Art Project Reveal: Gold Wing Dress

I finished my Gold Wing Dress last weekend, but I'm just getting around to showcasing it now. This is my first time illustrating a garment with gold liquid ink, which brought its own challenges (it's very smudgy). I also learned that stretchy faux leather is not the greatest material to work with. 

Here's the original dress, which is by Kaffe - I picked it up at Dots here for $14.99 on final season clearance. 

I love the ginormous sleeves, plus it has pockets. The back side of the fabric is fleece - nice and cozy. 

Here's the finished design. Angel wings! 

Although no one would really describe me as an angel, except for maybe my mom ("my angel child" - but that was only after my brother was born, ha ha). 

For more details of the design along the way:

• Part I here
• Part II here
• Part III here

There are more pictures at those links, including my inspirations and the pens/materials I used. 

I sketched the design out with a water-soluble gold pen, to get the shape and balance right. 

And then started to work on the feathers. 

I worked out on the deck as much as I could. 

And I got better at doing the feathers as I went. 

I got lots of practice! 

One final push, and I had the bottom feathers all done, including one that's fallen off. 

I signed it there, plus the year. 

Here we go. 

So pretty and shiny! 

I hid one feather inside a pocket, up high where hands won't rub it off. 

I realized when I put the finished dress on and then took it off, that the stretchiness of the fabric caused the gold pen ink to flake into micro-dust. 

I gave it a spray with my protector out on the deck after taking these pictures to keep it from smudging further. 

Same boots I wore for brunch on Saturday, plus some gold accessories. 

Not an actual outfit, as I just wore this for these pictures. 

Aren't the sleeves fun? I like the overall shape of this dress. 

There are my wings. I put this dress on over my head, which stretched it out, especially across the back. 

I need an event to wear this to! Where is my Urbanite, Art Gallery? 

And there we go. 

I've since moved on to my next project, but that's how I got from...

...this...

...to this! 

The left wing is a bit smudgy, which is a bummer, but ah, well. Nothing stays perfect for long! 

I hope you enjoyed seeing my finished project!