Featured Artist: DZFantasy

About 14 years ago, with no formal training in art, I was inspired to start designing and creating my one-of-a-kind fiber fantasy sculptures. It was through my love of nature, working with unique fabrics, yarns, colors, and fantasy which resulted in the creation of my Fiber Sculpted Fantasy Figures.I first started out selling my work in craft shows back in 1997, when I was creating more "doll like" figures, whose clothes I designed, and only hand-painted the faces. My largest creation at that time ws a 30" posable doll. Wanting to get into juried art shows, I changed my designs to smaller fantasy figures very similar to what I am doing now. It is amazing how one's art changes over the years! I now sell at art shows, via my web page, and last year in February of '08, I discovered Etsy. While, my business name for my art is/has always been YOUNG AT HEART, when I signed on with Etsy I used the name DZFANTASY for not only my Etsy shop, but my blog as well. I love having an on-line shop, but also truly enjoy doing shows for the one-on-one contact with customers.I individually design/create each figure using quality fabrics, many of which are silk, which I hand-dye to obtain one-of-a-kind colors and designs. Each creation's face is individually, hand drawn, needle-sculpted, and hand-painted using 100% silk tussah fabric. (Tussah silk comes from wild moths whose main diet is oak leaves, and the natural color ranges from light beige to darker tan.) This individual process is what gives each creation their unique personality. Their lips and eyes are further enhanced with a crystal clear lacquer which gives the face a 3-dimensional look, and a bit of shine! Finally, the face is then sprayed with a matte finish sealer for protection. Many hours of love, work and attention to detail go into each and every one of my creations.Each body, face and wing is firmly stuffed with the finest of acrylic fiberfill. The use of inner wire armatures allows me to position each creation into various permanent poses. Some of my creations are designed as wall hangings, mobiles, while others may be set wherever one wishes a bit of color, fun and fantasy!I design their colorful hairdos out of imported Italian, French, English and German designer yarns, or hand-dyed mohair in a wide array of colors and textures. I also design/create all of their accents; purses, necklaces, hair and waist accents, using Swarovski crystals, stones, glass beads, shells, and pieces of antique jewelry.Creating my fantasy creations is a "passion" with me, and I couldn't give it up if I wanted to!! It is such fun to see the smiles on people's faces when they visit my booth at an art show. I also started my DZFANTASY blog in April of 2008, and love having monthly giveaways of my creations.WANDA, here on the links.YOUNG AT HEART WEB PAGEhttp://dzfairies.comDZFANTASY on ETSY:http://dzfantasy.etsy.comDZFANTSY BLOG:http://dzfantasy.blogspot.com