Finishing the Fairy's Outfit

 Today I worked more on the fairy and I'm close to completing her and the project as a whole.  The first priority was finishing the outfit.  I was waiting for some silk that I had ordered to arrive and it did.  I chose a beautiful pear green from the pieces I had ordered, but when I was putting the rest of the silk away I ran across some Ultrasuede and decided to add it instead.  Using the patterns for the bodice front and back that I had made from a soft paper towel, I cut the pieces out of the Ultrasuede then sewed pearl color seed beads along the neck, arm, and bottom edges.  The soft paper towel was good for making patterns because I could press it in place then mark the outline with a pencil.  Gluing the Ultrasuede pieces in place with a little Alene's Fast Grab was easy.  I began with the back piece, anchoring it with dabs of glue at the shoulders and sides of the waist.  Then, with the back in place, I glued the front on, wrapping the shoulder pieces over those on the back and anchoring it in place, again with dabs of glue at the waist and ends of the shoulder pieces.  The "off the shoulder" look hides the seams in the clay where the arms attach to the body.  I really liked the look of the Ultrasuede bodice with the mulberry bark skirt - very "woodsy" looking. 

I looked through my glass cabochons and brass stampings for something to decorate the bodice with and decided on this glass Celtic knot piece.  Also in the running was a beautiful brass dragonfly stamping, but I liked the round shape of the glass cabochon better and I also thought that the black background was a good touch.

Painting her face was difficult because the clay surface was not very even around the eyes.  I used acrylic paint and a small liner brush, painting the eyeshadow, eyeliner, eyebrows, lips, and fingernails.

Her hair is "eyelash" style yarn with some Angelina fiber mixed in.  I made a long tassle, wrapping the yarn around a file card and tying it together with a piece of yarn.  The knot is at the top of the headl glued in place with some E6000 glue.  I cut the ends and separated a small clump which I tied about an inch from the center knot.  I then swept this clump to the side and glued it in place behind its knot.  Later, I'll probably trim the hair a bit.

Her wings are Fantasy Fiber with skeleton leaves and glitter.  I'll attach those last, once the fairy and all the items inside the gourd are in place.

I made one of her companions the other day - a fairy rabbit.  I'm planning for three of them, one with celery color wings, the second with lavendar wings, and the third with yellow-orange wings.  My original plan was to have one of the rabbits peeking out of the knot hole on the side of the gourd, but now I see that the knot hole is too small.  I can't enlarge it without eliminating the painted edge around it which I think wouldn't be a good idea.  So perhaps it will just act as a little window for seeing what's going on inside the gourd without taking the lid off.

Anyway, so far, so good.