Versailles (or Verse for short)

A winged pegasus kirin designed by Scenceable who commissioned me to turn her into an art doll. This is Janine’s third commission in two years and she never fails to spur me on to wilder heights. I remember her first commission Tariana was an orange and white kirin with a single, smooth kirin horn and two long antelope-like horns and I was so freaked out about the idea of sculpting horns… horns could break! :O!! And using GREEN feathers with an orange/white design?! Shocker! But she assured me it’d be fine and well… Tariana was my best doll at the time! And you know what, I just checked back on it and I uploaded Tariana’s pic to the net on the 23rd March 2011! That’s exactly two years to the day! Heh

Verse is an art doll, she has a wire armature wrapped in stuffing and fake fur. Her wings are real pheasant wings and her antlers are a mix of resin, plastic, wire and epoxy. The commission officially started back in December but I actually started work on her late January. It hasn’t been non-stop work, but she’s definitely been one of the most work intense dolls I’ve done. Those antlers… Each leaf glued on individually… That’s two days work on it’s own. :)

The wings have been preserved, dyed and then taken apart and reassembled onto Verse’s wings. They are sort of partly mechanical so the feathers fold smoothly look pretty when folded as well as when spread. It’s a really complex and fiddly process to make folding wings, but boy is it worth it.

She has glass eyes that were intended for frog taxidermy (don’t ask) but look great as miniature equine eyes. I haven’t taken measurements… She probably stands at about 11” including antlers.

My commissions are OPEN, send me an email with your reference for a quote! hello@magweno.com Prices range from £170-£330 + P&P, I ship internationally (based in UK).

Or visit my Etsy shop for lower priced resin cast mofs and dragon-foxes!

FEH velvet wings finally finished… I want a nap now.

Me explaining how to pose the new fully articulated feathered wings, very simple, very straightforward and looks awesome!

Introducing Cloud

A very large, winged commission who is a fully articulated bespoke fantasy art doll. His wings can open and close like a real birds wings (I’ll have a video up shortly) and have been dyed. Each feather actually had to be individually dried… Yes I think I am mad… They were all originally white and are duck, quail, goose and chicken feathers, half of which have been collected from my own flock and cleaned.

His head, feet and tail spike are fimo, painted in acrylics and varnished. He has a wire armature and is stuffed with quilt batting.

He’s big but I haven’t measure exactly how big, I’d guess at about two foot from wingtip to wingtip.

I’m open for commissions but it could take up to a year to get to you. Prices start at £155 and go up to £330. Send an email to hello@magweno.com to organise it if you’re interested.

Thanks!

Jesus god dammit I hate taking photographs so bad, I hate it. I will pay someone to come and take photos for me. God damn. I spend five days lavishing attention on this thing and I’m SO damn proud of it and then the photos make it look like crap. GAH. 

Mini-rant over, he has extremely posable wings using a new mechanism involving washers and bolts and fun stuff like that. They fold and unfold so smoothly (or would if I ordered the feathers right and attached them at the right angle god damn). When the wings ‘elbow’ is bent it ruffles the corverts a bit but not as hideously as in the past - and as an added bonus it actually folds instead of just crunching with all the glue. There is very little glue involved while we’re on that subject, not even near half as much as I usually use, in order to keep them flexible. 

I made this so I could get wings right before I dive in headfirst into a commission and get it totally wrong. I went through a paper model and two or three rough takes before settling on a pattern. It needs tweaking but nothing that’s hard to fix for the upcoming commission.

I’ll upload a video later tonight, I have to make lunches and pack for the weekend before we go but I want to get it up and done with so I can run away.

Who could this be…

Drying dragon wings.. 

Making wings…

Look! Look what I just noticed in my birthday moth cage! Two emperor moths have hatched! I wasn’t expecting them for another three weeks!

Xylare is a fully feathered cockatoo dragon with wings that open and fold like real bird wings! Made from scratch by me, Magweno, each feather has been glued on individually, as were the felt scales. 

If you would like to commission me then please send me an email at hello [at] magweno.com!