Kristel Jacobs

 'Stairway to Heaven' , or Stairway to Eternity.  On the stairway sits an angel ; she seems to be frozen - in time..

For this creation, I reflected upon the concept of 'time'.  What is time?  Is it mere a countdown to eternity?  In eternity, time does not exist..

Time ends where (the stairway to) eternity (or heaven) begins ; the stairway to Eternity begins where time ends..

I made the angel out of selfhardening clay La Doll and Premix.  I made her clothes out of natural materials - coton and silk - hardened with Paverpol.  I made her hair out of braided strands of coton, hardened with Paverpol and decorated with little satin knots of ribbons and pearls.  She has little wings of feather, hardened and painted with Acrylics.  Her eyes are hand-painted.

I placed the wooden miniature stairway on a wooden base.  I decorated it with lace, hardened and painted it with Acrylics.  Stairway and wooden base were then put on a base of blue stone.

Height : 41 cm.  Length : 28cm.  Base : 20 x 20 cm.

A little melancholic, La Marquise sits high and dry in her Royal Throne.  She tries to hide her insecurity by putting up a selfconscious attitude.

She is elegantly dressed in satin and silk.  Her tight korset is decorated with fine lace.  Her flounced skirt gently falls down her legs and covers her golden slippers.

I braided her hair with gold-thread and casually shaped it into a chignon.  Finally, I decorated the hair-do with fairy-like pearls.

I made her throne out of Premier Clay, then covered it with lace, hardened it and painted it in Acrylics.  At the back, I decorated the throne with a golden fantasy brooch with pearl. 

La Marquise is 53 cm high and 18 cm wide.

I got the idea of making a doll in a shoe when I first saw an article announcing a wonderful exhibition about the Russian Tsar family Romanov in the museum Hermitage in Amsterdam.  One of the pictures showed a number of silk, embroided shoes, worn by the Russian princesses.  That's what I wanted to work with and Lady Shoe-Shine was born..

Lady Shoe-Shine sits in a very elegant manner in her silk shoe, holding an umbrella made out of ribbons and pearls.  I made her dress by hand out of silk and lace, covered with little pearls and ribbons.  I gave her a rather simple hair-do, which makes her look even more innocent and which places the attention of the viewer on the beautiful umbrella..

Clothes, shoe and hair have all been hardened with Paverpol.  I painted the lady with Acrylics, I gave her handpainted eyes and varnished her several times.

Lady Shoe-Shine is 29 cm high and 24 cm long.

In a stately manner, the Queen is sitting on her really high throne.  She looks very focussed on what the day will have in store for her today..  She is majestically dressed in a gorgious gown made of shiny silk and lace.  She has an ingenious hair-do with ribbons, pearls and braids.  I made her throne out of Premier clay, clothed with lace, then hardened and painted with Acrylics.  Finally, I decorated it with little mirrors.

Queen of my castle is 56 cm high.

The theme for Espérance is 'Spring', I dressed and painted her in vivid springcolours, and I also tried to show this feeling of something fresh and new in her facial expression and pose ; she is enjoying the first sun of the year and she is fantasizing about what lays ahead.  Her pose is at the same time a little curious and love-lorn ; will today finally be the day that she will meet the love of her life?  Espérance is wearing a top and skirt made out of lace.  She wears beautiful pearls in her hair.  Her wooden base is also decorated with pearls.

Espérance is 39 cm high.