Saturday, February 23, 2013

Faryn - The Winter Fairy

It had been months since I'd made a fairy. If you're a creative person, you probably know how the need to create something grows inside you until you just can't ignore it. You kind of feel like you might explode if you don't do something about it. For a long time, lack of time (and energy) dashed any hopes of being able to quell this emerging storm. But suddenly, almost magically, opportunity shone on me and I grabbed it. My dear sister's birthday falls early in February and who better to create for? In fact, creating a fairy for her was entirely my inspiration.

Snow, ice crystals, and solemn, gray skies abound here at this time of winter. Every so often, the sun peeks through and illuminates everything creating a beautiful winter glow. Those days of sun were enough fodder for my imagination to dream up the perfect winter fairy. I nearly skipped through the craft store allowing the accumulated creative energy to serge through me. I grabbed white and silver flecked tulle, pure white petals, silvery yarn for hair, silver trimmed white ribbon and a beautifully soft and full feather boa. And then one last requirement...flesh coloured cotton cloth...I had a new element to try with my fairies.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I've long admired the beautiful craftsmanship of the cloth art-doll makers. Not being particularly good with a needle and thread, though, I was a bit reluctant to try my hand at it. However, I wasn't planning on creating the entire fairy out of cloth, only the arms and legs, so this seemed a little less formidable. Besides, I wanted to maintain the same elements of my original fairies while giving them a bit of an upgrade so to speak.

The sewing of the arms and legs, aside from a few minor setbacks, came along much better and more easily than I had anticipated. I even made little slippers for her. I did, however, have to go one step further and make a slender cloth body in order to attach the legs and arms. That worked out fine too although maybe slightly unsophisticated. I suppose I will, in time, come up with a more attractive way to finish this part of the doll. Although it is all hidden by the time I get the flowers and other accessories on her, I would feel better about the finished product if it were well crafted in all parts.

All in all, however, she turned out very well and I was pleased with her. And the best part? My sister was ecstatic to receive her and that made everything worth while.


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Fairy Inspiration

I've created another fairy. However I cannot post about her until she is delivered to her new home. (A birthday gift, so shhhh) In the interim, I decided to try my hand at drawing a fairy. I never have before. In fact, I haven't done much drawing in a very long time. I used to enjoy it when I was a child and teenager, but as I grew older, it became lost in amongst all the other creative endevours I got involved in. I have tried, occasionally to get back into it, but I usually get frustrated and quit before anything comes of it. In this instance, however, I became more and more enthusiastic as the fairy appeared on the paper. I completed the line drawing with pencil and then scanned the image into the computer. There, I added the colour. I like the boldness of the colour that I can get on the computer but I don't really have a proper graphic illustration software; just a basic one, so the drawing is not as crisp as it might be. For me, however, that's not a crisis. I will continue playing around with different ways to colour her and see what I can come up with. For now, here she is as she's been completed today.


Monday, February 4, 2013

I'm Famous!

Well...not quite...but I've had a post written about my fairies and for me...that's close to famous! :) Thanks very much to Scott of Midnight Folklore, a very interesting site that covers many aspects of folklore. Go have a look...I have bragging rights now. I think my fairies' smiles have just grown too...

Back to production...

Happy Imbolc...a few days late. Cheers!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Trapped by Time


Snow Fairy by mljohnson, DeviantART
If you were following my blog at all...all 4 posts...you've probably wondered if I'd fallen off the edge of the earth. Well, I am here to tell you that I have not. In fact, I've just been very busy adjusting to working life after being a stay-at-home mom for many years. Finding time for writing and crafting has become quite difficult but, happily, I'm starting to realize, not impossible. I'm attempting to push myself toward creativity again and I'm sure another fairy will come of it. Please stand by. :) I'm grooming my wings.