» Morezmore #20 Fortuna – Goddess of Abundance, Luck and Fortune (Part 3)***

Morezmore #20
Fortuna – Goddess of Abundance, Luck and Fortune (Part 3)
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Posted By Natasha Red October on March 31, 2008

Day 22 (March 31, 2008) – continued from Part 2

http://morezmore.com/myblog/2008/03/23/fortuna-2/

More work in progress pictures can be found here: http://www.morezmore.com/Fortuna.html

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I put the hair on Fortuna and took pictures, it is drying at the moment, will style, take more pics and post them. Hardly a tutorial, as I do my hair differently every time and I don’t have a “procedure” yet, but still something to give folks an idea of how to go about it.

I get a lot of questions about hair, some folks even ask whether one needs to cut it off the pelt or just put it on the doll with the skin. I thought there are quite a few tutorials on the web, but I guess there is room for one more “step-by-step-how-to” on making hair on OOAK fairy out of tibetan lamb fur. Now I will have something to refer them to. Long overdue.

All right, here we go:

How to make OOAK hair out of Tibetan Lamb fur

1. Search out and put on the table: the doll, a tibetan lamb fur pelt, fabri-tac glue, toothpicks, sharp scissors.

2. With sharp scissors, shear the hair off the pelt, keeping scissors close to the roots. Carefully spread out the hair preserving the natural ringlets / locks of hair.

3. Pick one at a time by the MIDDLE of the lock. Holding it tight by the middle, straighten the hair out on both sides (that will remove occasional stray hairs). Make as many locks as you think you will need – you can make more later.

4. Snip the end (the root end) of the lock off. With a toothpick, apply Fabri-tac glue on all sides of the snipped end.

5. Starting from the back of the head, place the end with the glue on the head, press with a toothpick and spread it out into a thin layer. This is first “tier” – the lowest part of the back of the head. You can divide the surface of the head into sections with a pencil, just to keep you oriented.

The Fabri-tac glue is kept on a piece of paper throughout the whole process (a drop at a time, as it dries quickly).

Pick up a bit with a toothpick (in a scooping kind of motion), smudge over the end of the hair lock, plop the hair on the head, TURN THE TOOTHPICK AROUND AND PRESS WITH THE CLEAN END OF THE TOOTHPICK. Hold for a few seconds, slowly pull the toothpick away, holding the hair in place with your finger (just in case toothpick got stuck). REPLACE THE TOOTHPICK FROM TIME TO TIME AS IT GETS TOO MUCH GLUE ON IT.

One more thing – I have a spare bottle of Fabri-tac with just a bit of glue on the bottom. Before I start working with Fabri-tac, I add a bit of PURE acetone (hardware kind, not polish-remover kind) to the bottle and shake it up – that dilutes the Fabri-tac and makes it more workable.

6. Second “tier” of hair – same way:

7. Temples (cut the locks shorter – about half). When you cut the locks, cut the ROOT end, to preserve the naturally formed curly end of the lock.

8. Above the forehead – cut the locks even shorter if you want to form bangs.

9. Continue all around the head, applying hair in “tiers”, IN THE DIRECTION of the hair growth, until you come all the way to the top

10. Prepare 3 larger locks of hair for the crown. Put a drop of glue into the little bold spot on top of the head.

11. Pick up the FIRST larger lock of hair, put the glue on the end (just like you did on all of them) and apply it on the BACK of the little bold spot AGAINST THE DIRECTION of the growth of the hair (holding hair upward).

12. Pick up the SECOND larger lock of hair, put the glue on the end (just like you did on all of them) and apply it on the LEFT side of the little bold spot AGAINST THE DIRECTION of the growth of the hair (holding hair upward).

13. Pick up the THIRD larger lock of hair, put the glue on the end (just like you did on all of them) and apply it on the RIGHT side of the little bold spot AGAINST THE DIRECTION of the growth of the hair (holding hair upward).

14. With the BLUNT side of exacto knife (not the cutting side) press down on both sides to form the parting line. That drop of glue in the middle of the little bold spot was for that purpose.

15. Let it dry for at least an hour. Will be right back.

…

I am back with the last batch of pictures for today.

16. Pull the hair back and apply a thin ACCURATE LINE of glue to the hairline and sideburns. Flip the hair forward, some of it will stick to the glue, hopefully just the right amount. Allow this to dry well too.

17. Once the glue is dry, wet the entire head upside down. Pat some of the dripping wet out with a towel. Work in some human hair styling gel. Find the parting line with the needle and style!

I seriously need to run, I am going to put her down and let it dry, I am sure I will style more later, but for now – here is what I have – see the pics below. It is always fun to see for the first time – after the hair is on – what she really looks like – I think she is pretty!

I started at 4:30, it is 12:30 right now, total time – 8 hours, but that includes taking pictures and writing here, so your time will be a bit shorter.

More work in progress pictures can be found here: http://www.morezmore.com/Fortuna.html

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Day 23 (April 1, 2008)

Sandals. I am going to make something resembling these:

Clothing

I am back – sandals are done. They are easy to make, but just in case you are at a loss how to go about them, here we go:

How to make Sandals (Antique or not)

1. Locate a piece of thin soft leather or suede or felt. I happen to live in an All-You-Can-Eat OOAK supplies store and have an unfair advantage. Therefore, my choice is butterscotch lambskin in antique finish.

Also bring your doll, search the fabric bins for thin metallic cord or silk thread or anything of that nature, get your Fabri-tac glue, a large-eared needle, scissors, toothpicks, and whatever embellishments you can think of – in my case – 2 mm irisdescent microbeads.

2. Make a paper template of the dolls foot and cut out 4 pieces of leather, like on the picture below.

3. If there is hole in the bottom of the foot, like in my case, cut the hole. I happened to have a leather hole puncher which very conveniently did the job (the proof one can never have too many tools), but I would imagine scissors will do the job, although with more difficulty. Glue the top pieces of leather directly onto the sole.

4. Needle helps to thread the cord through the leather.

5. Stick the needle into the bottom of the foot so that it comes up between the toes – that is the starting point. Cut the needle off – you have two long ends of cord.

6. Lace up the cord making the sandal design – all the way to the knee and back down.

7. Put one end of the cord into the needle again, thread through the sole on one side, then do the same thing on another side.

8. Snip off the cord and glue the second part of the leather sole.

9. Trim the edge with scissors, glue a piece of cord all around the sole edge to give the sandals more finished look (and hide the glue)

10. Embellish!

It is 8:50, I am out of time. It is all very engaging, but I do need to start my working day. Here is what I have now:

More work in progress pictures can be found here: http://www.morezmore.com/Fortuna.html

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Day 23 (April 2, 2008)

The toga day.

I will need

- about a square foot of white silk gauze

- Fabri-tac glue

- Crystal lacquer

- about 2-3 feet of thin gold metallic cord

- toothpicks

- a brush

- scissors

- exacto knife

- glass surface (I am using glass shelves from an old curio cabinet)

- fast drying, ultra hold hairspray (I am using Pantene Texturize!)

Silk gauze is a marvelous fabric for OOAK as it is sheer, light, drapes beautifully and comes in delightful colors. The only problem is the edge and finishing it. Although you can leave it as it is, I prefer the clean cut finished edge, especially on this sculpt. So I need to finish the edges on the silk pieces before I make the costume.

1. Think about your costume structure. Take your time and do a bit of considering and cutting and trying and fitting on a doll with pieces of paper napkin – to save on silk gauze in case of a mistake.

1. Cut three panels of white silk gauze.

2. Put the piece of on the glass and paint the edge with crystal lacquer, trying to get the piece flat on the glass.

2. Put a piece of thin metallic cord – stretch it a little bit so it is straight and press it flat with a toothpick all around. Paint another layer of crystal lacquer over the cord. The objective is to make it stick evenly to the silk throughout the line. Let it dry – about 30 minutes or so. I have several of those glass shelves so I can make all three one after another.

3. After the crystal lacquer dries, spray the panels with hairspray – you will need it for draping.

4. After the hairspray dries – a few minutes – draw a line all around the piece with an exacto knife – to release it from the glass). It should peel right off with a bit of prompting with exacto knife. Peel slowly not to damage/pull the silk.

5. Trim the edge accurately, keeping close to the cord. Here it is, very lovable edge.

6. Here are three finished panels of silk gauze – ready for the costume. Put a drop of Fabri-tac glue on the shoulder and place the middle of the narrow panel on that drop. Drape right there on the spot.

7. Put a line of Fabri-tac around the waist (a bit at a time) and glue the lower edge of the bodice. Keep draping the silk so it looks good – that is your only chance to get it right.

8. Put another line of Fabri-tac around the waist (a bit at a time) and attach bottom panels, keep draping silk as you work.

9. More Fabri-tac glue and a belt around the waist.

10. Mist the whole dress with water and style and pull and drape it, while the water is drying. Carefully add some hairspray if needed, protecting the sculpt from the spray!

I tried to create the effect of cloth in motion – the way it would hug the knees and billow and trail behind as Fortuna takes a step forward. It is drying at the moment, I might return to lower edge during the final stages of finishing up the doll. The headband is tentative, not final.

here is what I have so far:

More work in progress pictures can be found here: http://www.morezmore.com/Fortuna.html

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Day 24 (April 3, 2008)

Busy with the store – shipping mostly – nothing was done with Fortuna

More work in progress pictures can be found here: http://www.morezmore.com/Fortuna.html

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Day 25 (April 4, 2008)

I took a little bit of time this morning and made the name plaque and the Morezmore Key.

How to make an “engraved” name plaque

1. Very easy. Put a piece of clay through pasta machine, or roll it flat on a flat surface.

2. Mark the edges by pressing a ruler.

3. With the rubber tip tool write your name, year and the name of the doll. It says on this one:

Fortuna Morezmore #20 Natasha Landerer 2008

4. Cut it out with the exacto knife.

5. Attach to the base and fire it up. Make sure that nothing will melt on the base. If the base cannot go into the oven, mold the name plaque on the base, carefully remove and fire it separately, attach with glue later.

6. Paint with gold acrylic paint, allow to dry.

7. Paint with burnt umber OIL paint covering the surface completely. Immediately buff the paint off with a towel. The brown will stay inside the lettering grooves. This one is not painted yet, so here are the pictures of the name plaques on previous sculpts – to give you the idea:

I also made the Morezmore Key – every Morezmore sculpt must have the Morezmore Estate Key. This one is made out of brass filigree finding (metal-cutting scissors are needed – I have a pair of Clauss FSS6) and a couple of beautiful garnets I removed from vintage earrings.

More work in progress pictures can be found here: http://www.morezmore.com/Fortuna.html

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Day 26 (April 5, 2008)

I did a little bit this morning – a few details.

- Painted and finished the name plaque and glued the key

While I had that burnt umber oil paint on my brush,

- I brushed (almost dry brush) over the parts of globe to “antique” it,

- brushed over some parts of the cornucopia – to blend all parts together, hide the glue, etc

- brushed over the leather soles of the sandals – to make it look like the sandals have been walked in

- brushed over the edge of the felt on the bottom of the base – hides the glue and makes the felt edge look neat and finished

- brushed over the key – to “antique” and blend it together with the rest.

The wings got an edge of iridescent microbeads – to make them look more finished. I tried to take the picture in the natural light, still cannot quite get the irisdescence of the wings on the photo.

I am out of time for today, I still need to do the final hair styling, some kind of crown or headband rather, a forearm bracelet on her raised arm, flying coins on her gown and globe.

But all that for tomorrow morning, for now I brushed out all the kinks and all the dry glue out of her hair – the best comb I could find for tibetan lamb was a mustache comb – it is just right for the scale.