More Halloween

Hi, everyone!  I hope you had a great three-day weekend.  Mine was fine, but I actually did do some work on a new craft show display, so it wasn't all fun and games for me.  Today it's back to the studio....where I really love to be.

The past several weeks I have been concentrating on making Halloween and Christmas items.  I love both of these holidays, as there are so many different characters I can create for them.  Having enough TIME to execute all my ideas is my biggest challenge. 

Meet Dracula:

Toujours Pur is available in my etsy shop

 

I always begin my dolls with an armature made from wire and foil, and then I start layering on the polymer clay.  I used white for his shirt, black for his vest and charcoal grey for his pants.  I wanted his pants to have very subtle stripes, so I added skinny coils of black....a labor intensive process I think was worth the effort..  His shoes are black clay adorned with square pewter brads.

 

 

I used a custom-mixed silvery-grey color for his pale skin and gave him black hair with a widow's peak.  He has tiny little vampire fangs and black eyebrows that are made from clay.  His eyes are hand painted.

 

 

One of the things I love about making characters like this is that I can make the facial features very exaggerated.  He's got a long skinny face, and I LOVE his long, pointy nose!

 

 

The finishing touches are always the most fun!  A lace collar, a cape made of black velvet and tied with a satin ribbon, red Swavroski crystals, and my favorite part, a vial of 'blood'.  (Its actually watered down red paint!)  The hand-written label says "Toujours Pur Sanguin".  (I'm going to admit to some Harry Potter geekery right now.....I got the phrase 'toujours pur' from the book The Order of the Phoenix.  I thought it meant 'pure blood', but when I googled it, I found out it means 'always pure', so I added the 'sanguin', which means blood.)

 

I was working on another Dracula at the same time.  I do that.  I work on two similar pieces at a time--two snowmen, two Santas, two cats, etc.  They are never the same, but different incarnations of the same idea.  Here is the other one I worked on:

 

 

The process was much the same, the details and results very different.  It was a very bittersweet moment last week when I sold this one!  I've told you, I have attachment issues!!  I'm THRILLED to have made the sale, don't get me wrong, but it makes me a wee bit sad to send one off!  I keep reminding myself (and my husband does too) that I'm making these for OTHER PEOPLE to enjoy---I can't keep them all!  :D

 

Well, time is ticking away quickly and my fall craft shows are going to be here before I know it!  I must get to the studio! 

 

Thanks for joining me again today!

Toujours

Lisa