discovery of Tutankhamen's Tomb - Unexplained Podcast
So may historical podcasts have become rather mind-numbing "I'm just going to read the Wikipedia entry to you" type monologues that just aren't very interesting at all. I appreciate when a podcast can take a subject or story I've heard or read about and still manage to make it fascinating.
This podcast does that with MANY of it's subjects. But this episode was among his best.
Have a wonderful week everyone!
XO
nicolas
Showing posts with label polymer art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polymer art. Show all posts
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Friday, December 1, 2017
New Work - Stumptown Fairy Houses - First Friday Post - December 1st
Holiday busy-ness is fully upon us so this first Friday post is just an in-progress show and tell.
These are start to finish pictures, of a new version of my Stumptown Fairy Houses.
These are N scale 1:148 houses built on or into a clay "tree stump".
Hope you enjoy this peek into the process and stages of making this little design!
Wishing you all the happiest of weeks ahead!
XO
nicolas
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| Each one starts with a simple, roughly shaped lump of polymer clay. |
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| A little slicing away of the clay gives me something of a stump shape. Not too picky here as the next step will remove any of the hard lines. |
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| I use the edge of a clay shaping tool to start making the "bark" lines, I do this in layers so they overlap. |
Then comes the next stages:
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| Next I add a simple shape of a house on top, gauging the size to allow for a door and window. |
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| A flat rolled piece like this will become the first side of the roof once texture is added. |
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| Then the second side of the roof, sides of the trunk reaching up the house and a branch chimney get added on. In the end, this one will look as if it were carved from the tree instead of sitting onto of a cut stump. |
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| Here are a selection of them that I worked on all at once. The little "steps" and mushrooms have been added on the two in back. Then indentations are made for the windows and doors. They are then removed and the pieces are baked. |
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| The first part of the painting in the base color for the tree stump. The houses will get their own color so I am not too particular here about getting paint on any other part. |
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| The houses get their gray base coat, the trunk gets it's lightest highlight and the roof tops get their black base color too. |
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| A few stages forward. Mushrooms receive their red coloring, rooftops their raw sienna color and the walls get an array of shades. Next will be the landscaping and the final detail touches. . . |
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| . . . of flowerboxes, roof tile colors, moss, windows and doors, wildflowers and spots on the mushrooms |
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| Here are two of them complete and ready to go in the shop this weekend. |
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| "Ya'll come back now, ya hear!" |
Friday, November 3, 2017
First Friday New Work - Álfablót - November 3rd
Hey everyone!!
Well the holiday season is off and running already around here. My custom work slate is now practically full and I am already a little behind this week. I'll have another start to finish, work in progress, series of pics for December but this month I'm going with examples of completed new work from the shops.
Speaking of the holidays. . . we are going to be following along this holiday season with a wonderful book, "The Old Magic of Christmas" which talks about the old traditions and origins of the holiday traditions in many European and Scandinavian countries and, most importantly (for me) the baking that accompanies it. :) It's ALL about the baking isn't it?
So I'll be baking up a host of special holiday season treats this year. Icelandic Snowflake Bread, Cattern Cakes, Lussekatter, Sisky and others as well.
Tonight we are celebrating Álfablót, a welcoming of the elves, or Álfar, in after the harvest. In Scandinavian tradition this is a local celebration in homesteads after the harvest as winter approaches and the celebration is not only to honor the ancestors, but also other spirits, such as the elves and the land spirits, the "Landvaettir". This is a home/family celebration, doors are left ajar to let the elves in and strangers were not welcomed near the homesteads during the celebration.
You want to celebrate Álfablót between Samhain and Thanksgiving, tying it in conjunction with the moon (waxing better than waning) and not on a recognized day like St. Martins day (Nov 11th) when the elves would have to share their day with anyone else. :)
We'll be welcoming the elves with this invocation: "Let them come who wish to come, let them go who wish to go and do no harm to me or mine". It is not considered auspicious to converse with the elves beyond that welcoming. Simply to welcome them in and provide the feast. Of course, we in the human world may talk among ourselves as we would at any gathering.
We'll set out a red table cloth hoping to draw a few elven female spirits, the Dísir, to the feast night as well. There will be no electricity after dark as it can disturb or irritate the sensitive elder folk among the elves so candles or a hearth fire is best. Simple foods like bread, meat and milk are preferred for feasting with the Álfar.
I'll try to photograph it and post pics mid week. :)
Next weekend we will be celebrating Martinmas or St. Martin's Day November 11th by making Turnip lanterns (if we can find big enough turnips) and Martinmas Horns. They can be made with a cookie dough or with a yeast dough and are filled with apricot jam and a touch of marzipan. I'll probably make the yeast variety since I don't get to do nearly enough yeast baking these days!
For now, I hope your November is off to a lovely beginning and to close this First Friday post, here are a few new creations from the Enchanted studio.
Thank you, as always, for dropping by!
Nicolas
Speaking of the holidays. . . we are going to be following along this holiday season with a wonderful book, "The Old Magic of Christmas" which talks about the old traditions and origins of the holiday traditions in many European and Scandinavian countries and, most importantly (for me) the baking that accompanies it. :) It's ALL about the baking isn't it?
So I'll be baking up a host of special holiday season treats this year. Icelandic Snowflake Bread, Cattern Cakes, Lussekatter, Sisky and others as well.
Tonight we are celebrating Álfablót, a welcoming of the elves, or Álfar, in after the harvest. In Scandinavian tradition this is a local celebration in homesteads after the harvest as winter approaches and the celebration is not only to honor the ancestors, but also other spirits, such as the elves and the land spirits, the "Landvaettir". This is a home/family celebration, doors are left ajar to let the elves in and strangers were not welcomed near the homesteads during the celebration.
You want to celebrate Álfablót between Samhain and Thanksgiving, tying it in conjunction with the moon (waxing better than waning) and not on a recognized day like St. Martins day (Nov 11th) when the elves would have to share their day with anyone else. :)
We'll be welcoming the elves with this invocation: "Let them come who wish to come, let them go who wish to go and do no harm to me or mine". It is not considered auspicious to converse with the elves beyond that welcoming. Simply to welcome them in and provide the feast. Of course, we in the human world may talk among ourselves as we would at any gathering.
We'll set out a red table cloth hoping to draw a few elven female spirits, the Dísir, to the feast night as well. There will be no electricity after dark as it can disturb or irritate the sensitive elder folk among the elves so candles or a hearth fire is best. Simple foods like bread, meat and milk are preferred for feasting with the Álfar.
I'll try to photograph it and post pics mid week. :)
Next weekend we will be celebrating Martinmas or St. Martin's Day November 11th by making Turnip lanterns (if we can find big enough turnips) and Martinmas Horns. They can be made with a cookie dough or with a yeast dough and are filled with apricot jam and a touch of marzipan. I'll probably make the yeast variety since I don't get to do nearly enough yeast baking these days!
For now, I hope your November is off to a lovely beginning and to close this First Friday post, here are a few new creations from the Enchanted studio.
Thank you, as always, for dropping by!
Nicolas
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| I love the sod topped houses of the Faroe Islands. The black houses (color provided by pitch on the real houses) are as much a favorite as the red ones which I also make! |
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| Three Mushroom Fairy Houses on Stars. Always a holiday favorite and I am trying REALLLLLL hard to get ahead on them! |
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| I've been making these translucent "alabaster" Egyptian pieces. In making them I realize how much I count on the aged patinas to cover the dings and blemishes where as these require more attention to getting the smoothness of the sculpt. |
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| A special request from a customer for this piece with two angels sitting on the bench conversing, representing two family members who had passed. |
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Friday, October 6, 2017
First Friday - New Work - October 6th
First Friday - New Work
Hi all!
Welcome to the first post under my new blog format. First Fridays are reserved for giving you all a peek at some new work. This might be work in progress, truly new creations and/or a series of in progress pics of one or more pieces to give you all a little insight into the way things take shape around here on a daily basis.
It can take a week or two to complete a piece from it's beginning. Mostly this is due to working in batches thru the various processes and, with two completely different shoppes to stock, create for and manage, that can often stretch the time it takes for completing a piece even further. At any one time I can have between 2 and 3 dozen pieces going in some form. Yep, that's why my actual "work area" can be as small as 4 or 5 inches square!
This week's post will give you all a little inside look at how I create some of the statues in Shadow of the Sphinx. I began this piece, a 9" tall standing statue of Nephthys, the Goddess of Mourning, about 10 days ago. I get a few requests a year for Her in one form or another, the most popular being Her kneeling pose. Looking back, I am amazed at how this shoppe has become a bigger and bigger part of my creative world. The requests I get are so varied and not limited to Egyptian/Kemetic antiquity. I've done Mayan, Inuit, Greek, Roman, Norse and Celtic pieces too when requested and always think how wonderful it would be to expand that in the shoppe itself but I can barely keep up as is most months without setting off down yet another road!
The most satisfying part of this work is that, for me, the ancient Egyptian pantheon has been a part of my life since I was 6 or 7. I've written before about how I painted hieroglyphs all over my bedroom closet walls at 12 hrs old, much to the chagrin of my mother when she found them, and how I used to make statues, crowns and amulets out of tin foil and my grandmothers endless craft supplies. And I believe I have mentioned how I used to draw a few of the ancient deities, Anubis, Bast, Djehuty, Auset on the tops of my feet in pen or marker to protect me from nightmares and school bullies.
So it should be little surprise that when I came into working with polymer clay, the first thing I actually thought to try and make was a small Egyptian statue. And it was sooooooo bad. Those foil ones that I made when I was a kid were more realized (foil is a very underrated material! ) But something made me stick with it and keep trying. :)
Over the 7 or so years I have been doing this work, I've figured out a lot about how to make statues, faces, and all the little details that are involved. There are no tutorials, no instructions from the masters of old. . . just lots of antiquities and images to look at. I added in the making of amulets and, eventually, all sorts of non-traditional polymer pieces. I did have a little experience working in clay, but quickly found that it's nothing at all like working with polymer.
Of course, I am always going to be a rather undisciplined maker-of-things, which when it comes to statues means I cannot guarantee the height of a piece at the beginning. I use my eyes to tell me if the proportions are correct and I do not worry about perfect symmetry or balance (except in the faces).
Now, here are some images and short descriptions of the process along the way from start to finish on making the Nephthys statue I completed this week:
So that's a peek into the making of one of my statues. In future first Friday posts, I'll focus in on smaller parts of the process like making heads, clothing etc. I never make two the same, always trying to give each customer a slightly unique look to their statue. In this case, I combined aspects of two traditional renderings of Nephthys from antiquity to create this one.
And here are a few more pieces of New Work as well!
Hope you enjoyed this peek into the making of some of my things! Thank you for reading and for inspiring me as well!
nicolas
<>oOo<> Nephthys <>oOo<>
Nephthys is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in Egyptian mythology.
Nephthys was known as the goddess of mourning. She was the goddess of night, rivers, sleep, and nature as well. When Nephthys became the goddess of mourning she also became a guide and protector of the dead. When people died their ''Ba'' would be tested by 40 gods, many of whom met up with Nephthys.
Nephthys had many siblings. Her parents were Geb the god of the earth (a goose) and Nut the goddess of the sky ( a female form arched over the land with stars over her body) . She was the sister of Auset/Isis, Osiris and a twin of Sutekh.
<>oOo<> <>oOo<> <>oOo<>
Beginning in October of 2017 I started to follow the following format for my blog, posting every Friday and under the following headings:
Hi all!
Welcome to the first post under my new blog format. First Fridays are reserved for giving you all a peek at some new work. This might be work in progress, truly new creations and/or a series of in progress pics of one or more pieces to give you all a little insight into the way things take shape around here on a daily basis.
It can take a week or two to complete a piece from it's beginning. Mostly this is due to working in batches thru the various processes and, with two completely different shoppes to stock, create for and manage, that can often stretch the time it takes for completing a piece even further. At any one time I can have between 2 and 3 dozen pieces going in some form. Yep, that's why my actual "work area" can be as small as 4 or 5 inches square!
This week's post will give you all a little inside look at how I create some of the statues in Shadow of the Sphinx. I began this piece, a 9" tall standing statue of Nephthys, the Goddess of Mourning, about 10 days ago. I get a few requests a year for Her in one form or another, the most popular being Her kneeling pose. Looking back, I am amazed at how this shoppe has become a bigger and bigger part of my creative world. The requests I get are so varied and not limited to Egyptian/Kemetic antiquity. I've done Mayan, Inuit, Greek, Roman, Norse and Celtic pieces too when requested and always think how wonderful it would be to expand that in the shoppe itself but I can barely keep up as is most months without setting off down yet another road!
The most satisfying part of this work is that, for me, the ancient Egyptian pantheon has been a part of my life since I was 6 or 7. I've written before about how I painted hieroglyphs all over my bedroom closet walls at 12 hrs old, much to the chagrin of my mother when she found them, and how I used to make statues, crowns and amulets out of tin foil and my grandmothers endless craft supplies. And I believe I have mentioned how I used to draw a few of the ancient deities, Anubis, Bast, Djehuty, Auset on the tops of my feet in pen or marker to protect me from nightmares and school bullies.
So it should be little surprise that when I came into working with polymer clay, the first thing I actually thought to try and make was a small Egyptian statue. And it was sooooooo bad. Those foil ones that I made when I was a kid were more realized (foil is a very underrated material! ) But something made me stick with it and keep trying. :)
Over the 7 or so years I have been doing this work, I've figured out a lot about how to make statues, faces, and all the little details that are involved. There are no tutorials, no instructions from the masters of old. . . just lots of antiquities and images to look at. I added in the making of amulets and, eventually, all sorts of non-traditional polymer pieces. I did have a little experience working in clay, but quickly found that it's nothing at all like working with polymer.
Of course, I am always going to be a rather undisciplined maker-of-things, which when it comes to statues means I cannot guarantee the height of a piece at the beginning. I use my eyes to tell me if the proportions are correct and I do not worry about perfect symmetry or balance (except in the faces).
Now, here are some images and short descriptions of the process along the way from start to finish on making the Nephthys statue I completed this week:
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| Every statue starts as lumps of raw clay. Basic proportions are made for the body, head and base or plinth the statue will eventually stand on. I'm not exact here since so much will be added and cut away but, over the years, I've become pretty adept at starting with the right amounts. Basic body shaping helps to get that where I want it. |
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| Quick form of the body allows me to gauge the finished height a bit better. Once I have that form, I'll make the head to size and then put feet right on the base, this is to allow me to preserve the tiny details like toenails etc because the body will still be handled quite a bit. Arms are added to the body and ears to the head and posture starts to take shape. After an overnight rest so the clay firms up again, I sculpt a little tighter to the the finished form and add the neck plate/aegis, sculpt the hands to the body and insert the tiny Ankh charm in the right hand. At this point, the statue is fired in the oven for the first time. |
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| Once the statue is fired, I'll add the headdress and start some of the clothing details. The tall headpiece is a rendering of Nephthys hieroglyph, thought to be a house/building/column with a basket balanced on top. When the statue is fired a second time, painting begins. First a layer of acrylic matte as seen in the second image and then, when dry, the first layer of the metallic pigment, bronze in this case. |
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| A second layer is added after another overnight drying. Then the final coat of pigment and the reactive patina are applied. In the middle image you can see how quickly the changes begin to appear. I began at the top, working down the statue and you can see the greener coloring coming through on the headdress even though it was only done a few minutes prior to the rest of the statue. The final image shows the patina about two hours in. It's pretty close to done but I'll give it the rest of the day to sit and develop. Then a final sponging of the metallic pigment back overtop creates the final look of the piece. |
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| And there She is!!! Nephthys in her final form. Over time, the pigment will fade in luster and look truly aged. The headdress is removable for shipping, easily inserted into the head on a guide wire. |
So that's a peek into the making of one of my statues. In future first Friday posts, I'll focus in on smaller parts of the process like making heads, clothing etc. I never make two the same, always trying to give each customer a slightly unique look to their statue. In this case, I combined aspects of two traditional renderings of Nephthys from antiquity to create this one.
And here are a few more pieces of New Work as well!
Hope you enjoyed this peek into the making of some of my things! Thank you for reading and for inspiring me as well!
nicolas
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| New Fairy Houses with Patina rooftops! |
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| Reliquary gargoyles. . . finished a few weeks ago but they still need their story! :) |
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| New Clara Voyant mini tombstone for Halloween! |
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| A new blue reactive patina to simulate the look of ancient faience work! Totally maddening and hard to control but soooo worth it as this little Taweret/Hippo shows. . . She is is just under 3" tall! |
<>oOo<> Nephthys <>oOo<>
Nephthys is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in Egyptian mythology.
Nephthys was known as the goddess of mourning. She was the goddess of night, rivers, sleep, and nature as well. When Nephthys became the goddess of mourning she also became a guide and protector of the dead. When people died their ''Ba'' would be tested by 40 gods, many of whom met up with Nephthys.
Nephthys had many siblings. Her parents were Geb the god of the earth (a goose) and Nut the goddess of the sky ( a female form arched over the land with stars over her body) . She was the sister of Auset/Isis, Osiris and a twin of Sutekh.
<>oOo<> <>oOo<> <>oOo<>
Beginning in October of 2017 I started to follow the following format for my blog, posting every Friday and under the following headings:
1st Friday of Each Month - New work ( New to the shops and a look at the making of one item each month)
2nd Fridays - Inspirations and Oddities (Links and thoughts about what inspires me)
3rd Fridays - The Making of a Maker (advice and shared experiences of how I got "here" to where being a "maker-of-things" is my full time job.)
4th Fridays - The World of Bewilder and Pine ( peeks into the world of the Bewildering Pine, the stories and books to follow and all around fantasy world making)
2nd Fridays - Inspirations and Oddities (Links and thoughts about what inspires me)
3rd Fridays - The Making of a Maker (advice and shared experiences of how I got "here" to where being a "maker-of-things" is my full time job.)
4th Fridays - The World of Bewilder and Pine ( peeks into the world of the Bewildering Pine, the stories and books to follow and all around fantasy world making)
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Amulets
I believe I've mentioned recently that I'm working on making some amulets to go along with my stories. Amulets and talismans were, in my vivid childhood imagination, something I put a lot of thought into and spent many hours creating for my games/adventures.
Whether they were made of wire, legos, tin foil, paper mache, stones, coal and twigs etc etc, or any combination thereof, I made them in numbers I cannot possibly count and many of them, in my rush to have them ready for play, never made it past the first day. Hardly the stuff of lasting, one-day-to-be-discovered artifacts!
I have, of course, explored Ancient Egyptian amulets in Shadow of the Sphinx. Only now getting to the skill level where I can get good detail in tiny sizes. . . but for my stories, for my imagination to really run wild, I wanted to start creating amulets just for the sake of themselves believing that the process will take me where they need me to go.
I have no set ideas as of yet for ones to put into my shop and the stories are not at the point where I am ready to commit to any one form or design but the ideas. . . oh they do haunt me in my sleep! :)
So here are a few that I completed this week, No real theme. . . just playing with ideas, ancient forms and current inspirations. . .
Well, that's all for now. . . more to come as I have another handful in process right now.
And still working on the packaging design. I'd prefer to have all my amulets fall under one title/branding so that is a challenge I am embracing as many of you know, I love packaging!.
Hoping you all have a lovely weekend. I'll be back on June 1st with more new work!
Until then,
xoxoxoxo
nicolas
Whether they were made of wire, legos, tin foil, paper mache, stones, coal and twigs etc etc, or any combination thereof, I made them in numbers I cannot possibly count and many of them, in my rush to have them ready for play, never made it past the first day. Hardly the stuff of lasting, one-day-to-be-discovered artifacts!
I have, of course, explored Ancient Egyptian amulets in Shadow of the Sphinx. Only now getting to the skill level where I can get good detail in tiny sizes. . . but for my stories, for my imagination to really run wild, I wanted to start creating amulets just for the sake of themselves believing that the process will take me where they need me to go.
I have no set ideas as of yet for ones to put into my shop and the stories are not at the point where I am ready to commit to any one form or design but the ideas. . . oh they do haunt me in my sleep! :)
So here are a few that I completed this week, No real theme. . . just playing with ideas, ancient forms and current inspirations. . .
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| Add caption |
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| The Troll Knot is an old Norse amulet for, of course, warding off trolls. |
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| The Dancing Troll, inspired by the art of Wendy and Brian Froud, in my stories, ancient trolls have magic that is connected to / activated by, dance like, flowing movement. . . |
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| The "Source" amulet. . . an original relic from the world of the Bewildering Pine made with polymer clay and the finish is rusted iron Swellegance! |
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| The "Warrior Princess". . . We've taken to re-watching the entire Xena series from the start so this Chakram amulet was simply a must! Can't explain the pure joy of getting lost in Xena and Gabrielle's adventures again. . . what a show it was, so over the top and completely inspired. As Sofie puts it, "I wish I could have watched this when I was 8 or 9. . . it would have been so empowering." It's also fun to know that a handful of the creators of "Orphan Black" got their start here. |
Well, that's all for now. . . more to come as I have another handful in process right now.
And still working on the packaging design. I'd prefer to have all my amulets fall under one title/branding so that is a challenge I am embracing as many of you know, I love packaging!.
Hoping you all have a lovely weekend. I'll be back on June 1st with more new work!
Until then,
xoxoxoxo
nicolas
Monday, February 1, 2016
New Work - February 2016
February already? My, my. . .
Well, January went pretty much to plan. More time spent on new items and ideas and less worrying about "best sellers" and custom work. That feels reallllllly good!
So, here are a few new pieces for you to see today. Some are already listed and some await their stories before listing. GOTTA have stories!!!
First, the Little Caravan I showed in it's initial stages a few weeks ago. All done and ready for listing: "Theia Straedoors Tart Cart"!
Next is another new idea and new way or working with creating small figures.
I have been trying to develop a style of animal figurines that will allow me to use colored polymer as opposed to painting with acrylics.
Now, in my world, this presents itself as an issue for several reasons.
One, I am not in any way shape of form, neat enough to keep colored polymer clay pristine as I work with it. There are always mossy bits and flowery bits about the table no matter how hard I try to keep it clean. This leads to having to rework soft faces, hands etc and, in the end, ruining them before I can complete them. With the fox figure below, I took a completely different approach. Making the face from flesh toned super sculpey and then, after baking, layering the thinnest layers of colored clay over top of that already baked, flash-toned face. It went better than I could anticipate.
For a first try, I think it worked amazingly well! I was able to blend, texture and work around the face without worrying abut smashing the face's form as I often seem to do trying to get the perfect details. I used the same technique with the body/clothing too. Making a flesh toned body-form and then layering the clothing on top of it. Only the feet and hands were made in colored clay without a base clay beneathe them.
And then, a few random pieces. . .
A Lunar Hare. . . just because. :)
A little Tudor Style, timbered inn. Usually I make the timbers from thin strips of polymer applied at the time i make the building and paint them but, for this new "Enchanted Woods Inn", I wanted to make the timbers from scale lumber so they would be perfect and consistent. Very tedious but worth the results!
Anyhoo, that's a look at some of what has been coming out of the studio these days. February promises a whole other bevy of new items and ideas so I hope you'll check back over the month and visit with me in my little world. . .
Have a lovely February wherever you may be. . .
nicolas
Well, January went pretty much to plan. More time spent on new items and ideas and less worrying about "best sellers" and custom work. That feels reallllllly good!
So, here are a few new pieces for you to see today. Some are already listed and some await their stories before listing. GOTTA have stories!!!
First, the Little Caravan I showed in it's initial stages a few weeks ago. All done and ready for listing: "Theia Straedoors Tart Cart"!
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| How does Theia make all those delicious tarts in such a small space? Fairy magic of course! |
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| Loving the poofy moss and the tiny tart table piled with Joonberry tarts!! |
I have been trying to develop a style of animal figurines that will allow me to use colored polymer as opposed to painting with acrylics.
Now, in my world, this presents itself as an issue for several reasons.
One, I am not in any way shape of form, neat enough to keep colored polymer clay pristine as I work with it. There are always mossy bits and flowery bits about the table no matter how hard I try to keep it clean. This leads to having to rework soft faces, hands etc and, in the end, ruining them before I can complete them. With the fox figure below, I took a completely different approach. Making the face from flesh toned super sculpey and then, after baking, layering the thinnest layers of colored clay over top of that already baked, flash-toned face. It went better than I could anticipate.
For a first try, I think it worked amazingly well! I was able to blend, texture and work around the face without worrying abut smashing the face's form as I often seem to do trying to get the perfect details. I used the same technique with the body/clothing too. Making a flesh toned body-form and then layering the clothing on top of it. Only the feet and hands were made in colored clay without a base clay beneathe them.
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| For a first go with this new technique, I think Brother Severon is a wonderful lil' fellow! |
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| His white birch staff and lantern are also polymer clay, but they are painted. |
A Lunar Hare. . . just because. :)
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| A little gold crescent on her back. . . she still requires a short story before listing! |
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| "The Enchanted Woods" Tudor style Inn. |
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| And a completed group of 5 Fairy Shoppes/Inn/Crooked Tower upon Stars for one of our dear, regular customers! |
Have a lovely February wherever you may be. . .
nicolas
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
The Fairy Windmill
Finally getting these little gems out for the holiday too! I have made larger HO scale windmills for the past few years but really wanted to perfect these little ones for terrariums and indoor fairy gardens. I think this is the one! I already have a claim laid on this first one but am making three more this week. :) Of course, one can imagine the little spirits that would inhabit such a place, yes? And there is alegend in the listing about "turning mills" and how the helped a rather desperate bunch of fairies plot their freedom from a very still and un-magical imprisonment. :)
This little one is 4.25" tall and 2.5 inches wide.
Enjoy!!
nicolas
This little one is 4.25" tall and 2.5 inches wide.
Enjoy!!
nicolas
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| Showing it off in my own windowsill fairy garden! |
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| I love offering this "fairy view" of the pieces we make. |
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| Who wouldn't want to live in this cozy little house? |
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