Enter Ophelia Lilliana the tiny fairy sprite and the next creature in my Magical Journey through Fairies Gnomes and Trolls. Looking at the photos in the book, I somehow missed just how tiny she is.
As someone who has already dabbled in more detailed sculptures I still find this project valuable. The fairy sprite will give you a chance to re-familiarize yourself with clay, as well as help you work out your basic proportions and shaping of clay. This project turned out to be far more exciting than anticipated.
Click to grab your personal copy of Fairies Gnomes and Trolls, turn to page 33 and come sculpt with me.
Tools and Supplies to Follow Along:
You can pick these up at your local craft store, or purchase using my amazon affiliate links below. (If you go through my links I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you)
- Polymer clay in colors of your choice
- Toothpick
- Standard sculpting tools (click to see what I use)
- Dedicated clay oven – I use a Deni Table-top Convection Oven
- Angelina Film (fusible film)
- Craft wire
- Glue
- Glitter
- heat gun tool
To put my own twist on this project I dug through my scrap clay finding numerous colors with embedded glitter and mixed them together for this sparkly purple color.
Following the book directions I shaped the torso, arms, and legs, then fused them all together. In shaping the torso I discovered just how tiny she is.
I gave my little sprite a simple smile along with healthy set of dark curly locks.
I chose to go a different route for the wings, and opted to use Angelina film (fusible film) for a more ‘magical’ look. I know I know, can’t even stick to the ‘simple’. I shaped the wings using very thin craft wire, and poked holes in the sprites back to ensure a proper angle and fit.
I set my little sprite in the oven surrounded by heavier items to keep her upright along with my two oven thermometers to ensure a proper temperature.
While baking I worked on the wings. I have an entire detailed post on creating fusible film wings here. Below is a quick overview of the process.
Using elmers glue I outlined the wings and glued them to the film. Using random tools I weighed down the wire to ensure contact between wire, glue and film as the glue dried.
Using my new heat gun I zapped the wings enough to slightly melt the film, bring out its brilliant colors, along with creating two matching holes – which physiologically doesn’t make sense in a wing, but to me makes the wing more magical.
I set the wings using a pink lacquer and sprinkled on a healthy serving of glitter for sparkle and shine.
This was my experimental sprite, though I can’t imagine what I will do with her. I baked her sitting on a ‘rock’ but she is still too low to sit on the steps of my Fairy Door Bookend with her legs hanging down the way they do. So I will be sculpting two additional sprites to adorn its steps.
Here is my progress on the first using red glittery clay for the body, a mix of brown and copper for the hair, and a green leafy hat. Her wings and companion to follow later on.
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