Dragon Hatchling

Happy Tuesday!! It is Tuesday, ri iight? I get so confuzzled sometimes..hehe  Today I'm working on the Chazman's gift from me. Last year he got a sea dragon and this year he is getting a dragon hatchling. This kiddo loves anything dragon. Hmmmmmm, just wander where he got that from? I already gave him one of his gifts and that was the money to get a book about dragons from their school book fair. He doesn't know anything about this gift. Yes...yes, I'm sneaky crafty like that. Here are some WIP photos for ya to see. I have the piece curing at the moment and hope to be painting it by this afternoon. I only have today through Thursday to get him finished because the Chazman will be home for the Christmas break after that. Sooooo, enjoy the photos and I'll see ya tomorrow!! (with hopefully a painted dragon)

Oh yes....Ms Boo supervised with this one. She normally lays on top of the pie safe soaking up the sun and looking down but today she wanted to be right there. Silly kitty!!! Her winter coat is in and just look at all the pretty red in her black fur. Pretty kitty!!!

Until next time.....Hugs,
Regi

Dragon is complete...YEA!!

I finally finished the last Tooth Faerie assistant.....the dragon!! I still have to make their little tooth pouches and hopefully will get those completed tomorrow afternoon.

While I was working on the dragon and waiting for the paint to dry in between applications I was able to work on the newest Santa ooaks.

Santa is clapping because he's just so happy that he has at least part of his underclothing on...hehe!! I hope to get the legs done tonight or in the morning.

Until next time.........Hugs,
Regi

BEWARE...there be a Sea Dragon floating about!!

No where else in the world can the species "Sea Dragon" be found but off the coast line in Australia's Southern waters. Oh yes....sea dragons are real and are relatives of the seahorse. Two species have been documented and are protected, the Leafy sea dragon and the Weedy sea dragon. These creatures move as the kelp and seaweed they love to hide in....camouflaging themselves to look identical to their surroundings. Divers wanting to witness these amazing and beautiful creatures sometimes miss them due to their camouflage abilities. These little sea dragons eat tiny little mysid shrimp or sealice...sucking up their prey through their tiny little snout like mouths...no harm to humans!!

Far below where you would find these tiny creatures is another Sea dragon....the mystical Spinney Sea Dragon..waiting patiently for an unexpecting visitor to come within his grasp. He unlike the tiny little Leafy and Weedy sea dragons does not have a tiny snout but the full mouth and teeth of his ancestor...the land dragon. Many centuries ago when the land dragon was becoming extinct some took to the water and overtime mutated to be able to live beneath the ocean waves. Still maintaining their strengths and agility and adding new abilities. They live in the coral reefs and some even beyond that...deep deep down. This sea dragon lives among the sea urchins and sea anemones. He, like them, can spread out his fins by his head and lure other fish in.....then SNAP..he has them in his jaws. His home is a shell that he can shrink himself down and pull himself into during the day. He is nocturnal and therefore only comes out at night......to hunt!! Since he is nocturnal, that means he is sensitive to light and that allows him to be able to move gracefully and swiftly in reaction to shadows. Shadows of other fish...swimming very incredibly close.  They have the ability to grow as large as they need in certain circumstances. Perhaps that's why no divers have ever reported seeing one....as they are the divers that are reported missing!!!

Mystical Spinney Sea Dragon

This is my latest sculpt in my Sea Dragon series. He is 5 inches tall and 7 inches long. A strong wire armature makes up his body that I covered in clay...baked and then detailed using several layers of acrylic paints. His eyes are jade beads with red glass vintage beads attached with a bronze head pin. He has been sealed with a varnish. His fins are handmade from vellum papers and then painted using acrylic paints. Fringed yarn was added as an adornment to his fins. His shell is a natural shell...a spider conch shell. 

My artist signature stamped on the bottom

I'm very happy with how this one turned out and am even more excited about designing the next one. I will be putting him in my Etsy shop. Please share with any of your friends that collect dragons. I mean everyone needs a sea dragon for their collection, ri iight?? Ohhh, remember to keep him out of water...they can grow very , VERY large. You have been warned!! ^_^

Until next time...........Hugs,

Regi

Mermaid and Faerie battled it out!!!! Ohh nooo

WOW...it's noon here and only 40 degrees and the wind is blowing about 100 mph. Ok ok...so it's not exactly blowing that hard (hehe) but it is blowing around 30 and that makes it feel even colder. Brrrrrr!!!

I have put the Faerie Godfather (Godfrey) on hold for a bit. With Ms Peaches having walked out of our lives...I just don't have the "umph" to work on it right now. Ya'll all know me though and know good and darn well that I'm not sitting here twittling my thumbs. Oh NOOOO...well...of course I couldn't be. Do you know how hard it would be to type this post and twittle?

I have gone through my shell collection. The collection I have from our beach walks and souvenir hunting (well some days it's just not a good day to walk on the beach) and pulled out a few interesting ones. My mermaid soul has been whispering lately that she wants to come out and play some. (she was actually threatening my poor faerie muse) I guess you can see who won this battle. ^_^

Aren't these unique and interesting looking? I love shells and have so so so soooooooo many that I really need to share some. I sat and looked at these hoping something would pop out at me. Well...not actually POP out at me...I do clean the shells really good. HA!! Even though it was my mermaid soul that was whispering..she wasn't saying "Do a sculpt of me please". No, she was saying that I needed to do something regarding the sea....the sea and the mystical realm. As soon as I heard thought that....I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

A sea dragon!! This is just a WIP photo showing what I have done up to now on him. He has a strong wire armature. I used foil to bulk him up and then wrapped him in florist tape. I'm planning on making some of his scales look like the points/tips on his shell.

I'm going to cover the florist tape in glue...let him dry and then start covering him in clay. I'm so happy that my mermaid soul wanted to come out and play. Ohhh and I'm in no way saying I promote violence of any kind. I mean how much harm can a mermaid and faerie do to each other. HEY...stop that you two...no throwing clay balls at the artist!!!!

Until next time...........Hugs,
Regi

Wordless Wednesday.....

Doodles.....

WOW....I can't believe there is only seven more days of school for the Chazman and only 10 more days until we move. Time is starting to fly by now. I still have lots of packing to do and yes I'm still sorting through my stuff to see just what I can live without. Whoaaaaaa....that's a hard thing to do...LOL!!!

I posted earlier that my studio was the first thing packed up. Had to do it that way so I wouldn't be tempted to stop packing and sculpt and everyone that knows me...knows that is just what I would have done. Although I packed everything away, I still have paper and a pencil and decided to sit for a spell and doodle. My muse is whispering of faeries and baby dragons.  Thought I would share those whisperings with you.....

Until next time................

Hugs,
Regi

Mingmei Yong...Warrior Princess Faery

In gathering up all my post for today's tour I discovered that I have a faery that was done before I started blogging in June. She was a gift to one of my nieces for her HS graduation in 2008. She is one that I am quiet proud of...the niece and the faery!!! Let me introduce Mingmei Yong...Warrior Princess Faery.

There is an enchanted place, deep in the forest, where if you still believe in magic and open your heart you will see wonders unfold. In this enchanted place there is a tiny warrior Princess that has been given the task of guarding the Fire Lily....the lily that keeps this magical realm alive. All creatures great and small come to breathe in it's gentle fragrance and life force. The Fire lillies are what keep their hearts beating in perfect harmony within the faery world. It's red brilliance gives everlasting light to the faery realm and all of mother natures tiniest creatures.

This warrior Princess goes by the name of "Mingmei Yong" which in our world would translate to "Smart, beautiful and brave one". Her high position in the faery realm is one of  standing tradition, passed down to one special female in her warrior clan. Every 200 years there is a faery born that bears the Dragon markings.  This faery holds the magic within to protect the everlasting Fire Lily's light. Since birth, she has been trained in the heartfelt ways of the Fire Lily. Taught to keep this important flower blooming in bright red brilliance so that the faery world will forever live in harmony, purity and light. To be willing to sacrifice her own life to protect her faery world and to call upon the dragon to aide her should anyone or anything try to keep her from her task.

However, there are those that live deep in the darkness of the caves within the magical realm that want to obtain the Fire Lily....they are known as "The Dark Ones". They can not breathe in the life force of the Fire Lily because of their evil and dark nature. The Dark Ones are ruled by the Elfin Wizard, whom was banned from the light centuries ago.  He wants to put out the light of the Fire Lily so that he will rule all of the feary realm. Mingmei Yong stands guard to make sure that the Dark Ones never touch her world's heart. She stands firm and strong, sword and shield in hand, ready to call upon the Dragon, to guard the precious Fire Lily that she has pledged to protect for the next four hundred years.

Mingmei Yong is one of my gently poseable ooaks. She has a strong wire armature covered in wool yarn. Her face, torso, hands and feet were sculpted using Prosculpt clay. Her face and eyes were hand painted using acrylic paints.  On her back is a hand painted tattoo of a dragon. Her tiny sandals are carved from wood with black rope ties. Her hair is hand dyed lambswool (sheared) Her sword was sculpted from Sculpey clay and then hand painted using acrylic paints and fine MICA powders...tiny crystals can be found on the handle. Her shield is an oriental bone bead. Her wings are some of my hand drawn butterfly wings adorned with several layers of german glass. The black and red in the wings are wool fibers. She stands at 6 1/2 inches tall.

Her base is a dark sealed wooden bowl. Two tiny goldfish swim in the pond surrounding one of the Fire Lillies. They were sculpted from Sculpey clay and then detailed using fine MICA powders. They are swimming in a clear water feature solution. A tiny hand sculpted frog sits on the moss that Mingmei Yong is standing on.

Two tiny friends are standing guard with Mingmei Yong. A tiny butterfly...look close and you can see his tiny face. His wings are some of my hand drawn....adorned the same as Mingmei Yong's. The dragonfly has hand drawn wings as well adorned with tiny gold beading. His body was sculpted from Sculpy clay and detailed using fine MICA powders.

I always enjoying designing and letting my characters come out into the world but there is so much more pleasure in doing them when it's for a loved one. My niece is in college now and still has Mingmei Yong sitting out and tells everyone about her and her story. For Christmas in 2008 she was given another character from the story...Yoshi Yuan, the Dragon. That can be found in another post. As always, thank you for stopping by for a visit to our whimsical world. Come back soon and until then....

Hugs,
Regi

The Pillowcase bag/purse

A few weeks ago, I had no choice but to clean up my studio and in doing so I discovered I had carpet on the floor that I hadn't seen in awhile and to be honest had completely forgotten about. I so hope that I'm not the only artist that gets so involved in designing and crafting that even I could get lost in the room at times. While cleaning I found one of my notebooks that I keep design ideas in...you know the one...it lays by your bedside table so when one of those ideas "POP" in your head you can jot it down or for some of us it is the muse that starts singing so loudly that it's amazing she doesn't wake up the whole house. Mine is the latter one...there are some days I would love to let her go visit another artist for a day or two. She sings almost constantly!! Anyway...what was I talking about? Oh yes...the notebook.  This one had been filled up many years ago and stored away. I'm so happy that I started flipping through it. I found my pillowcase bags I use to make. I first thought about this large bag due to my love of Mary Poppins (which I think I have stated in another post or two) To have a bag that was large enough to carry so many prized possesions. I made a smaller bag for one of my nieces so she could put her ballet items in it when she went to practice. It didn't need to be one of the large ones just yet as she is only four. For some reason my camera has lost some of it's photos and that was one of them. I'm sure it had something to do with the person holding it at the time they disappeared. I'm not very good with the technical/mechanical things in life but I try. I did however get photos of the bag I just finished for my great niece. Our lil princess...I started to put Diva but wasn't sure she would understand what that meant just yet. You know, one of those 5 year olds that sometimes makes you think you are talking to a little woman at times. So cute and sweet and hands on those hips kinda lil lady!!!  Here are some photos of her pillowcase bag. It's a Christmas gift so shhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Every Princess has to have a castle. One that has a beautiful garden growing up it's towers. I know in the photo it's probably hard to see but the dote over the "i" in Princess is a tiny sterling silver dragonfly. Now what castle wouldn't have a dragon flying near by...even if just a small tiny one.  Her handsome Prince, well not so fast there..she is only 5...so I figured she could just enjoy the frog for now. He will entertain her with his balancing act on the big ole ball. Fairy godmother is close by though with her magic wand for when our lil Princess has outgrown the frog. (Poor dear....should I tell her that most of them stay "frogs" even after fairy godmother does her thing...LOL...sorry my male followers...I just couldn't resist)

I hope you enjoyed looking and thank you for dropping by. If anyone would be interested in making one of these very simple bags just drop me a note and I will email you some directions. They are great for girls or boys. Matter of fact, I've already started designing one for my three year old great nephew. You will have to check back later to see how it turns out. Until then,

Hugs,

Regi

Yoshi Yuan..Fire Lily Dragon, a ooaks in the Faeries and Dragons Series

In Private Collection

A little dragon is born into the faery realm deep in the forest every two hundred years. They are born with great power and strength, honored and revered to bring good fortune and wisdom to those that call upon it. The faery realm was mesmerized by not only it's powers but also by it's passion.

In the year that the great warrior Princess Mingmei Yong was born...so was her dragon. Light dances over the entire faery realm forest at this wondrous birth. It has been a long time since such a magnificent dragon was born. She is a brilliant gold, as brilliant as the sun shining down with soft scales of forest green. Her wings are enormous yet soft with the suns glow and the forests color, so as to hide her when she is called upon in flight. Her eyes are the deepest jade....the faeries have believed for years as has so many in our human world that jade is the sign of "Purity". Her heart stone is a carnelian agate, brilliant red with deep black veins running through it. This is a true sign to the faeries that a queen had been born. The agate stone is believed to be a "peacekeeper"...to soften anger. There was a warmth emanating from her heart stone, perhaps for all the faeries and forest creatures to embrace. With all the signs this dragon posses the one and only name that could be given to her....Yoshi Yuan, good shining peace. She was to be the bringer of Peace, but every faery knew, especially Mingmei Yong, that once called to fight the Elfin wizard and the dark ones that Yoshi Yuan would seek out to destroy. Not the dark ones themselves but the dark emotions inside them that had caused this never ending battle and restore the faery realm to it's peaceful and harmonious ways. Until the time that she will be called upon. Yoshi Yuan sits amongst the tree roots, sopping up the sun's warmth, watching over the forest and all it's tiny creatures. She knows that she has been given a special gift...she will reign over this world for much longer than any other before her.

Is this all just a myth? Be it true or not, it still holds a spell over all of us who are fascinated by the tales. For those of us that hold the magic in our hearts, well, we know what the answer is.

Yoshi Yuan was designed for my niece.....Year of the faery 2008