Nov. Show and Sale People's Choice Award

A big thanks to everyone for making our show this year a success. We had a lot of traffic and I saw lots of packages leaving with people wearing happy smiling faces. Our room at the library was full of laughter the whole day. It's amazing how dolls make people happy. Also thanks to everyone who purchased something from me. I do love making unusual things and have lots of different things in mind for next year. I will try to have more art to wear jackets and sweaters next year for you to choose from.

Also thanks to everyone for voting for their favorite challenge doll. Ayanna won people's choice so she will be featured on next year's postcard.

I'm going to take a little time off from creating to spend some quality time with my family. I'm afraid they've been pretty neglected these past few weeks.

I've got more projects in mind so I'll be posting more later. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Art to Wear Duster

Wow...have I been learning a lot while making my last art to wear project. I love dusters (super long sweaters) so I decided to make one from recycled sweaters. It took 3 sweaters and a lot of hair pulling but I finally finished late yesterday. I thought it would take 2 days but it had a life of it's own and it took 4 days. Even Ken got involved in the critique!! The collar "texturizing" was a last minute addition. It used to be flat and came out onto the sleeve cap. Every time I tried it on the collar just seemed over whelming. Couldn't really trim it off so I started taking tucks...I love the way it turned out. That's an example of a "make it work" moment!!

Ayanna-Beautiful Flower

Ayanna is finally finished. She is my club challenge doll....remember the fabric with the large flowers....well, those flowers blossomed into Ayanna. I used a Leta Benedict pattern that had a multi-layer skirt and a parasol. I could envision using the print as petals on the dress and part of the parasol. The pattern didn't include shoes but I just couldn't resist making shoes for her delicate feet. Ayanna is perched on a wooden candlestick that has been painted to coordinate with her dress. Wouldn't you know that I used the largest print fabric on the smallest cloth doll that I have made!! She's only 13" from the tip of her shoe to the top of her head and only 16" when you include the stand and parasol. She will be on exhibit at our annual Show and Sale on November 19th along with the other challenge dolls. There were 9 entries in the challenge and every doll was unique and wonderful. It will be very interesting to see who wins the People's Choice Award this year.

Meet Gorgeous Greta

Finally assembled all the parts and pieces my latest tassel doll late yesterday. When I asked her what she would like to be called she said, "Just call me, Gorgeous, dahling." Well, I thought that was a little presumptuous so I looked at her and since she reminded me of Greta Garbo I told her that her name would be Greta. She said she would be happy with Gorgeous Greta. We'll see.....Hope you enjoy her.

Tassel Doll progress report

I've done more work on my latest tassel doll. Since I sculpted the feet, I decided that sculpted hands would be the right thing to do for the hands. This is new territory for me and it took me a whole day to get two hands that I thought were at least decent. Working in this scale is very difficult and, of course, being my first time I certainly had challenges to overcome. Her face, hands, and feet have been painted and I made shoes for her feet.....didn't think she looked like Cinderella so I made shoes. I've embellished her gown (tassel) with beads, gave her a ring and bracelet for a little bling. She has a fur cape and she will be getting a purse and hat soon. Of course, she needs hair too..... She still hasn't told me her name yet......maybe one of you can suggest a name. I hope to get her done this week.

New Tassel Doll in process

After taking the on-line sculpting class I'm getting braver and trying my hand at other sculpting projects. In the past I've used a mold by Cyndi Mahlstadt for the heads on my tassel dolls. I decided to sculpt my own this time and while I was at it I also sculpted some feet. Here are some pictures of the parts and pieces I will be using to make this tassel doll. The tassel pictured here is a vintage tassel I found at an antique store. I'll be painting the face and feet today. Keep watching...more to come....shoes, hands...maybe a hat. I need a name....any suggestions?

Pictures of Colts' Pin and Chloe Pins

Here are pictures of the Colts Pin and a couple of Chloe Pin Dolls that will be for sale at Robert Goodman Jewelers in Zionsville from October 7 - 31.

Sculpting class heads

Well, after 4 weeks I have completed the on-line sculpting heads class. It has been a great experience since I could fit it in between caring for my sister as she recuperates from knee replacement surgery and getting inventory ready for Wamm Fest. I am satisfied with my first attempts but have lots of room to improve. I used Super Sculpey which tends to have more surface issues when baked than Pro Sculpt. Some of the class attendees say that Living Doll is the same as Pro Sculpt so I'll try that next. I struggled with the paint....it wanted to dry too fast to blend well. I've since learned that there is a "retarder" which I can add which will slow down the drying time. I am anxious to design 3 dolls around these sculpts. Hopefully, I'll get at least one done for the November show and sale.

Clay sculpting class update

We've had our first week of work in the on-line sculpting class. We are using super sculpey to make the faces. Our first lesson was to make 3 heads and make the eyes only. It was suggested that we try to make the eyes different in each head. My eyes are Caucasian, Asian and one where she is looking up and to her left. I am enjoying this new medium a lot. If you make a mistake all you do is blend it in or cut it out and start again. I have never tried to sculpt before so with each head I learn a little more about how to use the tools and the medium. They are really bumpy now but our instructor tells us that we will "magically" smooth all those bumps away later. This week we will be adding the rest of the facial features. Wish me luck.

Clay Sculpting a Face

I'm going to try something new--sculpting in polymer clay. I'm taking an online class and hope to be able to incorporate this technique in future dolls. The teacher is Marilyn Radzat and she makes beautiful sculpted dolls. If this goes well I may also take the session on sculpting hands and arms. I'll take pictures of my progress so that you can share my learning experience. Wish me luck!!

Vivian's Masquerade

I started this doll at AFIC this year with Leta Benedict. I finally have her finished. Leta's design called for an all white doll made with vintage handkerchiefs but I wanted more color so I made my own "handkerchiefs" for her skirt and boosted the color quotient by using turquoise and lime green. I also made her pantaloons slightly different from Leta's design. I used a decorative ribbon for the last part and then let is stand out like a ruffle instead of drawing it in against her leg. The mask and boots are made from paper clay and then painted. This was something new that I hadn't done before. The hat is made from fleece, watercolor paper (for stiff top) and wire. I had a lot of fun combining all the ribbons and fabrics to make this truly fanciful masquerade doll. I put sateen over a cloth sculpted face and then painted the features. This eliminates the seam lines on the face. I hope you enjoy my latest creation.

New Doll-Aquarius

Every year the Indy Cloth Dollmakers and the River City Doll Club in Cincinnati have a joint meeting and share a challenge. This year's challenge was to create a doll based on a sign of the Zodiac. I chose Aquarius, the water bearer. For this challenge I decided to create my own original design. The doll is 19" tall and has a wire armature so that she can stand alone on a base. I used Mimi Winer's that needle sculpting technique to sculpt her face. I used real hair eyelashes to complete her realistic face. The water urn is made from paper mache and then painted. The water is a cascade of beads flowing into the river bed of tiny pebbles. Her beaded gown features moon and stars on the bodice. Her sleeves and bottom of the gown were made from strips of polyester organza which has crinkled using a heat gun and then attached with beads to her gown.

Here's Chloe--New Pin Doll

The Indy Cloth Doll Club is working on a doll pattern book which we hope to have completed for the AFIC convention in April. I decided to make a pin doll which I named after my grand daughter, Chloe. Of course, the real Chloe is much cuter but this will have to do. There are doll makers who are intimidated when it comes to painting faces so I am including the fabric face with my pattern. So if you can sew and string beads you can make this doll. I think there are lots of ways that this doll would be customized. For example, you could use yarn or wool roving for hair instead of beads. The skirt could also be a piece of light weight fabric instead of ribbon or maybe even a collection of large beads or buttons. I've even thought that I might use a locket for the upper torso, instead of a button, cabochon or bead. This one is my prototype so there are improvements that I want to incorporate in the final version. I plan to make her hair a little bigger and probably not "fringe" the bottom of her skirt. I used a button for this version, but will try a bead on the final version.

Fabric Weaving Sampler

Now that the holiday season is over, I've had some time to try a some new things. I wanted to learn something new so I tried fabric weaving. It seemed like a creative way to use up scraps of fabric and create something new that could be used. I found a piece that I wasn't too fond of and some coordinating colors and plunged right in. Of course, I didn't want to do a simple checkerboard pattern so I used curved pieces. Somewhat of a challenge but the result was quite interesting. I also made a fabric/foam flower, fabric beads, and other embellishments for my sampler. The first picture is the base fabric and the second picture is my "sampler".

I think I may try using smaller strips next time so that I can use the created fabric for one of my doll creations....hmmm.