The Fairy Bag Holder is done!

Okay, so she's not a fairy .. and the body parts aren't the ones from the pattern .. and I didn't give her a hat .. but .. but .. but .. the concept is there! I am really happy about how she came out - she's pretty and bright and colorful and i keep looking at her up on the wall! Not sure if I'm just not used to having a doll in the kitchen or the placement is just wrong. I'll figure it out in time I guess. I think these will make awesome presents. The pattern actually has simple mitten hands so making them will go fast. That is as long as I don't spend hours on the face, as I'm liable to do! But that's one of the best parts of doll making! I really wanted to go trim crazy on this doll, kind of like Arley Berryhill describes in his column in Doll Crafter but I found that I really don't have that great a collection of trims! I guess I need to start looking at the Goodwill stores to see what kind of trim I can salvage - as new stuff is way too expensive! Anyhow, I'm rambling now ...oh, the pattern is from Sherry Goshon and available at Doll Street for only $5 ...

Moving along

She's a bit farther along today. I had used my OzCraft lace dyes yesterday to paint some rayon lace for her sleeves but this morning you can barely tell any color was added. I had thought about switching over and using some Dye-na-flo but in the end I just left it be. I found an applique that worked great for her top - i cut the heck out of it and then glued it to her! The little jeweled piece is a scrapbook decoration - it had teal thread all over it which I painted the same blue as her torso. Sure am glad I have a lighted magnifier! I need to do her hair and her nails and then I think she's done.

Adapting

Sherry Goshon came out with a new pattern which is a half doll with a sleeve for a skirt that will hold your plastic grocery bags. I was getting ready to trace the body pattern when I realized that I had the body parts from another one of her patterns sitting on my sewing table. Since it had been sitting there for months I figured I'd just use those bits instead of sewing new ones! So today I painted the face - which was rather interesting since I haven't made a doll in so long I can't even remember the last one! I just finished spraying the face with Craftgard - an out of production waterproofing spray - so she looks pretty bright and shiny right now, the colors will dull down when she's dry. I also painted the torso a metallic blue. I am going to have to match the kitchen colors since that's where she's gonna live. My kitchen colors are blue and orange for the most part - and I have lots of awesome orange fabrics so this is gonna be fun! I wish she'd dry faster than overnight though :(

I think maybe I am finally tearing myself away from that darn computer game that has sucked me in!

Leaning legs?????

So - I have made two sets of legs now and they both lean forward at a distinct angle. I have sewn one from the lengthwise grain and one from the crosswise grain. I'm not sure why they are doing this. Any ideas? I don't really want to make this a ski-jumping doll. Oh - and laughing at the very, very fat foot is okay, the doll was retaining water. I stuffed it so hard the darn thing split. VBG.

Something's missing

Ya know, unless I want to make the ears into wings I suppose I really, really should go back and sew up a head!

Out of hiding

Ummm... the doll is coming out of hiding, not me! Remember this one? The crash test daughter doll? My daughter wants me to finish her so she can have it. I never did anything with it because I didn't like how high the eyes were - there's no forehead on this girl! I have to figure out how to make a top for her - this is just the band from the bottom of the skirt - I had made it and then shortened it. I am so clueless when it comes to pattern drafting for clothing, sigh. I really really need a class on how to do this.

Finally - the pics of Celyn

She's been done for a while - just hadn't taken her photo. I sold the dresser I had been using to sit the light tent on and I haven't found a new home for it yet. Guess the ironing board will have to do! So .. without further ado ... my Celyn .. from Sherry Goshon's pattern ...

Posted by judi at 4:14 PM | Comments (18)

OMG - is this creepy or what?

ha ha ha - she has eyes in the back of her head! I made a new face on the flip side of the one i did yesterday.

Here's the new face ... I think this one might be closer to what I want - i just need to make her look a bit less surprised and add a couple more layers of shading. Getting there tho'!

Posted by judi at 8:23 PM | Comments (8)

Off with her head!

I can be really hard on myself some days. I decided that her features were too big and I'd make a new face/head. I don't like the new one either, lol. I think I need to lower the features a bit. Or something. One thing that's good is that only the hands show so my worry about matching skin fabrics isn't coming into play. I can make a ton of these heads until I get one I'm happy with. As you can see she is mostly dressed now too - just needs some embellishing. Bad thing is that the doll doesn't stand anymore - i think the weight of the clothes has tipped her too far forward. So that means I have to figure out how to saw some of the heel off the shoe. This ought to be interesting!

High heels

I don't know what I did to Celyn but she needed 1/2 inch heels in order to stand on her own. I knew that I'd never be able to sculpt them so I came up with another one of my strange ideas. I cut an old plastic thread spool to size, then ground it to the right angle, well, actually my husband did. He's really good about dropping things and helping me out. Since I took this picture, I've covered them in black paper and glued them to her feet - tried to fill the cracks in with paper clay but i don't know how that will work. I'll let her dry overnight and then see what's what. I might end up having to use Aves Epoxie Sculpt to smooth out the join; then I'll add another layer of paper and paint the shoes again. We'll see. But I'm stoked that she stands by herself - there's no armature in here! Another great Sherry pattern!

First face in 11 months ...

I think this is the first face I've done this year. Or close to it. Seems to be shaping up - I can see some dimension in there. But - boy - I forgot how much I suck at eyelashes, lol. I could totally tear this apart - as in critiquing it - but I won't. I'll be kind to myself for once.

The fluff factor

I'm still working on Sherry's Celyn, slowly but surely. I had to restuff the hands because I wasn't happy with them. Patti Culea taught me to use pipe cleaners from the tobacco shop instead of chenille stems because their wires are much stronger. But sometimes they just don't have that fluff factor I need and I hate trying to add tiny bits of stuffing to little fingers if I don't have to. Here's what I'm talking about ... the hand on your left has pipe cleaners and the hand on the right has 15mm chenille stems - the fluffiest I can find locally.

and here's the bits ....

and here she is stuffed but before her spa treatment ...

her body shape is very similar to my Stone Cold Troll and the hubs wanted to know if that's what I was making, lol. Ai yi yi.

Posted by judi at 5:03 PM | Comments (5)

It's a d .. d... d.. doll .. sshhhh

I absolutely adore Sherry Goshon's cloth dolls and I just HAD to buy her latest pattern, Celyn ... today I got her sewn and turned ... the big question is whether I will sit and stuff her tonight or sit and knit. I have a feeling knitting will win because I'm up to the heel on this sock and I want to get it turned! This is a big girl and she's going to take a while to stuff! I think Celyn might be the first doll I've made this year! EEKS.

P.S. You need to go to Doll Street and see the latest 'hard' doll that Sherry has made (and is teaching) .. it's absolutely gorgeous and unlike any other doll you'll have seen before!

Dolls make the world go round

.. or something like that .. the Internet sure has let us cross borders without passports or visas or even being there physically ... I got an email from Elena in Romania that she had found my free Blume pattern and had made this doll ... isn't she awesome? I love her costume!

Leg bolts

I sure hope this works! I took the legs from a porcelain doll and filled them with steel shot - then I took tin foil and squished it into a leg extension shape and covered it with apoxie sculpt. I'll find out in the morning if it works. If it seems strong enough I will do the other leg. I also completely redid the colors of the clock box - you can't really see it in the background - but I really enjoyed doing it and I'll probably be adding more to it.

the photo sucks - too lazy to take it to the light box and the flash reflected off everything - ah well

Posted by judi at 6:38 PM | Comments (5)

Another beautiful mermaid

I wanted to share a mermaid made by Kat Tyni from my mermaid pattern, Ruby of the Sea. Isn't she just the most gorgeous thing? She changed the arms and sculpted her fingers. I should add the arm pattern from my Northern Mermaid pattern to the Ruby pattern, she has separate fingers. I get a real thrill seeing what people make from my patterns! Thanks, Kat!

A lovely little porcelain doll

I found this lovely little doll at the thrift store for $5. I just loved the expression on her face. I really don't need any more of these things but you know how that goes.

If you would like to see what I have done with her then continue reading ....

yep .. I'm at it again ...

oh, my
you have to admit she looks good bald!

I shopped victoriously ...

yep - bought this on eBay. It's signed by the artist, Ivy Wylde, and dated 1996. She's about 13" tall. I love the face cab - I think it's an original sculpt. Does anyone have a clue if this is a pattern? I would love to trace this out and make one myself. I am also thinking of giving her a hand to hold her moon - it looks a bit unfinished to me. Why would I change someone else's piece? I don't know. I didn't buy it from the artist and I can't find any info on her. Not that it matters. Anyhow - I think it's really neat. All hand painted. I was surprised at how dull/matte the colors were compared to the photo on eBay. The seller must have hit the autofix button. But I love it anyway!

P.S. I just heard from the seller that this piece is from her aunt's estate. She said her aunt was a world class pack rat and she doesn't know where half of her things came from. "This doll came out of a box full of odd dolls. Presents she received? Things she purchased on a whim? Who knows. She died at almost 100."

Posted by judi at 2:37 PM | Comments (19)

This and that and Kate's Blume

I haven't been down to the studio for a couple of days now. Had a lot of running around to do - had to take the dogs to the groomer - and just lost time somewhere. I do have something I want to teach you though. I have a horrible time attaching hangers to dolls and things and I came up with something that works really well for me. It has to do with wire and buttons. As soon as I have some time I'll take photos and write it up. Maybe Saturday. Tomorrow is going to be heavy duty computer time unfortunately. I have been really bad and haven't put anything into the accounting program for two weeks. It's going to take me forever, sigh.

The doll is made by my friend Kate Erbach for a blog swap. She used my free pattern Blume. I think she's adorable! I think the doll's pretty cute too .

More mermaids - but they're Canuuks !

Just have to share two mermaids that Vee and Maggie made ... they are too cute hanging out on their ice floe together! Vee's mermaid is called Arora and she is on the left and in the single photo. You can see more photos of Arora at Vee's blog. l I don't know what Maggie named hers. I get a huge kick out of seeing what people do with my patterns! These Canadian mermaids rock!

Moving right along

I have to say right off the bat that there is nothing much original about this piece other than the pattern. I was inspired last year by all the artists who were making dolls with 'something' under their skirts. I can think of Natalie, Sherry, Stephanie, and Karen right off the bat. I have been wanting to do something along that line for a while now. I made a pattern from the duct tape body - not as hard as I thought - then transferred it to freezer paper. Sewed it up and promptly cut half of it off - the torso was too long. She needs some adjustment and I really don't know how to create a bustline just by darting. The boobs look funny, LOL. But that's okay - it's just a first draft. Here's my tip of the day: Use arms or other body parts from your boneyard to get an idea of proportion before you draft new body pieces. I didn't know how long I wanted my arms so I stuck a couple of spares on to see the length. Also stick a head on it - even if the size is wrong - I did that and once the head was on she had no neck left. As you can tell I'm not a scientific designer, LOL. It's kind of trial and error for me!

Duct tape dummy

I read somewhere about making a body shape using cardboard and then draping it with muslin to make a pattern. I think it was Arley Berryhill who was talking about it. I tried it but got a bit carried away with the duct tape. I have no idea how to do the next step - it was bad enough doing this. Although I did enjoy the process and had a lot of laughs. It's just not pretty,she's kind of chunky wouldn't you say? Notice how much room I give myself to work in ... NOT...and yes, the jar will be part of the doll ...

A broken ankle

Those of you who have been with me for a while might remember that in 2003 I took a class in Color and Design at the University and made a fabulous cloth doll for the final assignment. She is an adaption of Pam Grose's Basic Woman and is named The Last of the Faeries. I had posed her so she was a bit bent over with osteoporosis. Probably not my best idea as she's always had a bit of a problem with leaning. She's traveled a bit for art shows and this month she got knocked over while we were decorating the house. Well, she has a huge problem now ...
Her ankles have folded. I imagine the stuffing has compressed from the weight or something. The bad news is this doll is gessoed and painted; she's stiff as a board. I don't think there is a way to take it apart and fix it without leaving big holes in the bottom of her foot or something. Plus I actually used Aves Apoxie Sculpt to stick the one foot to the base. Like I said - she ended up with some real balance problems after a while. I did manage to stick a rod up one leg and it helped for a while. It's such a shame. This is my absolute best doll; my pride and joy. Look how far off balance she is - that's a good inch of foam under the one foot. I'm very sad. She's down in my studio now waiting for me to figure out what to do with her. Any ideas?

The Protector of Easter Candy

My friend Jacque came out with a darling little pattern called Angel of Stress/Protector of Chocolate. A lovely little female creature whose skirt is meant to be a holder of chocolate kisses (the Hershey type). My version came out a bit different ... is that a surprise?

Snail pincushion

No wonder it has been slow going! I've been working on a snail! Okay - go ahead and groan.

This is from an upcoming pattern by Jacque Uetz and will be offered through Dollmaker's Journey and ClothDollPatterns soon. I'm just thrilled with how she turned out. Jacque uses molds for her patterns but you know me - I hate clay! So instead I covered a button with stuffing and fabric and drew a face on.

Posted by judi at 3:33 PM | Comments (18)

A doll's colorful journey ends

I have been participating in a round robin for over a year now. It's been nice because we haven't had huge time constraints on how long we could keep each piece. That way we could work on them when inspiration hit rather than when a deadline hit! My doll came back to me a couple of weeks ago and I'm just thrilled with the results. We called the round robin A Doll's Colorful Journey because we had to pick a color theme. I picked white, cream, ivory, and gold. Here is how the piece went out into the world:

Here is what came home:

Look what I got !!! - Part 2

For someone who hadn't traded dolls in years I'm catching up! This is a mermaid pincushion I received from Patti LaValley in exchange for one of my mermaid business card holders. I think she's too sweet to stick pins in though!

As for me ... I made another plushie, this one is a healing plushie instead of a sick one! It's a commission for a friend so I can't post photos right now. I have to make another spotty plushie though so keep tuned!

Look what I got !!!

Oh my gosh - take a look at this beauty - she came in the mail today from Kate Erbach. We traded dolls. I think I got the better end of that deal! This is the first swap I've done in years and I couldn't be happier. She is named The Queen of Hearts. She's stolen mine, that's for sure! Thanks, Kate - you're the best!!!!

You should see the paper doll she sent me also - it's a hoot! I'll take a photo and try to post it tomorrow. Kate is a multi-talented artist and I'm so glad I've met her through the net!

The Charmed One is finished

I've been on a roll this week! I feel like I'm making up for lost time when all the relatives were here. It was like I was held hostage or something, LOL. I added some color to the tips of the Charmed One's hair to give it some depth and then I made her charm bracelet. I have about 20 charms on there, as I was in two hand made charm exchanges. I'm getting geared up for another one too although I don't know if I'll be able to add all of those to this bracelet. I love this gal so much she's up in the living room - not too many of my dolls make it there!

Posted by judi at 9:38 AM | Comments (10)

The feminine Yoda

I was outside spraying her face with sealer when I realized that she looked like she was wearing a robe. Then I thought that she looked like a feminine version of Yoda. To make matters worse, I also thought that I probably need to make a proper 'hairdressing' cape for my dolls so they aren't suffering the further indignities of plastic bags or washcloths. Yeah, I'm weird, we all know that, LOL.

An awesome eyeglass holder

I am so pleased with this new eyeglass caddy! I am always leaving my eyeglasses in odd places - so we'll see if I actually use this or not. The whole torso is the eyeglass holder - you make it out of cardboard - it is even bowed like a proper eyeglass caddy. Love the colors - I used three different checked fabrics and accented everything with orange and lime green. Funny thing is - those bloomers? They were in the 'brights' drawer - already sewn up - the size was right - all I had to do was add the orange cuffs to them. Never throw anything away, LOL. A really odd combination but it works. I left the tassel on her head completely intact because I might hang her from a shelf, don't know yet. I think I am going to name her Marigold. Another project done! Whoo hoo!

Flat faced

I am working on two of Sherry Goshon's patterns. They both have flat faces, gulp. My nemesis. These are really hard for me because I can't seem to get nice noses. But, hey, check this out ... I tried to copy the face diagram pretty faithfully and then did my own version of shading. I got a bit carried away with the tear ducts, but it's not half bad! YAY! Now I feel confident enough to tackle the face for the Charmed One. Phew.

Have you noticed I'm getting over my bald doll phobia? I actually took her photo without a wig on! How about that!

A little bit of a diva

Celeste turned out to be a bit of a diva. She was very particular about what she wanted to wear - which turned out to be nothing. No sleeves, no shrug. What can you do? I was lucky she let me give her a hat. Which turned out great, by the way. Celeste is going to live with my friend Kate but I think she might have to wait until after doll club to leave home. Oh - she was made from my Stump Sisters pattern.

Charmed .. I'm sure ...

This is the beginning of a charm bracelet holder. Sherry Goshon designed her and is teaching her in an online class. This part is made of canvas - and glued to an Altoid Box. Those things on her are rubber bands - holding the body to the box until it's dry. It's a great shape and we are going to paint, stencil, and who knows what on her body. I have to say that turning a canvas body right side out was quite interesting - I think I built new muscles! I've since gessoed her and I'm waiting anxiously until the next lesson is posted!

I'm happy now

I'm much happier with this face. This is the fourth head I made before I was happy. It ended up being that I was making the features too big for the head so I downsized some and it worked out better. I can live with this!!! Phew.

If at first ...

If at first you don't succeed then cover it with cloth! I screwed up needle sculpting a head and tried to pick the stitches out. Yeah, right. All I did was make holes in the fabric. So I thought I'd try covering with cloth. It was fun to do but she looks like she doesn't have a nose, LOL. This is the second head I've made trying to get a good one for my project. I'll try again tomorrow!

Twins!

Check this out ... the one on the left is the face I made as I demo'ed face sculpting and painting in the class down on the Kenai. I'm amazed at how alike they are - I actually followed my own instructions, LOL. Sweet!!!!

What's she up to now ????

Here's a glimpse of some of the pieces parts I am going to be using for my next doll. Part cloth - part assemblage??? We have a wooden base, the middle of a steamer basket, some wires from a power supply, a couple of dowels, and some rigid wrap. I have to go do some dumpster diving in an electrical/construction supply dumpster for some more things - or else it's off to the plumbing supply house for me!

What northern mermaids wear

This is Anuuk. She is an Alaskan mermaid, living in the cold depths of the Bering Sea. She is a beautiful creature but she doesn't seem to thrill the sailors as much as her tropical cousins do. Might have something to do with the kuspuk and sea mittens that she wears to help ward off the chill. This is her best kuspuk - it has a wolf fur ruff and fox fur accents.

I think this is my favorite mermaid so far! She was inspired by a comic drawn by Chad Carpenter of Tundra Comics. You can see the comic strip here.

Antique Reproduction Cloth Doll is DONE!

Sally Ann is finally finished! On one of my lists we were talking about our stashes and how if you throw something out you will soon need it. I knew I had bought some doll shoes years ago but couldn't remember seeing them lately. I thought I had traded them and I was going to be disappointed. But, aha, there they were in a box with straw hats and baskets. Yay! They are just the thing for this little girl.

Rivkah will be offering this doll as an on-line class soon although I don't know exactly when or where. You'll learn a new method of jointing, a new face painting method, and probably a few more things. If you're like me you'll fall in love with the Genesis paints. Thanks for letting me test this, Rivkah!

The little repro head is done

Here is the finished head. I used Texture Magic and a comb to create the hair - it didn't come out as neatly as I hoped. I was trying to recreate the look of the molded vinyl hair. You can also see that when the iron-on face was stuffed the paint seems to have that crackle look to it. Which might be a good thing for an antique repro. Now to attach it to the body and get her dressed!

Genesis Heat Set Oils

This is the face for the doll I'm testing for Rivkah. It's going to be interesting - the head is 3 or 4 parts and you (obviously) paint the face first. I didn't draw the face - it's an iron-on. This was my first time working with the Genesis paints and I really like them - fabulous consistency. I don't think that this is the best surface for them though. I'd like to try them on some type of sealed cotton. Just have to figure out what the best thing to seal them with is. I'd rather stay away from gesso if I can help it. Guess I'll ask my good friend Judy who is a decorative painter - she knows ALL about Genesis. She's the one who told me how to use them to do this face - to use glass for a palette and a metal palette knife because plastics will leach the oils out of the paint. She also told me to use Mona Lisa Odorless Thinner and it worked great to make the paint flow better. I certainly do see some experiments in my future!

What in the world is that?

First off, the head does not belong to the body, ha ha ha. I had sewn it up from the batik I used on Ingrid but it was way too blue/green to use for her face. So I took it to doll club on Monday for UFO and worked on it for fun. Because Gretchen, a new doll maker, was watching me as I worked, I sculpted the sides (flares?) of the nose as well as what I usually do. Kind of a mini-sculpting lesson. I really like it and I think I might just have to do that from now on. She still needs eyelashes and maybe a mole or two. I might have to make a body for her - or I can send her to Shashi and SHE can make a body for her. Just kidding. Anyhow, I'm testing a pattern for Rivkah in Israel and that's what the big body is for. You won't believe what this will be when it's done - it is so not my normal style. I'm having fun trying something new. Keep tuned for progress reports.

Third version of the stump doll

I know I said the next thing would be the baby doll but communication between Alaska and Israel takes a couple of days. Rivkah gets up when I go to bed so it takes a while for our letters to catch up to each other. You know how that goes. So in the meantime I started to paint the prototype for the Stump Sisters. This was the plain muslin doll I made as my final test. I painted her in sunset colors (with acrylics) then glued crumpled white tissue paper over her whole body. After that I sponged on two colors of Lumiere paint and some Pearl Ex Interference Gold. Dabbed a bit of black glitter paint on also. She really shines - which is pretty hard to capture with the camera. I'm not sure where she will go from here. I'm thinking of giving her some skirts that have been dipped in Paverpol and then painted. We'll see.

Ingrid is done!

Finally done! If it wasn't for drying time I could have had her finished yesterday. I sprayed her face with Craftgard. I took step by step photos of drawing/coloring her face so that will be in this pattern too. It's amazing how different the two girls look - the faces were stuffed differently and the eye shapes make one alert and one rather sleepy.

The hat is a fake, LOL. It's an illusion of a hat - don't you just love it! Next posting I'll tell you how I made the hat. The big piece of lace she's standing on isn't attached to the doll - it's just a 'prop'. I have yards and yards of this lace. Bought an entire 'bolt' when a fabric store went out of business. The two girls will be shipped down to Soldotna next week. Phew. Now to think of something new to make!

What a difference color makes!

I am nearly done with the next stump doll. I want to send two versions off as samples - so folks can see what can be done with one pattern. Plus it will help the students decide what they want to do. This one has a body made of batik - all one material - except for the flesh shoulder/neck area. Lots more embellishing to do still. Not to mention face and hair. Oh, don't ask what's stuck on her head -

Black and white and finally done

I don't know who this girl is who keeps hanging around but she's getting on my nerves. I found this doll hidden under my bed this morning - did she think I'd start another one before Emmeline was done? Not likely. Thanks to Kelly for her suggestion of the parasol, it was the perfect touch. For those of you who took my Headdress class - add a scrunchie between two wraps of the turban and it will look like a big hat. At least I think it does. It looks better in person.

I kept her 'makeup' colors quite pale so she didn't overwhelm the rest of the color scheme. Her eyes are grey and her lips a pale pink. She has shading in a light lavender and her cheeks are rose pink. If that girl tries to steal this doll she's going to be very, very sorry.

..the further adventures of Goldilocks

... while Goldy was waiting around for another doll to appear she wandered into the doll maker's bedroom. She found two bears in there.

... to be continued (again) .... or not ....

Goldilocks and the 3 Dolls

Goldilocks is back in town. She was walking through the Forest of New Ideas when she came upon a doll maker. The doll maker lived in a lovely little gingerbread house and she invited Goldy in. She said she had to make a doll to teach to brand new doll-makers, so she thought she would make a stump doll. The first doll was just two pattern pieces and was toooo skinny, so the doll maker added more pieces. The second doll was toooo fat. Goldy thought she might be an opera singer. The doll maker cackled and told Goldy that their arms came from the boneyard and Goldy became afraid.

The mermaids are back ...

I really love the big hair - I think this mermaid is from Texas .. down around Corpus Christi. This mermaid was made for a private swap - my partner and I are going to swap mermaids. She makes mermaid pincushions and I do love pincushions. I also love this seaweed looking fabric. I have lots of it left too.


I tried coloring my 'pearls' with alcohol inks - the white just stood out so much - it works nicely. I have no idea what the 'pearls' are made of - some type of plastic I imagine.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has bought the mermaid pattern - I appreciate it and I sure hope to see photos of them in the future.

Stone Cold Troll #2 - The One That Got Away

I got the second Stone Cold Troll finished today. Thanks to Tia Linda for inspiring this one - she came up with the idea of 'the one that got away". I have the directions all written up, I will offer this as a pattern by the end of next week (hopefully). He's fun but there's lots to learn, for instance, my special stone paint job for his skin, how to use Paverpol, and a fun treatment for the base to make it look like stone. I'll also teach you to alter a bra and make the club. Phew.

When I first sculpted his face I had given him a smirk. Should have left it - he looks entirely too sweet now, LOL. Hope you like him!

OH DEAR .... I *just* realized I forgot to give him his goatee ... guess he's NOT done! sigh.

The artsy bra - for the one that got away

So this is the bra for my troll to drag behind him. Cute, eh? I'm nearly finished covering it with the fake fur. Did you know that the training bra section of the store has padded, underwired bras? EEKS. My training bras (if I can remember that far back) were just a piece of stretchy white material. This thing started out bright orange with lime green lace trim. My, how times have changed!

Ruby: A mermaid of another color

When I was at the trade show one of the girls in our doll club mentioned that we didn't have any black dolls on display. She liked the mermaids and would have bought one if I had made a dark skinned mermaid. I have never really thought about that before but she was right - most of my dolls are light skinned. So I decided to make her a mermaid.


HA - she might not get it because it's another one I fell in love with. These things are going to take over my house! I'll have a school of them. Thank goodness no one said we didn't have any MALE dolls, LOL. I'm not ready to tackle a merman.

Fabric Art: Muse Doll Wall Hanging

I recently joined a group called FAT .. Fabric Art Traders .. I think I'll fit in well there for a variety of reasons, LOL. One of the trades they were working on was a Fabric Art Muse. The pattern was designed by JoAnn Bradley. I thought I could get one done in time to trade but I missed the cutoff. Here she is anyway ...

She is for sale at my Etsyshop along with four of the mermaids.

A Women's Affair: Doll club booth

This weekend my doll club had a booth at a trade show that was marketed towards women's needs and interests. We had dolls for sale and lots just for display. The sales to each other were great but dismal to the public, LOL. BUT our goal was to generate interest in the dolls and I think we were successful in that. We offered a free class (to be held soon) and had 39 women sign up for it. Now we have to come up with the class, LOL. We thought up the idea on Friday as we were setting up and then brainstormed it today. I think we're going to have them make a Bendi type doll and then wrap it with fibers. Use face stamps that they can color in. Something we can do in 4 hours and have a finished product. Three of us will teach and we'll probably do two sessions. If we have 10 show up out of the 39 we'll be happy. It was a good weekend!

This cloth mermaid's a keeper!

I checked the fishing regs and the bag limit on mermaids is one! So this one's mine! Whoo hoo! She's a beauty - an older mermaid who is stuck back in the, what .. 70's? 80s? She's a real kick, what with her pink hair and her forehead shell. (The mermaid version of body art.) I've got a nice little fish tank set up in my studio ... as soon as the water gets up to temperature she'll feel right at home!

I obviously gave up on the flat faces and went back to sculpted profile faces. I added sleeves too, I really like the look! This is the head I'll use for the pattern; which is nearly written up. Just have to figure out how to describe the needle sculpting and make some diagrams.

Turning teeny tiny fingers (over and over and over)

I have no idea why I wanted to do this .. it wasted a lot of my time today. I thought I'd make articulated fingers for the mermaid. I knew I shouldn't have tried the material I've been making the mermaids out of because it's kind of coarse and the arms were hard to turn when they were tubes. It was impossible with fingers. Then I tried some Kona cotton - which is supposed to be a good quality fabric. Nope - couldn't turn them either - but did manage to blow through the side seams of the fingers. Finally I found a piece of Pimatex - this is really awesome fabric - smooth as a .. well, baby's butt???? So I was able to turn them. BUT it wasn't fun - my smallest turning tube barely fit and the rod just wasn't small enough for them to work together. I tried using the eye end of a needle, that worked but what worked even better were my needle-nosed hemostats. These things are so pointy and sharp they usually poke holes in everything. But I was able to get them in the fingers, grab the end, and turn them. Okay - so now they are turned - what to wire them with? I used pipe cleaners but they barely fit - actually didn't fit in one finger after your crimp the ends over. I might try this again - but with a knit - and I think I will make the fingers longer so they look more elegant. These are ugly hands. But hey - the fingers are barely half an inch!

Mutating mermaids multiply

Yeah, yeah, yeah .. it's an awful alliteration. So sue me, ha ha. What’s the latest changes? I made the arms a bit skinnier and I made the face rounder. I like the rounder face but I’m not sure what happened to one of the arms. It’s really wrinkly. It’s stuffed pretty firm too. Maybe she needs long sleeves, ha ha. Isn’t that terrible!

Here’s a group shot – I think I might make one more. I don’t know – they are getting pretty addicting. I was asked if I was going to make this into a pattern. Maybe – we’ll see. I’m kind of afraid to after all the comments over on Doll Street about how some doll maker’s patterns are so unprofessional looking. I was thinking of going to the University and seeing if someone there could turn my hand drawn patterns into something nice looking. I’ve tried using the computer myself but I’m not very good at it. But that’s a worry for another week!

Another change to the mermaid pattern

Oh my gosh, I'm pulling a Kai! I'm taking photos before the dreaded glue is dry, LOL. I thought about Jacque's suggestion and I decided that the girls should hold seashells. I found a package of tiny shells at (sshhhh) Wal*Mart - just the perfect size for these little ones. I extended her tail one inch and it makes a big difference - I really like it. I also completely changed the arm pattern - I made them longer, turned them into tubes instead of mitts, and wired them. I think I like this pose better also.

These little faces are killing me though - I'm having a really hard time getting a nice face when it's only an inch or so long. Hopefully someone will like them though. I do but then again they are all my babies. Oh - they can all hold business cards or name cards too. Here's the group shot:

Introducing the Mermaid business card holder

Yesterday I made a prototype of a mermaid that I am going to make a bunch of for sale at the Women's Show, a trade show here in Fairbanks. Our doll club has a booth courtesy of the show's owner (who is a doll club member). I want to make something quick and easy that I can sell inexpensively (around $35-$40). So this first photo is the prototype. I changed the tail before I made the first 'real one'. I also shared this photo with one of my online groups and received a couple of fun comments.

So per Linda's suggestion, the mermaid is now a business card holder, LOL. I'm not happy with her though. I can see where a couple of changes needs to be made. I think she's stubby. Now that can be cute but I most likely will elongate the very bottom of her tail a bit, about an inch or so.

I am using Natalie's method of painting faces, more or less, no paint but I am making iron-ons for the faces. I see that I have to move the nose down on this face - it's up by her eyes instead of down by her mouth. No wonder something looked 'off'. The whole head is just 1 1/2 inches - that's tiny to me. I have to come up with something quick and easy for hair too. This poking the mohair in took too long and it just looks too messy. If you think I'm whining .. you're right! Everyone's allowed to pick their own work apart if they want to, LOL.

I did some free motion embroidery on the fins and I really like it. I've made two of these now - I didn't take photos of the other one because it is so ugly it makes me think of a guy in very bad makeup. I am going to have to pop the head off and make another one. But I'm having fun and keeping busy so that's all good!

Another headdress for the class

I don't know where you draw the line between hats and headdresses .. this one seems more of a hat to me although it is not removable. It doesn't have a brim either, and it's not really a cloche, so maybe it can be a headdress. I have one more headdress to design and then this is done. I am itching to start on a new/old idea I have for a connected woman!

Mini-class for doll head dresses

I am working on my class instructions for the mini-class I'm teaching over at Doll Street. The class starts March 1st . You can see the ad and/or sign up now if you like. It's only $10 and I'll teach you various alternatives to hair. If you've read my blog for a while you know I hate hair. Here is one of the styles I will be teaching ...

The Troll for the Breast Cancer Fundraiser is done !

I have finally completed this project. The Stone Cold Troll was a blast to make. I had a whole lot of fun figuring out the paint technique to make him stonelike. I had never worked with greasy fleece before either so that was a kick too. I like hair like this - you don't have to worry about styling it! This I can handle. I think when I make the next one I am going to 'borrow' Tia Linda's idea and make him the 'One that Got Away'. With a club in one hand and trailing a bra behind him from the other hand. Sounds like a hoot to me!

I have more photos .. just click on the continue reading link.

You click on the photos to enlarge them. Remember you can click on the photo again once it shows up in a separate window if you want to see more detail.

Mossy Oak

Okay - so it's not really camouflage - but it is real moss. I couldn't decide if he should have clothes or not and I was sticking the moss on the base when it dawned on me that the moss could be the clothes too. At first I just gave him his, uh, loincloth but then I thought I'd try for some chest hair. Don't ask why. It looked silly and turned into his chest strap instead. Kind of a Tarzan look.

His hair is unwashed wool fleece. I didn't realize it was unwashed until I was half way through sewing it on. My hands were nicely moisturized. I think I might add another lock or two in the front. I find it really helps to take photos to critique your own work.

I'm really loving this guy!

Pretzel head is done

Don't work on projects when you are dieting ... strange things happen.

Here is the clock before she got hacked to bits .... She's an Iowa girl ... Sherry Goshon found her at a yard sale and sent her my way last spring. She's a long way from home!

Switching gears : Back to the clock doll

I had to put the troll aside for now as I have to finish this piece to put it in the gallery. Our club does a show each February at a local art gallery and we have to have our pieces submitted this coming weekend. So I finished up the pants today and wefted the hair. Now all I have to do is make her a headpiece, attach the head to the box, attach the legs, and stick the clock in it. I should have it done tomorrow. Wefting the hair was fun. I used silk waste and eyelash yarn. I've taken photos of each step so I can teach this online or make it into a CD if there's interest. This clock's costume is way more complicated than the one I did for the magazine. This is another piece that I set aside for months because I got frustrated with it.

Stone cold troll

I worked on his skin tone today and although I'm happy with the base color I'm not too happy with the 'cracks' I tried to paint on him. I think this will have to be reworked a bit. He's looking cool though.

It's time to pop him in the oven to heat set this first layer of paint. I hope his eyes don't melt!

Posted by judi at 1:54 PM | Comments (9)

A Breast Cancer Fundraiser

I've finally got back to working on this guy. This is my contribution to an Art Bra fundraiser. He's due to the organizers of the show in March so I have to get him done. Let me tell you a bit about him ...

He is my own pattern and I made him hunchbacked and with oversized hands and feet. He has a really strange head but I like it. His eyes are those plastic animal eyes with big hooded eyelids. I love how his feet came out - they are big and only have four toes. Now that I see him in the photos I might have to move his legs down - his thighs are up around his waist, LOL. I am planning on painting his body a couple of shades of grey. I have an idea in my head and we'll see if I can get it out through my hands!

You might not realize it but he is holding a bra. Since this is an art bra fundraiser he has to have one and he told me in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to wear one! I don't think the gallery will have any other bra-toting trolls! I have plans for the bra too but they are only half baked at this point. Quite obviously his base is too small too - will have to get another one. Or maybe not.

Oh - off the subject for a moment - I noticed with the Flickr photo hosting that when you click on a photo to enlarge it , it doesn't show the biggest photo. If you click on the photo a second time (in the new window) it will enlarge once more. Strange.

He has a name .. the first person who can guess what it is will win a little prize! It's actually more of a title than a name. Leave me a comment with your guess.

Beginners rock!

Tonight was the last session of the beginner doll class I am (was?) teaching down at the quilt shop. Two weeks ago at the end of class my ladies had their doll bodies sewn and we were working on stuffing them. Tonight we were supposed to joint the dolls and work on faces. Unfortunately life intervenes and only one of the ladies had body parts ready to joint. Thank goodness she did or I wouldn't have had a body to demo with. We used watercolor pencils and prismacolor pencils for the faces, didn't they come out great! I think they did fantastic for their first time! I think they were all really pleased with their babies! We had a lot of fun and I'm really proud of how their dolls are coming along!

Dressed in the Empire fashion

See the little bit of lace around her neck? A stand alone collar? Maybe a fabric necklace? My friend Karen gave it to me - it's a bit of hand-dyed lace trim and I developed the entire color scheme around it. According to my fashion history book this dress style was worn in the Regency/Empire era - about the late 1700/early 1800s. Except with little puffed sleeves. Ummm - and maybe not the train. The color is wrong too. Their dresses were usually white to represent purity and what they believed was worn in antiquity. But, by golly, I got the waistline right!!! They also wore turbans with these dresses - whoo hoo - finally - my turbans are fashionably correct! Of course I'd use one regardless of that fact; after all, I am hairstyle-impaired. But anyhow ... meet Josephine.

Oh - this is the tall, slim body from the Lost and Found post. It is a Patti Culea pattern - from her Valandrial class.

A wee bit sad...

I bought these beautiful girls on eBay and the seller told me that his daughter took very good care of them. So what I am going to do with them? Probably cut them up into little pieces and make something else out of them - like a clock. So knowing these were loved makes me feel a little bit bad that I'm going to mutilate them. But not bad enough not to do it!

No more empty space!

No, it's not between my ears! Since I sold the original Whisper I have had a big empty space on my wall. But it's empty no more! Although I still have to make something for her to hold in her left hand I'm saying she's done! I came up with a really unique headdress that, for once, I'm not telling how I made, LOL. The headdress is really special because the purple sequin trim was bought for me by Shashi when she went to India last summer, and the part of her headress with the beautiful fall colors was made from a gift from Natalie. How do you like her 'tassel'? I think it's cool. I was afraid that it would bounce against the wall once she was hung up but, nope, it hangs freely. I'm really happy with her.

The basic pattern was from a class that Barbara Willis came up here and taught a couple of years ago. I changed the angle of one of her arms but the rest of it is hers. The face is a cloth over clay, it is the face that I sculpted in her class. I think this is the first time that I've used that face since the class. We learned how to make a flexible mold so that was nice.

Much more svelte!

I have sewn another torso and I am much happier with her now. I used a nice batik that had a much higher thread count than the previous fabric so there wasn't as much stretch. I triple-checked to make sure the slight stretch was going lengthwise. I did not use my freezer paper pattern either - I drew around the original pattern template. So, all in all this made a big difference in the shape, as you can see. I had to take her corset in about half an inch at center back - it looks great now.

Disassembly

So I had her nearly complete - skirt was sewn on, arms attached, head glued on, and I had beaded her corset and had it pinned on when I decided her torso was too wide. This is the result. I think it was due to a couple of reasons. One - because I traced the pattern onto freezer paper and then cut outside the line, I made the pattern bigger by millimeters. Two - I used a low thread count fabric and stuffed the heck out of it. It must have had more stretch than I anticipated. I know the grain was going vertically because I double checked it. These factors made for a thick torso and she just looked terrible. So now I have to go back into the stash and find something else. Do you ever do this?

Lost and found

I had bought some clear plastic totes the other day so I could get my yarn out of hat boxes and into something where I could see what I have. Imagine my surprise when I found these two in the last hat box under a skirt I was altering (a year or two ago) for a friend of mine. They are at least three years old! I wonder why one doll had 3 legs sewn up!!!

It's torture!

I PROMISE not to tell anyone what you got them for Xmas!!! Please .. let me go .... AARRGH ... my head, my head .......

Candlestick Challenge

Earlier this year my club issued a challenge to make a piece incorporating a wooden candlestick. I posted photos of mine earlier this year. We had our holiday get together last night and we were supposed to bring our candlesticks. Unfortunately only 7 of us showed up and only 3 of us brought the candlesticks. I forgot my camera too. So I talked my friend Karen into trading dolls for a month, LOL. I just love this little girl - her face is a commercial mold and it came out really pretty!

Posted by judi at 11:54 AM | Comments (6)

A little bit froggy

I've had this piece sitting around for a couple of years - never finished it - the head wasn't sewn on and she didn't have any clothes on. So while the turkey was in the oven I finished her up so I could take her to the craft show this weekend. The fabric for the skirt and sleeves is totally wild - it's a multi color metallic and it's incredibly thready (hairy?). The fabric actually matches her body color really well - but it makes her hair look dull now. This is an adaption of a Lynne Butcher pattern - it has a totally different head. The head was designed by a gal down in Anchorage - Karen Smith. She came up and taught one weekend and this is what we made. She taught us to stuff the head so hard we had to practically hammer the needle through it to sculpt. Not my style but this head is smooth and beautiful. I think she needs false eyelashes again - she had some but lost them somewhere along the line.

Oh .. and I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

Posted by judi at 7:09 PM | Comments (10)

It's party time!

The girls had themselves a little party last night to celebrate being finished. They thought they were the Village People by the looks of things.


This is my very favorite ...


My next favorite one ...

The copper one ...

I will try to get better photos when I am able to hang them up - they don't look the same when they are lying down. I was going to sell these for $45 but now I think it might have to be a bit more, LOL.

More Christmas Ornaments

I'm working on three more of the Christmas Ornaments that Jacque Uetz wrote up in Doll Crafter magazine. This one is mainly purple/blue/green. I used some awesome glittery silk flowers for the bodice and all the way down the front. I will use the leaves to make wings with. Still needs a face and hair .. I'll probably do all the faces at once.

Here are the next two ... one is burgandy and gold and I think it will be really pretty when it's done. The other is brown/gold and I used so much eyelash that I think she is going to do the flamenco!! Big sleeves!!!

Teapot Hats

	Hats I created for the 2006 Holiday Teapot Swap Sponsored by Sherry Goshon

Got 'er done !!

I finished the Christmas Ornament doll yesterday. I like the new wings. Here's how I made them. I cut out the paper from the old burned wings - leaving the wire paper-covered. Then I glued on some sheer silver fabric that has glittered snowflakes on it. Let dry overnight under some heavy books (ummm, the wings were between sheets of wax paper, of course). Then I painted the edges of the wings with 14K Gold - Delta Gleam paint. Painted the inside with Blue/Green Lumiere paint. It nearly matches the fabric for her outfit. I'm pretty pleased with this. I'll probably take it to the craft show and try to sell it. Not sure what to ask for it though. She's 13" long. Suggestions, anyone?

A bit further along

She's quite a bit further along now. For a Christmas Ornament she's an odd color. But then again - I do have a whole slew of purple decorations so I guess any color goes now a days. Hard to tell but there is copper ribbon ruched down the middle of her 'legs'. I don't know if I want to give her hair or use the apoxy sculpt like the directions call for. We will see!

Here's a tip: Look at the bottom piece - just above the tassel - see the vertical piece of yarn? If you make a vertical loop on something - then do your horizontal wrapping (or criss-cross) you can loop a tassel or other object on instead of sewing it on to the body.

Work in progress

I have to start pushing myself to get some stuff ready for the holiday craft show I'm doing with my friend Shirley at the end of November. I made some mini-magnets yesterday and found a tin lid to display them on this morning. I tried to take a photo but the crystal microbeads looked funny from the flash. I'll have to take a photo of them in natural light. Anyhow - this is the beginning of an ornament that Jacque Uetz writes about in Doll Crafter/Costuming's December issue. First time I've even done a wrapped armature. I've covered the face with cloth since this picture was taken. It is supposed to dry overnight so the face mold adheres to the armature. Grrrr - I hate when I have to wait!!!

The Mummy

So what do you do when it's nearly Halloween and you don't feel like doing hair and clothing? Why, you costume your little one as The Mummy. Using wool roving, of all things! My husband said only the eyes are supposed to show but I couldn't bear to cover her face!!

Making samples

I love teaching but I really don't like making samples, LOL. I have a class in a week and a half and I am just now getting this done. I have to take it in to the store tomorrow so I know what I'll be doing tonight - hair and face. I'm not going to worry about clothes as another of my friends is going to teach that and she will use my body for the sample. Well, my doll body, that is. I'll probably just drape something filmy on her and call it a robe. This is from the latest Patti Culea book - Cloth Doll Couture. I used Judy Ward's invisible jointing method - I like how it looks.
It's amazing how the camera shows every little lump and bump from stuffing.

Getting closer!!!

My troll is getting closer to the picture in my head! I'm on Body #2 , which I will keep. This is leg #4 which needs the foot flattened a tiny bit and then it's a keeper. Check out head #1 - he has eyes in the top of his head, LOL. Really have to fix him up! I have to drop the nose some and work on the forehead a bit. He's really little too - only about 12". But it's fun to do ...

Sew, stuff, and repeat

I am working on a new design for a troll. I picture a fat, humpbacked little dude. I'm pretty new to designing so this is going to take me a while, LOL. Here's what I've got so far ...

The first body was 2 pieces and it didn't give me a good fat tummy so I did a four piece pattern instead. Now it's too short but nice and fat. The leg is still too skinny too - even though I made it fatter than the first one. I think the leg needs to be fatter and shorter. What do you think? I want the arm to be totally exaggerated so I think it will be okay. I have the head drawn up but I haven't sewn it yet - I want to get the body right first. I wish there was an easier way to do this but I guess it just takes practice.

Round robin traveler

First off ... FRAN ... DON'T LOOK ...

Okay, now that that's out of the way ... this is the second piece I've received in the current round robin. After I freaked out Judi A. with the work I did last month I figured I'd better do something more normal this month.

This is how she came to me from Pammy. Isn't the face divine? It's Fran's sculpt and her first face mold for sale. I had to order one of the molds after I saw it in person. Anyhow, she attached the torso to the top of the box with apoxie sculpt. Pammy had added the hair and the pink headband and scarf ribbon.

I decided that since this is a traveling doll she should have a trunk. So I took all the hardware off and gave the box a base coat of gesso. Then I gave it a coat of pink followed by a dry brushed coat of Jacquard's Halo Pink/Gold Lumiere (what a mouthful!). Lot's of travel 'stickers' were added as well as paper cut to look like bands going around the trunk. I've put one coat of varnish on it and now I'm trying to decide whether I should antique it or maybe do a peeling paint technique. What do you think?

These were kind of sorta my inspiration .. these are the trunks that my family used when we sailed to America on the Queen Mary in 1963.

Plastic Spoon art !

My friend Kai has been making art dolls using plastic picnic spoons as the base. I thought I'd give it a whirl myself. I don't know how she makes hers but this is how I made mine ...

I cut a piece of foam board and covered the bowl of the spoon. Then I took a leftover piece of fabric and covered the top of the spoon, then glued the face on. I took the ends of the fabric and folded it into a turban shape. The fabric was actually part of a leftover cuff from a doll design. Then I took some thin quilt batting and wrapped it around the base of the spoon to pad it out. I covered that with fabric strips and yarn. Then I took another cuff and made the shirt. A little embellishment and it was done. Lots of fun! I bet this would be an awesome project to make with kids. Its all glue!!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Kai!

Fairy bust completed

She's done! I didn't do much embellishing - just added some leaves and flowers using the Aves Apoxie Sculpt. Here are three photos ...

Click to enlarge
You can see the multiple layers of paint in this photo. You can also see that she has one B cup and one D cup, LOL.

Just her back ...

Posted by judi at 10:03 AM | Comments (8)

Back to the sculpt !

Finally got all the stuff put away that I dragged up to the University for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. We never got the final project finished but we got enough done that we can finish at home. I still have to take a photo of that book.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day so I took my Paverpol and my candlestick sculpt and went outside to play. That stuff is incredibly messy! The piece is coming out wonderfully through ...

This is what I started with .. the painted base. Lots of layers and some texturizing medium to give it some 'tooth'. I didn't do such a great job of joining the body with the candlestick but the clothes will cover it. Shhhhh ....

Click to enlarge

You won't believe it but this took me hours to do. I took a piece of a sheer blouse sleeve and ripped it up - you're supposed to use natural materials with Paverpol but you know me - I don't do things properly half the time. I thought it was a silk chiffon but I'm not so sure now. She doesn't have hair - it's just the frayed edge of the material I wound into a headdress. There's lots of threads stuck on here - probably why it took me so long - fraying the material to get hold of them. Tomorrow I will start to embellish her.

Posted by judi at 6:19 PM | Comments (7)

Sculpting - ugh!

I am taking an on-line class that requires you to sculpt a bust. Okay - so maybe require is too harsh a word - I could use a cloth bust - but the instructions are for sculpting. The face is a mold made by Sherry Goshon. I added a back of the head and a little bit of a neck. The first one I tried didn't have a neck and I used Aves Apoxie Sculpt for the torso. It ended up in the trash. I didn't know what I was doing and the Aves dried too fast. So I switched over to polymer clay. This is what I have so far .. don't laugh!

I still need to blend the clay so it's not so lumpy. The head I'm kind of stuck with because I already baked it. I didn't know about smoothing everything. But it will be painted over so I'm not going to worry about it right now. I do believe that this sculpting stuff takes lots of practice. I don't know that I will get into it but I do have a lot more appreciation now for those who sculpt their figures! I

Leaving home

I have another round robin getting ready to start. For this one we were to create a head and torso plus a journal. The torso could have been anything - a gourd, a box, a candlestick. But I kept it safe, actually I kept it easy .. I found these parts in my body bag ....

which doesn't have much left it in now.

The journal cover is very stiff craft felt. I melted holes in it with the heat gun and some of the gold threads are sewn to (through?) the holes. There are no inner pages - everyone will have to make their own fabric pages. I bet that will just thrill some folks, LOL.

Posted by judi at 4:09 PM | Comments (5)

Another Bendi babe

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I haunt the aisles of the craft stores looking for clearance items. This week I found some "trim and project color-changing special effect finish" Dimensions decor paint from Dutch Boy called Chameleon on sale - 8 oz for $1.00. Of course I had to buy it! Of course I had to try it out IMMEDIATELY! Here's what I did with it ....

First off - this isn't a nice little acrylic paint. I don't know what Amorphous Silica is but the jar has a huge CAUTION notice on it about ventilation. I really need to get a respirator, sigh. This color is called Teal Sky and it is supposed to shift from teal through purple to a near black. The instructions said it works best on curved surfaces and over a black base coat. I decided a Bendi doll (blank doll form) had enough curves so I pulled out a big one from my Bendi bag (yes, I have lots of these on hand). I painted it black (mixed regular acrylic paint with some Jo Sonya textile medium). Then I painted a light coat of the Chameleon over it - this was full strength as the instructions said not to dilute it. It went on white and when it dry it looks either purple or a very dark grey. I don't seem to get the shifts of color in between the two. But it's still a really, really neat effect - essentially a two-color doll depending on how the light hits it. If you look carefully at the arms you can see the 'hands' are a different color than the legs.

I also used this doll to try out some Aves Expoxy Sculpt. I haven't used it before - just the generic epoxy from the hardware store. This stuff was nice and odorless - at least compared to the stinky Marine Epoxy. That's what the vines, leaves, and berries are made of.

I used a Sherry Goshon mold for the face - but totally changed it. Wound fibers around the arms, decoupaged the torso and stuck buttons on it, used holeless beads here and there. Guess that's about it. The Bendi's are great for trying new techniques.

UPDATE: I took her to doll club and under the bright lights there you could see the color shifts really easily - it shifted all through the spectrum like it was supposed to. Guess my basement studio is too dark, LOL

You can click the photo to enlarge it.

Healing doll

I just found out that a friend of mine, who has become addicted to prescription pain pills due to a botched surgery, has decided that enough is enough and she is going to stop taking them. Which is easier said than done. She is going to go to a detox center for a week to help her both physically and mentally. She mentioned that she will have a lifetime of demons to deal with and when I was laying in bed last night this doll told me she needed to come to life.

This is The Littlest Warrior, her mission to to help my friend battle her demons. She is only about 8". Her 'hair' represents rays of light. She carries a sword of strength, and a shield of courage that represents my friend's heart of gold. She has hearts on her shoulders because as a Mom she carries a lot of weight. She has armor to keep the demons out but only a strip of it so she can let her friends and family in. There are 3 little word charms on her armor; love, believe, and live. My friend loves ocean colors so that is why the doll is kind of blue - the back side is kind of green. I hope she receives strength from this.

Click on image to enlarge

More sew lovely paper dolls

I don't know what to call these ... they aren't really dolls but they aren't really paper dolls either. What they are is pretty! Tell me what you think these should be called ...

The gold one is going to be donated to the Elks Lodge for their charity auction. The red one is for my daughter's birthday present. Barbara Willis pattern.

A head of my own

When I made the Ostrich Showgirl for Natalie I used her face design. This morning I thought I would try one of my own. I drew the face and then transfered it to the fabric like she taught me. Then I proceeded to color it in using Nat's technique. But .. I didn't refer to the class notes , I just tried to remember. That way my own coloring techniques came into play too. I'm pretty proud of this ...

Don't mind the body ... it's from a Patti Culea class I took a few years ago and it didn't have a head. This head is a wee bit big but it works. More or less, LOL. I know I keep plugging Nat's class but you'll learn a lot, really! Oh - this is a flat face - no sculpting at all.

She's a HOOT!!!!

Well, maybe she'd really be a hoot if she was an owl instead of an ostrich. But she's done and she was a lot of fun to make.

Swing is done!

It's amazing how long a simple thing takes when there is drying time involved! This project had paint drying time, epoxy drying time, more paint drying time, and then varnish drying time. So even though the hands on only took about an hour at most - it took most of the day before I could say it's done.

Click image to enlarge - it has a neat paint job that you can't see really well in this little photo.

Just a swinging ...

I'm still messing with that Ostrich Showgirl. I decided that she needed a swing. Mainly because my doll club has a show next month in the Fairbanks Art Association's Bear Gallery and they said if we can hang a doll from the wall or ceiling we can display more dolls. So I challenged myself to make one from purchased materials. I think I did pretty good.

I will probably write instructions on how to make this. I have some ideas about benches too. It's not completely done as I have some embellishing to do still. But I'm happy with it. I will take a close up tomorrow and post it.

What did she do ?????

Ya gotta have a sense of humor when you live with a fiber artist!!!

This is what you see right now when you go into the guest bathroom. This is my hand - in wool felt. I'm using Dye-na-flow to color the felt and the colors are running. Hope I don't have any visitors!!!

Face just about done ...

It's taken me two days to get the face to this point. It's a very interesting process and unlike any that I've had the opportunity to try before. I have learned to love my pastel pencil now. I tried doing a face with all pastels a few years ago in a Patti Culea class but I had the chalks instead of the pencils. It was impossible to draw with those so it was a very frustrating experience. The pencils are a whole other story though.

This face uses paints, watercolor pencils, pastel pencil, prismacolor pencil, gel pen, pigma pen, and probably a couple other things I forgot, LOL. I think everyone who takes this class will learn something they can incorporate in their own art.

Ostrich Showgirl

I am testing a pattern (well, really an online class) for my good friend Natalie Hamade. So far I have the body sewn and stuffed and the hair finished. Take a good look at the hair .... can you guess what it is?

I'm not going to tell you ... BWA HA HA. It's not fiber and it's not clay. It is a totally unique process and it's very different and very cool! You'll have to go to Doll Street and sign up for her class to find out. I'll be posting more in progress pics as I move along. Today I will be painting her face - 44 pages of photos - Natalie shares ALL her secrets!

Too many DIPs

Too many projects going on at once. I don't know what to do first, LOL. Actually I have to work on my friend' Natalie's Ostrich Showgirl as I'm testing her for an on-line class. This doll is going to be a lot of fun. Then there is the paper doll who has her undies on but no clothes. The two clock dolls. Probably have more projects hiding here and there too. Like the Flat Stanley Round Robin doll who is in her envelope under my sewing table. Sigh. Plus I'm two months behind for the Member of the Month gifts for the Embellished Circus. I'm never going to get them all done. Ack. Anyone else do this to themselves?

Back to pin dolls!

Our doll club is having a show at the Bear Gallery next month and we can sell things in their gift shop. So we are working on pin dolls. We are supposed to make some tomorrow night at doll club but I thought I'd make a few today.

These are all leftover heads. I'm running out of good heads to use - I think these were about the last of them. From left to right: Head from a Wood Knot - an online class from Allison Marano. There was nothing wrong with this head - it was such a strange looking piece that I thought I had done something wrong. So I made a second one and it looked exactly like this one. I gave it a hat and it was done. Easy. Middle one was a head that I had started in one of Patti Culea's Face Painting classes. She hasn't been up here for a few years so I guess it's kind of old. I finished coloring it - gave it some petals and called it done. The last one was from another on-line class - think it was Makiera with Angela Jarecki. She was too prim and proper for the figure. But she's fine for this.

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Sleeve done

I decided on a sleeve cuff finally. I chose an oval design and beaded the edges. I don't normally bead anything because I really don't like to bead but the picot stitch is a pretty easy one and goes fairly fast. Fairly fast for beading. I think it still took nearly 4 hours to do both cuffs - at least it felt that way, LOL. Now it's on to the legs. I have some ideas for a pants pattern and I'll probably mess with that for a week too.

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Well, he’s already here actually. Got in today. I must say I was pretty excited to see him, I’d been waiting patiently. I think he’s going to be my new muse. .

Introducing Madison Wabash Bean. He is designed by Chris Chomick and Peter Meder, a professional doll artist/ husband and wife team and was made by the Robert Tonner Doll Co. I love their work even though I've only ever seen it in the Susanna Oroyan’s book series. Madison has a bean bag type body, resin hands, feet, and head, and a blush type brush for hair! He was a souvenir doll from the 2000 NIADA conference so he was a limited edition. He has been living in his box for 6 years now and, boy, is he ever glad to be out of there! I was lucky enough to win him on an eBay auction, mint, new-in-box. Don’t tell my husband though.

Getting obsessive

I’m making sleeve cuffs and I’ve been doing it for three days now. I don’t know why I’ve gotten stuck on these but I’ve made about 11 now. They are various sizes and shapes and are made of different materials. I’m learning a lot in the process though. It’s just a strange thing to do. Here’s half of dozen of them.

Just ducky!

A while back I posted to all my doll lists that I had a free name tag doll pin pattern availabe here on the blog. Vickie T., who belongs to Friends of Cloth Dolls, made five of them for the nursing home ladies. She accidentally turned the head upside down and decided she liked it that way. I do too.. see what she did with my pattern ....

Aren't these just too cute! They are just ducky! (I know, I know ... pardon the pun).

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Mother Nature Goes to The Prom

I finished my entry for the Alaska Fiber Festival down in Anchorage. I'm pretty pleased with her and she's pretty pleased with herself. Here she is ...

She is made of doesuede. I have a few yards of a white doesuede so each time I use it I have to paint it. This is kind of yellow with a green face. What else .. hmmm .. she has those leaves I wrote the tutorial about as part of her dress or something. Not sure what it is but I like it, ha ha. Hummingbirds - perched on the flowers and her hand. I made the ribbon flowers - her corsage I suppose. Wig - yarn that I crocheted. That's about it. Hope you like her.

To see better photos - ones that aren't moving - click here

Posted by judi at 12:26 AM | Comments (5)

Cut 'em off at the knees!

So I'm rushing like crazy to get a doll finished by next week for the Anchorage Fiber Festival. Janie Odgers, the coordinator, had asked me last summer to do a doll and I declined. Then this month I started getting lots of emails from her asking about my doll. It finally dawned on me that maybe they were short of dolls and really needed them. So I wrote and asked her - said if there was a dire need for a doll I'd try to crank one out. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the answer 'Yes, I'd love one'. So here's what I'm working on ...

The theme of the show is Garden Fantasy. My original idea was a doll on a swing but the doll didn't like that idea at all. She absolutely refused to go along with it. She wouldn't let me put her legs at the proper angle for pumping the swing. I really didn't want to redesign the pattern again, so I cut her legs off at the knees, thinking I could do a two part leg instead. Nope, she didn't want calves and feet -once I cut them off she was happy - unbelievable. Then I realized that I kind of liked the torso effect too and now I think I will keep it like this and have her emerging from the center of a flower or something. Like I told Sherry - maybe I shouldn't share my creative process. Things evolve - sometimes if I am not crazy about my first idea I don't mind at all if the doll changes radically. Like this one is doing!

Oh - the head won't be at this angle. It only has one pin holding it on and it's at the back of the neck.

How's this for an amazing change?

Okay .. if you didn't read yesterday's post .. go read it now. You need to see the photo. Okay .. done? Now .. check this out!

Pretty nice change, eh? That wooden head bugged me .. and I guess she didn't like it either because when I was working on it again this morning it fell off. Glory be! I had already taken a head out of my boneyard but for one reason or the other I hadn't used it. Obviously I needed to. I lengthened and moved the arms up - changed the position - and gave her something to hold. Sherry Goshon suggested I give her bloomers - I took that suggestion and make them pants. Added more color and I'm happy. She has black Tibetan lamb hair but you can't see it. I just stuck her on the kitchen table for her photo - I'll take a better one when she's all the way done. She still has a couple more embellishments to come.

So sweet and simple

Just finished up another Raggedy .. isn't she sweet?

Sherry's Gourd Doll

I was amazed at how calm Sherry was when she unpacked her luggage and found her gourd doll unwrapped and broken in about six places. I would have been in tears. But she said she has become inured to the indifferent way in which TSA inspectors treat her luggage. Because it was so broken Sherry didn’t feel it possible to take her home safely. So she gets to live with me. I'm absolutely thrilled .. but it's hard to be happy at such bad luck.

It took Sherry two days to fix this - the legs were broken at the knees and the ankles. She had to take the armature out and insert wires, and then she glued it back together. Once the glue had set she used an epoxy putty to make more vines, flowers, and berries to cover the cracks. Then, of course, it had to be painted. Oh - her head was broken off too - that had to be put back together. I think she’s a Humpty in disguise!

Can you tell what pieces are gourd? The skirt is a Crown of Thorns gourd, the daffodil she is looking into is a gourd, and her hat is a gourd. By the way - for those of you who use paper clay .. the legs were made of Das and the arms were Creative Paperclay. The arms - which are way more delicate than the legs - didn’t break.

She's absolutely exquisite .. the pictures don't do her justice at all.

Boneyard Boy

It's amazing to watch a true artist at work and that's something I got to do Saturday night. Sherry Goshon and I were sitting in my studio and I was asking her for advice on a bias problem I had with a booted foot. To show her what I had done I brought out my boneyard bag - you know - all the leftover pieces and parts that didn't work for a doll but you kept anyway.

As they fell onto the table some of them spoke to her ... this is what they said ....

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Bella's Adventures

Months and months ago I sent out my doll to participate in an around-the-world round robin project. She recently went to India with her English hostess. This is the first time I've seen photos of Bella Donna since she left here. She seems to have gained legs, stockings and shoes. She lost her corset top and someone seems to have given her gigantic breasts. Absolutely humongous. Poor thing - she'll need back surgery when she gets home from hauling those things around! Shashi posted lots of pictures recording Bella's adventure in India at her blog.

Trapper John

Remember the doll that was in the oven? He's all dressed and ready to go now! You can see him here!

Dolly Tanning Booth?

There is something just so wrong about this ....

At least the stove is electric and not gas .. then I'd feel even worse! But you know, it has been about 40 degrees below zero here lately, maybe she just wanted to warm up. Hey - if I had the broiler on I could just say it's a dolly tanning booth!

Heart's A Flutter

Finished up the angel heart project. Even have it up on eBay now! You can see it here.
Nothing like being lazy, eh?

Angel Heart

I have been sketching things that I can make (and hopefully sell) for Valentine's Day. This one got a bit out of hand - I meant to make a small heart with angel wings. The wings on this are 18" long - a bit bigger than I was thinking. It's not done - I just laid the pieces on the floor to take the photo. Still have to sew it all together. The heart is stuffed and the wings are quilted with a layer of batting. Kind of odd, eh?

New Prim Raggedy

Finished up another Raggedy doll today. My friend commissioned me to make one for a medical worker who has been really nice to her. Really caring, over and above. The woman is a mammogram technician so I tried to work some pink into the outfit, as requested by my friend. This material has pinkish stripes with blue hearts. It really took the aging process well - the dress looks old, old, old.

I also painted stripes on the legs and gave her painted shoes. Didn't do that on the last one. One nice touch is the red edged lace. My friend gave it to me years ago, it's from something of her grandmother's. I'm thinking it was a tablecloth because there are a lot of curves in the lace. It used to be white, LOL.

Oh - used a low thread count muslin and had no problem sewing after everything had been coffee stained. I did stain the body parts before stuffing this time too - after sewing, but before stuffing. I learned a lot last time and made changes in this one that make it much easier to work with.

Showing off her legs ...

Odessa flies to the moon

Oh my - another primitive doll has stolen my heart. Funny to think I used to hate these - thought they were incredibly ugly. It's taken me a couple of years to come around to liking them but now I've fallen big time, LOL. They are definitely a 180 degree change from what I've been making. I hope you like her as much as I do ... so .. drum roll please ...

Say hello to Odessa. She sure looks worried, doesn't she. Her dream was to fly to the moon and now that she's there she's a bit scared. She is a pattern from Dirty Crow Inn - an E-pattern (sent by email) - instant gratification, I like that! She is painted with acrylics instead of coffee stained like the last prim. Her proportions aren't off in the picture - she is supposed to look like this. Big head, little legs. This pattern called for doing all the painting before you attached all the body parts. The arms and legs were easy, the head was a bitch. I don't know if it's because I'm still using a high thread count fabric instead of a muslin but I don't know anyone who makes prims so I can't ask. Had to use hemostats to pull the needle through the fabric to put the head on the neck. My fingers are sore! I still have to make her display - she will sit on a paper box. But I have to go buy one. I think I will put her up at my Etsy store when I'm done. I have to learn to let go of my little creations - I tend to get attached to them, LOL.

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Got an extra head?

Betty had been looking at photos of an elinor peace bailey class I took a few years ago and she asked what I did with the head that elinor drew for me. This is one of the neat things about taking a class with epb .. she will draw your face for you if you want. In the end though I decided to make another head with my own face painting for the doll I made in the class. I wanted it to be ALL my own work. So this is what I did with the epb head ...

Just a mini dress form and a scrunchie ...

One more thing .. it's amazing how fast she can whip these out. Didn't take her more than a couple of minutes. She used Fabricmate fabric markers and crayons. Neat, huh!

Raggedy Ann - in all her glory!

She's done! I'm going to have a hard time giving this one away because I think she's adorable. I love making dolls that make me smile every time I look at them and this Raggedy Ann certainly does that!

What to add to my last entry? The clothes went together well although I had to really visualize what was what from the pattern. The written directions were hard to figure out. For instance for the bodice it said - cut fabric on doubled folded fabric and sew 1/4 edge, sew 2 inches then sew neck. Huh? I'm not very good at clothes and it took me a while to figure it out. Finally I just looked at the pieces and figured out what to sew on my own.

Oh - the embroidery was easy even if the fabric wasn't as soft as it used to be. I was surfing the net and found that the Raggedy Ann doll makers refer to their girls as 'crunchy' or 'crusty' - so I guess the Raggedy IS supposed to feel like it does.

Another new thing was to use a stencil brush to blush the cheeks. Supposed to use the dry brush technique but I guess I didn't get enough paint off for the first cheek - the second one came out better. I'll know for next time.

This is another of my Hope dolls - she has two strands of beads hanging from the middle flower on her dress. One strand says Hope and the other says Courage. It's for a friend with breast cancer. My hope for this year is that I don't have to make any more of these dolls - it's the third one in a year.

Click image to enlarge

From one extreme to the other!

I decided to make a prim Raggedy today. I've never made one before and have absolutely no clue how to but, hey, that's never stopped ME before! So I found a free pattern on the internet, with basically no instructions. But I can sew a doll body - no sweat!

Used this fabric that is a decent thread count - no idea what it is - something that Christine Shively uses (I had bought it for her class). Made the doll body pieces. Pattern said to put it together and stain it. Stain it? What the heck is that? A few Google searches later I know it means age it. Okay. How? Can't find anything through Google except for Gail Wilson's website and it says to use Rit dye. I don't want to use Rit. Keep searching. Join another Yahoo group. Go through their files. AHA - coffee and vanilla will age it. Go to store to buy instant coffee. Might as well pop into the craft shop and get some yarn for hair too. Hey, this fabric is nice - bet it will age well in the coffee too. Back home. Make tea. Make coffee. Drink tea. Dip doll pieces in coffee for five minutes. Hmmm, this looks interesting. I wonder if the doll shouldn't be STUFFED to do this? Try to get coffee out of doll. Notice that the coffee also stains your hands. Put doll pieces in oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes. Check and it's still soaked. So is the towel under it. Guess I didn't get enough coffee out. Give it another 10 minutes, and another 10 minutes. House starts to smell like coffee and vanilla. Husband wanders in. Making cookies? Nope, baking dolls. Nothing surprises him anymore - he leaves. Finally the doll is dry (more or less). It's aged. It looks like something my dog dug up in the yard. Okay - now to put it together. Why, they didn't say that after you age the fabric with coffee it turns into CANVAS and you CAN'T get a needle through it. They also didn't say that maybe, just maybe, you should put a pin across the top of the legs so the *stuffing doesn't shift* during the aging process. That way when you put the doll together she might be able to sit up WITHOUT a prop behind her! Okay, she'll just have to lean against something, it's not the end of the world. Now to find buttons and felt. Tried red felt and she looked like Rudolph. Get out the good wool felt and that works. This looks strange. I don't like prim Raggedys but I'm determined to make one. So let's keep going and see .. cut some black thread and lay it on the face for eyelashes and a mouth, just to see what it will look like. Have no clue how I'm going to embroider on something I can't get a needle through but that's for another day. Lay some yarn across the head. Hey, it's not so bad after all. Maybe when I get her dressed she'll be okay.

Stayed tuned for the next episode ... LOL.

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He's back ...

Working on the cherry pitter again. For those of you who don't remember .. this is a kitchen appliance I found in a box of junk. I wrapped his body with four different yarns and then green 20 gauge wire. There's another cherry (berry?) that goes on the top of his arm but it keeps falling off. I'll get it back on there when I'm done with the hair. This hair is a PAIN!!!

I'm making the hair out of cotton quilting thread. I thread up a long piece on a needle and make about four loops in the same space. Then I make a loop around the base of the threads and knot it off. The knots make the threads stand up. Finally I clip the top of the loops. It's going to take HOURS .. and HOURS .. and HOURS. I have some leaves and berries that are going to go on the back of his head as well.

Notice his little 'loincloth' - I didn't do that on purpose - the yarn just loosened there by itself. I think he was telling me that he's not an exhibitionist. If you look closely you'll see some color under there. I'll leave it up to your imagination to guess what it is, LOL.

Here's a refresher on his progress:

The beginning:

Next step:

Where he is today:

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I'm a lucky girl!

One of my internet friends, Natalie, sent me this absolutely breathtaking pin doll. I absolutely love her faces and now I have three pieces of her art. I'm a lucky girl!

What a difference!

Thought it would be fun to show a now and then photo of faces I did. The upper portion of the photo shows one of the first faces I did (back in 2001) and the lower portion shows a face I painted this year. I've come a long way in four years! You can too! Just practice, practice, practice.

It also helps to have some good books and some good teachers to learn from!
My picks are:
Sherry Goshon's Watercolor Faces book
Patti Culea: Creative Cloth Doll Faces

One of the best instructional packets I have is from Anne-Marie Brombal but you can't get it anymore. Awesome step by step photos.

Cherry Pitter

I started playing with the Cherry Pitter today. I asked my husband to straighten it some so it would stand upright. He had a bit of a problem with it - it kind of fell apart. So he welded the center part with the thumb loop between the two finger loops and split the bottom piece in two. I like it in this configuration - it gave me a place for feet.

I have this Superflex Sculpey clay that I had bought years ago so my daughters could make hair decorations. Ran it through the pasta machine and it softened right up. Huh. I was surprised that it was still useable. So I made him hands and feet. Put a face on another leftover head I found in the boneyard (my boneyard is emptying out!). I have to darken the eyelid area - looks too much like makeup - and this is supposed to be a dude. The photo shows why I think this is a guy, LOL. How I'm going to work with that piece I don't know!

I also don't know where he's going from here .. but we'll find out soon.

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Switching heads

Last night I was getting some stuff together for a project we were going to do at doll club and I went digging through my boneyard. Grabbed a couple of heads and I picked up one that I thought was pretty. Wondered why I had put it in there. So I popped it on one of my girls that still hadn't made me happy. Egads. It worked!

I tried that head on the doll a few months ago and didn't like it. Now I do. Strange. But I finished her up today with hair and a turban. You know me - I love turbans. I still have some embellishing to do and I have to make some kind of base for her but for all intents and purposes, she's done! Now she just has to tell me her name.!

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Beaded pin dolls

Remember those doll blanks I made a couple of weeks ago? They aren't blank anymore ...

I'm not the world's best beader and I learned a lot doing this. I have SO much respect for beaders - these took me ALL day long! They aren't even beaded heavily either. My favorite is the red one.

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These are for the Doll Street Dreamer pin doll swap that I'm hosting. If you're a Dreamer you should play!

Making blanks

Sometimes you get on a roll and you get a lot done. Today was a day like that for me. I made 9 Goddess blanks using some patterns from Ronda Kivett's site. If you don't sew she sells pre-sewn bodies, and even kits that contain face cabs and beads. I used three of her patterns and just dug through my scrap pile for the fabrics.

The sage Sun Goddess is 6 1/2 inches and it's her latest design. All the others are 4 inches. I need 3 of these for a swap I'm doing and some of the others are going to my friend Heather who hasn't figured out her machine yet! Guess whatever is left just might inspire me to do some beading over the winter.

Visit Ronda's web site

Nearly there ..

Thought I'd give another try at making a head for the walking gal. At the rate I'm making heads for this thing she could have been a multi-headed monster for a second-rate sci-fi movie.

On first glance this head isn't bad at all - but then if you look again you can see the lips are crooked and the eyes aren't centered on the nose. But, hey, at least I'm getting closer. Sigh. I've changed the way I'm shaping the eyes - more of a straight line for the bottom and more of an arch for the upper eye. Way more of a character face - I like it. Maybe I'm working towards a Japanese Anime look! Medium: watercolor pencil on wet fabric for shading, watercolor pencil (dry) for eyes, gel pen for white of eye, prismacolor pencil for eyeshadow and lips. Pigma pen for detail work.

Flower Face

This past Monday our doll club's program was watercolor pencil faces. We all made a head from the #2 pattern in Patti Culea's new book Creative Cloth Doll Faces. Had it sculpted and features draw on before the meeting so we could spend more time playing with the watercolors. I love how mine turned out.

I think she's precious! We pretty much soaked the heads before we started - which really was kind of an epiphany for me .. because I hadn't done that before and now I know why my watercolor pencil faces never worked. They were too dry. Then our teacher had us put two or three colors on top of each other for the basic shading and blend it in really well with our fingers. Another great tip - just make sure your hands are clean! Once the heads were pretty dry we did the detail work on the eyes, mouth, etc. I had avoided doing watercolor pencil faces because I could never get the colors blended right - now I think I’m hooked!

And as usual I made the practice head into a flower face - that way I can enjoy them without worrying about a body, LOL. I just hang them on the wall. I used two different flowers for this one - the red 'hair' is actually a couple of petals. Cute, huh?

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These are gorgeous!

You all know by now that I'm pretty heavy into mail art. Checking the mail every day is a joy because I never know what kind of surprise I'm going to get. I'm doing postcard swaps, artist trading card swaps, pin dolls swaps, and anything else I can get into! Today's mail was a bonanza - not only did I get a DVD I ordered about altering doll patterns, but I got some ATCs, and some pin dolls. Here's the pin dolls.

These are from a swap on Friends of Cloth Dolls, an on-line mailing list. I've done about four of these swaps over the past few years and these are the best pin dolls I've ever received!

The jester is from Deb McKenzie, the striped woman is from Kelly Parker, and the colorful stick man is from Yvonne Nathanson. Pretty neat, eh? I love this stuff!

Another gal finished

She's done! Dressed, wigged, embellished, etc, etc. If you remember, I posted that I didn't make the head right so I was going to do another one. I did. Did all the sculpting, embroidering, etc. I liked it but thought I could do better so I made a third head. Well, she didn't like it - insisted on having the first finished head back . These girls can be so picky, heads and faces, you'd think she was going to a beauty contest. She sure posed for her photos like she was in one!

In case you forgot, this is a Jill Maas pattern called Jude. I stayed true to it and didn't redesign any of it - what a shock! She has two layers of lace on her bodice and arms, which I dyed using Jacquard Dye-na-flow. So much easier to buy white lace and color it myself than trying to find something to match! She's going to my aunt who is having a mastectomy tomorrow. She's a get well present!!!! That's why she is holding a metal tag that says Courage on one side and Hope on the other. I couldn't figure out what to do with the tag - it's too big for a necklace. If you have an idea of what to do with the tag please leave me a comment.

She, she, she ... she doesn't have a name. I'm going to let my Aunt name her. Here is a side view.

The other side. One time I wanted to make a turban for a doll so I looked up how to tye a turban on the Internet. Couldn't figure it out for the life of me! So I emailed Rosie Chapman - whose African dolls usually wear turbans - and asked her how she made them. I was gobsmacked by her answer! She is so innovative - she makes a tube that fits on the dolls head and then twists the material and tacks it down! My tube was eight inches wide and about 45" long - I stuffed it lightly so a little would go a long way!

Back view - not too exciting.

Well, there she is! Glad she's done. I enjoyed making her - the whole felt thing for the face was something new. Plus this was the first time I tried making Ms. Chapman's turban. Now it's time to move on to something else! Unfortunately, that's probably going to be cleaning the house.

Guess what I did!

You're not going to believe what I did today! It's so amazing! It starts with the letter D.

Yes, I did something other than ATCs! This is from a Jill Maas pattern - isn't her body something else! I love the way it curves, kind of looks like she's pregnant, LOL. You know how everyone elses stuff is better than your stuff? Well, the body fabric is from my friend Heather, I just got it in the mail this week. It's a batik and it's gorgeous. This little puppy is stuffed hard as a rock. Took me nearly an hour just to do the body. It's got about a cup full of shotgun pellets in the bottom to weight it down too. It's heavy! The camera angle makes the arm look really big, it really isn't that big but it is long and it has some of the skinniest fingers I've had to deal with yet. Wasn't fun turning them but I did it! YAY! Thank goodness they are velour rather than cotton. Much more forgiving material. I still have to sew the boobs on, stuff the other arm, and do the head. What's neat about this pattern is there isn't any face painting. The facial features are made of felt and you embroider eyelashes on. I was SO surprised when I realized that. I hope to have it done tomorrow. It's a present for my favorite aunt who has to have a single mastectomy next Tuesday.

Beaded bod

Today I worked on another round robin project - Willow, one of the cloth 'Flat Stanley's'. I hadn't been sure what I wanted to do since I wasn't getting very enthused about making teeny tiny clothes. The artist before me had done some hand-embroidery and gave her 'tattoos'. So I carried the theme a bit further but I beaded.

I started at the hip - tying in to the spiral. I used the fern stitch out of the
Embeadery book - it's a book that takes classic embroidery stitches and shows you how to bead them. I've used it a couple of times on different projects. I did the fern stitch down the leg a ways and then just did a plain old backstitched line of beads. Put in a couple of crystals and accent lines for fun. I'll hang on to her for a while so the next gal in line doesn't kill me for sending it nearly a month early. Like I said before - with 18 of us working on these teeny tiny things you can't do much!

Found Object Pin Dolls

Monday night my doll club had a found object pin doll workshop. The idea was to take 'junk' and make something out of it. We had kid's wooden blocks, lots of junk jewelry, driftwood, seashells, dominoes, just all sorts of stuff. I really haven't ever tried this kind of thing before so I was looking forward to it. This is what I came up with.

This first one started off with a wooden thread spool. I found a whole bunch of these at a garage sale when I went on my fishing trip last week. I covered the spool with some lumpy yarn (great description, eh?) and then I ran a doubled 20 gauge wire through the hole in the spool. The beads for the head and legs were added to that wire. I then added a wire at the back of the spool for the arms - glueing and tying it on with more of the yarn. Beads were added to that. When I got home I thought it needed something more so I added the hand and feet charms. I'll probably tie some yarn to the top of his hat too. This one's okay but I'm not in love with it.

Now this one I do love!

Michelle had brought a bunch of dominoes that she had drilled holes in using a drill press. This one has four holes - one in each corner. For the head I ran 20 gauge wire through the two upper holes and twisted it in the middle to form a neck. The head is a big teal bead, the hat is made from other beads from this big bag of beads my hubby bought me for my birthday. There is a flower bead on top of the big flat one and a white bead on top of that. Two feathers and a couple of wire curls top it off. I think I'll tilt the head a bit more to give her more attitude. Our hostess, Kris, had a box of clip on earrings that were just wonderful and she gave me one plus pieces of it's mate for the arms and skirt. The arms are wired on with 26 ga wire - that colored Wild Wire stuff. There is one metal bead added before the dangly piece to give her a bit of a shoulder. The earring skirt is glued on with E6000. Now I think I'll have to find some more dominoes to play with! All in all it was a fun evening.

Judi A's "Spirit of the Dance"

Today I worked on Judi A's Flat Stanley doll. She named her 'Spirit of the Dance'. With 18 of us working on these dolls you can't do much or else the gals at the end will have a heck of a time finding room to embellish. So today I gave her ballet shoes.

Nice shiny ballet shoes! First she had orange shoes, courtesy of Tsukineko all-purpose inks, to which I added blue polka-dots. Not bad. Next I added the teal ribbon with the orangey eyelash yarn. Then I decided her shoes weren't bright enough so I got out the Dye-na-flow and painted them red. Whoops. Really clashed with the teal and orange ties. Next up - Stuart Gill fabric paints. First a purple coat, then a mint green coat, then a blue coat, and finally back to the orange with streaks of Tsukineko inks. Those shoes aren't going anywhere! And if the paint gets scratched during the journey she'll just look like a hard working dancer!

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She borrowed some ribbons to wear about her head - she didn't want her picture being taken while she was bald. Or naked for that matter.

She's baaack ...

I got back to work on the Crash Test Daughter today. Decided to start giving her a face. I wanted to use watercolor pencil on her but it didn't seem to want to lay down over the fabric paint I used as the base layer. So I switched to my old stand-by, gel pens.

Actually, gel pens, colored pencils, and pigma pens. They seem to be what I turn to more than any other medium. I did her iris and pupil with gel pens and detailed them with pigma pens. Her lips were done with Prismacolor pencils, same with the eyelids. I didn't do much shading since I put that big old bruise around one eye. Don't want to overwhelm the face with too much color! After the hair and everything is done I think I'm going to give her false eyelashes. She looks funny without any right now. I'm pretty pleased with how she's turning out. Next up - fabric selection for her outfit!

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She's done !

With no little help from the ribbon chewing puppy I managed to finish the project from the Barbara Willis class. I'm pretty pleased with her except for one thing - I don't think I like the orange scallop around her neck. I wasn't sure of it when I put it on so I only tied the ribbon in a knot instead of sew or glue it on. I'll give it a few days and see how I feel though. I took two photos of her.

Her head is covered with ribbon bows. I made all the bows first and had them sitting on my desk. As I was attaching them I couldn't find one of the light purple bows, I looked under the doll, I looked on the floor, and then I looked in the other room where the puppy was laying down! Uh oh. This wasn't the first time he'd gotten hold of ribbon meant for this little lady. I managed to save the bow and it isn't any worse for the wear - must have caught him right away. I have to admit the ribbon was still a bit wet when I attached it but there's no little teeth marks! I never manage to see him take things and it's literally right under my nose. She hasn't told me what her name is yet so maybe I can figure a way to add puppies and ribbons to her name.

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This is a closeup of the shoes. I thought they were pretty cool. I cut two motifs out of a piece of lace and they've been dyed lots of times. I didn't like the color the first time I dyed them so every time I dyed or painted they have had another coat of color. They ended up being perfect for the shoes - although the shoes do tend to blend into the color of the skirt.

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Now maybe I will get back to the Crast Test Daughter!

Bella Donna

I've finished my little Flat Stanley for the round robin on Doll Street - although she's not flat by any means. She will fit in an envelope though so she should pass muster! Here's her vital statistics: Her body is a pattern by Sherry Goshon that was for an altered doll challenge that got cancelled, her face is a stamp from Barbara Willis, and her hair is knit by moi! This is the first time I used a face stamp and I have to say I enjoyed using it. I stamped the face in brown then did all the coloring with a mixture of gel pens, pencils, and acrylic paint. I never seem to use just one media on my faces. Her top is just a piece of panne velvet that I cut into shape - it doesn't ravel. I figure since she's getting dressed by everyone else she didn't need much in the way of clothes. So now she's ready for her big adventure .. she's off to see most of the States, Canada, England, and Israel. She'll be more well traveled than me by the time she comes home!

Barb Willis Class tomorrow

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! Barbara Willis is here .. she's going to be teaching us two classes.

Tomorrow night we are playing with paper and fabric and making a 'flat doll'. Then on Saturday and Sunday we will be making her "Whisper" doll. She's a wall doll. She has a regular upper body but her lower body is a balloon of fabric and a tassel hangs from the bottom of it. The part that I'm really looking forward to is learning how to sculpt a face mask with Paperclay.

Here's my fabric choices for the doll. The leaves will be the 'balloon' and the arms, the purple will be the torso, and the shiny yellow-orange will be the corset. I dyed all the trims to match. The antique lace in the bottom of the picture didn't take the color as well as I had hoped but it will help lighten the doll as the main fabric is pretty dark. The ribbon is for her hair.

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A couple of us are going to take Barb sightseeing tomorrow - although there's not a whole lot to see. She wants to come to North Pole, where I live, to go to the Santa Claus House. It's a great gift shop - plus they have reindeer there for people to gawk at. Not sure what else she wants to do - we'll play it by ear!

Yippee - I get to play dolls ALL WEEKEND!!!!!! My bags are packed, I'm ready to go ....

Money Burns

Yesterday the mail lady brought me the fabric for the Money Burns doll. It's not exactly what I expected but it will work. I don't think I've ever ordered fabric on-line and haven't been surprised by at least one of the pieces I received. The images on these pieces were softer and more blurred than I thought they would be - which actually will work better in the long run for what I have in mind. My new mantra is: I must finish one project before I start another .. I must finish one project before I start another .. ARRGH. It'll never happen LOL.

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The final effect

I took some more pictures today of the Crash Test Daughter in all her bruised up glory. My eldest daughter and her boyfriend looked at her last night and they just stood there and giggled. So I guess it works! Here's two more photos of her and a description of how I painted her.

I actually found some photos on the internet of interesting bruises and printed them out to use as a color guide. I used dye-na-flow fabric paints again (thank you so much Patti Culea for introducing me to them - Patti is one of my inspirations). I started with a dot of yellow as the center of the bruise, then did a ring of magenta, followed by two different purples, one darker than the other and leaning more towards blue. I also used a dab of green on a couple but it's actually too bright of a green. For her black eye I used periwinkle mixed with some micro pearl Pearl-Ex powder. The Pearl-Ex gives her shiner some shine! I also used a little magenta below the eye and some of the blue-purple above the eye and along the nose. As you look at this picture you can see that her name really fits her ... Oblivious!



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Here's her back. I must not have had the fabric wet enough on one arm because the colors didn't bleed as well as I would have liked and the lines are quite obvious. I imagine a lot of these bruises won't show when she's dressed but I'm going to try for skimpy clothing so I can show them as much off as possible. Or else what's the point, eh?

Painting bruises

The Crash Test Daughter body is done now .. well, except her head's not on her shoulders .. but that might just fit with this little girl! I have the bruising done and she even has a nice shiner! Here's a photo of the first bruise I painted.

This was still pretty wet so you can see the water lines - but when dry it doesn't show up like that. I took more photos but didn't care for them so I'll try again tomorrow.

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My husband thinks I'm insane. When I called him down to see the bruises he just shook his head and walked away. After I got the black eye done I took the head out to show him (he was working on his truck in the driveway). At least I got a smile out of him that time. I was having way too much fun painting these bruises and I got a little carried away as you'll see when I get the rest of the photos up.

Crash Test Daughter

Today I'm going to start working on the bruises for the CTD doll. I googled some images of bruises - some interesting pictures came up. I want to make sure I get the colors in the proper order - you know - like pink INSIDE the purple. Or the yellowy green color inside the really dark blue. I'm not quite sure where I'll place the bruises yet or if I'll just do her whole body as a bruise. I'll see as I go along. Can't take photos of it in progress which is always fun because my hubby took the camera to his knife class. I really hate sharing it!

Playing with Dolls

Sometimes playing with dolls is more fun than making them. Here she is with her head on her chest ... look out, she's gonna getcha!

Painting Doesuede

I had fun today experimenting with painting various products on some stark white doesuede fabric. Doesuede is a one-way knit fabric, fuzzy on one side, and smooth on the other. I needed to paint the smooth side. I decided that my Crash Test Daughter was just too 'dead' so I wanted to give her some skin tone. Here's the results .. in pictures!

First off, a photo of the products I used. Jo Sonya textile medium, this is an Australian product, Stuart Gill Colorise textile and craft paint in skintone,which is from Scotland, and Jacquard's Dye-na-flow fabric paint, which I believe is a product from the good old US of A!


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These three samples are painted with the Stuart Gill paint. This paint is rather thick, kind of like an acrylic. I treated the first piece with textile medium by itself and let it dry. Then I used some paint with textile medium in it and some paint that was watered down on it. Neither of them went on easily - although it worked better than the untreated cloth. Next piece is paint thinned with textile medium - the top half was painted dry and the bottom half was wet down first. I couldn't get the dry fabric to take the paint except in blotches - so that was an easy one to forget! The wet wasn't much better. Last one is just watered down paint - top half dry, bottom half wet first. Didn't care for that either. This paint was just plain hard to spread, no matter what I mixed with it or if it was wet or dry. Probably would work much better on cotton than a knit though. To be fair I did use Stuart Gill paint on the doll I have in Patti Culea's new book - but she's made of Pimatex. This experiment was on doesuede.


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Next I tried the Jacquard Dye-na-flow fabric paints. These aren't thick like the Stuart Gill paints - they flow like water. I did one piece dry and one piece wet. If you've ever done one of Patti Culea's classes she likes to use these dyes and have the colors run into each other. The coverage on these were great, and I liked the dry best.


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So - here she is ... all painted with Dye-na-flow. I mixed ochre, white, a bit of yellow, a smidgen of red, and a drop of chartreuse for the skin tone. You can see where some of the paint migrated at the leg joins. I laid her on her back to dry and some of the paint migrated into the paper towels so I'll probably give her a light coat on her back tomorrow. Next time I use this fabric for a doll I will paint it first now that I know I can. Oh, you might notice she has a head now - amazing!

Check back tomorrow .. I have a funny photo of her I'm going to post.

Angel pin

I've used this design before to make an 'I'm thinking of you' present. This little angel was made for a woman who is battling cancer. This is the second time I've made one of these angels for the same reason and I hope I don't have to make any more!

It's quick and easy to make up and can really be embellished if you want. I did the tulle fantasy fabric thing for her body - you know, put snips of threads on the base fabric, cover it with tulle and stitch it all down. When I do this now I use an embroidery hoop - it works much better than bunches of pins and holds everything nice and taut. Then the wings were free motion embroidered with a quasi-feather design. Did that in yellow so it would tie in with the body color. Her hair is just ribbons that I looped and sewed down to the head - easy and elegant. This angel could probably have some beaded dangles added to the underside of her arms - that would look cool. But I want to get it to the owner-to-be so I'm not going to do that this time. The tassel was made with funky fibers and ribbon. Finding charms with healing words is rather difficult. I finally found a charm that says Courage on one side and Hope on the other - it's hanging in the tassel. I found it in the scrapbooking section of a craft store. I'm afraid that she looks kind of worried rather than hopeful - but that's just my opinion!

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You can find an online class for this angel at Di McDonald's website.

What a bust!

This September my club is supposed to be bringing Arley Berryhill up to teach costuming. I am soooo looking forward to it! I can't sew a costume from scratch to save my life! For the class we have to have a body already sewn to use as a mannequin. So the Dragon Ladies decided to get a head start on it!

I'm really impressed with the body so far ... I mean, look at it, it's still completely unstuffed and she has breasts! It's a really cool pattern. We really had to pay attention to what we were doing though as it takes careful sewing. Lots of pinning too in my case - the pieces looked like a porcupine got hold of them! In four hours we got the pattern cut out, the body cut out and sewn, and we got most of the legs/feet done. Not too bad for a snowy afternoon!

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Just for fun!

If you've been reading my blog you know that I have a lot of extra heads hanging around. A while ago I took the cap from a glue bottle and stuck it into the head opening of one of them. Kind of silly but fun!

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Crash Test - in final?

Today I finished up the body design for the Crash Test figure. I still have to make another head as I was screwing around with needle sculpting and did some really strange things to it. I really like the pose though. In this photo she is holding some floral tape to simulate a steering wheel.

I think I'm going to use Sculpey or Fimo to make a steering wheel for her to hold. I'm also going to make a brake pedal and maybe a gas pedal out of clay too. The base is going to take some thought. I want the car seat and the pedals to be attached to the base. I had thought of making the seat out of Sculpey but I think I might be better off using fabric. Make a 'tuck and roll' type upholstery, using stiff cardboard or wood for the base. My husband's friend was over today and he wanted to know if I was going to paint her black and blue. Snicker. I think I might. Of course I'd have to add pink, purple, and green in there too!

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Oh - the little brown pieces that are visible are bits of a wine cork -I finally got smart and capped the pins that are sticking out all over.

Crash Test Dummy doll

So today I've been working on refining my own design for a doll I want to make for my 18 year old daughter. She was in an auto accident a couple of weeks ago and she decided it was a major event in her life. She totaled her car, got horrible bruises from the air bag but she walked away from it, thank goodness . She took pictures of everything, including her bruises, took souvenirs from the accident site and is keeping it all in a keepsake box. The figure is going to be seated, holding a steering wheel, with one foot extended to the brake, and it will have a surprised look on it's face. This is what I've done so far.

I'm pretty happy with the proportions overall. I've made the bottom really flat so it can sit easily. I might make the arms a tad bit wider but other than that the basic design is good. Next up is modifying the boot - the boot/foot is too long and I'm not thrilled with the shape. Made another one - just the boot part - no reason to make a whole leg but it's still not right. So it's out with the In Style magazine to see if I can find a good silhouette of a boot. If not - a sandal with a foot in it will be a good reference. It's been fun making this today. I started with arms from another doll I designed and modified the body from it too. The legs I had to draw from scratch though. Only made one leg - why waste material on two until one is designed the way I like it. Didn't wire the fingers yet either so they look a bit strange. I'll pull the stuffing out and do the arms when the design is finalized. She'll get boobs applied later too. What do you think?.

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Miss Piggy goes Walkabout

Here's the latest heads I made for the walking doll. Although the heads aren't bad they don't work with the doll. So I think it's time to set her aside and move on to something else. I thought the one on the left looked like Miss Piggy when I put the blond wig on her. I have this thing about bald dolls - I hate them. So when I work on a doll I always have to put a wig or turban on her until she gets her final 'do'. I have two little wigs that I use just for that. One of my friends thinks this is very strange and she's quite amused by it - but, hey, what can I say! Everyone has their little idiosyncracies and this one's mine!

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The doll on the right has an enormous amount of needle sculpting. The entire

eye is sculpted - around the whole socket and the eyelid. The nose has the bridge, nostrils, and nostrils flares sculpted. The mouth is a three-stitch sculpt. I really like the look this gives the face. I used techniques from a book called Needle Sculpting from the Beginning that is written by Barbara Owen. It's a great resource and you can get it in black-and-white book form or on a CD. The CD has face coloring instructions which the book does not. I may have mentioned this book in an earlier post. Guess that means I really like it!

Another 2 faces

Still struggling with the head for the doll I'm working on. Made another two today and don't like them. One of the things I don't like is that the head is too big for the body - and that's the pattern. So I decided that I'm just going to draft my own head and make it a profile head instead of a flat one. A profile head is one that has a seam down the middle and it has a nose that extends from the face - as opposed to drawing one on. I'm getting tired of these faces. I need to move on. At this rate I'm going to make a headless doll and be done with it!


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2 down, 1 to go

It's been a while since I practiced faces and it shows. These are two heads I did in the past few days and I don't care for them at all. They are watercolor faces and I just don't have that shading stuff down. Don't like the features I drew either. Usually I can do really nice faces but they seem to be escaping me for now. Back to the drawing board. I have another head sewn up so I'll try again.

The trolls are done!

Whoo hoo - the trolls are done! They were so happy that they got into some booze and made real idiots of themselves. Here they are in all their glory.


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My troll is the one laying on the table. The others thought they could drink him under the table, well, he showed them!

Trolls to go

These sure are funny looking! Sometimes ya gotta wonder about naked dolls! But we got the toes sculpted, the legs on, the arms on (well, except for me - I seem to be the slow one in the bunch) and one more Sunday should see them done. I think we had more fun arranging them on the bench for their photo shoot than we did sewing them.

Our doll club has a major gallery showing next year (2006) and we decided that we (The Dragon Ladies) are going to make a tableau for these guys so they can be exhibited together. Just haven't decided if they should be in a cave setting or a bar setting. A cave would be appropriate for a troll but a tavern would be more fun to make. We're also going to exhibit our dragons in a tableau, maybe guarding a damsel high up in a castle tower. Since Karen joined us after we made the dragons (hence the name Dragon Ladies) she gets to make the damsel! Never to early to plan ahead.

Who needs a head anyway?

Looks like some maniac got into my studio and lopped off the heads of some of my dolls. Didn't find them rolling on the floor though so it must be something else. Like my bad habit of popping heads off when I'm not entirely pleased with them. Of course if I made another one it wouldn't be so bad but I don't ever seem to get around to it.

The middle gal has been waving her neck back and forth for two years now, she was made in a class with Patti Culea. The one on the left was made last year in a class with Christine Shively. The face actually came out great - it was just too big for the body. That head is now hanging on my design wall. The last one doesn't really fit the unfinished category because I'm working on it now. Have to finish sewing the clothes down, make the boots and then it's on to the head. Soon, soon.

There are NO mistakes

I don't know who said 'there are no mistakes, only opportunities' but I really like that saying. Tonight I was working with a wonderful piece of fabric that my daughter brought back from Korea for me. I must admit it wasn't much material - she went to a tailor shop to buy me fabric and they didn't understand why she wanted it - so they gave her 3 scraps. I've been saving those scraps for something special - and darned if I didn't give myself an opportunity tonight to use all of it! I've been taking an online class (just love those things!) and I was working on the overcoat for the figure. I knew I had to fussy cut the material so I could get the color and the motifs where I wanted them so I very carefully laid out the pattern pieces. There were two, the back of the coat was one piece (placed on the fold), and a piece for the sides (right sides together). Got them cut out - had a blue motif on one side - matched the trousers perfectly - and a fuschia one on the other. Went to sew them together and realized that I should have turned the side pattern piece over since I had cut them separately. I had two right sides. Grrrr. What a waste! It was the ONLY blue motif on the material. That definitely bummed me out but I cut out another piece and finished the coat. Know what? It came out great .. better than it would have with two different color motifs. I even managed to get them nearly perfectly even on each side of the coat. Ergo ... no mistake .. just a great opportunity for creativity! Ya gotta love it!

P.S. I do this kind of thing all the time. When I used to make clothing - very infrequently I might add - I always put something on backwards. Guess it's just one of my quirks! And I was trying to be SOOOO very careful too!

All shapes and sizes

My little sewing group had a blast today shaping the faces of our trolls to be. We are working on Ute Vasina's Norman pattern which is a little troll dude that sits on a wagon. We all used different fabrics and were amazed at how differently they are turning out. Now - these look a bit strange because there's no coloring or hair yet - not even ears but it's fun to see how although we all used the same pattern none of them are remotely alike!

From left to right ... the little brown dude is made of the new version of doesuede, the next one is made from bucksuede bought at a Ben Franklin Crafts, the next doll is made of original doesuede in a taupe color, and the last one is made of a stretch fabric from JoAnn Fabrics. We all used different size and style eyes too - a couple are made with buttons (last two on right) and then other two are glass eyes of different styles - cat's eyes for one! We had fun with belly buttons too - we changed how we did them from the pattern directions and we also gave them little 'butt dimples'. It's going to be a couple of weeks before we can get together again to work on them but I'll report on their progress then.

Clogging pens

The question of how to keep your gel pens and Pigma or Zig pens from clogging up when you are coloring over other media is one that comes up quite often on the doll lists. I used to have this problem too - now plain old impatience is my biggest problem. The trick to keeping your pens from clogging is to seal each layer before you go on to the next one.

For instance, if you are going to draw the outline of your features with a Pigma pen you should spray it with a fixative before you go on to your other media, especially if it's a wet one such as watercolor pencils. You HAVE to do this if you are using gel pens because they bleed like crazy. I use Krylon Fixative - it stinks so make sure you spray it outside. Let it dry overnight - yes, I know - it's hard - you want to get right into coloring that precious little face. But do it anyway. Then the next day go ahead and do your coloring, if you use gel pen or paint for the whites of the eyes, or for highlights save that till last. Spray again and let dry. Then take your pens and do the final detailing. Do a final seal. For this I like to use Craftgard - which is a waterproof sealer. It goes on kind of oily but dries great and it doesn't change the colors. This lets you clean the doll with a damp washcloth later on in life when she gets a bit dusty.

If your pens have clogged there are a couple of ways to unclog them. One way that was discussed on the lists is to gently draw them along very fine sandpaper and another is to draw them along a paper towel. I often just draw on the back of my hand until it starts to flow again. You'll just have to try them to see what works for you.

Heads will roll

I was laying in bed New Year's Eve when I heard a loud thumping noise. I didn't want to get up but I figured I better go see what the dog had knocked over. She's good for blaming things on but it wasn't her this time. My big 2 foot tall 'Last of the Faeries" had fallen over and took out another smaller doll with her on her way down.

After standing on her own for 2 weeks she has fallen over twice now. It was New Year's Eve .. maybe she's been sneaking drinks when we're asleep. But now I need to do something to keep her upright.

A doll stand won't work because she's too tall and they look horrible anyway. So I'm going to take a big chance and try to make a hole in her foot and up her leg and insert a brass rod which will attach to a hard wood base. She's pretty rigid - two layers of fabric which was painted over with gesso and acrylics - so I think I can drill a hole without too much trouble. I think I'll start it with a Dremel and then see if I can use an awl to smash through the fiberfill. I used Mountain Mist which is really stiff so I don't know if I'll be able to do that. I sure hope I don't ruin her! Wish me luck!

If she was a bit shorter I'd stick her in Doll Prison :

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Last night I had a holiday party to attend for the quilt shop I am affiliated with. We always have a gift exchange and the gift must be handmade. As I said earlier I've been working like mad to get the doll for my class finished, which, by the way, I got an A on (10 out of 10 points). Yay! So I didn't have much time to make a whole new doll, which is what the girls have come to expect from me. So what did I do?

I took pieces and parts from dolls that were never finished for one reason or another and combined them into a lovely little gal who now has a great new home. I had a doll body from a class, no hair, not much of a costume. So I added a new underskirt, wrapped ribbon on her feet for shoes, and gave her a sweet little updo with mohair roving. I had wings on another unfinished doll which were just pinned on .. so I took them too. Luckily they were in the same colors as the doll so it worked perfectly.

Use the world around you for inspiration ... I had watched an episode of Oprah while I was getting my nails manicured (a rare luxury for me) and she was giving away watches that were attached to ribbons which you wound around your wrist. It really looked more like a scarf. So my doll had one - at least she had the ribbon wrapped around her wrist - fairies don't need to tell time so no watchface. I cut a piece of material into a triangle and just wrapped it around her wrist, tacked it down with a couple of stitches, looked great! Make it long enough to go around the wrist at least twice, and end with the point on top. This would also make a great cuff for sleeves.

As I was working I was listening to the radio and they played a song by the B-52s .. remember them? Wild haircolors, big beehive hairdos? Yep, you guessed it, my doll ended up with purple hair in a crazy updo. I took a long piece of mohair roving and laid it down across the doll's head, forehead to nape. I had about two inches hanging over her forehead and the rest down her back. I then sewed it down around the entire hairline with matching thread. Then I gathered the long piece and twisted it into a french twist. Sewed that down to the top of the head. Curled the front piece back into a type of pompadour and sewed that down to the top of the french twist. Hair doesn't have to be complicated to look good.

Here's another great way to get inspiration .. eye candy! I love this book Patti Culea's Creative Cloth Dollmaking
- it has dolls by well known names and by, well, just regular people like you and me. The book has 3 doll patterns in it and lots of great ideas for embellishing.

Wings to fly with

I finally got the doll finished for my art project - she is titled "The Last of the Faeries".

I had a lot of fun making the wings and they were so easy. I wanted lacy wings so I figured I'd try burning organza to achieve that look. I had never tried it before but I've read about it in magazines and it sounded simple.

I drew out a sketch of what I wanted the wings to look like so I didn't go into it blindly.

Then I took a piece of floral wire - think it was 16 gauge - and bent it into an extended 'v'. Took another wire and formed the same shape but made it much tighter, then I nested the smaller 'v' inside the big one. I sprayed the wires with 505 - a temporary adhesive spray and stuck them to the organza. Didn't stay too well so I added a couple of pins across the wires.

Zig-zagged the wires down with the sewing machine and then trimmed the organza a bit. Now the fun started. I took my Versa-tool, which is like a soldering iron with lots of different tips, and put in the stencil cutting tip. It's a bit bigger than the tip of a soldering iron - but that would work great too. Then all I did was just draw the shape I wanted with the hot tip - the excess organza just melted away.

It was so cool!

You really have to be careful though - it takes a really light touch or you could end up with a really big hole! The nylon kind of built up on the tip of the iron so I had to keep wiping it off on a wet washcloth - read that tip somewhere on line - it sure helped! Once that was done - and it only took a couple of minutes per wing, I painted the wings with acrylic paint. It was hard to control the flow of the paint on the organza - I think that will take more practice than making the wings!

But it was a grand experience and I'm sure to make more fairies now! Or maybe just a wing collection ...

Wire Woes

I think if it wasn't for little problems (stumbling blocks) I wouldn't experiment as much as I do. I said earlier I'm working on my project for my art class - and I'll be doing so for at least a week.

Living in a small town can be a real challenge to finding the materials that you need. I spent one morning going from hardware store to hardware store looking for aluminum wire to use as an armature. I finally found some wire to use for the body but none for the hands. I went through all my wire at home but none had the same malleability as the Alumaloy armature wire.

So I ended up using four strands of that jewelry making stuff, Wild Wire, for the hands - seems to have worked pretty well so far. Instead of using pipe cleaners and twisting them together, which makes for a rather thick wrist, the pattern called for twisting the wire into a hand shape. Interesting process. Then the wire I found for the body (which was a 4 foot coil) wasn't long enough to reach the feet when bent in half. Of course I didn't realize this until I got the leg skins on and noticed that the wires reached the ankles and that was it!

Would have been really hard to put the feet on that way .. and now that I have a right and left foot I really want to use them! Lucky for me my husband has all types of welding equipment, so I had him weld an extension to both leg wires . I trussed up the doll in foil until it looked like some strange shaped pot roast and then left, I couldn't bear to watch.

I also couldn't afford to have sparks make holes in her, hence the pot roast couture! I wish I took a picture to share because it really looked funny.

But now I have wires that are long enough to work with. Can't wait to see what the next stumbling block will be!

Three left feet

Yesterday I was working on a doll that I'm making for my final in my Color & Design class. The pattern I'm using has a two part foot; you sew the heels together on the sole before you add the top of the foot. The toe of the foot has a definite curve so you have a shapely foot for sculpting.

I cut the pieces out at the same time but didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the pieces before I began sewing. Just peeled the first pieces off the freezer paper and began to sew. Then picked up the next two pieces and put them together - no thought involved, just sew.

I made two feet and when I turned them I realized I had two left feet. Oh well, not a problem I'll just cut out another one and sew a right foot. I looked at the finished piece, while it was right side out, and played with the new pieces to make sure I was sewing a right foot this time. Not sure what I did but I made ANOTHER left foot. Grrrrr.

So I cut out another two pieces but this time before I started to sew I turned one of the left feet inside out so I could make sure I was sewing the pieces in the right direction. Moral of the story: Make sure you lay the pieces out on the table before you start to sew instead of leaving them stacked.

When I'm done with this little lady I just might have to make a dancing doll ... with two left feet!

More practice faces

I've been playing with water soluble oil pastels since Patti Medaris Culea introduced me to them earlier this year. If you like using watercolor pencils on your faces you'll love these. They blend like the pencils but the colors are more vivid.

The brand I have is Portfolio - you find them in with the Crayola crayons. If you want to see what the box looks like click here. The link will take you to an Amazon.com page. I've been drawing faces on fabric the last few nights just for fun. I like to practice making faces this way rather than stuffing heads - much faster. Anyhow - my doll club has decided that we are all going to make a fabric postcard and put it in our exchange bag for our holiday party. I decided to use one of my faces on mine. I'm not the best artist but with practice I've gotten much better. Here's my postcard.

The background is a piece of fabric covered with leftover threads and then tulle and then free motion embroidered to hold everything down. I think it still needs a little something - maybe a bit of hair.

The butterfly is an iron on and I'm not really pleased with the placement but I was afraid to get it too close to the edge - that it would interfere with the presser foot when I did the satin stitch around the outside.

Duh - it's an iron on - I could have placed it when everything else was done.

Sometimes I just don't think!

Posted by judi at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)

Practice Heads

A rose is a rose is a rose ... what do you do with extra heads?

I am making a garden with mine. If I have a good head that I'm not using for a doll I frame it with silk flower petals. Then I hang them on the wall.

I suppose I could eventually put them on dowels and put them into a flower pot - I think that would look great. With this last flower I discovered a great way to add the hanger. The flower had so much hot glue on it that I had to use my heat gun to melt it to take the petals apart.

I couldn't get the very bottom unglued though but I was able to remove the stem. What I had left was a round plastic disk with a hole in the middle that was attached to a couple of leaves and petals.

The hole allowed me to put my hanger (a braided piece of embroidery thread) through it and then I attached the whole piece to the doll's head.

Who's Biased?

I recently took a class from Christine Shively and there was something a little off about the doll I made in her class. Took a while to figure it out and it actually was another artist friend of mine who told me.

I had placed the head pattern on the bias and, after stuffing, the head ended up too big for the body. I like to place the head on the bias for 2 or more piece heads since the nose and cheeks fill out better but this doll was a flat face. Even the little bit of extra stuffing was too much for this doll.

So - I'll pop her head off and make a pin doll out of it. Next head will be on-grain!

A fun thing to do to learn about bias is to take a leg pattern piece and place it on the cross-grain, the straight-grain, and the bias. Then sew and stuff.

Look at the difference in the legs when you're done. One will be shorter than the other and one will be fatter. Keep this in mind when you are sewing your dolls.

Oh those wobbly doll heads

We have been having quite a discussion on Doll Street regarding wobbly heads, or more specifically, how to avoid wobbly heads.

Seems that the most popular method to use is to put a stick of some sort in the neck and pack stuffing around that. Some folks like popsicle sticks and some just use dowels.

I like to use a short piece of dowel myself, the size depends on the size of the doll.

One trick that I didn't see mentioned is to keep the length of the dowel/stick fairly short depending on how you are going to joint the doll. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to get your needle through the body only to run into a solid piece of wood! So keep it small and you shouldn't have that problem.

Make sure to put a bit of stuffing into the top of the neck before you insert the dowel too - helps keep it from trying to pop through.