After a previous purging I still had two long plastic boxes full of artificial flowers for seasonal decorating and possible mini use. I need the space that one of them occupies so I decided to see if I could pare it all down again to fit in one container.
Both boxes were open on the floor by my chair at my work desk as I looked through some really cool stuff and other flower bunches that made me wonder why I had saved them. I decided cutting off longish stems and separating clusters would really help in narrowing things down, and when I swiveled around to reach for my wire cutters my eye fell on a bin in my doll making area that was labeled Fairy Stuff. I pulled it out and lo and behold there was all kinds of interesting yarns and trims and strange gauzy fabrics and a rather ungainly half-dressed but still attractive dolll waiting to be clothed, along with some other fairy stuff from a swap long years ago. I used that doll to make Greenlocks.
And then I found an inexpensive plaster/resin unicorn, perhaps from the dollar store, and a little girl fairy that I had made in my early days, so I set her down beside the unicorn and - Aha! perfect fit together.
I worked with the unicorn first.
I found a rose sprig in my flower box and although the blooms were too large, I thought the rose leaves would work nicely. I trimmed them, and glued one to cover each leaf shape on the unicorn.
For the flowers I used some small blooms that were spaced along a long slender stem, gluing them one by one to cover the original blossoms.
I took an in-progress picture which helped me see where I had to add additional leaves/blooms.
The last thing I did was to cover the brown ribbon/harness, and for that I used a piece of vintage ribbon. I cut a piece to glue over each painted bit, using Sobo glue.
Once again I took an in-progress picture, noticing one spot where I needed to put another bit of leaf. I also decided he needed a bit of glitter, so painted a few strokes of gold glitter glue over his mane and tail. It doesn't show up too well in photos, but looks okay in real life.
I made the fairy in my early days with the late Beth Lane when all my dolls seemed to have too much hair that was mostly pulled straight back from the forehead. I gave her a haircut and softened the look by using some short snips of the extra hair to give a wispier look on her forehead and to bring a curl over her shoulder, etc.
Her legs were also wired on to her body and I could not get them to stay in place in the posture I wanted, so I cut the wire and used regular glue with a drop of super glue on top to finally get them fixed. There was then a gap between the body and the upper legs so I made her some new leaf panties and adjusted her little leaf skirt.
For the dome base I used a foam circle which I found at the dollar store a few years ago. I gave it my usual treatment: painting the base first with glue/brown paint, then sprinkling on a dirt mixture. After shaking off the excess I sprinkled on a few dark green landscaping foam bits. After the unicorn and doll were glued in place, I tucked a few ferns under both his body and hers, as if they were both resting in a bed of ferns. They don't show up too well here, but they do in real life.
I am so glad I decided to sort through those flower bins. This little project in its dome now sits on the sofa table under the mirror in our living room, and gives me pleasure each time I walk by.
NEXT:>>
