As seen in Contemporary Doll Magazine Sept 10 issue

I've just had one of my pieces published in a magazine. I couldn't be happier. Okay so you can tell it's the first time. To be along side some of my favorite artists is truly wonderful. I rushed out and bought two copies of the issue. See page 15 to find my Dazzling Diva, my Burlesque doll. She is a 15" cloth doll with a paper clay face mask. Available for sale in my etsy shop.

Wonderland: ADO Blog Event

Okay so  you will be able to tell which one is my favourite! I loved Helen as the Red Queen, the doll doesn't do her justice but it was so much fun. I love her stockings ... unfortunately you don't see them in my photos. Tried a new techinque on all the dolls. 

I never did finish the White Queen but I absolutely loved her character portrayed by Anne Hathaway in the movie. 

I must admit I'm very happy with the way Alice turned out as well. Looks more like the character than I thought she would. 

And of course no one could quite capture Johnny as the Mad Hatter. I'll have to work on that in another sculpt. ENJOY the tour of all the ADO's participants in the WONDERFUL WONDERLAND EVENT!

See them all on sale at my etsy shop!

Satyr WIP continues

 

My work on my Satyr continues with the wrapping of his body with quilt batting. I've also glued on his hooves and hands. 

Next step adding his skin. I use lycra, like that used in control top underwear actually. No I didn't recycle. LOL I cut the fabric, pin it in place and sew it directly on the body. I won't do his legs as they'll be covered with fur. Which is the next step.

Okay, fur is in place. I haven't trimmed the hair on his lower legs yet. I'll wait until I costume further to see what I want to do. I have trimmed the fur at his waist. You can see the darker colour as I've trimmed off the lighter top hairs on the fur.

I've made him a shirt with cuffs, added a belt and leather vest. At this point I know he'll need some support to stand. The armature wire I used is not tough enough, nor does it extend out the bottoms of his feet. So as he is elderly, I'll add a cane that will extend into the base. For the base I'm using a peice of wood that I've drilled a hole into for the cane wire. I will cover the base with apoxie sculpt so it looks like mud and fix the dolls feet into that mud for added support. 

And now he's attached to his base. I'll still probably add some little stones, moss and some varnish to the base before it's complete.

 

WIP Satyr working with Living Doll

I found a new clay and anyone who knows me, knows that that means I'll be playing and discovering it and posting new Work in Progress pics as I play. Sometimes I wish I had four arms or a camera in my head so that I could show you exactly how I make the hands or sculpt the face but I will have to make do with interval pictures.
I sculpted a head on an armature of foil and it became an elderly Satyr.

He has an honest, open and friendly expression. I loved the Living Doll clay. Found it somewhat hard, although it warms as you work. In that case I put it down for a while. I doesn't take a lot of tools marks but is easy to blend when you add clay (before baking).

I didn't use an armature in the hands and fingers and yet they have survived the rough handling of clothing. I usually end up breaking fingers so I must admit I am impressed.

Now I build up the body armature with wire aluminum foil and masking tape and begin putting the colour wash on the face. I use a light purple where the softer more transparent areas of the skin are. Around the eyes. I brush on a watered down bit of colour and blot it up with a sponge. Repeating until I get the look I want. Then I do the same with Raw Umber all over. The paint traps in the wrinkles and warms the colour of the clay. Next I use a watered down burgundy to add colour to the cheeks and lips and paint in the eyes.

I'll continue on with covering his body with skin, fur and adding his feet next time.
Hope you enjoyed the post!

Lunch & Learn Puppet Building

I belong to our company's charity fundraising team. We were a little tired of the same old pizza lunches, chili cookoffs, bake sales and pub nites and they were looking for suggestions. I thought doing lunch and learns where we can learn skills from outside the office and learn about and from each other about things we do outside of work. Things like photography, knitting, flytying, card making, scrapbooking, cooking, etc. things that would be very welcome deviations from the normal everyday and a creative outlet for stress.

I agreed to kick off with something really wild and advertised a Puppet Building Lunch & Learn. Although I had a lot of people accept there was the enevitable drop off due to busy schedules. The seven that did turn out were very enthusiastic and they had a wonderful time!

We had a blast, everyone went home with their puppet and raised some money for the charity too!

So honey what did you do at work today?

Travelling Doll: Chloe Arrives in Toronto

A rainy and cold day but a surprise in the mail when I arrived home shivering. Cindee Moyer's doll Chloe with her gorgeous tortouise button eyes had arrived from England with a new dress and more found things in her hair.

With a cup of tea and a cuddle with the cat we sat down to read her travelling journal together and made plans for what she wanted me to add to her costume.

Well it looked like we had a cold and rainyweekend in store for us... so although Chloe really wanted a raincoat or at least an umbrella, we couldn't find anything that would work in my stash of fabrics.

So we went on an adventure to see what we could find at Canada's Textile Museum. The museum has a wonderful rummage or yard sale twice a year and Chloe was just in time to join me!

While there we found some wonderful knit samples and some yummy hot pink silk dupioni. Success! Hopeful that the weather would warm up and that there would be no rain in Texas which was the next stop on her journey, we made some ribbon embellished stockings and silk flats.

We had a lovely time together, I'll miss you Chloe, hope you have a wonderful visit with Abi before you return home.

Wild Thing has come to Toronto

Lisa's traveling doll has made it from California to Ohio to England and finally here to me. That's a lot of miles on the beat up old' VW bus. She's having a great time touring a hip young Yorkville and Rochdale College.

Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in alternative student-run education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada. Also known as the Rochdale Project, it was associated with Innis College, University of Toronto.  

Flowers and free love. Antiwar marches and acid tests. In the mid to late 1960s, youth across North America and Europe began to "turn on, tune in and drop out." Fed up with the establishment — parents, schools, police — they went looking for a new way of life. To Toronto's Yorkville and Vancouver's Kitsilano district they came, preaching peace, love and non-conformity. 


I'll add more of her tale in her journal!

She's got some fab new go-go boots and a great Orange tie-dyed mini-dress. She still needs some work on her boots,but right now the heels are drying.