FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
To lose my mind and find my soul
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
These are self portraits of me, but a special thank you to Surine who was my assistant, carried my stuff and shot BTS for me!
Outline the story …
Water and moss must be somewhere in the vail between our world and the Fae. We install little wooden doors to remind us of the Fae, or play-pretend that we cohabitate with other creatures, more symbiotic with nature.
For this piece I’m very inspired by the nordic forests, with pillows of moss, water streams and mushroom logs. Because these places are often synonymous with peace and wonder for me, I had to imagine that if Fae exists- this would be a place for them to prosper. So beyond the mossy pillows on the hips, I’ve installed a little fairy door, slightly hidden towards the back.
The skirt is cut in a mermaid style to resemble a log and its roots, I even added some horsehair braid on both the inner skirt for volume and the other skirt to have it twist like roots. And from scrap fabric, lace scraps and a wash-paint I created little mushrooms to peak from it.
In the keyhole cutout I wanted there to be a tiny waterfall, so I made layers to make it look like it’s bursting from within. Between each pillow of moss, is a roaring stream made from quarts and assorted glass beads.
Last but not least I added a few hand cut iridescent fairy wings, that could be some magic butterflies or could be fae hiding in plain sight
Outline the construction…
I’ve constructed the corset from a keyhole plunge pattern, to better feature the ’waterfall’.
It has external boning channels in coutill with faux-moss.
The moss pads are flamingo covered in artificial grass. They’re attached to the corset with a silicone sealant, however threading the beading I made sure to go through the sealant, to get a sturdier fix, also covering any sealant visible.
The ‘waterfall’ and ‘water’ between the moss, is made using quarts and assorted glass beads- each string is threaded with unbreakable thread.
I had some issues with the threads going through the flamingo, it sliced through the flamingo, so I attached droplet beads to the top part before going through making a string of beads underneath.
The skirt is made from an underskirt in green taffeta, with horsehair braid attached completely at the bottom hem and an overskirt from brown gauze fabric with horsehair braid attached only at the very bottom, allowing it to curl, to look more like roots of a tree.
The little mushrooms are made on a base of cardboard attaching the top, making sure to rouge the fabric a bit to create a top that is later filled with scrap fabric. After that I pleaded my lace around underneath, making sure to only attach about 2mm from the edge so I could have the other end of the lace gathered to look like mushroom slats underneath. Lastly I painted with a wash on top in two colours to give it more dimension.
The little door!! So many fun details and the end result is pure magic.
I think this is my favourite piece of the entire competition. Like the person above said: pure magic.
Wow Kitty, that is so cool!!! Beautifully done!
Wow! Your design and execution is pure magic. My favorite in this category for sure. I have one curious question: What is flamingo? In my language it’s a type of pink water bird, was wondering if this was a mistranslation.
Ohhh, this is MAGICAL! I love this so much! And the work and creativity and fit of it…. Very in awe, and deeply impressed. – Lynne
A favourite! I looove the moss and water! I have no more words as I’m speechless atm. 🙂
This is incredible! To echo the other commenters, it really is magical!