Spring 2015 Lily Mairi Line & Some Sweet Images

Butterfly Headband

Individual Butterfly Clips, set of 4

Moss & Butterfly Hair Clip Set

Blue & Silver Royal Elven Head Piece

Bohemian & Tribal Pieces

Woodland Elf/Fairy Necklace

Working on Tirith

I have at the least 2 more session to complete my Elves of the Woodland Realm series. Right now I am working on Tirith. He is a guardian of the Wood, an archer.

I am using L200 foam for his armor. This is the first time I have worked with it and I LOVE it!

First I made patters for the pieces I wanted with thin kraft paper.

Then I cut the pieces out and drew out the lines where I wanted the "metal" to look engraved and added the brads as little studs to the "metal". L200 foam, when heated keeps what ever form you shape it in. So I heated each piece with my heat gun and shaped all of the pieces.

I then attached all of the pieces how I wanted them and painted a coat of watered down craft glue on it so the paint would not get absorbed into the foam and it would have a smoother finish. 

Now it's time for a few coats of gold spray paint. I wanted bronze, but couldn't find it and didn't have time to order it online. I am in a bit of a time crunch to get this done before we move so my back ground is the same as it is in the other sessions.

The finished piece is amazing. I aged the piece and added leather straps so it would stay on the shoulder even when running and using a bow and arrow.

His entire costume was designed and sewn by me. It will be available in my store Late August, early September.
I also used the foam for Verda's shoulder armor as well. This is an image of one of the shoulder pieces in process. I will post on her costume and photo shoot later in October.

Visit www.LilyMairi.com for some of the final images from the Tirith series and follow my blog, like my Facebook page, bookmark my website, follow me on Instagram @LilyMairi and Pinterest to keep up with the news on my photo book publishing, Elves of the Woodland Realm. 

The Making of Merka

When I come up with my ideas, I also figure out how I am going to accomplish the image I want to get. My goal would be to to get my image straight from the camera and be done, but there are somethings, especially in the genre I like to play in, that can't be done in real life. Yes, I am an original Star Wars trilogy fan. Why, because of the costuming! Among other thing of course. I digress...

Costuming and Makeup

I am all about reusing and repurposing everything. By everything I mean EVERYTHING. Here are some images of Merka's costume in the making.

I reused the suede off of a pair of boots that my oldest daughter wore and then passed to my second daughter. The zipper ripped out of them and I just couldn't throw away that fabulous tan suede. I salvaged it and tucked it away for later.I had also salvaged the "corset" loops on the skirt from an old purse my mom found at the thrift store. It had some faux fur (that I am collecting for another photo shoot) so she picked it up for next to nothing. I loved the sides of the bag and figured I could use them on an outfit as well as the faux fur. 

The boots I repurposed the suede from.

Pieces of suede from the boots.

                                

                                                  Indilwen Eruanna- Empress of the Woodland Realm

When I did the Indilwen shoot, I used spirit gum to apply her hear tips. Since I have no formal education on costume make up, I was just kind of winging it. This time I did a bit more research. I found that you can apply light weight appliances with a 3D makeup gel. It worked great with this shoot, especially since I was working with a 5 year old who has latex and other chemical allergies with her skin. The gel is gelatin base with no latex and comes off with soap and water, unlike spirit gum. The one issue is that it responds to heat. When it gets too hot, it starts to melt and get soft. By the end of the session little Merka's ears were falling off, though it was 5 hours later.

Her makeup look achieved using various shades of brown eye shadows applied in an ombre  fashion. I started with the lighter shade and blended out and up into darker. The metallic gold flakes are gold gilding flakes from a craft store. The flakes aren't as expensive as the sheets, so that worked well for my budget. If you are wanting the flakes to stay on for a long period of tie, say, for a con or festival, I would use the spirit gum to attach the flakes. However, since this was just for a photo shoot, I used hair spray. I sprayed a VERY light mist over the eye shadow to seal it. After it dried completely, I sprayed a bit on my fingers and dabbed it on her face. Then I pressed the gilding to the wet spray. You have to act quick becasue the spray drys ultra fast. I worked in small sections becasue the spray dried so fast.The gold stripe and dots were make using a metallic gold eyeliner.

 

Location and Capturing the Images

I just shot in my back yard and my in-laws yard. This is the tree in my in-laws yard that I just had to get some images with. It is stunning and HUGE.My in-laws, my husband, my friend, and my parents all helped me with this shoot on one way or another.

My father-in-law and my assistant for the day.

My husband photo bombing. Epic.

All in all I'd have to say it was a successful shoot. I am very excited for the next one. I have it scheduled for the end next month. The moss hair clips and elven crown are available in my shop.

Next: A look behind the Indiwen series. Remember to visit www.JenniferGriffinStudios.com  and like my Facebook page to keep up with the latest news and coupon codes for my Etsy shop!