Michele's
Art
&
Apparel
Where talent, imagination and caring come together to help you look great.
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(My apologies...)
Marionettes
George
Harrison III
&
Madeline Abraham
(Some) people are lively. Many are unforgettable. To me, George Harrison was one of those fantastic people who not only made his mark in the music industry but he was a truly funny person.
Here's George in his "finest."
He's wearing one of my
headbands.
The story of how this George, George Harrison III came to be is also fun. Well, I think so, anyway.
​
I saw a bag of skulls in the store before the Halloween season. I can't see how it's fair that these heads in a bag is "funny" let alone how they are not really being appreciated for who they once were. So, I rectified the situation.
​
They are now in my care. Only one of them if finished but, oh, believe me...I've got big, big plans for this crew of characters.
​
Maybe a whole tribute to The
Traveling Wilburys.
A close up of the taped hands (brown).
Below is the explanation of this stage/process.
Right hand attached. The first stage of wire (silver) is done. The second set of wire (black) to go around the first will start creating the firmness and strength so that they are structurally sound and movable.
First structure of wire (silver).
The armature wire gauge is 32. It doesn't have to be very strong and 32 allows it to be pliable.
The black armature wire is also 32 gauge. This positioning here is cute and necessary for the proper proportioning of his body.
See how the black wire surrounds the silver wire and even extends down onto the wrist/arm area? This is so that it becomes incorporated smoothly and becomes a natural part of the arm and there is still a bit of separate movement to each body part.
A good close up of the beginning of the hand. Just the silver wire so far.
The wire hand first shaped, ready to be attached.
This hand is almost done being covered in the floral tape. I do sew it on as it's being wrapped, or the thread is wrapped around such as at the tip of the finger. The thread also assists in creating the shape and sculpting of the piece.
Here are the stages of the hand being covered in the "skin" which is just brown floral tape that can be purchased in many craft stores. The sticky-ness* is necessary to attach the tape to itself. **(Fix)
​
I use floral tape often to cover wire for structures. The tape is sticky and comes in a stretchable strip. The amount to stretch the tape can be varied depending on how thick I need the layer to remain or be thinned out. Floral tape is also wonderful to work with because, as you can see in the pictures above/right, you can sew into it to hold it to the surface it is covering and also those stitches will take on the shaping and sculpting of the form it is covering. ****(The sticky stuff is ANNOYING, yes, but my quick fix is....BABY POWDER.
At the end of the process when I'm getting ick-ed out and the project no longer needs to be sticky (to attach to itself) I just sprinkle the baby powder on it and the sticky is rectified. ;}
"Oh, my Goooodness. I'm alive.
And Loved."
-George Harrison III
Madeline Abraham
She is the second marionette I've made, so far. She's a work-in-progress and a lot of fun so far.
​
I'm no expert on these and I don't have strings figured out and really that doesn't bother me. I'm having so much fun. Let me say it again....I'm having a ball.
I'm posting pictures of SOME of the steps I've done while making her. Enjoy.
This photo was obviously from the earlier stages of development.
What part is next? Her arms are fleshed out a bit, probably I will add to them a bit.
FYI -- no, she will not be some morbidly, awful skull for a face. She is a FULL PERSON to me so, yes, I will give her something to give her more of a face, like George.
** Nose added. Hands, color, ears,
defined area of eyebrow structure, not
yet colored. Holes for earrings were
added. Her eyes will be more
almond shaped, lashes, most likely will be created (somehow).
Skiing outfit, fishing (clothing,
shoes, pole, fish (etc), pj's,
slippers, the whole works --
Like I've mentioned...she has a
soul, practically and a full
personality so I want to give her
all of the attributes and accessories
I can. :]
Making her boobs. ;]
Well, yea, gotta. But, she's a gal with a full personality.
The beginnings of her eyes. I have to stop myself while I'm in the process of creating so that the full appreciation of how this plastic skull has transformed into the wonderful and Sassy character that she is.
Seeing something of a body, with "clothes" on, starts to make her come together. This really is so much fun to do. I'm very excited to get working on her hands. Clothes are first, in my mind, anyway. And if her hands will be a bit larger it will be easier to have them made after the clothing so that I don't have to pull a sleeve over the hand or have to stitch up the side of the sleeve.
​
There's still a bit of thinking I'm doing at the moment about who she will be and making the clothes match her crazy personality.
In her most current stage of being created.. she still needs quite a lot of work but, boy, what a difference from start til now.
After her boobs were added I added a layer of fabric over them which will give a more realistic shape.
A bigger belly was created but I changed my mind about the size. Two reasons; I want her to have a very confident look and because it restricted the range of movement of her legs.
The rest of her eyes were finished and her lips, of course. Here comes the SASSY!
No more goofy-looking character. This kid has class and Sass! Hands, too!!
Dreds to come after I add her ears. BIG hoop earrings and the like for sure.
Her ears are necessary to her whole..."self."
She will have big dreds and a headdress, scarves, big hoop earrings. The works.
Her color being all white, pasty-looking pale was throwing off her whole esthetic so I added some base color to her skin.
While I was getting in the groove of who she says she wants to be, being the one who does the work, I stopped to create one of her clothing pieces, the shawl. It has a fluffy, boa fringe and she got so lucky when I came across the fabric to make her skirt.
Her ears...ugh. Not yet colored. I had to stop production on her completely so that I could finally get to the baby blanket I'm crocheting for my nieces' new baby due in November. But the gears of creation are still running in the background. Madeline sure is a trip, isn't she???
This is such a pains-taking process. Since I've been in a transition of moving back from South Carolina (to
Heading 5
"Nopes"
Madeline's feet. They need to be weighted so I used 10 pennies and some bolts. 7? maybe? 5? Her shoes will be finished near to last so that I can make adjustments to the weight. A bit more has been done on her shoes, which shows a bit in the top photo but, finishing them will be later.
Her feet, (whole armature) is made of wire and a layer of packaging foam surrounds it. From there I measured (using my finger as a comparison) to draw out the area of the fabric for the bottom of the shoe. The side of the shoe is the longer piece of fabric above it which will be added around the bottom once all the fittings are adjusted.
These ideas were changed. I wanted her feet to be a part of her personality. As she was being created...SHE let ME know who she really is so I created her as such. She wanted feet. ACTUAL feet with toes and painted toe nails.. The works. "Cool Kicks," too. That's what Madeline wants -- That's what Madeline GETS. I'll make her MULES, and ski boots, cool jamz. All of it by the time she's done.
Another Nope. A first attempt at her nose.
Although I love nothing more than a good nose....No, I just knew she was a very demure Spirit. I had found the right one for her, for sure.
.
