Maleficent is Finished!

Because of time constraints I couldn't add the dragon element that I really wanted but I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out. Here she is in all her glory.

 

This piece is so large (30" x 25") that I had to take it out to the patio to take photos. The background was supposed to be more detailed but again time was a factor.

I did some simple details on the sides and the top of the shadowbox.

 

This entire piece was hand sewn from felt except for the crystal on her staff, that is a wooden ball I painted. 

Here's the detail of the throne.

I ended up working on this folding table in the dining room cause I didn't have enough space in my really small studio.

Selfie with Maleficent. I hope you all enjoyed seeing the progress and final of this piece.

PART 1 of this project can be found here. PART 2 can be found here and PART 3 here.

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More Wips On The Maleficent Piece

Well it's been slow going. Both my dogs got sick and one need surgery so it was a stressful time here in Sassyland. Lita had butt trouble again and we got her to the vet just in time before her butt ruptured again. Antibiotics and a few check ups and she's fine. Olive had abscesses in her mouth and had 2 teeth pulled and complicated gum surgery. She looks like an old lady without her dentures in but at least she is no longer in any pain and the vet said she healed remarkably well. I spent a lot of time holding and comforting 2 unhappy, stressed out and in pain dogs.

 Olive

Lita

I also broke my tablet (damn it)! Anyway here are more Maleficent wips.

 

Each scale is hand sewn, lightly stuffed and then sewn onto the chair back. I did them in light gray and med gray for contrast.

 

 I realized that the piece needed a structure underneath of it would look like a plush toy, which wasn't what I was going for, so I built a throne base.

 The beginning of the face. It's always scary at this point because the faces always look very cartoony but she came together nicely.

 

Once I had the basic doll figure done I realized I should have made the doll first and then the throne because I wasn't happy with the height of the throne. I could have left it but it would have drove me nuts so I then added height to achieve the look I wanted.

I added 3 or 4 inches to the back. I would have re cut out the wings to match the new back proportion but I didn't have enough felt and decided to let it go. I can be too picky about things. I have the arm rests done but don't have a pic on this computer.

I had to make 2 cloaks to get the right look. I still need to add detail to the cloak and of course the iconic headdress.

The whole piece will sit inside a shadowbox. I'm having some issues building it but hope to work it out. The deadline for the challenge was moved to June 7, thank goodness, so I have more time to finish. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been doing.

PART 1 and PART 2 and PART 4 to this project can be found at these links.

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More Progress on Maleficent

I have set Red aside right now until I finish the Maleficent piece. I have only 2 and a half weeks till the deadline and I'm panicking a bit. So I've been sewing like crazy. Here are some wips.

Checking the fit of the wings before iron them.

Working on some of the details.

All the "stone scales" sewed by hand and lightly stuffed for dimension.

Checking the fit again. The throne has a bat head on it but dragon scales too so not sure what Disney was going for and if I have time I might change the bat head to a dragon, which makes much more sense to me. Don't hold me to it though as time is running out and I have to create a patten by the seat of my pants. If I do the bat head to make the deadline, I'll remove it and add the dragon's head later.

Realized the seat might not be sturdy enough to hold the doll so I made a cardboard under frame to scale. I may or may not use it but this also helps me see the piece in 3D so I can fix issues and firm details before committing to cut the felt.

PART 1 and PART 3 and PART 4 can be found at these links.

It's My 500th Blog Post Today and I'm Starting A New Project

Wheeeee! Normally I'd have a giveaway but I just did that so I'll probably wait until my 525th post for a super duper giveaway. Any ideas on what I should do?

Anyhoo this post is about a special project I'm doing. I know, I know, I'm ALWAYS doing a special project. This one is a challenge project that I think I mentioned previously. Patrick Gill is hosting a fun Dark Villains of Fairy Tales challenge. I got Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and have spent a long time deciding how I'm going to do her. This isn't a typical doll challenge this is a scene in a diorama or shadowbox. Most of the participants are sculptors of clay and while I have sculpted, it's not really my medium so I decided I would do this whole thing in felt. We are supposed to push ourselves beyond our comfort zone and do something really spectacular. That's exactly what I'm doing and can tell I'm out of my comfort zone by the amount of anxiety I'm feeling about this.

I finally figured out the scene and started working out the process which I'll share wips of here. It's going to be a shadowbox and will be a soft sculpture piece. I'm not going to share all the details yet because I'm under a time crunch and may not be able to do one part of it in order to meet the deadline, but you'll see what I'm confident I can complete in time. I have until May 31st but hand sewing takes a long time and I have another project going at the same time so I may not sleep much this month. Hey who needs sleep when your creative mojo is on high?

 This is the basic scene I'm doing. It would be fun to sculpt this in clay but the real challenge for me is soft sculpting this.

This cardboard frame came in a box that our new grill was in and is a perfect size to make a shadowbox. Until I found this I was unclear on the size this piece should be, then it was a eureka moment and everything melded together in my head.

I did a really rough sketch to get the proportion and size correct and will built the throne first then Maleficent.

I started a smaller prototype at about a 1/3 of the size to work out the details and some problems that I foresee. I had to wait 2 weeks to start this because my mom had surgery and needed care and I was too tense to work on this. But I am starting and I'm still nervous about it so and positive thoughts would be appreciated.

PART 2 and PART 3 and PART 4 can be found by clicking these links.

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