I want to introduce you to Evelyn. Evelyn has been in the works since Christmas! I have been very unsatisfied with the way my necklace photographs have been turning out as they just don't look the same when you cannot see the drape of them and I tired of pestering my family for live models. The solution? Evelyn.
Evelyn as she arrived.
Evelyn actually started out with the name "Creeper" and was known as such for most of the month of January. When she arrived, she looked like such a creeper that I needed to completely change her look! I first had to drill her ear holes as she was supposed to come pre-drilled, but didn't. Then I had to ground down her eyelids as her eyes were half closed. I knew I had to paint over them and didn't want a lid sticking out in the middle of her pupils!
After the drastic changes, I then mixed up a shade of flesh acrylic paint and completely painted her whole person. All of it. This is where she earned the name Creeper. My husband said she looked like a flesh colored Blue Man with blank eyes and she creeped everyone out!
After reducing her to a blank canvas, I had to decide what style she was going to take. Victorian? Flapper? 1940's? As you can see, I settled on the 1940's look. I figured it would look more natural for a 1940's woman wearing Victorian inspired jewelry, but not natural for a Victorian woman wearing 1940's inspired jewelry.
I painted her dress on, painted her lips and nails, then painted her eyebrows. Her eyes came last as this part took the longest of all. During the time I was painting her, I had a wig coming in the mail for her. I sealed her dress with a shinier matte sealer and a sprinkle of bluish synthetic glitter around the edges, sealed her skin in matte sealer and sealed her nails, lips and eyes with high gloss sealer.
As you can see in this photo, her lips do not match the original lip line. I had to paint over it as the original mannequin just did not have a mouth that was 1940's worthy! The mannequin's face was long, but her eyes and lips were placed too close to her nose rendering her a squashed looking face and a super-long chin. By shifting her eyes up higher and her mouth lower, it gave more balance to her face. The proportions seem more realistic now. I am still not crazy about her silhouette as it is sort of manly, but there is only so much you can do with a mannequin blank!
So, there's Evelyn. I promise you will be seeing more of her! Oh, and Paige is jealous as Evelyn actually has a face!
