Ballerina: Estelle in progress, part 3 - Complete

To finish off her costume I added an iridescent silk bow and a little bling. She's ready to dance!

Ballerina: Estelle in progress, part 2

 The foundation for the ballet costume is the leotard.  I use bias cut silk satin ribbon stretched over the torso and cut to size and shape.  This is glued to the porcelain with a very thin line of Tacky glue at the edges of the fabric.

To form the under skirt two layers of silk tulle were gathered at the top edge, pinned into soft pleats and steamed to hold their form.  ( I covered a 1/2 inch dowel rod with cotton batting and fabric to make a "shaping pole" )

Ballerina: Estelle in progress, part 1

Estelle's body is porcelain. I sculpt the torso separately from the legs.  After the legs and hips are sculpted they are cut apart for ease in firing the porcelain.

To attach the porcelain parts I first insert a heavy wire armature and glue it in place with epoxy.  This is covered by Milliput, a fine epoxy based sculpting compound available from Mirco-Mark.

The first steps in costuming a ballerina are the silk shoes and the basic wig.  A bun and trimmings will be added to the wig when the costume is complete.
Note her hands are protected by cotton batting.

Witch: Crystal

 Crystal holds a baby pet dragon in one hand and her wand in the other.  The mother pet dragon is at her feet. (The dragons are cast in resin.)

I used salt dyed, striped and sheer silk to create her costume.  The tips of her sleeves and skirt petals are weighted with garnet beads.