Larger Fairy Sculpture

I wanted to attempt a bit bigger fairy sculpture, so this time I cut three lengths of wire, 2 x 22" and 1 x 20", made my armature, bulked it out a bit with tinfoil and covered with masking tape, adding half a polystyrene ball for the head. The ball measures 20 cm across.

As you can see, the arms are way too long, but rather them be too long than too short as I wanted them to cross over.

I simply snipped them off with wire cutters and re-masked the ends.

Next I added one set of wings.

I prepared the second set, but haven't actually attached them yet.

Next I covered the head in a thin piece of t-shirt material and extended it down over the neck and shoulders. Once this had dried for an hour or two I went back and wrapped the arms in t-shirt yarn.

The following day I wrapped the legs with t-shirt yarn and covered the attached wings with t-shirt fabric and the second set I covered with dishcloth material, but still haven't attached them.

The following day I wrapped the body again with t-shirt fabric and because it was tightly wrapped to give some good ripples and textures, I attached the second set of wings between the wrapped layers. I also created a skirt out of wire and masking tape.

This is a view from the back of the double set of wings and the tight wrapping.

And here she is the next day with her skirt on drying. I used the heat tool to shape the skirt at the front but needed the base to be flatter so she could sit down with her legs crossed and hanging over.

View from the other side, arms crossed, legs crossed, just needs some hair and may add more to the wings depending on how the hair sits.

She is now coloured up, but still needs some hair. I'll be back to show you the finished figure once she has some.

Most of these photos were taken at night with the light on as I built her up over a few nights giving each stage drying time. I personally think it's easier to move onto the next step when other pieces have dried a bit and you can still manipulate the elements days after. I covered the head and arms on Sunday and by Wednesday they were still pliable enough for me to place them where I wanted them after I'd dress her.

She measures approx 9" x 10" x 4".

***Edited*** - The sun came out today

Hopefully these photos give you a better idea of the colours and the pigments which hi-light the textures.