As the major monster lover and creator, I could not miss such doll-making contest as @monsteria) This year its topic was the Keepers, so I welcome you to meet the Keeper of Will-o’-the-Wisp🕯Will-o’-the-Wisp, or ignis fatuus is a rare natural phenomenon that occurs at night in swamps and graveyards, about which many mysterious stories and legends are told. Folk beliefs say that such lights, reminiscent of the flame of a candle, are connected with the spirit world and can carry bad news, get an accidental traveller into the quagmire, or, conversely, help in a difficult moment.
My fluffy forest monster is a guardian of such a wily fire. Green wool, similar to moss, serves him as a beautiful disguise from human eyes, and horns and muzzle glow in the darkness with a ghostly glow. At night, he lights his magic candle and travels through forests and swamps, in search of random travellers. But if you came to the forest with good intentions, you have nothing to fear - even if you get lost, his light will show you a safe pathway home🌿
Have you ever come across these mysterious lights? ✨
Those who are close to me know how I love all sorts of trolls and monsters, and many have seen luminous creatures that I made from my favourite phosphoric polymer clay fimo. But this time I wanted to make something soft and fluffy. The starting point for the image of the Keeper was the rapid drawing of trolls, which I made a couple of months ago, and the inspiration was of course the incredibly beautiful forest near which I live. In this work, I decided to combine elements from phosphoric polymer clay, dry felting and fluffy woolen threads to create a fur. For the legs I wanted to use the bendable pipe cleaners (this idea had to be abandoned at the last moment). But finally the image of the character was born at the moment I spotted the LED battery ikea candle, which burns with soft flickering light, - just like a real one. Then I realised that my monster would be the keeper of the marsh lights🕯
Although I am good at mastering polymer clay, dry felting is a new technique for me, so this process was rather difficult, also because from the very beginning it was necessary to think of how the candle mechanism will work. For the wires I left the "cable-channel" in the body of the monster, made from the plastic straw. Having felt the base from the sliver, I covered the surface with green wool of different shades, after that attached wool threads to the figure, and made a haircut to form fur. Horns and muzzle were made of polymer luminous clay, and attached to the figure with the help of glue and wire. The paws were felt with green wool, and claws were made from stamens for paper flowers. But the most interesting was the process of working on the candle mechanism. Having disassembled Ikea candle, we installed the part with the battery at the bottom of the toy, soldered the LED's contacts and led the wires inside the body to the paws (so my troll is a bit cyborg), and voila!) The candle lights up if the toy is tilted forward, and you can easily replace the battery. In general, this work has become for me an excellent experiment. Thanks to Monsteria for the inspiration!
