I caught a fairy!

I caught a fairy,

 by the toe!

But then, of course, 

I let her go...

What kind of monster

would I be

to keep a fairy,

just for me?

That's enough of Pantomime

(I really must stop this rhyme)

But I must say 'thank you' to you all

Your support isn't something small.

It helped me put this doll together

When she broke and  I thought 'Why bother?'

 So, Thank you, Thank you, Gentle Friends

And with that, this rhyme ends.

So, yes, she's done. I have a pack of this kind of sculpey going rock hard in the bottom of my craft stash, and I'll never use it again. And yes, even with dolls this small I will use an armature! I promise!

The Pink Fairy will adorn my Fairy tree, which will be a Christmas tree very soon. She's made of the aforementioned nasty sculpey, an odd scrap of lace, lambswool hair, silk ribbon and a pair of real cicada wings. No, I didn't kill the cicada. Yes, I had to pull the wings off its huge, crumbling body...

Feel free to comment in rhyme...

Disaster!

Well, it was another grey day with no water, so I ploughed onwards with my fairy make-over. 

I blushed her with rouge(actually artist's soft pastels) and then, to set it, I sprayed her with acrylic seal. The varnish has the effect of smoothing out the lumps, softening the paint and making the skin look translucent.

And I walked around with a fairy on my hand with her hair in a shower cap, for about an hour until she wasn't sticky any more.

The I really considered the clothed/naked options. I know fairies should be naked, but I wanted something like the Christmas Tree fairies I'd seen and ached for as a kid  So I rummaged around in my lace heap and found something suitable

So far, so pink, right?

But then, disaster (and If you're of a sensitive disposition, you may need to turn away.)

Just Hair

Well, she doesn't look much different, but at least she now has hair.  It still needs arranging and she still needs some colour in those pale cheeks. And wings. And, possibly, clothes.

Be advised. Tiny painted doll boobies *rolls eyes*

So, I made this little fairy, about three years ago. I sculpted her from that flabby white sculpey  and was a little disappointed. I didn't know I was working in completely the wrong kind of clay for this kind

of thing. Anyway, I made her, slapped on some fuzzy hair, glued on some dead bug wings and hung her on the fairy tree. I'd found the whole thing a little disheartening.

Today,  thoroughly discouraged by the fact I have no water, and will be unlikely to have any for a month or so, I thought I'd take her down from the fairy tree and 

see if I couldn't cheer myself up by giving her a make-over.

She'd long since lost her wings 

and the frizzy hair hadn't done her any favours,

 so I thought, why not?

 I decanted some of my precious bottled drinking water into a jam jar 

and dug out my brushes and paints.

I pulled off what I could of the nasty nylon doll hair and clipped the remainer buzz-cut short.

I painted the fairy in a light peachy colour and got a squint from painting her tiny little face, which is somewhat smaller than my fingernail.

She needs some rouge (don't we all?) to contour her face and limbs and Hubby has decided she's a redhead, after seeing her in various wig options. I hope to post her, more or less finished but undressed, sometime tomorrow. After phoning plumbers and diggers and engineers and the bank

Could I possibly use your bathroom?

Thank you...

Dollmakers on Thursday: Teresa Terry Churcher

This time I'm waving the flag for a UK Dollmaker, 

Teresa Terry Churcher.

 Teresa makes adorable dolls; realistic babies and children 

with wistful expressions and sweet, pensive faces. 

These are cloth dolls, 

with cloth-over-paper-clay faces,

 painted and shaded.

They have little rounded limbs, carefully proportioned clothes 

and a wonderful sense of self-possession and character.

A lot of Teresa's dolls treasure their own dolls, 

a charming conceit that adds to the realism of the doll, 

and gives each little figure its own imaginative world.

The quality of modelling in these dolls is stunning. 

Look at their chubby little fingers, their round knees, the soft turn of their wrists.

Here is an unpeeled one,  a 20 inch tall cloth doll, to show the construction,

Teresa makes these cloth dolls from  large babies, as seen above,

 to older children, standing at about eighteen inches tall. 

Here is a marvelously stoical Alice, 

holding onto the poor baby piglet in a bonnet.

There are also polymer babies, 

really  lovable little bundles all of six  and a half inches long, 

with sweet baby faces and clothes and tiny toys to match.

Here is a solemn little girl with her doll

And here is a sleeping baby boy, with his rabbit (couldn't resist this one)

You can find Teresa on Facebook and Deviant Art. 

She has an Etsy shop, as well as her own website.

Dollmakers on Thursday: The Steampunk Fairy

This week, I'm bringing you a flight of fairies. Little steampunk fairies, with tiny top hats, goggles and wings embellished with cogs and sprockets. if you're interested in Steampunk, please pay a visit to Steam Tea Travels, for a elegant Airship ride to Paris. bring your links to the Linky party. 

The steampunk theme is very attractive to the fairy dollmaker. It dilutes some of the spun sugar and adds a brassy edge to the sparkle. There is such a large collection of steampunk fae on the internet I've limited my choice to polymer clay creations, with one or two exceptions.

This gorgeous creature is by  Elvenelysium on Deviant Art. See the cute little bloomers, the de-constructed crinoline and wings made of brass tubing and watch gears?  She is a 12" poseable doll and she is simply  wonderful.

This is a steampunk fairy by Amanda Katheryn on Deviant Art. Polymer clay. I love the eyelash skirt trim and the watch.

 This pensive creature in the top hat is called Jolie and she's by Nenufar-Blanco on DA. The quality of modelling on these figures is awe-inspiring. I love her pose.

This sweet creature is Solice and by a dollmaker I admire a lot,  Roxanne 74 on DA. Her cute little boots and the silver mounts on make her Steampunk. And she's cute enough to be here anyway.

 This is a close up (let me get this right) of  Steampunk Princess Angel Face, from cdlitestudio  She tips her top hat in greeting. I love the knitted cuffs and the devil-may-care attitude. I know she's not a fairy, but a steampunk princess angel is pretty close.

Time flies. The themes of time and flight are common in steampunk. Here we have them with the peacock feathers and  top hat on Lu Lu  a new doll by Wren's Fairy Realm.  I love her slouchy pose; clearly she has all the time in the world.

This? This isn't a fairy. Does it matter? He's an ugly but cute  steampunk doll by Bob Basset. and I'd post a link, but I can't find it.

The glorious Marina Bychkova touched upon steampunk themes and, although this isn't a fairy, the character of Frankenstein's Bride is clearly a suitable subject. Here, a curious headdress keeps Doctor Frankenstein's creation alive as she poses in her white lace dress.

And, finally, a Steampunk Cinderella coach. Why?

Why not?.

Dollmakers on Thursday : Paula McGee

I first found Paula' McGee's,dolls on Elfwood, the original fantasy art website.

 I would type in 'cloth dolls' and up would come Paula's creations, 

 I loved their expressively drawn faces, their gorgeous clothes and their wonderful feet.

Look at  those sweet little feet!

As I moved around the internet over the years I'd find her dolls popping up, here and there.

 On Deviant Art.

on Facebook

on Etsy

I adore her sweet little mousy face

and in Blogland

Look at that corset! Gorgeous!

I've loved her dolls for a long time and I'm always happy when I find them popping up in a new part of the web. Looking at Paula's dolls I've been encouraged and I've learned a lot. Without her, I'd never have learned about Pigma Micron pens for drawing faces. Or tried Tibetan lambswool for rag dolls.

She also does the most amazing doll cloth hands. 

Will you just look at these? They're sewn, people!

I mean, seriously fabulous hands.

So please, take a trip over and see Paula's wonderful dolls.
 I hope they delight you as much as they delight me whenever I find them.