Welcome back, friend of the Fae. There was a lot going on in the land of Fae today. Ieva spent all day in the studio getting beautified. Today was a continuation of the face and body beautification process. So without further ado, I will share the procedure with you. If you didn't know this, you can click on the pictures for a slide show. This way you can see them larger which helps you see the detail much better.
With the head finished from yesterday, I briefly put it back on her body, so she could feel "together" over night. So we start here with her lovely head on. Oh by the way, I'm ashamed to admit it, but the reason she has putty holding her skull cap on is because the minute I got her I promptly dropped her head on the floor and the little resin piece that holds her head on, snapped off. Rookie mistake. I didn't realize that the heads don't come out of the box completely put on, and it tumbled off into the floor. Yikes! Eye putty seems to hold it on well and it is covered by the wig, so I was lucky and was saved.
Ok, so first step is to take the hooves off for painting. Because they are held on by a small S hook, you have to wedge something in there to keep them from disappearing back into the body. What else would I use in an artist's studio, but old paint brushes. :)
No, this isn't a casualty in a skiing accident, this is the procedure for the body blushing. Spraying Mr. Super Clear in between coats to seal the pastel work.
A better photo of the body blushing. The hoof hair is coloured amber to match her eye brows and lashes.
French manicure nails.
Full body blushing.
The hooves completed. I used a mixture of a sand coloured pastel and a chocolate coloured pastel built up in layers and stripes for this effect. The pastels are Terry Ludwigs and they are top of the line artist pastels. They are extremely soft pastels. I am a pastel artist by trade so my studio lends itself well to body blushings/face ups. After the coats of pastel and MSC I used a gloss varnish, made by Liquitex for acrylics to get the shine. I used two coats.
Here is a top view of the hooves. You can see the shine, no?
Now the horns were made using the same chocolate Terry Ludwig pastel as well as the sand coloured one for the grooves in the horn. Again with two coats of Liquitex gloss varnish.
This is Ieva's best floppy pose. She is feeling rather sexy now.
A great view of the horns. There are several possible positions of the horns. This is but one of them. I really love the gloss finish on them.
Ok Ieva, now you are just showing off. Here's a pic showing her fauny legs with blushed knees and shiny "show ring" hooves. Wheet woooo!
Here's a completed and standing pose. Quite the stunner isn't she? She's wearing what I like to call the "Victorian Teacher Ensemble" outfit. There will be more Melanie Cossey designs to come. Let it be known though, that this dress *is* a Melanie Cossey original design.
Another Cecile B. DeMille close up.
And another...
One of my favorite pictures of Ieva. You can see her eyelashes really well and this just frames all her features really nicely. Love her ears too.
One last studio photo of Ieva in front of Mow Cop again. Her eyeshadow matches the painting.
Ieva says good-bye and thanks for visiting. She hopes you enjoyed reading about her face-up and body work as much as she did having it done. If you like the blog and have any thoughts Ieva would love to hear your comments. Also Ieva just loves to make new friends. She would like it very much if you would follow the faeplay blog and come back often to see what the fae are up to. Ieva has some new friends coming soon to join the Fae clan. Please check back often to see the new members and also to keep abreast of Ieva's changing fashions and adventures. Cheerio for now.
Stay tuned for more dress alterations and embellishments.
With the head finished from yesterday, I briefly put it back on her body, so she could feel "together" over night. So we start here with her lovely head on. Oh by the way, I'm ashamed to admit it, but the reason she has putty holding her skull cap on is because the minute I got her I promptly dropped her head on the floor and the little resin piece that holds her head on, snapped off. Rookie mistake. I didn't realize that the heads don't come out of the box completely put on, and it tumbled off into the floor. Yikes! Eye putty seems to hold it on well and it is covered by the wig, so I was lucky and was saved.
Ok, so first step is to take the hooves off for painting. Because they are held on by a small S hook, you have to wedge something in there to keep them from disappearing back into the body. What else would I use in an artist's studio, but old paint brushes. :)
No, this isn't a casualty in a skiing accident, this is the procedure for the body blushing. Spraying Mr. Super Clear in between coats to seal the pastel work.
A better photo of the body blushing. The hoof hair is coloured amber to match her eye brows and lashes.
French manicure nails.
Full body blushing.
The hooves completed. I used a mixture of a sand coloured pastel and a chocolate coloured pastel built up in layers and stripes for this effect. The pastels are Terry Ludwigs and they are top of the line artist pastels. They are extremely soft pastels. I am a pastel artist by trade so my studio lends itself well to body blushings/face ups. After the coats of pastel and MSC I used a gloss varnish, made by Liquitex for acrylics to get the shine. I used two coats.
Here is a top view of the hooves. You can see the shine, no?
Now the horns were made using the same chocolate Terry Ludwig pastel as well as the sand coloured one for the grooves in the horn. Again with two coats of Liquitex gloss varnish.
This is Ieva's best floppy pose. She is feeling rather sexy now.
A great view of the horns. There are several possible positions of the horns. This is but one of them. I really love the gloss finish on them.
Ok Ieva, now you are just showing off. Here's a pic showing her fauny legs with blushed knees and shiny "show ring" hooves. Wheet woooo!
Here's a completed and standing pose. Quite the stunner isn't she? She's wearing what I like to call the "Victorian Teacher Ensemble" outfit. There will be more Melanie Cossey designs to come. Let it be known though, that this dress *is* a Melanie Cossey original design.
Another Cecile B. DeMille close up.
And another...
One of my favorite pictures of Ieva. You can see her eyelashes really well and this just frames all her features really nicely. Love her ears too.
One last studio photo of Ieva in front of Mow Cop again. Her eyeshadow matches the painting.
Ieva says good-bye and thanks for visiting. She hopes you enjoyed reading about her face-up and body work as much as she did having it done. If you like the blog and have any thoughts Ieva would love to hear your comments. Also Ieva just loves to make new friends. She would like it very much if you would follow the faeplay blog and come back often to see what the fae are up to. Ieva has some new friends coming soon to join the Fae clan. Please check back often to see the new members and also to keep abreast of Ieva's changing fashions and adventures. Cheerio for now.
plain white face, all cleaned and ready to go.
First step, we remove the eyeballs. Eep! Can't see a thing!
Moving right along... I've established the brow line, some of the eyeshadow and some lip colour.
Another shot. Now to spray Ieva's head again with MSC.
Moving along quickly now... eyebrow hairs, eyelashes, lip lines, painted in and upper lashes glued into place. Also cheek blushing, temple blushing and ear blushing.
Now to add some shine to the lips, eye corners, eyelids and brow corners. Ooooh. She is looking so pretty and sparkly now.
Now we put in the amber eyes to match the eyeshadow.
Now finally the wig, to pull it all together. The horns are still drying so they won't be ready to be photographed until tomorrow. Same with the hooves and body blushing, although I have made good progress with them.
I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille. If you don't know who Mr. DeMille is, I suggest you research it. It has to do with old Hollywood. I believe the Ieva needs a new hair band. I don't think the pink matches the sunset eyeshadow too well. I think I'll go back to the green one for now.
And finally the last shot for the night. This was my first face up. It was both fun and exhausting. I actually had several mishaps, the first one resulting in a complete strip down and a start over from scratch. The second one I was able to fix it without much to do. I'm very pleased with the results, and so is Ieva. I will post the pics of the horns and hooves tomorrow.
the studio for the first time to get a look at the commissioned painting of MowCop. She liked it very much as it reminded her of days long ago frolicking amongst the castles and ancient landscapes of the British Isles. Ieva wanted to be in the pictures doing a "Vanna White" to help show them off. She is also wearing her very first handmade dress of grey pinstriped wool furnished with pleated blue suede.
"God is in the details." Or so they say. This captures the details in her dress as well as some of the details in the painting. This dress is 100% hand sewn. This is what you have to resort to when your sewing machine is non functional due to its desperate need for a cleaning.
Hanging out on the easel. It is a great place to watch the painting action, however not so good for good clothes. Maybe I should make her a painting smock so she can hang with me while I paint.
Checking out the painting from up here. An artist has to look the subject from all angles to make sure the proportions are right.
Ieva is showing off my first Fae painting in progress. This is a painting of Fathom, the Sea Sprite. I will be working on this tomorrow at the Anniversary of Beyond the Grape where I have my personal art gallery.
More shots of the dress. This weekend I will be finally getting my Mr. Super Clear so I can finally do her face-up. I can't wait, and neither can she. She needs some pizazz.
Ieva with her horns on. Elegance at its finest!
Full shot of her dress. My first creation. I gave birth to the design as I created it on the fly.
