MOOSE!

greetings all,

i wanted to share with you a project i finished recently that was so much fun to make! i was commissioned to make a moose costume for a local event. the only guidelines were "the goofier the better" and it was requested that he have chest hair ;)

well, i tell you, i was super excited, but i had *no idea* where to start for the head portion. i have lots of experience under my belt both in costuming and plush creatures, but i'd never made a mascot type head before..... so i went to the internet! i found the most *amazing* site by an incredibly talented young woman that totally saved my day. she has a bazillion detailed tutorials and her pieces are just spectacular. check her out at www.matrices.net despite fabulous tutorials this was still a learning process for me so there was still some trial and error. sure, there's stuff i would do differently next time, but all in all i'm pretty proud of the results.

apologies for the "messy studio" pics.... this is how i work ;)



here he is in his first phase.... so far he's made up of 1/2" foam and hot glue (i used *so much* hot glue on this project.... you would not believe!) the red strip on his cheek is plastic canvas, used to stabilize the piece yet still be flexible.




next were the antlers. i cut the shape out of more plastic canvas and covered one side with 1/2" foam. then on the canvas side i glued wooden skewers, cut to size, and added more canvas to stabilize the middle, then i covered this side with 1/4" foam.

here he is with more canvas to carry the weight of the antlers as well as to make them easier to attach.
antlers attached, and more foam added to give his face more dimension and personality. i love these pics on my mannequin, Stone, they are just so absurd!


i'm nearly finished foaming here.... he just needed a sneer...






yep. there he is. ;)




now onto "furring." instead of faux fur i used a stretch panne velvet as i was never satisfied with the furs available. the teeth and gums you see here are made from more foam. the colored craft foam kind this time.



and here is where i started covering the antlers. they are covered in flannel.



and now he has ears and nostrils, both covered in felt.



and at this point i decided he needed a bottom jaw as i decided he needed a tongue... (part of what i mean when i said i'd do some things differently next time)





mouth lined with more felt and he has eyes now.... these are made from plastic bowls... yes you read that right! this is the part i would really change next time. i didn't use the proper bowls as i was in a time crunch and after running a few places i got the best i could find at the time. i wish i'd found something bigger so i could have a smoother curve instead of the ridge he has, but you live and you learn.



here's his tail. it's designed to be threaded through a belt in the back (that's what my hand is going through)



and this is my third and final attempt at a moose hand.... sometimes i just don't understand why some parts are so hard. this was supposed to be the easy bit, but i was over complicating it. they ended up being just simple gloves out of the stretchy panne and felt. for some reaason i didn't get a final finished picture, but the only difference was that i hand sewed the felt onto the panne at the overlap, making them more like one piece, subtle, but effective i think.






and two shots of my "helpers".... one looking sooooo comfy i didn't have the heart to move her, the other exuding his macho nature by using a pincushion as a pillow! weirdos! (and don't worry, the glue gun was cold ;)

i realize now that i didn't get a pic of the dickie i made to put under the lumberjack shirt.... it was really simple, made mostly of the panne, accentuated with a black faux fur i found for chest hair.

here he is in all his glory:



thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!
-sarah

Testing

Greetings folks! I'm just testing a new way to blog (so hopefully my posts won't be so few and far between ;)
I'm posting this from my phone! Technology is truly amazing sometimes. If this works, I'll be back with a post of some substance ;)
Hope you have a great day!
-Sarah

frost fae

greetings all! i hope each and every one of you had a wonderful holiday. today i'd like to share a piece i created for my mother in law for christmas this year. meet the frost fae!

i'd been sort of dreaming about a wintry, frosty faerie for a while and thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to create her. i started first with her hair. it's a blend of 4 yarns, with a sprinkling of iridescent embroidery floss and ribbon
























next up i made the coat... you see, i wanted a faerie in a parka, but then i thought with all of the hair and the bulk of the coat the addition of wings would be too much so i compromised.
























the main part of the coat is a sweatshirt fleece with the fuzzy inside turned out and trimmed in faux fur. the wings are felt (made 100% from recycled plastic bottles!) and they are stitched with metallic/iridescent embroidery floss that is very difficult to photograph... it's much more sparkly in real life!
























some stitching on the front
















































her big fluffy boots of recycled felt and faux fur


























a detail of her hat and the bead i used to top it

























a closeup of her button and pearl necklace:
























and a whole body shot, showing off her necklace and belt and shorts
























and a more modest shot.... i was originally going to have the coat fastened closed, but it turns out that she couldn't sit that way so she's an immodest little elemental ;)

























thank you for looking,
hope you have a wonderful new year!
-sarah

Huldra

greetings readers! i am so excited to finally be able to post about this next piece. it was commissioned as a gift some months ago and has been gifted so i can post her!


























What is a Huldra? Huldre are Scandinavian fair-folk, usually described as beautiful women until their cow's tails are revealed.... this little lady is obviously embracing much more of her cow's nature and isn't afraid of being found out. she's amongst friends here.
more information about huldre can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldra

that infamous tail:























her hooves.
























i chose her hair color and style because i fell in love with the look highland cattle have: http://www.birchimages.co.uk/galleryimages/Highland%20cattle%20Scotland%202.JPG
















































this huldra is still connected to her roots and is wearing a bronze-age style string skirt as seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egtved_Girl
























so, what's with the two sticks? this was a commissioned gift for a very special and very talented woman i am honored to know. she is a volva (staff-carrier) and uses her stav (staff) to create music... more info here: http://karitauring.com/about.html


i got to use my new rotary tool to craft the stav and tine from sticks given by the maple tree in my backyard. i'm absolutely in love with the tools now and have no idea how i existed without it before!





























































and here she is, ready to dance and play!
























thank you so much for looking!

new couple of critters!

greetings readers!
i'm back again to bring you photos of my newest creations. i know i promised a post weeks and weeks ago, but sadly life had gotten in the way of art and therefore prevented this. fear not, i'm here and can show you two more fair folk.
this first one is a dryad. you can see her wings are sort of leaf like, and her skin has the look of treebark.





this next one i call "moose childe" ...it all started when i bought the yarn that would be his/her (i'm not sure- are you? both male and female moose are antlered....) hair. my husband saw it and immediately said that whoever i made with it needed moose antlers. i decided to take on that challenge, and this little one is the result.




i'm so very proud of these feet! they are kind of a pain to put together, but well worth the effect i think ;) the pattern will definitely come in handy- i see a whole range of antlered/horned and hoofed fair folk in the future :)





thanks for looking!
-sarah