O My Goth

 This is my latest collage and it is one of the rare times I didn't have any kind of plan when I started it. All I knew was that I would like to use up some stuff that I had already. I played around making clay faces one day and this was one of many. Months later I pulled them out, chose this one and started painting it up. It reminded me of the lead singer of Marilyn Manson so I decided to go that way with it!

I knew I wanted it flat on a background so... I am almost embarrassed to admit this... I glued the face onto a popsicle stick (seriously!) then I added a little padding on top and started using scraps of fabric to dress her. I used pipe cleaners wrapped around the popsicle stick for her arms and made the hands from clay.

Her outfit was completely pieced together from scraps of a purple satin nighty and an old Rocky Horror Picture Show costume. I trimmed the collar and sleeves with strands of mini pearls.I agonized over what kind of hairdo to give her and in the end I decided to keep it simple so that I could give her an elaborate hat instead.

Being flat made it very hard to get a good photo of her hat. I cut a piece of cardboard to the right shape and covered it in the same fabric as the dress.

Half way through this project I decided I really didn't like the background I was working with. The crackle finish is cool but I wanted something more subtle with a little bit of color.

And now for my absolute favorite part, the embellishment! I have quite a few little sample bead scraps that I practice new stitches with and this one worked so well with the colors of her dress I had to find a way to use it.

This is a close up of her embellished hat. It is a lot of feathers, an old jewelry finding, some beads and craft wire.