Making a miniature tutu skirt

I wanted to share the process of making Odile's tutu skirt, which I made from scratch. The best thing about this technique is that you can actually apply it to real people and not only dolls! I have a lot of tulle at home, and am planning to make a full size tutu for little moi in the near future.

I made the skirt from beautiful golden tulle I got from a friend, using a non-stitch technique I picked up on YouTube. It's actually very easy to follow, just requires some patience. It was quite a tedious task, and took almost two hours (while watching TV, I admit). Here is the tutorial, easy as pie!

So, I cut several dozens of thin strips of tulle and tied them to a satin ribbon, in matching gold color, which I later used to secure the skirt to Odile's waist.

Tying thin strands of tulle to a satin ribbon

The tying is complete, fitting Odile's waist

Placing the skirt over the satin bodice

That was the base of my work. After that came embellishments, jewelry, hair and makeup and tiny golden shoes I ordered especially et voila - the little ballerina was ready!

I am very grateful I found this simple tutorial, and am actually eager to make some more little ballerinas. My friend also gave me red and white tulle, which are waiting to be made into something beautiful.

Last but not least, I almost forgot! I got a flattering review of on custom made Flutterbride and Fluttergroom on Urban Brides Magazine. Here is a little excerpt for you guys (in Hebrew).

 

Have a nice week everybody! And please comment, I love reading what you guys think.

New earrings

I have been down with the flu all week. And I do mean down. With a fever of 102 and constant coughing I spent most of the week either asleep or cursing the moment I was born. After a week or so of this I am finally getting better yet still at home, which was a great opportunity to shoot the new earrings I made and list them on my shop.

I am also working on a custom ordered Flutterbutt, which I will tell you about later on, and plan to make a second very special puppet, which I will also revel in due time.

I simply realized that all this "I haven't been able to create anything since my mother died" story I was telling myself is just that - a story that I can replace at any given time. So I stopped telling that to myself in hopes that is all that is needed in order to get my creative wheels rolling. We shall have to wait and see!

Inner joy missing

I haven't been able to make puppets since Mamisha passed away 5 months ago. In fact, the last puppets I made are the Sex and the City Girls, which I made back in March I think. This is making me anxious, I must admit.

Making puppets is somehow connected to a place of creative inner joy, which I haven't been able to tap into lately, obviously. I just cannot bring myself to cut foam, not to mention actually sit down and design a puppet. I want to, I have several specific puppets I want to make, but I just cannot bring myself to actually sit down and do it. Just like a diet I cannot start (which reminds me, I also can't get any weight off).

I also haven't been operating puppets for a long while, not for significant amounts of time anyway. I think the puppets are means of communication with people, and were a way of playing and relieving Mamisha's (and mine) stress and pain, and now that she is gone - I don't need them as means of communication, cause she isn't here anymore, so I just let them sit quietly and stare at me. I actually feel guilty towards a specific puppet I hardly touched for months now. Oy.

If you have any inspiring words to share, please do. I believe this fear that "I lost IT" is caused by mere anxiety and nothing more, but who knows? All artists are afraid of losing the creativeness, we are nothing without it aren't we?