Elf Ornaments in Progress - Part One

Well, I have regained my focus and creative motivation. It is June already and in a short few months we will be into the thick of things so I am making as many elves as possible this year. In the past, I drew the faces on the elves. After working on the gnome this year, I decided to paint them. There is a sweetness to their faces that gets lost when just drawn so I think it was a good decision, albeit time intensive. 

 The elf heads start out as unfinished hardwood beads. The tiny elf heads measure 1/2 inch and the regular sized elf heads measure an inch. I coat them with gesso and then base coat them in 'Santa's flesh'. Believe it or not, this step alone takes a great deal of time.

 I then lay in the whites of the eyes to give me some sense of feature placement. Since the mini elf heads are so small they have black eyes where the regular sized elves have blue, green, violet or brown eyes. I also made a number of 'Eskimo' faces. I know that term is archaic and unflattering to the Inuit people but since I am inspired by the designs of the 50's and 60's, it is a rather appropriate image. I do hope that the finished 'Eskimos' will be so darling that no offense is taken.

mini elf heads (closeup)

more mini elf heads

I finished 53 mini elf heads and 20 regular sized elf heads. It took me most of the weekend and Monday to complete them.

Regular sized elf heads.

Regular sized elf heads (closeup)

Mini elf heads. 

 

All that remains is to finish all 73 heads with Lascaux Acrylic Varnish with UV filter. Then on to creating bodies and attire for each one. That will be another post. I think it is probably the part I love most about creating the little elves. It is in this step that their personality really comes out. 

The clincher is the wool roving hair. 

This year I added 3 colors to my repertoire: Lavender, Iceberg Blue and Natural.

I expect there to be some super cute elves in the near future so stop by my facebook page for the most up to the minute updates! :o)

A Little Inspiration - Part 2: Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland

As promised here is Part 2 of our trip to Frankenmuth, MI.

This is a very image intensive post because it is our trip to Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, the main objective of our trip to Frankenmuth. Now keep in mind, I am a Visual Merchandiser at heart. Of all my jobs, by far my favorite was visual merchandising. I especially love the big dramatic Christmas displays we used to see in all the big department stores. That said imagine how ecstatic I was when I walked into Bronner's for the first time!

My favorite tree display
(probably because it is so close to my own!;o)

Spending the day in Bronner's really helped me get re-inspired to organize a community event centered on Christmas Windows. It also put me in just the right frame of mind to come home and start working on my ornaments. The little elf above was one of my favorites, so joyful!

The sugar cookie star was my son's favorite!

How clever is this train?
Loved how it was designed with the chocolate sandwich cookies
and ice cream cone as the smoke stack.

This was the display that really got me charged about creating big Christmas props again. I even love how the large red and gold ornament is placed.

I adored these lamps. If only I could figure out a place to use them.
Another moment in time when I wished I had my own storefront!

If being in Bronner's doesn't get you excited for Christmas,
you really don't like Christmas.

Not only do they merchandise the inside of their store, they fully decorate the outside, too!

Loved these elves in the outside window.
Similar to my favorite guy inside and just as sweet!

Oops!

The sign I wish I would have seen sooner. Luckily, I noticed after a couple photos and the wee tot was good about staying out of the rocks.

Oh, and not only do they decorate outside, they light it up at night, every night. It looked gorgeous and my little one loved driving under the lit archways.

Well, that's it for our trip to Bronner's. We bought a bunch of ornaments. My favorite was a big Santa hot air balloon made in Poland. Oh, and my Polish eagle ornament. My husband made sure he got a Scottish ornament, the little one picked out a dinosaur ornament and, of course, we bought a personalized family ornament for 2011.There were more but I may have to do another post of all our goodies just to entice you a little bit more into visiting Bronner's and Frankenmuth. :o)
It's definitely a worthwhile destination. Allow yourself a full day to explore Bronner's and at least a day and a half to explore Frankenmuth (more if possible).

More WIP

You can always tell when I have an upcoming show, all of my projects reach completion at the same time and I have a plethora of new finished work to show. It is what it is :o) I don't think I would be able to make as many pieces if I worked any other way. Now back to work I go! I still have those pesky Christmas lights and price tags and some more snowmen....