Vera Ermakova “Svetoten” Workshop Create Unique Fantasy Creatures

My name is Vera Ermakova and I am the founder of the ‘Svetoten’ workshop.
I am a designer, artist, I create fantasy creatures. My creatures will become not only a unique addition to your interior, a single piece of authorship, but they will also tell their stories from other worlds and mysterious dreams!.

For creatures, I use a mixed technique of creation, including traditional sculpting, 3D sculpting, 3D printing, working with wood, textiles, and painting.

Halloween, the most mysterious and magical night of the year! This amazing and dearly beloved holiday by me has become the inspiration and the very soul of my new and my very first dragon- jewelry box. And I am very happy to share its magic with you.

Dragon “Samhain Tree”, is a big project on which it was incredibly interesting for me to work. His appearance, an idea of? images, associations, and dreams of a mystical holiday, turned into a really amazing creature step by step.

At all stages of his birth, he was filled with more and more interesting elements, revealing his character, with every detail inserted by the association, inspiring and captivating in this process, as if telling what he would like to become. By the time the work was completed, he had acquired much more, initially conceived technically unusual and complex solutions, as if directing and drawing his story.

Each, even the smallest element in my projects plays a very important role in the history of the creature. The “Tree of Samhain” has so many of them that, over and over again examining its appearance, the eye always finds more and more clues to the complex puzzle of his soul.

For example, behind each window of the house, tiny candles are lit, as in the pumpkins that adorn the facade of the house.

Indeed, on the night of the mysterious Halloween holiday, it is important not to forget to light a candle in order to illuminate the path for good spirits and drive away from the darkness.

Another interesting element of this House of the Dragon is the stained glass windows, decorated with tiny, real leaves from oak trees grown by me from acorns donated and collected by my Mom. Collected in a favorite place where oak trees have lived for more than three hundred years, they remember different times, many stories, and pass on this wisdom to new generations. The thin line of worlds and times dissipates from touching the autumn gifts of nature…

It was Oak that became my interpretation of the Samhain Tree. After all, it is he who is a very special, mysterious tree, sacred for many peoples. According to legend, it is able to connect worlds and times, a tree of power and longevity conducts energy that affects the processes of being and allows you to look beyond the veil of worlds.

Its leaves decorate not only stained-glass windows, dragon branches are covered with crimson and orange, chocolate and sunny gold, graceful leaves from small to large, Red Oak leaves.

I sculpted them in 3D, filling each leaf with the texture of veins and wrinkles, adjusting the shape so that the variety was close to real trees. I then printed a flexible and slightly transparent photopolymer to preserve the play of light from the firefly-flowers when the dragon’s LED lights were on.

And yet you will not find repeating pumpkins in the “Samhain Tree”, except for the two twins, which are those by design, but also have many differences. Each pumpkin with its own character and mood radiates the light of the holiday with its mischievous smile

One of the pumpkin tech ideas is tiny magnetic mounts that securely and easily attach the pumpkin to the flowers with fireflies on tree branches.

Pumpkins can be removed and stored in a special box inside the house when there is still not little time before the autumn holiday, and you want to diversify the look of the dragon.

Or they can be interchanged so that the Samhain Tree would acquire its solemn and unique outfit for the holiday …

And inside the pumpkins that adorn the facade of the house are tiny candles, just like in the windows.

These pumpkins can also be removed, and due to their magnetic fastening, they light up as if by magic, as soon as you sit in their places.

In the evening, the light of the dragon- jewelry box looks especially magical.

A play of shadows from branches and roots begins. Warm light from windows and pumpkins bounces off objects like playful bunnies, drawing bizarre shapes and images.

The orange roof is covered with a lot of glare and reminds of the coziness of old tiles.

In the work on this special dragon, many techniques have merged together from classical sculpture to modern 3D technologies.

The roots and branches are sculpted by hand. They merge very harmoniously with the 3D printed elements of the dragon, such as the face, paws and pumpkins, firefly-flowers, and of course the eyes themselves. Thanks to the mixed technique, it is possible to reveal great possibilities for each detail separately and combine them into a single harmonious image.

3D printing allows you to recreate the smallest and most accurate details. For example, the pumpkins themselves, rich in relief and the floors from the inside, shine a copper-colored surface in the light of diodes from the flowers of fireflies. Slots for magnets, diodes, and wiring that fit neatly and perfectly on pumpkins and flowers, making it easy to swap and remove pumpkins. And, of course, cherish the feeling of magic that is born in such small details.

The eyes are also created using the author’s technology, using 3D printing, they are rich in deep relief inside and play beautifully from the glare of light.

And the correct painting effects help to highlight every smallest detail, emphasize the beauty of the embodied relief. And help wake up tactile associations by touching the dragon …

For example, its roots, muzzle, and paws so strongly resemble the texture of an old tree that stores the warmth of the sun’s rays in its bark. The almost velvety, very matte varnish finish creates this feeling.

In painting, every shade is of great importance, but it is the finishing texture that will become its culmination, correctly directing the viewer’s thoughts and feelings. The Samhain Tree has many different textures – matte or glossy, satin, and sometimes almost velvety, and each is inherently important.

Another very favorite technological solution that is probably present in every work of mine is magnets.

It is they who attach all removable accessories, conduct voltage for the LED, and are a reliable fastener for rotary elements.

For example, attachment of paws. Thanks to this, they are mobile and are able to very accurately maintain a given position. And the life of the magnets I use is very long and almost unlimited. After all, a neodymium magnet loses about 1% of its power over 100 years.

For me, the quality and durability of my creations are very important, because, probably, like any author-artist, I would like the creatures to find loving families, whose hearts they will delight for many years, and possibly pass on their magic to new generations.

The Samhain Tree is not just a night light, it is a secret box. Hiding behind the front wall in the velvet space of the casket, which will always carefully keep the things entrusted to him and shine with its magic in honor of the special holiday of the Wheel of the Year. ~ Vera Ermakova