Little by little...

Sculpting

Today I started back with the Apoxie Sculpt. I find when her right arm is put right up against the shoe form, she looks rather awkward. So I am letting this come up a little. This arm will definitely need more support, so when I get her head on, I will be able to extend her hair to go under the arm and give it support that way. This ballerina will not be wearing a bun…she will have long flowing hair…of course all of my dancing ladies have wild hair!!

Here she is...still bald and naked, but that will change. I need to make an armature for her skirt, the bodice of her dress will be bead mosaic, and she definitely needs hair!

More on the shoe...

I also continued working on the brocade for the front of the shoe…only a little more to do. Took me all day, I also started on the dancers hair. She’s kind of homely, hopefully I can pretty her up a little. I worked on the skirt a little, just played around with the aluminum foil. I need to make this look very poufy underneath, and have a very structured top layer. I also have to order more red mirror glass.

This is the brocade work on the toe of the shoe, partially done.

Here is what I have done so far...that's aluminum foil, just to give me something to  get the shape of the skirt the way I want it. I have to be careful so it does not stick out too much. I do like the way the shadow of her leg looks, just like she is stepping out of the shoe!!

Moving along...

I have the brocade area nearly finished, but will also need to do this to the toe of the shoe.

The fill for the background will be tempered glass so that nice red will show through.

The brocade around the heel is finished and today I started to fill in around the area with tempered glass. It s rather fussy working in and round the small areas where the brocade is…glad to have those small areas out of the way.

Next I will be going back to sculpting...I have my Apoxie Sculpt and I'm on to that! Stay tuned!

Here is my shoe!!

I now have my shoe...I can't wait to get started...

Now the work begins!!!

First things first....a nice coat of primer and check for any blemishes or pinholes in the surface. This shoe is in really good shape, very clean no dents or dings!

Sunday, February 3

I am working on the armature for the dancer. It’s coming along. I made her in pieces and it’s taped on so I can get the position correct before I attach it with Apoxie Sculpt.

Monday, February 4

The next step will be to use Apoxy Clay to sculpt around the armature. I will sculpt the base for her skirt after I complete her body.

I wrapped the armature with Apoxi sculpt and attached it to the front. Still have to do the arms and head. She is a little lumpy so I will have to do some sanding. I'm just about out of Apoxie Sculpt so I ordered more. In the meantime, I will be working on the back of the shoe.

Tuesday, February 5

Since I have to wait for more Apoxie Sculpt, I have decided that I can work on the back of the shoe, so I painted the shoe red...I love the color.

You can see here where I've started the brocade.

Wednesday February 6

Curved surfaces are always interesting. Some of the glass petals in the brocade will not lie flat so I had to cut them to get them to follow the curve of the shoe.

 I LOVE the ball chain, very easy to use and I love the clean lines.

Saratoga En Pointe...continued

My Plan

After prepping and priming the surface of the pointe shoe, the first step will be to create the figure. For this I will use Apoxy Clay to sculpt the figure. I have used Apoxy Clay for smaller pieces, this will be the largest that I have done.

The shoe will be mosaic. I will use mostly tempered glass, but I have been thinking about incorporating some red mirror tile into the design. I will mosaic the dancers’ dress, the bodice will be bead mosaic, the skirt will be layered stained glass. I have a vision! I can’t wait to get started!!!

My Materials

Here are the materials I have been collecting this month to use on my shoe. Apoxy Sculpt, Liquitex Basics Acrylic paint, Mac Glue, GE Silicone, Laticrete Spectralock Epoxy Grout, Ball Chain, Gold Glitter tiles, Iridescent Crimson Gold tiles and tempered glass. I will also use red stained glass.

Look at these beautiful gold glitter tiles and this ballchain, this is going to be the trim on the shoe, It will compliment the red glass beautifully!

Tonight's the Night!!!

Tonight I will attend a cocktail party, with 23 artists, at the National Museum of Dance to meet our sponsors. And tonight I will bring home my shoe and get started on my creation!!