Whenever anyone sees a fabric sculpture the first thing they usually say is, "I've never seen anything like it!"   After that, it is all questions about how it is done.  Ley is a self-taught fabric sculptor so not all may be made this way, but here is her answer to all those questions about how they are made:

Creating Nicole:  fabric sculpting a belly dancer statue step-by-step.

Redwood base has been cut, filled, and primed.  A hole has been drilled down the center into which a thick copper wire is glued.	A second copper wire is wound around the original wire, posed, and electrical tape used to hold it together.  It is not necessary, at this stage, for the skeleton to be perfectly positioned.	A layer of aluminum foil is crumpled onto the skeleton.	A second layer of aluminum foil is padded onto the first and any loose pieces are taped wth masking tape.  The face is shaped at this point as well, really just a nose, chin, and depth for the eyes.
Strips of cotton fabric are dipped in textile hardening medium, worked in, and wrapped around the foil base.   Antique metallic bronze tint was been added directly to the medium to give it color.	A larger single piece of cotton is used to wrap around the face, smoothed out so there are no wrinkles.  Fabric is wrapped tightly around the entire statue.	Once the armature is completely wrapped, final positioning must be made as the fabric will dry stiff and is not re-positionable.   This sculpture is still wet, it will become darker and more metallic as it dries.	The hair can be applied either while the sculpture is wet or after it has dried.  The curly hair on this figure is cotton string, pulled apart and shaped with a pick, and her braid is wool.
Strips of metallic red cotton fabric are dipped in transparent fabric hardener and drapped on the dried figure.  Like glue, the hardener is white but dries transparent and stiff.	Strips of red ribbon with beads attached are added to the dried costume, then painted black, as well as earrings.  Fringe is added around the waist as a hip belt.   Once that is dry, more beads are added to the fringe.	The base is texturized and painted.   Once the figure is complete, the whole thing is sealed multiple times with a weather resistant coating, though this is really an indoor sculpture.	So, there you have it.  The whole process takes, as you can imagine, quite a while with fabrication time and time in between to allow for drying.  This was pretty much an all 3-day-weekend project.