Hooray!! I finally got pictures - it wasn't horribly freezing out (okay, it was a balmy 25 degrees F with crazy-cold winds) and it was overcast... plus, Chris had off, so I had a photographer!

I'm so happy with everything - I'm actually being rather spaztic at the moment, which is why I'm even bothering to write a journal about this... plus, I'm amazed that I don't look horribly fat in most of the pictures, too - that amazes me more than anything (not to mention, I've become a lot more accepting of how I look in general, thanks to a few wonderful people here, most notably *SeductiveByatch and ~Nemohee2005, but a lot of other people, too)

I'm more or less saying "I'm sorry for inundating you with a dozen deviations at once. I was going to slowly submit them, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to put up first, so... yeah. You got them all at once, sorry!

Please don't hurt me


You can find the gallery here [link] or just quick browse with the thumbs in this journal



*is happy*


If you're interested, here is kind of how I went about making them (although a lot of it was trial and error, plus some guessing/crossing fingers to hope it works).

I sat down and thought about all of the things I really don't like about most wings that people make or that you can buy.

I don't like wings that are wired all the way around the edges, and are made from nylon or something else, with the design painted on. I do like wings that move naturally on their own, and only involve one layer, making them softer.

I also don't like harnesses for wings. I think that they make the wings look horribly tacky for some reason, so I used a similar concept to the wings I had made for BJD's in the past, utilizing a corset or bodice to keep the wings on, by sliding a support down the back. And here is the result!

All of the supports are made from bent millinery wire. This is a special type of wire that has rayon cording wrapped around it, but what really makes it special is that it's a weird type of steel that is very difficult to bend into a shape, but once it's in one, it doesn't move. It may bounce around, but it won't kink or anything like that, unless you really try (or run into something really hard).

The wings themselves are 5mm weight China silk, and are hand dyed with three shades of blue and aquamarine, creating a mottled coloring. The dyeing was the same way as the scarves I recently did.

The white patterns are then painted on with a special discharge paste, which lifts off the dye in those areas after steaming. There are also small Swarovski crystals on the tips of each wing support. There is one main upper wing, one long tail, and four "petal" wings on each side, that all stick out at different angles, so that these wings are not flat by any means.

Any questions? I'm sure I used quite a few terms that people are unfamiliar with Any suggestions for future pairs? (colors, a link to a pic of your fav butterfly, a drawing, etc...)




Ohayocon : January 4-6 (attending) (nevermind, can't make it... *sad*)


Go show them some love