Shiny Things Gallery | Fandom | Final Fantasy | Chocobos | Annie the Phoenix-obo
There's no need for formalities, or remembering all of the many names she's been given; call her Annie! She's so happy to meet new people! And try new food.
Simply: I needed a phoenix this year. I think a lot of us can relate. "Everything's on fire" is a fine half-truth half-joke, but my ornery, defiantly hopeful nature insists on an asterisk and a "But you know what comes from the ashes?" A lot of the actual choices made were happy accidents, my favorite things. I had another yarn in mind, for instance, but I really loved the look and more "solid" structure of this heather black recycled acrylic yarn I bought for something entirely different. I happened upon the "fire yarn" by chance and accident and tentatively ordered one skein only to discover it was soft and easy to work with. I used an entire skein on her, but I ordered one more for... additional yarn hoarder reasons. (Oh no, believe me, I will make use of it.) These are the last of my "fire opal" Swarovski crystals, which was fine because I had all these gorgeous old light-reactive red lucite beads to use as centerpieces instead.
Structure-wise, I did have a plan at least. From head to tail, there's a poseable "spine wire" (yes I do delight in the term), plus the "wing arms" and legs/feet/toes being wired. I did a little something different with the beak, or specifically the jaw hinge, so this one opens with both top and bottom beaks moving at the same time instead of separately. The tail feathers are all wired to be posed however is desired, as are the wing feathers, but my real point of pride was finally deciding to have the wing feathers on a pivot joint so they can be spread all the way open or gently closed in a "stacked together" sort of way to look a bit more naturally folded. ...And also to fit inside of the shipping box. Necessity, invention, etc. As for the eyes, I had a bunch of green fluorite, but none of it was quite "right", so I used a combination of alcohol dye and diluted-until-transparent green acrylic paint to get the right color on frosted glass beads. Unnecessarily extra, yes.
As for the name, well... I got "Annie". The rest is up to her companion, right? Ultimately she exists as a not-so-subtle reminder that hope cannot, will not, be extinguished.
Sold for $1,699.20! Much congratulations and gratitude to ZeldaZach for such an intense show of generosity!
Simply: I needed a phoenix this year. I think a lot of us can relate. "Everything's on fire" is a fine half-truth half-joke, but my ornery, defiantly hopeful nature insists on an asterisk and a "But you know what comes from the ashes?" A lot of the actual choices made were happy accidents, my favorite things. I had another yarn in mind, for instance, but I really loved the look and more "solid" structure of this heather black recycled acrylic yarn I bought for something entirely different. I happened upon the "fire yarn" by chance and accident and tentatively ordered one skein only to discover it was soft and easy to work with. I used an entire skein on her, but I ordered one more for... additional yarn hoarder reasons. (Oh no, believe me, I will make use of it.) These are the last of my "fire opal" Swarovski crystals, which was fine because I had all these gorgeous old light-reactive red lucite beads to use as centerpieces instead.
Structure-wise, I did have a plan at least. From head to tail, there's a poseable "spine wire" (yes I do delight in the term), plus the "wing arms" and legs/feet/toes being wired. I did a little something different with the beak, or specifically the jaw hinge, so this one opens with both top and bottom beaks moving at the same time instead of separately. The tail feathers are all wired to be posed however is desired, as are the wing feathers, but my real point of pride was finally deciding to have the wing feathers on a pivot joint so they can be spread all the way open or gently closed in a "stacked together" sort of way to look a bit more naturally folded. ...And also to fit inside of the shipping box. Necessity, invention, etc. As for the eyes, I had a bunch of green fluorite, but none of it was quite "right", so I used a combination of alcohol dye and diluted-until-transparent green acrylic paint to get the right color on frosted glass beads. Unnecessarily extra, yes.
As for the name, well... I got "Annie". The rest is up to her companion, right? Ultimately she exists as a not-so-subtle reminder that hope cannot, will not, be extinguished.
Sold for $1,699.20! Much congratulations and gratitude to ZeldaZach for such an intense show of generosity!
