This weekend I managed to get quite a bit done on the two pieces I am working on for the Arts Festival. They need to be costumed and ready to go by next Sunday.
The bodies are made from aluminum wire. To simulate bones I tape wooden dowels to the wire in the position of the upper and lower leg and the upper arm. This keeps them from bending at weird angles. Once the “bones” are on I then wrap the bodies with strips of wool batting to flesh them out and add the “muscles”. The final phase of the body work is to add a body suit skin. This is my least favorite step but it really holds the muscles in place and allows you to add more padding to the bottom and breast as needed.
Here they are with the armatures in place. As you can see the fairy has an added area of clay on her back. This back piece will support her wings which will be removable for shipping and storage.
Here are some of the hands that I created. I always make a bunch and then match them up as necessary, usually I end up with 2 amazing left hands so then I go back and sculpt a couple more right hands. Eventually I end up with a pair that works. For feet I generally sculpt boots or shoes and cover them with decorative fabric or thin leather.
As I stated previously, the heads have been complete for a while. Here they are with bodies, bones and muscles – finally. Let me tell you, they were both VERY happy to be able to stand on their own feet!
So here is where I am now. I need to flesh out the fairy a bit more and then I have one more body stocking to sew in place. Next step is hair and costumes! Yippee!
I’ll post more progress pictures as I can.
It's always fascinating to see how other artist's figures are made.They're beautifully constructed and yes, now you're up to the exciting part!
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