Art Dolls

The busier I get ...

judi — 2008-05-15T17:35:10-08:00

I actually had a few minutes today to get a coat of paint on the collage I'm working on - this is for Linda Misa's class over at Doll Street. I have to start the scary part next, painting the figure on it. You can see the papers I started with at the foot of the canvas.

We also got a box in the mail with some of Loren's grandmother's 'stuff' in it, including this hand quilted and cross-stitched quilt ...

here's a close up of the cross-stitch ...click to enlarge ..

I actually said my younger daughter could have it but then I took it back before she could leave today - I'm so bad. I think it needs to stay with me for a while. It has a few stains and needs cleaning - do you think I could put it in the washing machine safely? I can only imagine how long this took to make!

Then we got this quilt too ... oh, my eyes ...I don't know what it is made of but it's very shiny, LOL.

Between his mom and his grandmother I have close to a dozen hand quilted quilts - no wonder I gave up quilting!

Now take a look at this .. my husband bought this cloth doll for his grandmother at a bazaar when he was stationed in Japan about 20 years ago ... she's a cloth over .. but cloth over what?? Who knows!

Isn't she pretty? Unfortunately she is very dirty. I'll try to clean her with cotton balls/q-tips and water unless someone has a better idea. She was a gift for someone in 1966 according to a piece of paper that fell off the bottom. I imagine she is about 43 or 44 years old.

We also got another dozen rusty silverplated spoons that I am NOT going to clean and we got this really cool seltzer bottle. I remember when I first came to America my aunt had one of these (but not as fancy) and she would make us sodas - egg creams! Man, I loved those things! The bottle says not to fill it up further than the red line. I wonder what would happen - would it explode?

We have some really weird things from his family .. including an accordian that lives in my bedroom closet, LOL.

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Close up of the box

judi — 2008-05-11T13:50:46-08:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! I'm having a nice quiet day today and later the girls and their families will be coming over for supper. Should be fun. Haven't posted much lately but I have been quite busy. I have been working on writing my next online class - just have to finish one more chapter. I started a new class yesterday down at the yarn shop - learning to knit socks. At first using four little knitting needles was very awkward but it's getting easier as I go along. I have new canvases to make my collages for Linda's class over on Doll Street (the last batch had rips in them when I opened the package). Plus I have been working on the clock doll. This is the box she will be built around.

Well, must go - mirgraine kicking in and I can't see a thing right now except little flashing lights out of the corner of my eyes!

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The sweater is done!

judi — 2008-05-05T12:29:02-08:00

I went to a knitting retreat this past weekend - lots of fun! We knit and ate, knit and drank, knit and ate, knit and chatted, and knit and ate. We stayed at a rustic lodge,which is actually a restored bunkhouse from an old gold mine. The place was neat but the lighting left a lot to be desired. Next time we'll have to bring some Ott lights along. This particular lodge is really popular in the winter with the Japanese tourists who come to see the Northern Lights and each bedroom had a bare red light bulb mounted on the wall so you could still see but didn't interfere with seeing outside. Didn't do much this time of year as it is already light most of the night but I thought it was a great idea and I might have to get one for my living room next winter!

Although a lot of the women knew each other from the yarn shop, this particular retreat was formed (created? sponsored?) through an online group from the knitty social network, Ravelry. I think it's pretty fascinating that the social landscape has changed so much - dating, crafting, friends, it's all so common on-line now. Here's a photo of Sarah's son Blake modeling my baby sweater ... I am so glad it is done. It has lots of mistakes but I learned so much doing it! Now I have some wrist warmers and a scarf on my needles!

Photo taken with my iPhone - can't believe I forgot my camera!

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Leg bolts

judi — 2008-04-30T18:38:10-08:00

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

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Beaded book thongs

judi — 2008-04-29T08:00:00-08:00

I received these absolutely luscious beaded book thongs in a bookmark swap over at Swap-bot. I'm afraid every time I say book thong a different picture runs through my head LOL. There's some great charms on these! Click the image to really see them.

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Experiment #2 - stencils & alcohol inks

judi — 2008-04-27T10:18:54-08:00

These are my results from messing around with the stencils I had cut when I etched the jar. I think it looks better when the stencil is inked over rather than through. You could make some cool candle holders this way - with personal messages or something.

Inking through the stencil

Inking over the contact paper cutouts

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A new ribbon-eating puppy?

judi — 2008-04-25T10:57:23-08:00

Brought home a new dog last night - another miniature American Eskimo - she is 6 months old. I wonder if she will love ribbons and fabric as much as my other Eskie did when he was little. We will see ... meet Candy Cane ... who just had a welcome home bath, LOL.

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Art apron in progress

judi — 2008-04-20T12:04:16-08:00

I went to a friend's house yesterday for an art day - we started working on art aprons using the instructions in Cloth Paper Scissors. This started out as bib overalls but the back of the overalls is now sewn to the front to create more pockets. I wanted to preserve the front top pocket so I put the back a bit lower than it should have been. Now the back pockets are down by my knees, LOL. I will have to do a bit more redesigning before I start painting it. I put the black and white border on it but that's it. It was a fun day - I need more play dates!

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Another beautiful mermaid

judi — 2008-04-16T14:17:52-08:00

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!

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Etching glass with die cuts

judi — 2008-04-13T15:24:33-08:00

Plushie fever has passed and I have been wondering if I wasted my money when I bought the die cut machine to use to make eyes. NOPE! I found another use for it - to decorate jars. I have no idea where this idea came from because I haven't etched glass in YEARS - probably 10 years. But I got out the contact paper and made 3 stencils using my new Flourish die (from Revolution). If you've never etched glass - it is soooo simple ...

Step one - cut your stencil from contact paper, stick it to the glass, and burnish so there's no air bubbles for the cream to sneak under.

Step two - cover it with the etching cream - which I don't think is brown but this stuff is over 10 years old - see what happens when you never throw out craft supplies, ha ha. Leave it on for 5 minutes then rinse it off with water

Step 3 - admire.

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Collage class

judi — 2008-04-11T15:44:46-08:00

Had to show you this photo - it's a collage that will be taught at Doll Street next month by Linda Misa of Australia. I just LOVE her work! I already bought my canvases so I can give this a whirl. It should be a lot of fun.

She uses one of my favorite tools too - sequin waste! Just smaller than what I use - I need to buy some!

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Kiva loan

judi — 2008-04-11T13:34:27-08:00

I made my first Kiva loan today! Kiva allows people like us to make small (think - $25) loans to people in developing nations so they can lift themselves out of poverty through business. I lent money to a woman in Peru who wants to buy embroidery thread and cloth. The money is actually managed through third parties and although there is risk you may eventually get your money back (so you can lend it to someone else!) I read about it through Lisa Vollrath's blog - she is a lender too. Go make a loan today! It will make you feel good!

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Knitty stuff

judi — 2008-04-10T21:23:46-08:00

Being proficient with a sewing machine can come in handy - made myself a knitting needle roll yesterday. Had to redo the top binding because it didn't leave enough room for the flap to cover the long needles - this is the before picture. It works much better now. Found a pattern on the net and then modified it. Then I decided to play with clay and I covered these knitting needles. I put the needles in an oven bag before I put them in to cook - when I made the first set yesterday the fumes from the clay and the needles were horrible - and that was in a bag too - just not sealed shut. So today I sealed it with wire. Way better. No fumes. I was worried that the bamboo would warp but I guess the temperature is low enough because they were fine. You can't see it but I stamped the size of each needle on it's top - the green ones have a red center - looks like an olive gone bad, LOL. Too bad I can't sculpt - I could imagine some very cool things to put on the knobs! Ah well. These were fun anyway.

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Who is this woman?

judi — 2008-04-08T20:43:58-08:00

... someone who thought it would be fun to make a change in her life ...you should have heard the women in the salon .. looking at all the hair on the floor and asking if it was from one person .. yes, it was ... ME!

sorry about the grainy image .. hard to take a photo of yourself in the bathroom mirror without a flash! The little photo is of me 3 years ago when I had my hair foiled for the first time, but my hair was about that long this morning.

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The bookmark tutorial is done

judi — 2008-04-06T16:00:50-08:00

I actually made the time to write this - and before I wrote that online class on altered CDs and domino art too! Free stuff before paid stuff - what am I thinking? LOL. Anyhow - there's 3 pages and you can print it out and link to it. Just no copying it. Have fun and send me photos if you make any.

You'll learn to make packing tape transfers in this tutorial. These bookmarks will make great gifts so make lots!

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