I’m working on a new piece and I would like to invite you into a sneek peek of my process of sculpting a fairy. I’ve never shared a lot of work in progress pictures, in the past, because in my opinion it takes away a bit of the magic. But I’m willing to make an exception, because I get a lot of questions about how I start and how I build up the fairy, so here’s your chance to read the article that will reveal it all! 🙂

Well, I build a wire frame and I start adding clay from the bottom up. So, I literally start with her bottom, 😀 then I start sculpting the legs and finish with the feet and detailing the toes. In this phase she’s baked for the first time. After she’s cooled off, I sand the legs and the feet to get everything as smooth as possible.

In the second phase I start sculpting the upper body. Her waist is defined, the shoulders, neck, arms and hands are sculpted. I covered up the base so it doesn’t get dirty from the clay.

Then she’s baked for the second time.

Then I start sculpting the face.

For this fairy I already had 2 heads that I didn’t like, so I started all over again for the third time! Nobody said sculpting was easy, right? *sigh* 😉

Here you can see how I set out the basic lines. The second picture shows how I add the eye lids. In the third picture you can see the details of the eyes, nose and mouth are almost finished.

I always end up with waaaaayyy to little head in the back and at the top, so I add some clay there. You can also clearly see here that the profile of my fairies look a bit different than a human profile. Not a coïncidence… It’s called playing with anatomy… 😀

A doll artist’s paradise: sculpting outside while the sun is shining and the birds are singing! Why can’t it always be summer? 😉

I start sanding the upper body and arms.

When this is finished, the head has to be attached to the body. Hmmm? This doesn’t look ok, does it? 😀 It will be, trust me… hèhè 😉

The head is attached to the body and I’m sculpting the ears.

That looks ok to go into the oven one more time.

A-ha! Painting the fairy, let the fun part begin! Smudging with genesis paints! 😀

Painting her little fairy eyes and mouth. I don’t use a magnifying-glass, by the way. I also get that question a lot. 😉

It’s starting to look good, huh? Well maybe not to you, yet! 😀 Can’t wait to put on her dress and all kind of ideas pop up in my mind for making the wings! I’m getting very excited at this stage! lol…

Detail of the sculpted hand.

Well, this story is to be continued. Hope to be able to show you the next steps and the finished sculpture in a couple of weeks. Have a nice holiday everyone and enjoy the sun when it’s there!

If there’s anything else you would like to know or see about me or my work, just let me know by filling in the comment box below this article.

Kathleen xx