Thursday, April 14, 2011

Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden

Towards the end of March I introduced you to the Russian gift-bringer Ded Moroz. As you may remember  his granddaughter Snegurochka assists him in making his deliveries and I said I might try my hand at making her at some future time. I decided now was the time and I was in the mood to give it a try. I've been working on her all week along with two other projects, and believe it or not, I've finished up all three today. I've never done that before.

Since she received most of my attention I'm going to post her first. I'm really pleased with the way she turned out. I was a bit leary about painting her cloak as my eyes and nerves are still not over the snowflake pattern I painted on her grandfather's cloak. I wanted the two figures to resemble one another as much as possible as they're to be a set so her cloak has to be as elaborate as his. Her cloak has snowflakes too, but they're a different style than the ones I painted on DM's cloak. The blue I chose for her cloak is the same blue I used for his robes. Her cloak is trimmed with white fur aroung the edge of the hood and on the shoulders and the cuffs of the sleeves and around the bottom hem. Under the hood Snegurochka is wearing a fur trimmed hat that matches her cloak. Her hands are tucked into a fluffy white fur muff.

Like I did with her grandfather, I used a charcoal gray antiquing stain to make Snegurochka look like she came from an earlier time.




Well, what do you think? I know the snowflakes are not as fancy as those of her grandfather's, but her cloak is crushed velvet and some of the detail is lost.





I forgot to mention the pompom on the hood. You can see the snowflakes a bit better in this photo.





It's hard to believe she is only 9" tall. There's a lot of detail in something so small.





Standing with her grandfather and she isn't so impossing. Don't they make a lovely pair?





This is as close as I can get with my camera without it getting blurry.  I'm getting better at taking pictures with it, which is a good thing all things considered.

The other pieces I completed today I will share with you in the next few days. Thanks for stopping by.

6 comments:

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

These two figures are fantastic. I am just blown away by the detail you include in your work. Congratulations on a super job. Love them both. The Olde Bagg

Maggie said...

She is just adorable, Maddy! I see the resemblence between her and her grandfather. LOL, they are made of the same stuff! Beautiful job.

Marlene said...

She is beautiful Maddy! If you click on the picture and then click on it again it makes it large enough to see the beautiful detail and her gorgeous face. Well done sis, looking forward to seeing your other creations.

Anonymous said...

She is absolutely beautiful. It is amazing that you can add such detail to such a small figure.

Kristin Dudish said...

I am completely blown away by the details you incorporate into your designs! (And after reading your work in progress post, I am even more impressed!)

So very, very cool!

xo
Kristin

p.s. I made a pollo piñata for spanish class when I was in grade school, but that is about the extent of my paper mache knowledge! ha! (I'd love to give it a try someday : )

maddyrose said...

Thank you all for the kind words. Receiving praise for one's work is always rewarding.

Kristin, if you think you might like to try your hand at working with paper mache clay, Jonni Good at Ultimate Paper Mache has recipes for this material and some great tutorials. It was because of her that my sister Maggie and I got into this.