Fairy land

My last blog was to my friend Leah's blog about the magical set she wanted for her photography studio.

I thought I would share things from my side........

A couple of visits to the wholesaler gave me a lot to think on. Leah was very specific about one thing she, really didn't want a sugary, Barbie style set.
Something magical, mystical and hidden. Somewhere a little fairy could just come across accidentally was what I had to create. 

Number 1 - It had to be dull, not in a bad way in a mystical way.
It needed to be pretty, but not sparkly. It needed to be convincing. Not look like a printed backdrop. So where should I start?

Number 2 - It needed to be solid. It needed to be safe, seeing as small people were involved.
After chatting with Leah I discovered she had two pallets in her garden. Perfect. I do like a pallet project. So I had two good condition pallets and an extra pallet that would be useful if we needed it to work with.
After another trip with Leah to the wholesalers we came back with bark strips, artificial ferns as well as artificial lupins. Add to that some dried bind weed type of wood and I was ready to go.


he first small display was our starting point. This may seem odd, but if this created the right atmosphere we had a very definite direction to go in. 

I got a double thumbs up from Leah, so it was all systems go. Then George (Leah's husband) came up with a wonderful idea.  A tree hollow. It was perfect and getting more perfect by the second. My only job was to make it 'real'. I know I'm going on about the 'real' element, but I so didn't want it looking plastic and 'homemade'!

Two sides. One small side arrangement, and a pond. Oh yes I hadn't mentioned the pond had I! 

So my box of goodies including my glue gun, nails, hammer, tape ( always have duck tape with you, it's a necessity ) and bark, twigs, bags and bags of moss, scissors and an array of crafting knives. 

First of all to 'make' a tree. Using glue and nails I attached the bark strips to one side of the pallet to create a trunk. Because the bark had holes and splits I tried really hard to arrange them so that I had a a strategically placed hole about two foot from the floor. This would be our fairy window. Oh yes, nothing magical would complete without evidence of the really small people! Once the tree was complete, it just needed 'dressing', which is where the moss and ivy came into things. So one side of the first pallet complete. 

I now have to make a confession, I got brain block! I had sketches and had talked about what was needed, but oddly enough the ideas had all gone from my brain. Should I create another 'trunk' or more of a hollow, something sitting back? Maybe a fern corner? Oh god, what to do. I had to stand back. And look hard at it. It needed to match, it needed to flow.

Every great idea has moments like this. You run away with yourself and your ideas and then its like someone's sucked all your creativity out of your brain.

Rummaging about in my box of goodies I found the tumble weedy stuff (sorry, that's not the technical name!) would that  be around a trunk of a tree? I could only give it a try. So with some nails a lot of glue, I now had cascading twiggy stuff around a tree trunk and then ping, all the ideas come flooding back to me. Phew !! Then there was fern and moss and suddenly I was back on track. Double phew!!

Then I encountered another problem (quite a common one this) when you work up close on a project, you become sort of blind to it. To the whole picture. How it's all comes together.
So when I stood up and looked at the completed piece I was rather proud of myself. Considering i had a blind panic, the result was good.

Now what was needed from the second pallet? Maybe smaller tree trunks. Maybe a moss block. I guess a small tree trunk was a good place to start, so that was what I did. The second side flowed beautifully with the trunks just fitting perfectly with a beautiful moss block and tree root coming away from the pallet.

Now for the most important bit, to turn a rectangle mirror into a pond. This was a far more simpler vision. All I had to do was transfer that to the mirror. It's fare to say I was now in a roll. Moss with a nest attached to one corner and perfectly placed water lily flowers. All that was left was to place it where it was to go. 

I know Leah was pleased, and that is all you want when you're creating something. It's all about matching your vision to that of the customers.
Sometimes they can't explain.
Sometimes you cant translate your vision to them.
All you can do is cross your fingers and hope that your visions match! 

This is the biggest worry of the job. From brides to backdrops you hope that your visions match.

So would it work for her visually - that was really all that mattered.
A baby shoot booked in for the afternoon proved a brilliant chance to try it out. Then of course the small person has a bit of a fairy moment and then Leah ropes her son Jack in.  The results are breathtaking.

To find out more about the amazingly talented Leah, take a look at her website http://www.leahvanzyl.com/

Find her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/leahvanzylphotography

Or lastly see her blog http://www.leahvanzyl.com/blog

You can find me on Facebook as well on Facebook.