Typical, I’ve put off making these fairy skeletons for far too long, but now that I have finally got round to it they have turned out even better than they “looked” in my minds-eye, so obviously I now want to make a few more ……… except getting hold of the main components is turning out to be nigh on impossible, doh!
Marc found the skeletons two years ago in Tesco, he got me a little stash and though I have used a few, I was sure I still had a lot left, sadly, I find that I am down to my last three.
The same goes for the fabric butterfly wings too, bought from The Works specifically with this project in mind a while back, but now no longer available on their website, why didn’t I buy a few more packs (as usually is my want) when I saw them? Aghhhhh!!!
It was this reel of sequined lace that finally got my started, found in The Range (£1 for 3m). I simply cut a “right looking” length off it, put a running stitch along the top, then gathered and tied it firmly together round the skeletons waist, before securing it with a blob of glue gun glue to create a skirt. When it didn’t look full enough I repeated the process to add another layer to the skirt.
I then added the wings by putting a large and small butterfly wing together, sticking with my glue gun, to make a double layered set of wings, perfect!
The wand was made by putting a skull bead onto a cocktail stick with a small, silver, star shaped spacer bead underneath before colouring the wooden stick with a silver felt pen. The bead hole was a little large for the stick but another blob of glue gun glue at the bottom of the bead sorted the problem out. The wand was then attached to the skeletons hand and chest using an epoxy resin glue as I wanted a quick but strong fix.
I wasted so much time trying to work out what sort of headdress the fairy skeleton needed, nothing looked right, so in the end I bought some large, silver crown charms from eBay, also attached with epoxy resin glue. The size was a bit of a guess, but the proportions are pretty bang on.
As an afterthought I decided to bend one of the skeleton's legs backwards using my heat gun to give him/her a more fairy like pose. As this was my prototype I think I could do the same with the arms on the next two.
On the back of the wings I put a small jewellery bail fixing to hang the fairy by.
I can just see my twig Christmas tree full of these fairies ……. it might take some time, but at least I have a mission now to look out for more wings and new skeletons when I am out and about or searching online.
I do have another set of skeletons, but unfortunately they have a zonking great hole in the back of their heads, I could fill and cover it ????), but I also need to try bleaching the skeletons too, as they are very dark. There is also, for me aesthetically, a problem with the positioning of the head, but I won’t bore you with the details until I work it all out! I also have a few feathered butterflies, however their backs are very plasticky, and if I am making things to hang I like it to look good from all angles.
I could perhaps buy a large, plain butterfly die to cut my own wings, using a similar material to the originals and then spray starch them to add, pardon the pun, some extra body! Lots to think about and problems to solve, any suggestions would be very gratefully received …….
