I am going to share one of my creations as it comes into
being through my hands. I will start by
saying that these creatures that come to me are real. I do not possess the ability to make them up
in my head nor the ability to write up their stories by simply picking up a pen
or pounding out words on a computer. No,
they are not figments of my imagination at all.
They are real, mystical beings, ancient and wise, with lives, and
histories beyond my wildest dreams. I am
just one of the fortunate ones that has been gifted with a connection to the
faerie realm. Perhaps I was dropped on
the head or licked too much lead based paint as a child…..or maybe I am just a
good listener. I spend many hours in
the gardens, the woods, and local marshlands with a lump of clay, a camera, and
a journal. The faeries whisper their
secrets and stories and I listen. SHHHH!
Today I am going to share the story and some step-out photos
of a garden gnome. Like all other garden
gnomes he is ancient as the eldest oak trees and just as sacred. He has also informed me that he is not simply
the average garden variety gnome, “How dreadful that must be”! He lamented, “to spend your days in a tamed
flower bed of impatiens and petunias, in the suburbs, without a wild flower or
forest fungus in sight”!
Ok, that’s it! My
mouth dropped open and hit the floor.
All of this came out of him, all of a sudden, after more than a week of
not speaking to me at all. I didn’t even
know that he was a garden gnome! At this
stage I actually thought that he was a shy faerie or a pleasant pixie still too
busy taking in the scenery of our mortal world and not yet able to figure out
whether I was friend or foe.
So here we are at the beginning. I start with a brief period of
meditation. Then I move on to the zen
stage of conditioning the clay and mixing my custom colors. Polymer clay must be “conditioned” (mixed
into a uniform and homogenous blend of plasticizers, pigments, and polymer
particles) in order to be able to cure properly. Polymer clay that is not conditioned can
result in finished pieces that are fragile, brittle, and crumbly.
I use several brands of clay all mixed in together to get the look and
feel that I want for my creature. Most of my polymer clay is more than
10 years old. The formulas have changed many times over since the last
time I needed to purchase clay. I stocked up on what I liked long ago
and each creation is a custom blend of colors, formulas, and brands. One
thing I stick with is using a lot of translucent clay. It gives my
creatures the lifelike glow of real flesh and blood. The breath of
faerie magic does the rest!
Starting with the Clay
I chop up several pound of clay at once into somewhat uniform chunks and
then whiz them around in a mini food processor until
it looks like this.
Then I hand form it
into disks (just like making mud pies! Remember how much fun that was?!)
and run it through my Dream Machine ( a souped-up, heavy-duty, pasta
machine made just for polymer clay). Any pasta machine will do. One with
a motor is even better. Just remember that once you use any of your
kitchen tools or appliances for polymer clay they now must be banished
from the kitchen forever! Polymer clay is NOT food safe! All fair in
Love and Art!
Three pounds of conditioned polymer clay “flesh” waiting to
come to life!
Now that you have three pounds of conditioned polymer clay “flesh”
waiting to come to life, it is time to move on to the skull.
The skull
is made of an egg-shaped ball of aluminum foil, on a length of wire (I
used bailing wire found at hardware stores), and covered with masking
tape.
The head gets covered with polymer clay. Just a thin sheet. This is the
first layer of flesh and tendons. We will add more as we build up the
facial features and cranial structure. Right now the goal is to add a
thin even layer to coat the taped up skull, without any air pockets. Air
expands when it is heated. This is not such a good thing for
sculptures. It can cause cracking and breaking so, take your time and
avoid the agony.
Creating the Face
I have marked the head with gridlines to help me with placement of the
facial features. Halfway down the middle, halfway across the middle
(horizontal), and then halfway two more times to mark off the nose and
mouth. Next I made the orbits of the eyes. These cavities are pretty
deep. Push them all the way back into the skull “bones.” These cavities
need to be deep and large enough to accommodate eyeballs, muscles,
nerves, and glands.
To this gnome, I’ve added the acrylic eyeballs and
the bony structure that will make up the frontal bones that surround the
eye. This was my first attempt at using these acrylic eyes! I usually
hand paint them. After each addition of clay, I smooth seams out with my
fingers and a brush of herbal alcohol (you can use rubbing alcohol or
just plain water too).
Now that the eye area is smoothed over, how about a nice strong jawbone?
I tend to favor heart-shaped faces with pointed chins and rounded
cheeks. What’s next? You got it, more smoothing and blending.
At this
point I am thinking chubby-cheeked, cherubic, pixie folk. Let’s get back
to those eyes. Without the eyelids they are looking a little
distraught. I’m sorry little fae. I’ll give you eyelids so that you can
blink and rest your eyes a bit.
Building up the brow bone and eyelids by adding crescents of clay above
each eye and then blend, blend, blend those seams in. I am using a
pointed spatula tool and a big aluminum knitting needle. Knitting
needles make great sculpting tools and you can still use them for
knitting when the clay is all smoothed out!
Taking a Break
OK, so now that the eyes are somewhat completed who are you? I’m
smoothing and massaging the head and face with my hands and thumbs now.
I’m waiting for that delightful introduction that usually would have
happened by now. Alas, this time I don’t get a greeting, not a word. The
expression is as lifeless as the plastic that the eyes are made of.
After suffering from tremendous feelings of rejection and inadequacy I
walked away! For two days I gave this little lifeless head the silent
treatment. I wrapped it up in plastic and put it in a bag. I only peeked
in a few times over that 48-hour period.
After losing more sleep than I could afford to lose and drinking more
wine than usual, I set myself up in the garden by the pond and mustered
up the courage to get back to it. I chose to ignore the hollow eyes
staring back at me, cold and perturbed. Instead I moved on to the nose.
What is a nose formed of anyway? Why it is nothing but a teardrop-shaped
little knob placed between the eyes. I’ve done this hundreds of times
before and I can certainly do it again. (How about a little chant first?
To raise the vibrations in our surroundings and bring on a sense of
inner peace. (((((Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om)))) OK now a few deep
breaths, exhale.) Let’s move on to smoothing out the seams around the
nose. This is done with a big knitting needle, size 15–10 mm, and my
fingers. Don’t make eye contact! Just keep moving!
Wow! You’ve got one big, honkin’ nose dude! At this point I was informed
that he was indeed a garden gnome and that nose was capable of
detecting the presence of every plant form in the faerie realm as well
as the surface of the Earth. With just a whiff he could detect every
mineral present in the soil for miles on end. He could also smell the
stench of common, mortal blood, of which I reeked and thus was not
worthy of his companionship or conversation. However, since he was stuck
with me he might as well give me some background so that my simple mind
could get it right and be better able to “serve” him! Wow! Talk about
feelings of rejection and inadequacy!
Back to the Face
It is time to give him a mouth. Do I really want to do this? The mouth
is just a couple of flaps of flesh placed under the nose. How hard can
that be, right? Place the upper lip flap and blend first, then add the
lower lip flap and, well, you know the drill …
Now we need some fat pads added on the cheeks and a little more bone in
the chin area. Add three crescent shapes to the cheeks and chin and then
break out that knitting needle/smoothing tool.
After smoothing and refining the mouth a bit he tells me that I have got
it all wrong! He smokes a pipe and I haven’t left him with an opening
to hold it. Simple peasant woman! What do I know?! Hey, do you watch
Californication? At this point he is reminding me of a pale, bald,
caricature Hank Moody! Oh, I love that guy! Mr. Gnomie is not impressed!
“Fix my nose” he ordered. “I can’t breathe!” OK, sorry! I was
sidetracked by thoughts of a charismatic man. I am after all only human.
Full of smelly, mortal blood and all! He tells me that if we were in
the faerie realm I’d be severely punished for speaking to him in such a
tone but, since I am not finished with him yet, he will spare me the
humility! “Now get back to work!
The surface of my skin is way too
smooth and creamy. Rough it up a bit. I am 10,000 years old and I’ve
earned every line on my face.” Geez! I don’t even know what a 10,000
year-old being is supposed to look like. Time to pull out the rake and
rough him up!
A little extra flesh gets added at the neck and double chin. Now we can
give him some ears. Maybe that has been the problem all along. He can
talk to me, but he doesn’t hear me! I know, I know, he has eyes, but he
doesn’t see me. For I am a commoner, even worse than that, I am a stinky
mortal with the life span of an insect. Even the rodents in the faerie
lands live longer than I will. This he points out is the reason why
humans are so stupid. “They don’t hang around long enough to learn any
of the important lessons that the universe has to offer. Furthermore,
although human time moves much slower than faerie time humans are still
franticy-panicky, rushing around at a hurried pace, spinning their
wheels over nothing and getting nothing of any significance done.” He
rolled his eyes as this slipped out of the corner of his mouth. “Oh, now
you’ve gone and put me in a bad mood,” he grumbled. “Where’s my pipe?!”
Well now I am totally flustered! Where were we again? Oh yeah, ears. I
like ears. Ears are teardrop shapes blended in with a few internal
indentations. The top of the ear meets up with the top of the eye and
the bottom of the lobe lines up with the mouth. Really, it’s basic
anatomy. Pull out your knitting needle, AKA smoothing tool, AKA ear
placement measuring tool and see where your ears line up. Try it on your
family and friends as well if you don’t believe me. Here’s the catch:
You have to make both ears match up with each other as well! Take your
time, and check your work from all angles. As the ancient, old gnome has
said, we humans run around in frantic panic and yet we accomplish
nothing at all. Well, let’s show him what a lovely job we do with his
ears! Now that is an ear to be proud of!
Bringing the Clay to Life
Into the “sauna,” AKA the oven, to be heat cured. I propped him up with
poly-fleece and cardboard tubing. The sauna was set at 200 for 20
minutes, 250 for 20 minutes, and 275 for 60 minutes. I gradually worked
up the temp so that the internal layers would have time to come up to
temperature before the external/skin layers were cured and hard. This
helps prevent cracking from sub dermal layers expanding from heat after
the skin (dermal) layers have cured and become rigid. I always get a bit
of anxiety at this point. At this point I am making a commitment to
this being, to bring it to life in our world. I believe that it is
necessary to be cautious of the spirits that we call over from the
faerie realm. Although they are, for the most part, good and pure,
beings of kindness and light, they are still wild spirits that can wreak
havoc on world if the mood strikes them to do so.
Out of the sauna and onto hair and make-up. I begin by adding light
washes of color with very watered-down acrylic paint. I apply it with a
brush and dab off excess with a cosmetic sponge. I’m working out in the
garden by the pond again. It is a warm spring day, somewhere in the 80s.
The sun is making the paint dry very fast so I will only work on small
areas at a time building up color intensity gradually. I am using raw
umber. I like the muddy, dirty look of it. It works very well for the
posh, royal garden gnome who has hung out in the Royal Gardens of King
Oberon and Queen Titania for 10,000 years.
Don’t forget to get into all of the creases and crevices around the
ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. This will help to create realistic shadows
and dimension, which will bring your being to life!
A little more color around the eyes. I used a wash of ultra marine blue,
which turned a dark purplish color. This is perfect for an old soul
such as himself. It deepens the eyes. I also lined the inner eyes, tear
ducts, waterlines, and eyeballs with red paint. I washed some red onto
the face, especially the nose as well.
When I notice the red eyes and nose I thought that maybe he had
allergies like me. He scoffed at me, ”How absurd! What an insult! What
nerve! Garden gnomes do not get allergies! Who ever heard of a garden
gnome with allergies? How worthless would that be? Anyhow, it is
impossible for a gnome to be born with allergies for gnomes are not born
at all. They are made of fertile Earth, forest fungus, and wild flower
nectar, with a touch of faerie magic. And, if you must know, my nose and
face have the rosy glow of a gentleman who fancies a touch of whiskey
from time to time. And not that it is any of your business, but I happen
to have acquired a taste for a very special, 1,000 year old elixir, of
King Oberon’s special reserves. He has gifted me with a special flask
that never goes dry. It was a thank-you gift for giving him the secrets
of the plants and flowers of the faerie world. There this one particular
purple flower that he has a special interest in. Oh but enough of that.
You are only a mere mortal. I don’t want to confuse your empty little
head with the complexities of faerie magic. Besides that it would be
against the rules and very dangerous. Simple minds should not be given
the power of magic. Simple minds should not be given any power, period!”
Oh, such snobbery! How rude! I should glue your mouth shut!
“Nonsense! How world I smoke my pipe? Where is my pipe?”
Oh he is getting worse by the second! I need some of that 1,000-year-old whiskey! This guy is driving me to drink!
Finishing Touches
Time for hair. I am using natural fibers (white with black tips — I am
trying to talk him into a purple stripe, but he’s not buying it!). I
think this is llama or alpaca. He is only getting facial hair. I used
Fabri-Tac by Beacon. My all-time favorite fabric glue. I also really
like Barge contact cement for hair but it wasn’t at my fingertips so I
went with the other. It may have been worth my time to pull out the
Barge. It has a longer open time than Fabri-Tac. Which means more time
to fiddle with your placement before the glue dries. This is messy,
messy, messy! Fingers full of glue and fibers and all the while he is
yammering on about how he only has his beard tended to at “The Royal
Salon.” He is tended to by pixies while faeries sing and dance and feed
him honey cakes with clotted cream and sugared violets and spiked ginger
beer, while I on the other hand hadn’t bothered to offer him a spot of
tea or a crumb of stale bread. What a dreadful hostess!
“Now fetch me my hat and pipe! I want to go out into the garden and have
a smoke if that’s OK with you!” He went right back to ordering me
around, and my frazzled nerves could not help but to react to his sharp
tongue.
“Your hat? Your pipe? I haven’t seen either of them. Tell me about them.
And before I let you go out into the world please tell me your name!” I
pleaded.
“I wear a hand-painted purple cap, made of the softest skin, and
accented with a touch of gold. This type of hat is reserved only for the
Noble and Royal Garden Gnomes. The average garden-variety gnomes wear
felted red caps, made of inferior fibers, by unskilled hands. My cap was
created by a master artisan of faerie millinery.”
“OK, purple cap, softest skin, touch of gold. I got it. Now tell me more
about this pi …”
“Silence, village idiot! I was not finished speaking.”
Whoa! That was harsh, even for him!
“Don’t forget my magic flask of whiskey. I am quite parched from having
to repeat everything to you over and over again! How blissful it must be
to have such a mushy brain. My pipe was also a gift. It was given to me
by the elves as payment for my work with their trees. The Elvenwood
forest had grown sick. The ancient trees were dying and along with it
they would take their protective magic that hides the elves from the
mortal world. I spoke to the trees. I asked them what they wanted and
needed to get well again. It turns out that all they wanted was for the
elves to sing and dance and swing on their branches. This had been
forbidden for some time because the elder elves feared that the ancient
trees could not withstand the commotion or pressure of a wild, faerie
world party. Oh they were so wrong. Faerie magic is pure energy and the
more magic spirits and mystical beings gathered around, the more
merriment and magic abounds!”
I wanted to get him back on track about the pipe but I dared not interrupt him again for fear that he might scold me again!
“So the elves through a merry festival and mystical beings came from all
over faerie world to celebrate. The festival lasted for 30 days and 30
nights. When the last fae folk flitted off to his faerie glen the trees
that were once gray, and wilted stretched out their branches and
sprouted leaves, branches, and blossoms. A few new saplings peaked out
of the Earth and the protective shield of the trees was restored. With
tremendous gratitude the elf king cut a branch from one of the eldest
and most magical trees and formed with his hands my pipe. Made of living
elfwood, and all of it’s magic. Even all of these centuries later it
still sprouts leaves and the bowl is never emptied of very fine, curly
lichen for smoking. Now if you do not mind, I would like to go out to
the garden. I noticed some fine looking mushrooms out there and I am a
little hungry!”
OK, I think I got it … magic elfwood, centuries old, still living and growing, never empty … is this your pipe?
“Indeed it is! Come on girl, hand it over! Now take me out to the
garden”!
He is so bossy! No smoking in the house! Out to the garden! There you
go. Ahhh, is that a smile I see? About as close to one as I will ever
get from him, I suppose. I’ll take it!
Sir Gibborous Grouser Noble Gnobbins Gnome, of the Curmudgeon Clan, of
Royal Garden Gnomes, of the Wild Thyme Woods, Where the Wild Thyme
Blows, where Oxlips and Nodding Violet Grows. I am pleased to meet you. I
apologize for all of my grumbling. I get cranky when I misplace my
pipe.”
Body Construction
Wire and masking tape "skeleton"
Polyester Batting "flesh"
Stocking net "Skin"
And soft sculpted "Gonads". Trust me, it makes his trousers hang right!
