Sculpting Weensie Stumpwork Figures

  I bet you can Guess what one of them is.....

  Having got my business taxes all in order for the accountant earlier this week (YAY!), I have been merrily sculpting on some stumpwork figures~ I must say, some of the tiniest pieces I have ever sculpted! I bet you can guess what the figure in the very front will be!  These are for my flat top casket~ the beadwork one~ I am working on two more girls today, and between their different stages of drying, I have been sanding and further carving these ladies

  This precious precious is for the lid, she is a little larger and I was able to give her a pair of very rare, tiny tiny antique glass eyes. J'adore!  I have a very few pair of these wee little eyes, late 18th c, made for insetting into wooden Queen Anne dolls. I think shes gonna be just dreamy, and hopefully Ill be painting her later on today..she needs a little more work still

Wee little hands beginning to take shape~  I really dislike sculpting hands, but I love sculpting fingers~ doesn't make any sense....

  Have you guessed what she is yet????  Yep~ a mermaid!  Quite a pain in the tuccass I may add...her blasted arms just will not cooperate, I have cut them off and resculpted them 4 times now I think.... at this scale, I cannot just sculpt an arm or hand and then bend it around into position..heck I cant even grab them at all. I make a rough sculpt, then have to let it dry, then carve with my knife and sand sand sand it into submission. I am thinking this set will be good enough, arms need more shaping, but I'm definitely NOT starting them from scratch again!  She holds a comb in her rear hand, and will hold a mirror in the front one

mmm...yes. A little. tiny. weensie. impossible to hold onto while you try and whittle it out of maple, mirror. I painted her reflection inside of it....

 And then covered it with a thin sheet of mica. It is a bit choppy down by the handle so she can grab it~ believe it or not, it was easier to cut a hunk out of it for her fingers to fit, rather than try and change her fingers..... they like to pop right off at the slightest bit of 'adjustment'