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) | TrackBack

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 (17) | TrackBack

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?

I could not get the clay to do what I wanted and when I made this little block head it made me think of the monoliths on Easter Island ... ergo the Protector of Easter Candy.

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) | TrackBack

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:


First Judi A. added legs, then Sherry gave her arms and sleeves, Natalie did her face, Jan added hair, Mary O. gave her an applique for a top, Fran gave her a skirt, and Pammy gave her flowers. I couldn't have worked with a more talented bunch of artists - this is a beautiful piece of art!

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!

Here's the bracelet, although it's hard to see some of the charms ... click on the photo to see them up close and personal.

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

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!

It's a Sherry Goshon pattern!

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.

One was a needlefelted bear from Tonya in Serbia. It was soooo small. The other bear was a teddy made from sheared beaver fur. This bear was very confused, it didn't know what he was. Was he a bear or was he a beaver? If he was a beaver was he a he or a she? The bear engaged Goldy in a long conversation about flora and fauna and when she left he was watching Victor/Victoria. That bear was sooooo weird. Then Goldy found the doll maker's workroom and sitting on a table was this doll. It was black and white and not quite done.
Hmmmm, thought Goldy, the first doll was just white, this second doll is black and white, what would the next one be? She decided to stay for a few more days to see if something with a bit more color appeared. Goldy made her way back to the main room in time to see the doll maker closing the door to the oven. "Is that dinner?" she asked. "Oh yes", said the doll maker, "we're having Gretel tonight".

... 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.

But Goldy wanted a doll so she waited around. After a while a third doll appeared, and this doll was just right. Except it was pretty plain. Goldy wasn't too thrilled about that. She figured she'd better hang out for a few days and see what happens with it. She even offered to cook some porridge for dinner but the doll maker said something about having a Hansel, whatever that is.


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

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 ...

I used a tiger print doesuede for the outside of the quiltlet and a cotton for the lining. I free motion embroidered over the whole thing. I used a combination of straight lines (for when the ideas come easily) and loops and curves (for when they don't).

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