Saturday, September 12, 2015

Where do fairies live? In a Tree Trunk Fairy House, of course!



One of our recent PCAGOE challenges was Fairy Houses.  Now I’ll be perfectly honest, I haven’t given much thought to where exactly fairies live.  My children – even my grandchildren – are past the fairy tale stage so I had no idea that fairies were so popular.  But my sister suggested that I make a few for a recent craft show.  

I was in one of my favorite general stores and saw some of the classic coke glasses.  My crazy imagination turned that glass over and what did I see?  A tree trunk!



Several of these glasses went home with me and soon were sprouting tree roots.  
So, we now have the beginnings of a tree trunk fairy house.  My next challenge was how does the fairy get into her house?  So I sculpted a door, cured it and then made a mold so I could easily make more.    
 
Next the trees needed bark.  So I blended some burnt umber and gold polymer clay to create a nice color of brown.  After smoothing the clay mix over the tree trunk/glass, I used a needle tool to add some texture, then brushed it all over with an old toothbrush to smooth it and remove fingerprints.  

 





After curing the tree trunk, I decided my tree trunk needed some foliage.  I added some large leaves and flowers plus vines with smaller leaves to finish out the design.  A larger flower tops the tree trunk.  Add a stem and you have a fairy house fit for the best of the fairies!     

For more views of this enchanting little fairy house go to my Etsy shop at http://HarrisonHollow.etsy.com

Or you can visit one in person at the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi's gallery at the MS Craft Center in Ridgeland, Mississippi.