I took the faes into the powder coater. It wasn't easy to do. After spending countless hours painstakingly grinding iron molecules with tiny diamond coated dremel tools, and in the end I hand the whole lot over to a stranger and ask him to coat the faes with a sixteenth of inch coating... It was like handing over a painting to be finalized with rollers of semi-transparent decoupage.But it turned out to be ok. It is not exactly the affect that I would have chosen but it is one that will blend in with the fence and gate while allowing the faes to stand out.
Here is Josheem before the powder coating and even before the coloring. She is the warrior-guardian of the group. She is the likeness of a long line of warrior faes. Although not likely, you may have noticed that the point of her spear is the same as the finial fleur-de-lis that adorn the top of the fence that she guards. This was not an accident but rather sheds a small amount of light on her ancestors that once guarded the gateway to the Fae Realm.
Many families brandish the fleur-de-lis on their crests but the simple fact that fleur-de-lis symbol can be found in all cultures of all times - especially in association with guarding or boundary posting - points to a more ancient ancestry.
And the fact that the 8 faes of my fence derive their origins from the fleur-de-lis seems not to be coincidence. When it came time to design the top of the gate I thought that I would continue the fleur-de-lis theme that adorns all 200 feet of the wrought iron fence - but with a little more flare. It was then that I considered the fact that a fleur-de-lis looks something like a faerie, the two wings spread wide, the head held high, crouching on the fence.
So I set out to make my own fleur-de-lis for the gate that looked something like faeries. 2 years later, voila!
So, I got carried away.... A little.
Here is Josheem, the guardian, fully colored and powder coated. Her wings have the leaf look so common in her ancient line. Her boots and arm plates are mostly for decoration although there are stories of the scant armor coming in handy against certain kinds of venom unleashed by a particularly viscous flying beetle.
You may also be interested to note that her spear, with the sharp fleur-de-lis point is not used to stab. Long before King Clovis or Charlemagne or Solomon or even the New Orleans Saints took on the symbol, which represents purity, the guardian faeries tapped into the power of the purity of mind and heart to protect their realms.
