The making of a gingerbread boot

I made the shoe out of gingerbread and baked it in many different pieces which then had to be stuck together.

As there is no mold for a gingerbread boot, at least not one I could find...
I had to make it myself.
I did that using a lot of aluminum foil and wire mesh that I bought at a local hardware store. That had to be shaped, cut and curved into place and I had to wear gloves and use wire cutters for that bit.

Then I piled on the dough and the big boot was baked in two parts, left and right...
I could have left them standing without the wire mesh and aluminum foil core, they were surprisingly tough, but I wanted it to last longer so I decided to stick the two halves onto the wire mesh.

Once I had all the pieces I wanted I started to stick the individual ones together like the roof of the little hut. The icing sugar I used for that had to be left to dry completely.
I stuck some of the bigger pieces on to the boot and began to go go wild with the green leaves and foliage decoration.
I also wanted to add some figures to the boot so I stared making the little fairies out of gum-paste. 

It still looks raw there but the shape is definitely there and some of the grassy bits are in place.
A lot of the gum-paste had to be left to dry lying this way and that all over the kitchen and living room, and it was getting messy there for a while with sugar and gingerbread all over the place.
Then I decided it would be neat to see one of the fairies flying around...
How to solve that?
Well, I had some wooden barbeque sticks that I could afford to loose.
I colored one of them green and added some vines and flowers to it, then I hung a flying fairy from it using some fishing line (because it's as good as transparent).

   At this point I hadn't added the wings yet because I wasn't sure how to make them... I ended up using some clear gelatin flakes that I painted blue and dusted with glitter.
I used two types of flowers... one is the molded five petaled type that is visible there behind the flying menace and the other is the orchid-like creation of mine that is dominant in the picture above.
Those are quite easy to make from gum-paste so I made a lot.

 Here is a near completed little fairy sitting at her window with a blue blanket or something in her hands.
I have already dusted it with some edible white powder, not quite glittering but shining none the less.
Some of the leaves were made using molds and then twisted and turned and thinned out to look better, others were just cut into shape using a sharp knife.

The grass was made with a very sharp knife, then I added a stripe down each one to make it look "grassy" and let them dry in very strange positions before sticking them on to the boot with icing sugar.

When I made the window shutters I began by cutting the dough into the right size and then added the curves and grooves to make them look like wood, the buttons are also gingerbread, they were made with a mold and then stuck on to the shutters before baking.

I'm also very happy about the way the shoelaces turned out, they are also made from my favorite material gum-paste, it is colored black and dusted lightly with the powder I mentioned earlier.

To make the smoke from the chimney I used melted sugar, that  stuff is dangerous so if you intend to try it be very very careful. When it cools down a little bit it becomes very sticky, at that point I made little strings out of it which I balled up and stuck on the chimney. I like the way it sits there all crooked and plain... not decorated with icing sugar or anything.

Here are the wings on the flying fairy... looking quite nice.
I used the same cut-before-bake technique for the woody look of the house on top which I think looks nice.
I also couldn't resist adding some lighting.

This is a better view of the back of the boot, with laces shining and flowers climbing. Oh and the blue light.

When I brought it to the competition it was photographed form every angle, and I really hope I get to see some of those pics, they probably look better than mine.

But anyway it's going to be on display for at least 10 days, at which point I don't quite know what to do with it.
Make me an offer I can't refuse .)