Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen
We daren’t go a-hunting for fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk, trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap, and white owl’s feather!
— “The Fairies” by William Allingham
Don’t you just love the smell of a new book? It’s one of the best things in the World! A cup of tea, a new book and an old cat are a perfect day. Especially if there’s fairies involved! For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to fairy tales and fantasy … and the only thing better than reading about fairies is making them!
I first came to love the fae, an old English word for fairies, short for “faerie,” reading the Brothers Grimm. I had a book illustrated by a marvelous artist, Arthur Rackham, and I read it to pieces, poring over the pictures. The gnarled trees, equally gnarled old witches and odd little men fascinated me. Growing up in the Midwest, I was fortunate enough to live next to a small woods, and I would always look for the creatures from my book under leaves and old fallen logs. And I found them, at least in my imagination. At night before bed I would draw paper dolls or make pipe-cleaner dolls of the Little Folk I “saw” in the Woods.
In picking up this book, you’ve taken your first step in finding your way to the fae. They’re hard to see these days, what with all the cold iron that’s everywhere, but they are there if you know how to look. Turn your head sideways and tilt it a little and by the light of the first star to left … there! See that Shadow? The fae are coming to watch you create.
I’ll help you learn to sculpt fae that are a little quirky, occasionally cranky and definitely fun. You’ll learn about making faces, hands and feet in polymer clay, making bodies that pose, and building a whole world of characters who are sure to make you smile. After you’ve gotten the hang of faemaking by creating the figures in this book, you can go off and explore faeries on your own, making even more fae friends.
Grab your sculpting stuff, crank up your imagination, and you’ll be a faemaker in no time!
Cheers!
D/Oddfae
My assistant Fetch is coming along on this adventure to give you little hints and bits of information that I may forget to mention. My studio has a whole tribe of these li’l trolls—they hold my tools and keep me company. I don’t know how I’d get anything done without them!