Pallas, the Mantis

Wow, it's been a while since I've finished a project.  This lovely lady had been languishing half-finished for upwards of six months.  Well, better late than never.


Character: 
Pallas is the head of security for the Faerie Court, and bodyguard to the Queen.  Her insect is a Mantis, I combined a few different types for inspiration.


Construction: 
Pallas started dollhood as a Twelve Dancing Princesses Barbie:

I chose her for her elbow joints, her calm expression, and her really nice auburn/red hair.

Her new outfit is entirely removable.  It consists of a helmet, gauntlets, boots, skirt and breastplate with attached wings.  In progress:

The armor pieces are all made with Kneadatite.  The helmet is built on a skullcap I had from a dollar store doll who had changeable hair, and the boots are built up from some cheap knock-off boots.  The breastplate and arm-guards were free-handed on the doll (over a layer of plastic wrap).  The antennae have wire inside, making them gently poseable.  Some of the details, as you may be able to see in the progress picture, was added with dimensional paint, then painted over.  The final color is an antiquing paste, sort of a paint-on metal leaf.  

The underskirt is hand sewn out of a fabric scrap, and the strips are painted silk flower petals.

Her wings are made from wired ribbon, which gives her some posing options.  The intent was always to have her wings form a cape, but I went through several possible designs before settling on this one.

  She also has a pair of hand weapons, made from metal beads and Kneadatite handles.

Once all that was almost done, I removed her glitter eyeshadow, repainted her irises and gave her a facial accent with a bit of paint.

I'm not perfectly happy with every aspect of this project, but overall I think she came out well.  She's finally moving out of the in-progress box and onto the display shelf to stand guard over her lady.  Completed 2010