bungalow gals studio

My Bungalow Gals

2012-01-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

Rescued these adorable little girls recently from where they'd been abandoned, in my favorite antique store. They don't look much alike, so I can't decide if they're sisters, cousins or just friends. Time period... perhaps around 1920?

The one on the left looks decidedly unhappy about being all fussed up in a starched dress with bows in her hair. Something tells me her white dress did not remain that way for long!

The season must be early summer... as I can make out what is probably scarlet runner beans beginning to wind their way up vertical strands of twine that have been strung up along the end of the porch.

Anyway, from now on, they will be my adopted ancestors.
I'm hoping to use the image in an upcoming collage.

Peace Begins at Home

2011-12-07T13:53:00.001-08:00

The Christmas season brings out the hippie in me. You know... peace, goodwill toward my fellow humans, sharing, feeding the hungry, love, huddling together to keep warm. And there are all kinds of iconic images around that bring those caring-for-each-other qualities to mind... stars, bells, twinkling lights, babies in mangers, doves, wreaths on front doors... and peace signs.

This is the wreath we hang up every year... no cedar boughs or big red bow... but I think it conveys what the season ought to be all about. (Yes, it's a hula hoop.)

Peace, baby... make love, not war.

The house is also dripping with good old fashioned tiny white lights this year... you know, the non-LED kind that make our power meter spin a little faster?

I've been fiddling around with creating a Christmas card this year. Definitely a peace theme... but otherwise, a little non-traditional in terms of other classic Christmas colors and designs. Some of you *may* get some version of this card this year, if I get my act together. Until then... here's a little work-in-progress sneak peek:

HAPPY CHRISTMAS, everyone.... may the PEACE of this season descend upon you and make you see what's important in life! Give a little more to the homeless shelter, or the food bank. Take the time to watch It's a Wonderful Life... not just once, but a couple of times. Do some yoga. Put on the soundtrack to the Charlie Brown Christmas for a little instant joy and calm. Call the ones you love and tell them what they mean to you. Stress not... for in a few short weeks, it will be a new year. Start deciding how it will be different right now.

Oh... and PS... WAR IS OVER, IF YOU WANT IT.

Adieu to The Mad Hatter

2011-11-23T12:54:00.001-08:00

Saying goodbye to one of my creations today. The Mad Hatter has gone to live with Malissa, who has been admiring him for some time. I've always intended to sell my dolls, but when it comes right down to it, it's a little like giving a child up for adoption. I've grown attached to this guy! The Christmas cash is going to come in handy, though, I must admit.

The Hatter was made in the summer of 2010 for the Art Dolls Only "Wonderland Blog Event". There were eighty or so dollmakers from all over the world who participated in making character dolls from Alice in Wonderland. We all finished our dolls, then posted photos on our blogs and spent a weekend blog hopping to share and see each others' work, making friends along the way. The variety of interpretations was just amazing. It was the first challenge I'd ever done and was an absolutely great experience in pushing myself to meet a specific outcome... and a deadline!

Here are the links back to my original blog posts about him, where you can see more photos.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Wonderland Sneak Peek

So long, goofy guy... you will be missed!

Tea Box Swap

2011-11-15T07:57:00.001-08:00

Had a marvelous time recently, participating in an altered art swap via the Mixed Media Art group. We were to alter and decorate an ordinary cardboard tea box, transform it into a little work of art, fill it with fun surprises and things our partner might use for future altered projects.

There were around 28 of us, mostly in North America, but a few were elsewhere... each paired with a partner. We got in touch and told each other a bit about our lives, our artwork, favorite themes/colors, etc.

First step, two coats of gesso inside and out.

Golden Fluid Acrylics- several layers of thin wash for a very watery effect.

My assigned partner, Tammy, lives in Michigan... loves pastel colors and vintage themes, has young children at home and teaches scrapbooking and paper arts. I decided to start with a pastel sea green as my base and see where that led me. Rummaging through my stacks, drawers and envelopes full of images and vintage paper bits, I pulled together a collection to draw from.

Right away, that blue butterfly grabbed me.

Anything blue seemed to pop out at first and be drawn to this box, but I really had to let go and let this project lead me. I struggled with a vision of where it was going until I stopped trying too hard and just allowed it to evolve.
Once I saw the butterfly was the perfect size for the top of the box lid, I knew it was going to be the focal point. I started pulling some scraps of vintage newspaper, dictionary pages and old magazine advertisements to tear and place randomly here and there so they'd be peeking out from under the butterfly's wings. So far, so good.... UNTIL I got to the point of gluing down the butterfly itself. It seems I had forgotten a former painful lesson about how slick magazine pages respond to acrylic gel medium! All was well in adhering the image to the box, but when adding a layer of medium OVER the image to seal it... I had a near disaster of wrinkled paper! I wanted to kick myself.

No, you won't see close-ups of my wrinkled nightmare!

Now, what was that trick I once learned? Ah, yes... my secret technique for avoiding this dilemma comes back to me now... but too late to wind back time and re-do this butterfly. I salvaged it as best I could, using an old plastic gift card as a squeegee (brilliant idea from the amazing Juliana Coles), an acrylic clay roller, lots of swearing.... then a bit of touch-up with blue ink in the places where the image surface was worse for wear. Some wrinkles just had to become part of the design. That the result was acceptably presentable was in fact, De Miracle! (That scrap of paper is from an ad for face cream in a 1922 issue of Women's World magazine, ironically promising to "prevent wrinkles"!)

Some elements like this seed packet image were added, then removed later and replaced with others when they weren't really jiving with the design.

Dreams and secrets began to move in, as secondary themes...

One end of the box has a poem about the seashore, torn from a vintage children's book. I used one of my favorite scroll-y rubber stamps, and basic typewriter ABC's, plus the essential Staz-On black ink to stamp details here and there.

I love using graphite pencils to add handwritten words to a piece, but watch out... they smear when painted over with wet media. I had to spray these panels first with an acrylic matte sealer before adding more color washes, aging stains or final coats of gel medium.

I used colored pencil and chalks here and there to add color accents and highlights.

Mar Goman showed me how to do image transfers using Chartpak markers and lazer photocopies. I did this one over a piece of an old book page, layered over a map...

This background was from an art card made by another artist. I can't credit her, because I don't know her name, but since I am not selling this piece, I'm just owning up and apologizing to the Universal Artistic Commons! I clipped the text from a vintage newspaper, circa 1902.

I often use bits of text from some of my grandmother's papers. She was a writer, and I inherited a huge box containing her handwritten and typed rough drafts of stories and articles, unpublished manuscripts, even her college notes from when she was studying journalism in 1927. I hope she would approve of me tearing her writing up and using it in pieces of art, rather than leaving it all in the dusty attic! For me personally, seeing her handwriting in my artwork keeps my memories of her alive. This is a bit from a short story idea...

"Why for fun, of course", she laughed.

The bottom of the box is covered with part of an envelope I saved from a 1980's Christmas card sent to me by a friend from England. I couldn't resist... since the whole theme of tea was woven in and out of this project. You know... England, the Queen, and tea.... makes sense, right?

The final project, all done and ready to go!

Trust me, that jewel embellishment needed to go right there.

The only thing I forgot to do was to photograph the little things I tucked inside for Tammy. I made her some crocheted button jewelry, a tiny Wee Folk fairy, an ATC, and a felt flower pin... enclosed some cute vintage squirrel buttons, some lace and ribbon and little trinkets for her to use on other projects. We coordinated our send dates pretty closely and I received mine from her last week, unwrapping it with great delight! Thank you, Tammy... this was such a fun swap!

The box I received from Tammy also had blue butterflies on it. Total coincidence! We must be psychic!

Back view, with fruit label image and paper flower.

Beautiful hand-painted labels.

ATCs


Very cool tissue paper flower embellishment.

Sweet gift tags made from tea bag packages.

Lucky, lucky me!

2011-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ever hear people say, "Oh, I never win anything"? Have you said it yourself? Have I been one of those people? Well, maybe a time or two... but no more! I joined a fun blog-hop last week... organized by the delicious Ricë Freeman-Zachery, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Portland at Art & Soul just recently, to celebrate the release of her newest book, Destination Creativity: The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat.

Ricë had gathered up an armload of talented art blogger friends and asked them to spread the joy by participating in a nine day book tour "blog hop". On each blogger's appointed day, they posted their own review of this amazing new book and offered a chance for readers to win a great giveaway. We "hoppers" virtually visited a blog each day, having much fun along the way... then entered that day's drawing by leaving a comment. The prize? An autographed copy of Destination Creativity! With such irresistible enticement, I gladly hopped along and entered at most of the nine blogs... some of which were delightfully new to me, now bookmarked and subscribed to for future soul-feeding.

Well, Jupiter aligned with Mars or something like that and I had a fantastic surprise in my inbox yesterday... a congratulatory e-mail from Day 8's participant, the very artful Jen Cushman, letting me know that I had won the draw! How sweet it feels to be a winner. I really can't wait to cuddle up on the couch with Ricë's book when it arrives, dreaming of next year's Art & Soul... or maybe even an art retreat destination that's a bit farther-flung than my Portland back yard. Thank you, lucky stars. (And thank you Ricë and Jen!)

Art & Soul 2011- Part Two

2011-10-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful time yesterday in Lisa Call's "Charm School" workshop at Art and Soul. Playing with PMC (stands for Precious Metal Clay) for the first time made me nervous at first. After much trepidation and doubt on my part, I did finally learn that I actually can push myself a little and end up with a lovely bling-y reward in the end! Yes, my friends... PMC + fire = nearly pure REAL silver charms that are uniquely your own!
My charms really show their organic handmade-ness... which doesn't bother me in the least. I'll admit that I hurried through the process of rolling, stamping and cutting out the clay bits, due to fear of not getting them finished, dried and into the kiln by our lunch break. I can see now that I'd have rather put more thought into choosing the rubber stamps and shapes that I used, but I still love the outcome.

Some of the other students had previous PMC experience and weren't quite so intimidated by the necessary careful handling... fear of having it stick to everything, drying out too soon, etc. I saw some really wonderful textures and patterns in some of their charms!

You can see that many of our charms look to be sort of tarnished... and that is by design. They came out of the kiln looking a rather funky matte white, then were wire-brushed to a bright, gleaming silver which I didn't get photos of. These have all been dunked in a bath of liver of sulpher to give them a dark oxidized patina, then tumble polished.

These next shots are Janne's work... a woman who came to Art & Soul all the way from Norway, and turned out to be friends of another good friend of mine. Such a small world! Janne managed to get her bracelet assembled and it looks really wonderful.

We also learned how to make our own headpins from fine silver wire by melting the end in a torch flame to form a lovely little silver ball. I'm now asking Santa for my own Blazer butane torch.

I'm still working on polishing my coiled links and jump rings, then will get busy assembling my bracelet. This was a great class and reinforces my desire to take off in this direction and make more jewelry.

Art & Soul 2011- Part One

2011-09-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's finally here... Art & Soul week, Portland 2011! How I wish I was one of the lucky attendees for whom this is a true retreat... staying the whole week in the hotel, far from home and so-called "real life". But, since this event happens practically at my back door step, I always just dip in to a class or two and try to juggle everything else in my life around it. Saves a ton of cash, but I miss out on fully immersing myself in art, camaraderie and inspiration for the full week.

My first class was Lisa Kaus's "Color My World". I've been wanting to take a class from her since Art & Soul 2009 when a friend of mine reported how much fun it was, and how much she learned. We covered a lot of ground, first playing around with Golden fluid acrylics, crayon and graphite pencils on a primed piece of loose canvas. That was meant to warm us up, get us comfortable with sloshing paint around and not worrying too much about making things perfect. Here's a shot of Lisa doing a demo and making it look simple...

Lisa's style is funky-folky... very loose and comfortable, with layers and layers of color. Now I know how she gets creates those pieces that seem to glow from within! She is not afraid of color, and just encouraged us to keep adding more and more... blending water-soluble crayon over layers of fluid acrylic paint, then highlighting with graphite sticks.

Being massively sleep-deprived on this particular morning, and not feeling particularly tuned in to my creative self, I chose to copy one of Lisa's original designs to use for my own class project piece. She offered a number of examples we could trace with graphite paper onto our prepared boards. I chose this sweet and simple little bird design. Very glad I did that, as it saved me wasting time dithering over the design. The whole point was to play with the color techniques... layering and blending, then finishing the piece with a coat of hot beeswax. I wasn't going to risk going home with an unfinished project!

Lisa's birds tend to be in shades of blue, so I went the opposite direction... being in a very red-yellow-orange mood on this particular day. When I got home, my husband took one look at the bird in the detail above and said, "Angry Birds?".

I added some vintage paper scraps and an old stamp as collage details. After getting to a "finished enough" point in class, I was able to do the final step of coating it with hot beeswax, which is something I'd like to play around with further. Note to self: Check Goodwill for a small crock pot to dedicate to beeswax!

I have to admit, there are some drawbacks to the wax coating... one being the smell! The wax Lisa uses is a refined white beeswax, not the lovely warm yellow and yummy-smelling beeswax I have here at home. I'm sincerely hoping the odor will dissipate soon so I can actually stand to be in the same room with my finished panel. It's really rather unpleasant... which I was not expecting!

It is also tricky to photograph these waxed surfaces, as I discovered today. The colors looked very muted or faded in many of my shots due to the wax itself picking up reflected light. Finally figured out a way to get a good image (the last photo posted above) of the full piece that does justice to the true color saturation. I think of this piece as a practice exercise... certainly not a fine piece of art.

Painting on flat surfaces is not something I'm naturally drawn to, but this class helped me get past a little trepidation in that regard. All in all, a positive experience. I met some great people and am now lusting after a large set of Lyra Aquacolor crayons and more bottles of Golden fluid acrylics!

Teaser

2011-09-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

Another of my favorite Trick-or-Treat kitty dolls, designed by the adorable Donna Veal of Moonchild's Primitives. This one was donated to a fundraiser auction for the Humane Society of Southwest Washington. If you can't adopt a real-live kitty, consider buying a ticket to their annual dinner and auction on October 22nd and you could bid to adopt Teaser for your very own!

Teaser sporting her rusty backdoor key.

She can't believe it's already time to greet this season's Trick-or-Treaters.

Upcycled pull-tabs make great hangers.

Wild Rag Doll Rumpus!

2011-08-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

Let me say this up front... I have completely loved Portland artist Junker Jane (aka Catherine Zacchino) and her wild and crazy rag dolls ever since I saw her Misfit Circus dolls in Art Doll Quarterly last spring.

They are unlike anything I've seen by ANY other dollmaker and they instantly gave me inspirational chills.
I've been following her blog and Facebook page ever since and continue to marvel at the new creations she comes up with. They are sometimes dark and creepy, which is just exactly why I love them... and can't look away!

Junker Jane's Monster Tibby

Jasper... by Junker Jane

There is no mistaking Junker Jane's style... so while many of us have no doubt used her technique notes in ADQ to try creating our own versions, there is just no way to capture the essence of an original Junker Jane. But, that didn't stop me from trying! I kept one eye on the ADQ spread and Catherine's "how to" notes while patching together the rag doll I made for the 6-yr-old daughter of a niece of mine, and mimicked the Junker Jane style as best I could.

**Please Note: I would only EVER make one of these to give away (while giving full design credit to Catherine). I'd never sell one or let anyone assume they were my own idea.**

"Sasha"

Ava loved her...right down to the blue pony tails & Junker Jane-style stitched mouth, which she thought was a "necklace". She named the doll "Sasha" and proceeded to include her while dancing to Lady Gaga!

Making this doll was fun and quick. The construction technique is to machine applique and hand-stitch everything on the flat base fabric surface, then stuff. I used vintage fabrics and vintage buttons for the eyes.

The end result made me happy, though I realized how far short it fell from the ideal of the original. (Which is as it should be, I suppose!) Mine is too cute, too tame... not quirky-weird enough. That is HARD to accomplish, believe it or not!

Another recent Junker Jane creation sparked my inspiration... her "Witch Marigold"...

Jane's "Witch Marigold"

I fell in love with this seriously intimidating witchy woman, and started pining for my favorite season (Halloween) to arrive. So, of course, I had to try to create a Junker Jane rag witch of my own.

Marigold's rather plain cousin, Mumphy.

As you can see, mine is more like Witch Marigold's mild-mannered, simpering cousin. This one was also given as a gift to the daughter of another niece of mine (again, with full credit to Junker Jane and never with intention to copy and sell). I bow down to the creativity and wonderfulness of the original Junker Jane. In my opinion, I haven't even come close!

I've learned a lot from attempting to re-create her style. I love the techniques, the upcycling of vintage bits... and just the overall grunged-up look. But, I've got a lot more to learn in just "letting go" of my need to make things perfect. Trying too hard gets in the way of creativity, and this was really difficult for me. I realized I needed to be able to let loose and access more of my spontaneous inner child artist, which is mighty hard to do at my advanced age.:)

I can't wait to see more fantastic work from Junker Jane and hope you'll all check out her blog and her etsy shop!

Fun with Wire and Buttons

2011-08-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

My own work has been all about adornment lately....

Several factors work together here... an abundance of vintage buttons, newly acquired rolls of C-Lon thread in yummy colors, an allergic sensitivity to common metals worn in my ears or around my neck, a fascination with crocheting beads and buttons into necklaces and bracelets (so fast and so fun!), and an obsession with annealed black steel wire... coiled and pounded into mysteriously compelling shapes.

This crocheted button creation is one of two lariat-style pieces I made recently. I wanted to use some of the sort of otherwise "boring" brown, black and metallic buttons that I have vast quantities of.... but which are somewhat masculine and plain. I love deep blue and brown together, and I think the combination of the midnight blue C-Lon cord with brown buttons works well. I've been wearing the heck out of the one I kept (the other was a birthday gift to my son's fiancé)... both as a necklace and wrapped around my wrist.

There are several great old buttons in this piece, including some from an old Boy Scout uniform. My favorite is the large shank button I used at the very end, which acts as both focal point and loop anchor.

I started using black steel wire last fall, when I was making my vintage bird pendants, and discovered I'm in love with the look of it. I've been experimenting with coiling, wrapping... and most exciting of all, pounding the coiled wire on a bench block. This piece is a quicky-quick, vaguely Celtic-inspired pendant I made to wear to the Scottish Highland Games.

I love hanging pendants from plain leather cord or silky ribbon yarn that I can tie to whatever length suits me at the moment.

Stay tuned for super-exciting developments in the earring category... since I've recently discovered pure titanium and niobium ear wires which my body tolerates beautifully. This will enable me to make all kinds of interesting dangly bits with which to adorn my earlobes... after ten years of boring nakedness!

On Original Artwork...

2011-08-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take the time today to stand up for a friend. Paula Nerhus is a fabulous doll artist and photographer. Her work is exquisite, charming, haunting, and well... just unforgettable.

I've become an ardent admirer of Paula's work in the past year or so. I was so excited to see a feature on her in the newest issue of Art Doll Quarterly.

She has quite a following and it is very well-deserved. Her pieces are fearless and imaginative... the stuff of dreams.

Sadly, Paula recently found out that someone in Australia has been copying her dolls... blatantly using the same big eyes with deep shadowing, very similar facial features and hair styles... and pawning them off as original art dolls on etsy and Facebook.

It's just really so sad when a unique and gifted artist has their ideas stolen and copied by someone who puts their copied work out there as "original". It happens. It's wrong... but it happens. These things are difficult to control. In this situation, it's hard to believe that the "impostor" would think no one would recognize Paula's distinctive style or the business name that they lifted from yet another widely-known doll artist.

Artists are supportive of each other, though, and eventually the truth wins out. No one who copies can ever truly capture the heart and soul of the original piece.... that is something elusive and immeasurable. Thankfully, Paula's work clearly shows the difference. Her dolls glow from within, as if they are living beings. She imbues them with that special something that only an original artist has to give. I can't wait to see what she creates next!

Favorite New Things

2011-06-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

The vine maple we planted in our front yard on Father's Day, in honor of Karl's dad.

My orchid, which has decided to bloom even though I've neglected it for over a year!


Plastic coated wire, scored from my brother-in-law, made into sweet wreath for me by Karl.


I'm sure I will spend many an hour crafting with my new Ott Lite!

Halloween in June?

2011-06-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's midsummer... so, of course, I'm thinking about skeletons and witches.

LOVE Donna Veal's wondeful skeleton pattern!

I was just asked to donate a doll to a Humane Society fundraiser auction that will happen on October 22nd, so how can I resist making something spooky? I'm sketching and thinking... rolling the ideas around.

My granddaughters joined me recently for a weekend, and we had a great time making origami crane mobiles out of old map paper and other non-traditional papers, then collaged and rubber stamped them.

I have been crocheting lots of my super-long beaded bracelet/necklaces. Just today, I had a great idea for one with all antique white shell buttons. Ordered several more spools and new colors of C-Lon thread, which I've decided I like after all, now that I've learned how to make it behave.

Meanwhile, I am doing random art journal pages just to keep my creative stream flowing.

Why, oh WHY does Blogger load my images sideways??

But... OH, I need an art vacation! And Art and Soul is too far away! Who wants to join me?

Raw Materials

2011-05-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Raw means many things in my life at the moment. Sometimes it describes the frayed edges of emotions. Sometimes it's the perfect word for my pile of unfinished art projects and all the accumulated "ephemera" thereof.

Lately, it most often applies to what I'm eating. Yes... it's back to raw food for me. It's the only way I know to get healthy and shed my winter layer. Am currently re-reading Susan Schenck's book, The Live Food Factor and have been eating what's called "high raw" (about 80-90% raw) for about a month now. On this wet, gray Pacific NW morning, after saying to myself, "I need some sunshine, damn it!"... this was my breakfast:

A huge, gorgeous, organic mango and two gigantic organic strawberries, one of which was nearly the size of my fist! Oh, yeah... I'm eating my sunshine today. I'm determined to get it somehow.

Went on an arty field trip to Portland's Alberta Street with my good friend, Carolyn, yesterday. Here are the supplies I could not resist while shopping at collage:

We jaunted up the street to Guardino Gallery to see some of Stephanie Brockway's pieces. I absolutely LOVE her amazing work! While there, I had another cannot resist moment and picked up one of Dayna Collins' fabulous "Fearless Faces" cards... which I shot a photo of, but Blogger absolutely won't let me upload it right side up. Oh, well, be sure to visit Dayna's blog, just so you'll understand the raw and fearless energy I wanted to have around me by looking at her work!

Spent some time with Mar Goman a couple of weeks ago. She gave me a mini-lesson in transfers, then gifted me with a Chartpak blender pen, paper tags and some creepy-cool images to practice with. We have another collage day on the calendar for June!

My own artwork has taken a backseat to the ever-popular "Life Itself", although I did paint up a sweet little canvas recently for my granddaughter's 9th birthday. I finished this pink-and-girly piece and wrapped it up for her, but I realized I need to spend WAY more time with Stella when she greeted us at the door on party day with her Nerf battle axe in hand.

Instead of a birthday cake, she had "cake pops", brilliantly executed by Ali and Jaquie, that were little miniature Yoda heads (you know... from Star Wars), and Star Wars Lego sets were her absolute favorite gifts of the day.

She's definitely still the Star of the Universe... it's just that Grandma is still back in Sweet Pink Universe and will need to figure out how to get up to warp speed to keep up with her!:)

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow!

2011-04-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Flapper Girl... my dear, sweet, first cloth-and-clay doll... sold yesterday! She is now on her way to live in Germany, where she will be in good company... in a large collection of other dolls and marionettes. I'm thrilled, but sad... always sad to let go. Maybe someday I'll get to go visit her? Until then... in my dreams...

Showing off her antique lace undies with a little hip shimmy.

Anon, little darling!

Sweeping down the cobwebs

2011-04-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

So... earlier today, I was on the phone with a friend and (naturally) doing double-duty with the phone in one hand and my wooly duster thingy in the other. You know how finding one cobweb in the corner just leads to another? Eventually, I got around to all the up-high corners of my studio. Once off the phone, I ended up pulling down some unfinished projects and being struck by inspiration. So, yes... out came the paperclay.

Lately, I've been just fascinated by Paula Nerhus's incredible work. Paula is a fellow Doll Town artist who I was first introduced to when we did the ADO Wonderland challenge last summer. Her dolls have fabulously HUGE wide-set glass eyes that captivate you... and quirky, creepy, beautifully executed details. Looking at her stuff sent me paging back through my sketchbooks to some ideas I had been working on a while ago.

This is a rough sketch of a doll I had wanted to make about (yeeks!) two years ago, I think. I got as far as a very basic paperclay head, which has been sitting on the shelf ever since.. with just blank spaces where the eyes should be. I'll admit, I was not at all clear on how I was going to accomplish the eyes. I've never worked with glass eyes before and would have no idea how to incorporate them. But, I was rightly inspired today to get the head back out and at least add another layer of clay.

Use your imagination, folks... it's a work in progress for sure!

I decided to go with paperclay eyeballs...adding just sort of flattened balls of clay, which I made as smooth as possible and then wet-set them in. Then I worked on adding another layer of clay over the cheekbones and skull. Once dry, I'll work on building up around the eye socket. I'm hoping I can paint these eyes, then add Diamond Glaze (or something) over the top for a glass-like appearance. We shall see!

Here is a bigger view of the sketch... which I plan to use for reference only, as this doll is already looking different than intended. I do put my ideas down in sketches first, for the most part, because the time I actually get to spend working on a piece is so limited. My sketchbook and pencils are often the only creative outlet I can squeeze in.

For this doll, I definitely want the slender body and limbs... and wispy, ethereal look. I've been drawn to dolls with these big shadowed eyes and slim bodies ever since I first saw Black-Eyed Susie's creepy big-eyed Gothic dolls in Art Doll Quarterly.

It's honestly really hard to not feel like I am copying someone else's idea when inspired by dolls of a certain style and trying to re-create my own version. I gratefully give credit for inspiration to these ladies and to so many other artists as I keep trying out skills and looking for my own style.

Corazon... she is finished!

2011-03-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

Corazon is finally complete. Finishing touches include a wide purple grosgrain sash, a wire hanging loop in back and a final coat of spray acrylic varnish to seal painted surfaces.

Corazon is listed for sale at Doll Town!

Be sure to check out my previous blog post to see all the nitty-gritty work-in-progress photos.

Corazon

2011-03-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is not the first doll I've made since doing Jane DesRosier's (aka "Gritty Jane") cloth-and-clay doll workshop, but is the first I've made from Jane's pattern. I call her Corazon... as she was inspired by Frida Kahlo and especially by my sitting for many hours drooling over the book, Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress: Frida's Wardrobe: Fashion from the Museo Frida Kahlo.

I knew I would have to give this doll a long full skirt with a deep flounce of antique lace at the hem. Aside from that, I know she doesn't resemble Frida much, except for the slight homage in the hairstyle and red rose accessory. Here are some WIP photos... am still actually adding more finishing details and getting her ready to list for sale at Doll Town.

2011-02-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Valentine Treasures: Upcycled Hearts

2011-02-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

For my own sweethearts, my two darling granddaughters... I invented these little upcycled love bundles. Each got an altered Altoid tin with treasures inside. These are painted and collaged with bits of vintage paper, then distressed and aged. The text on the big hearts is clipped from vintage sheet music lyrics.

Inside each tin... waxed paper stitched around heart-shaped pieces of a vintage sheet music love song... their names stamped on & rusty vintage keys tied on with pink satin ribbon.

Then, some wearable art... funky-chunky Valentine charm necklaces.

Little bits of this and that, salvaged from my boxes of buttons, beads and ephemera... wire-wrapped as charms, hanging on a glittery vintage plastic curtain ring.

Last, but not least... the sweetest Valentine treasures of them all...

The very thought of them makes my heart smile!

Cloth, Paper, Scissors... putting a bird on it!

2011-02-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

My friends at Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine put an appeal out via their Facebook page on Monday for pieces of art that include bird images... their way of tying in to the silly "Put a Bird On It" bit from Portlandia's second episode. They compiled all the artwork they received, including my "Old Crow" collage into a YouTube slideshow that they posted the next day. It was really fun to participate and to see the results so quickly!

My piece was a collage I made for my son Sean's birthday last year. The "Old Crow" was from an ad for Old Crow whiskey I found in a 1940 issue of Life magazine.

This piece was a lot of fun to do... and seeing it featured in the video makes me want to dig into another collage soon!

New camera, new baby... life is good!

2011-02-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Oh, my... does it get any better? I finally narrowed down my search for a new camera that would be close-up worthy for blogging and etsy. Took the plunge and bought my Canon Power Shot SX130 on a Sunday, assuming I'd have some time to figure out how to use it before my soon-to-be-born grandson made his appearance. Took a few test shots around the house, and am quite pleased...

Morning Brew

Vintage Easter toy that hangs out in my studio.

buttons and beads

Now if I can only figure out how to remove the on-image dates...

One of my favorite fruit labels.

Then, just two days into playing around with my new camera and barely having the hang of how to change the batteries, my son and his wife went into labor ON their due date! My sweeter-than-sweet new grandson was born on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011... and I cannot wait to take many, many more photos of him. But here is just a taste...

Poor little guy... being born is such hard work!

Ancient Lady

2010-12-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

This is an original mixed-media collage I did with specific intent... to get another jointed paper doll image to use for my bamboo pendants. This piece again utilizes writing... typed and handwritten text... from my grandmother's stories and notes, as well as some circa 1902 newspaper that was in a scrapbook my grandmother had saved for years. The face is an image I tore from an art book... a third century Coptic encaustic work that is in the Louvre, titled "Portrait of a Young Girl". I call my piece "Ancient Lady", because those are the words that ended up on her right calf. She has obvious religious undertones... including the text across her torso, and the name "Maria" collaged to the background on the upper left.

The basic paper doll is heavy cardstock, covered with vintage papers of all kinds and sealed with matte medium. The skirt is dress pattern tissue, coated front and back with gel medium and fan-folded. The doll's torso is mounted to the acrylic-painted background on a strip of foam core... which raises it off the surface just a bit, allowing the brad-jointed arms and legs to be moved and posed. I also used two great vintage buttons in this piece... and silk flower petals behind her head, giving almost an "Our Lady of Guadelupe" effect of radiance.

The pendants... not as clear an image as I had hoped. The scan was poor, so I intend to try again with photographs, have them re-printed and try another batch.

Ancient Lady's lovely leg...

Bazaars R Us

2010-12-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year. Long tables end-to-end, covered with black cloth and wares of all kinds spread out for viewing, ooohing and aahing. Last weekend was the annual "Hometown Christmas" event in my small community, which for me involved sharing a table again with my good friend, watercolor artist Carolyn Sawyer. If neither of us sold a darned thing, we'd consider it a day well spent... as we've spent it together.

This was a one-day bazaar, December 4th, and was not quite as successful for me as Birdfest. I brought some of the same bamboo bird pendants I did for that event... and some new pendants that featured my own collage artwork. They're definitely unique... not for everyone... although I was sometimes surprised at how well received they were by people I would never have guessed would give them a second look!

I also had some bead crocheted necklaces this time. The bead and button strands drew the most interest and sales. Thanks indeed to that creative young lady in Stockholm that I borrowed inspiration and ideas from in making these fun pieces! (You know who you are!)

The pendant on the left (below) features a print of a collage I made a year ago for my sister's daughter (photo used for the face is from an ArtChix collage sheet). My original OOAK collage pendant on the right was purchased by the lovely Jenine.

Carolyn's phenomenal paintings in greeting card form... they were wildly popular this year!

It was great to see some old friends... and to make new ones. I bartered a pendant for a lovely little bag of old buttons, and another for a one of Carolyn's prints... her new "Spirit of Christmas", a snowman and a magical fairy gifting him with some sparkling fairy ju-ju!

Hallowe'en... the Costume

2010-10-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited to a Halloween-themed event, which will be a fundraiser for SHARE house, our local homeless shelter... a great organization. The hostess has told us all to wear "funny hats" instead of full costumes, so I immediately started brainstorming some way of integrating collage into my hat to make it completely unique. A trip to Goodwill was fruitless... nothing there (at least nothing collage-able) to fit my oversized skull! So, I went home and tried my hand at constructing a simple witches hat from posterboard. Turns out that wasn't quite as simple as I imagined... but I finally turned out a pointy hat. It is a bit small, confound it... but, I'll wear it anyway, secured with a ribbon under my chin. Luckily, it fits my daughter perfectly, so she'll wear it for trick-or-treat night!

I had a stack of old... and I'm talking OLD... newspapers from Missouri and Iowa that my grandmother acquired many years ago from a neighbor of hers. The dates range from the late 1890's (when my grandmother was a young child) to around 1910. It is all in terrible condition... literally crumbles in my hands, so I've used it for a few collage projects, slathered liberally with plenty of gel medium to hold it together and preserve it. For this project, I selected quite a few old advertisement, plus (since it's also "that" season) political cartoons and headlines... and anything to do with gruesome events such as murders and horrific natural disasters... to complete the dark theme that surrounds Hallowe'en and the Day of the Dead.

I just layered these fragile bits of paper on and covered the entire surface of the hat... and the underside of the brim and created a collaged witches hat. This was so much fun... reading through some of the articles and editorials, and imagining the mindset of midwestern America prior to World War ONE! There were still ads for buggies and surreys... not yet for automobiles. This was before antibiotics... so there were many ads for various elixers and tonics that would "cure" anything from catarrh to syphilis!

I pulled together a really eclectic mixture of interesting things to see and read... and spent exactly zero money on my party hat (unless you count that half jug of gel medium). I added a wee bit of distress ink to the edge of the brim of the hat... but most of the aging and distressing is natural! Once the collaging was done, I dressed the hat up a little bit with some vintage rick-rack and ribbon, then wired on some plastic skeletons as spooky-funky accessories. I'm looking forward to using it as a centerpiece, as well as a costume hat! Now... just enjoy a few more shots of the project in process...

News Flash: Hot Flash, the book!

2010-10-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

Pamela Hastings has just released her latest book, and I am am absolutely thrilled and so honored that she asked me to be a contributor. My copy just arrived in my mailbox today and I was so jazzed, I had to take it over to a friend's house before I could even open the package. Had to share the joy.. and make it real!

Pamela has included (on pages 60 through 65) two of my collages, my Mad Hatter doll, one painting, and two of my art journal pages... along with quite a lot of my own writing, in sort of a "profile" piece. It actually includes some really personal thoughts about my own particular life and about moving through this "change of life" thing into my cronehood.

But, I'm in good company! I recognize the names of several of the other women artists in the book, and am pinching myself that I'm being included alongside them. Yes... yes... ME!!

I know these photos aren't terrific quality...you may not be able to read the text much, but I just had to share my pages. So fun to see that since Pamela included the collage I made for my granddaughter, Iris, her lovely face is smiling at me from the book, too!

I'm not sure where or when the book will be available for sale. I don't see it up yet on Pamela's website, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

What a great year this has been for me, so far. Can't wait to see what's next!

Time for Halloween!

2010-10-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

Time to get out the bats and skeletons... I'm ready to rock Halloween! I really meant to spend all of September and October making prim witches, bats and skeletons, but got a little side-tracked by Birdfest. Had a decent first day there yesterday. The bird pendants are a good money maker. I'll sit down there selling pendants again all day today, but my mind is already in the mood for stuffing and painting dolls! I'll bring my sketchbook and make some plans while sitting at my Birdfest table.

This photo is of the Baron Samedi Day of the Dead doll I made for my son's birthday in August, as I just noticed I failed to post this to my blog! He's from another wonderful pattern designed by Donna Veal, the Goddess of Prim! Can't wait to make more of these... he turned out so well. I scaled him down to 60% of the original, so he's about 16" tall.

The leaves are turning, the wind is blowing... it's time to get spooky... my favorite time of year!

Bird by Bird

2010-09-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to share a vendor space with my good friend, Carolyn Sawyer, at Ridgefield's annual Birdfest and Bluegrass event, coming up October 9th & 10th. I wasn't quite sure what to do at first. Most of my work is not typically bird or wildlife oriented. But, I've been playing around with making Scrabble and bamboo tile pendants and charms using vintage bird images, and I think I might have found a winner.

I found a great vintage bird collage sheet on etsy and have been (pardon the pun) "winging it"... figuring out how to best stick the images down, seal and finish them. The trickiest part has been trying to remember my wire-wrapping techniques to make these pre-drilled tiles into pendants. I'm playing with different ideas, and think I have it worked out.

My personal favorite is the black annealed steel wire. It's a little stout, so I've got to hone my wrapping technique... but I think it looks great when burnished with a little steel wool. I may add beads and charms to the bottom loop, and am determined to use up what beads and wire I already have in order to keep my overhead very low for this event!

These Scrabble tile charms were fun. I had them lying around... already drilled and outfitted with wire loops from when Karl and I were doing jewelry forever ago. I used a one-step crackle glaze by Ranger as a finish over these, then highlighted the cracks using Distress Ink.

Fooled around a little bit with some quickie bird-themed collage pieces. Here's one that's not quite finished yet...

It needs some added elements yet... a few border highlights and an aging treatment. I did decide, though, that the polar fleece & Keens-wearing, Subaru-driving Birdfest crowd probably isn't quite ready for my *ahem* more "eclectic" work.

Have I mentioned how much I love crows? Ravens and crows are my favorite birds of late, so I started with that and went off in a bit of a strange direction that I'm afraid only I can appreciate. Will keep working on some of these ideas, and do more crow-related things around Halloween. Stay tuned!

By the way, be sure to stop by my friend Carolyn's website and take a look at the gorgeous paintings in her gallery! She will have prints and greeting cards of many of these at Birdfest.

Collage Break

2010-08-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd take my blog on a little side trip and post a quickie birthday collage I made a couple of weeks ago for my son's girlfriend, Nicole. This one incorporates some torn text and pages from my grandmother's writing and college notes, which seemed appropriate since she and Nicole share the same birthday, July 27th. Other elements include a clipping from an 1892 newspaper, magazine images and some Chinese (I think?) newspaper that came in a package I received not long ago. I'm calling this one "Something Infinitely Precious".

Nicole came out and spent part of a day with me recently, getting indoctrinated into the world of doll making. She got her hands into some paperclay for the first time, and got off to a good start on two dolls that are now finished and pretty impressive! Looking forward to some more artsy-crafty afternoons with her.

I'M PUBLISHED... in fall ADQ issue!

2010-07-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

Can a girl get more excited? Maybe so, but this is a definite high point in my summer! Somebody pinch me!

I received a copy of the upcoming August/Sept/October issue of Art Doll Quarterly in today's mail, and there I was... the first doll in the Show and Tell section. Wow, what an exciting moment for me! In March, I submitted the witch doll that I made last fall, and haven't seen her since. I figured that might be a good sign. Little did I know, the next time I'd see her would be in the glossy pages of ADQ!

Here's your sneak peak of the cover...

This issue isn't out yet, so you'll all just have to wait until it arrives in your mailbox! No, that's not my work on the cover this time... but I'll get there. :)

And now... (drum roll, please) here she is, in a double spread with FOUR photos!

This was a goal of mine, to have one of my dolls grace ADQ's pages... so goal met, and it's on to the next! Thank you Art Doll Quarterly, this is truly an honor and a thrill. I hope there will be many more! Now, hurry home, Brunhilda... well, at least in time for Halloween!

Down the Rabbit Hole... Wonderland Blog Event

2010-07-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my own little corner of Wonderland. The day has arrived and I can finally introduce you to my Wonderland challenge doll. This was my first doll challenge ever... and I had such great fun! Here he is in all his finished and completely mad glory... The Mad Hatter.

My Hatter is inspired mostly by Tenniel's classic Wonderland illustrations. I'll admit there are hints of the goofy Disney version and his wavy red hair pays slight homage to Tim Burton's recent incarnation, played by Johnny Depp, but the similarities end there.

He is 13 inches tall from the top of his hat to the toes of his striped stocking feet. The head and face are sculpted from Creative Paperclay, over a base of aluminum foil. Hair is hand-dyed Romney wool fleece. The body is a stuffed and weighted cloth construction; forearms and lower legs are polymer clay. All clay body parts were painted with acrylic paint and sealed with matte acrylic spray.

I used cloth-wrapped wire armature for the upper arms, as I was shooting for the particular pose in this Tenniel drawing, and needed extra stiffness and support.

Costuming was by far the most enjoyable part of this doll, once color and fabric decisions were made. The hat... possibly the most distinctive and essential part of the Hatter's identity... turned out just exactly as I'd planned, which made me a very happy hat maker! It is made from muslin, painted with several coats of thinned acrylic paint and trimmed with a shimmering bronze grosgrain ribbon.

The Hatter's jacket was a challenge to my garment making skills, as I was starting from scratch and designing my own pattern. I made a scrap cloth "mock up" first to do his fittings and fine-tune the pattern. The lightweight pinwale corduroy turned out to be just the perfect weight... and the result was quite a handsome jacket. Glass beads serve as buttons on both vest and jacket. Collar and cuffs are starched white cotton, stitched in place.

I wanted to make his vest from the same vintage cotton madras plaid I used for his pants, but he chose this bold Hoffman batik instead. He even has tiny wool felt shoes... but can never manage to keep them on!

Here's my original working sketch...

Oh, my.... tea parties can be so exhausting!

Thank you all for joining me... it's been grand!

Wonderland.... sneak preview!

2010-07-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

Just can't help myself. I'm having so much fun creating this challenge doll that I can barely wait until the event (one week from today! *GULP*). I've decided to tease you all with a little advance peek of the "work-in-progress".

My character of choice was the Mad Hatter... mostly because I thought there would already be plenty of Alice's, and because I really wanted to try making that top hat!

No, I haven't seen the new Alice in Wonderland movie yet... so I'm not trying to recreate Johnny Depp in doll form. My Wonderland preference is for the original book illustrations by John Tenniel, so I've printed off copies of his Mad Hatter drawings for guidance and inspiration. My Hatter will be my own interpretation, but definitely informed by Tenniel's vision.
So here are just a few WIP photos to whet your appetite, should you have one!

His basic body parts have now been completely sculpted, constructed, painted and assembled. I'm down to dressing him and attending to details. One prototype hat has been made, but I may work on at least one more and choose the best for the final product. Enjoy... and please join me here, one week from today on July 8th, as we all fall down the rabbit hole together!!

More construction details will follow on "the day".

Wonderland Blog Event

2010-06-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Art Dolls Only is having a Wonderland blog event... and I've decided to participate! I will be making some kind of doll that is inspired by Alice in Wonderland... I have no idea which character yet... by July 8th, and will then be part of a weekend long "blog visit" where we all share our Wonderland creations! I've never entered a challenge or a blog event of this kind before, but I'm really looking forward to it! My entry will be posted here on Thursday, July 8th. Stay tuned! And be sure to go visit the Art Dolls Only blog: http://artdollsonly.blogspot.com/ ... and look for them on Facebook!

Cashmere Critter

2010-05-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

Go ahead, ask me... How much fun is it to cut up an old cashmere sweater and make something crazy fun for a kid? It is incredibly fun... once you get past the scariness of taking shears to cashmere! My granddaughter, Stella, is turning eight this week, and I've had a blast creating this silly stuffie for her.

This is my own design... part bear, part monkey... and a little bit blue monster.

This oh-so-very-soft critter is about 14" tall, completely stitched by hand and stuffed with polyfil. She has darling little shaped pink ears- one big, one small. The head and body were once a sleeve, and the hair is the knitted cuff, simply gathered up tight and wrap-stitched at the crown, then snipped into locks. Her weighted bum sports a rolled and wrapped tail with a fringed-out poof at the end.

She may look a little worried... but she's really quite adventurous, in her own quiet way. She likes to sneak up and surprise you!

My darling girl was running a fever today and feeling punky... but cashmere is SO comforting. :)

Art Journaling

2010-04-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Art journaling... what's that? That was my first reaction, about a year ago when I first heard of it. I've checked out a number of exciting books from the library since then and joined a couple of online groups.

The whole point of this is to delve into one's inner self and dredge out the "stuff" that is getting in your way... blocking creativity. So, while this is just an exercise, for me alone... not really a piece of art, per se... I am posting it here anyway. This particular page is my first completed art journal page ever... so it merits a little honor.

I joined Rachel Whetzel's group A Year In the Life of an Art Journal. The group is given a "prompt" word every two weeks... and we're all encouraged to use that word as a take-off point. The current prompt was "MOVE".... and this two page spread came together from there. I'm using an altered copy of The Secret Garden as my art journal.

Flapper Girl

2010-03-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

This doll was my first official "cloth-and-clay" doll, since joining Jane DesRosier's group on ning. Originally, I was super-inspired by Rachel Whetzel's circus themed dolls in the last issue of Art Doll Quarterly. Her work reminded me that I had always wanted to do something circus related.
I have a vintage reproduction Barnum and Bailey poster of a bareback rider hanging in my daughter's room which I have always loved, so I took all this inspiration and dove in.

I loved the long, lean silhouette that Rachel used for her circus girls, so I drew a pattern that would give me a similar look, since my doll was going to have a definite 1920's style.

The body was made from a heavy, coarsely woven linen which I don't think I would use again. I purposely wanted the rough "artist's canvas" look this fabric would give me for the surface... and it definitely did... but raveling was a big problem. After stuffing, Creative Paperclay was layered over the head and neck, down to the shoulder area, and the hair and features sculpted by layering on more bits of clay and shaping them with wet fingers and tools. After drying, the entire doll was painted with a dark burnt umber acrylic paint, then the flesh tones, hair, clothes and features were painted in stages over that.

The hair and makeup was definitely modeled after the circus girl in my 1920's era poster. She has a wavy, side-parted blonde bob, with those thin, downward slanting brows and sleepy "bedroom eyes" of a 1920's film star. I tried for a sort of Clara Bow style for the lips, and painted the lower lip just a tidge lighter, to pick up the light.

The girl in the poster is wearing nothing but a pale pink tank leotard, so I needed to add some details for interest. I also soon realized that unless I was willing to sew, stuff and sculpt a horse for her to ride, it would be hard to convey her as a bareback rider. I considered putting a hoop in one hand and a horse whip in the other, but thought it might still be lost on anyone but me.

First, I added a bit of vintage lace around her hips. Then, over that, a piece of pink drapery fringe. Still... she was too "blah", and too pink! Pawing through a box of goodies that a friend gave me recently, I came across the perfect thing.... a little strand of rhinestones with black detailing that makes an ideal belt for her drop-waisted flapper skirt.

Her legs are very plain and simple, as this doll is definitely done in a very primitive style. Although the girl in the poster is barefoot on her white horse, I just thought that would be too utterly bland, so she's wearing ballet slippers, instead... with ribbons wrapping their way up above her ankles. I suppose that technically makes her a flapper ballerina?

(Photography by Amy Picchioni)

My First Doll

2010-03-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

This Holly Hobbie rag doll was made for my sister in 1974, the year she turned 11. I was 20-yrs-old at the time living far from home in Monterey, California.

If you remember back, this was the time period that the Little House on the Prairie TV show was at the height of popularity, so this doll was very much inspired by that era.

The body is white muslin; the head is a white stocking, all stuffed with poly fiberfill. There is some slight needle-sculpting to give the head some shape through the eye area. The features are all embroidered, including eyes embroidered on covered buttons.

I used this Simplicity pattern for the doll and her clothing. My own pattern is long gone, but I just happened to find the same one listed on etsy.com and grabbed the photo. You can see how my rendition of the face/ head did not quite turn out they way it was supposed to! Not bad for a first try, though.

She has two outfits... two dresses, two pinafores and two matching bonnets, plus undergarments. I think she had shoes at one point, but am not sure. I'll have to ask my sister if she remembers. If so, they must have become lost. Poor thing... her French-knotted nostrils are a little lopsided after all these years. She may need some reconstructive surgery!

I was interested in posting "my first doll" here, and this doll came to mind, but my sister was unable to find her at first. She finally surfaced after months of searching. What fun to see her again. I am tempted to buy that pattern and make a few more Holly's. Enjoy!

My first submission!

2010-03-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

I recently decided to just go for it, and send one of my dolls in to Art Doll Quarterly for possible publication. Their March deadline is for the fall issue, which always includes lots of Halloween-related dolls, so I sent my witch from last fall.

An acknowledgment postcard just came the other day from ADQ, with "Thanks!" written in big green letters, so I'm hopeful! That doesn't mean that she will ever grace their pages, but my fingers are crossed. I know they'll keep her for a good long time, as that's the usual process. Hopefully, she'll be back home in time for this Halloween! Here she is, sitting next to our Faerie Door.

I have been so remiss in posting lately. I've been meaning to mention the wonderful playday I had recently with my new doll maker friend, Lulu. I had the pleasure of visiting her home a few Sundays ago and seeing some of the WONDERFUL dolls and other artwork she has created. Her place is filled with vibrant color and so many interesting things to look at! We spent a few hours working on dolls together... sewing, stuffing and chatting, and finding out how much we have in common- not the least of which is our mutual fascination with Frida Kahlo. I absolutely love her Frida doll, and am so inspired now to make one of my own. Thank you SO much, Lulu for a memorable and fun day... hopefully, the first of many more to come!

I made an attempt at a Frida about a year ago, but you may recall I really got stuck and never finished that project. Now I have a better foundation to work from, as I recently joined the Cloth and Clay Doll group, and took Jane DesRosier's (aka "Gritty Jane") video workshop. I highly recommend the workshop (it's quite affordable at only $25) and the group! There is much talent and inspiration to be found there. I will be using Jane's cloth-and-clay technique for my Frida doll.

I am just finishing up a doll I started prior to taking the Gritty Jane workshop, in which I did use paper clay over cloth, then painted with acrylics, in similar technique. Let's just say I learned a lot from both Jane and plain old experience! This doll is a 1920's "bareback rider"... circus theme-inspired...and styled after a re-pro Barnum and Bailey poster that has hung in my daughter's room for years. I have yet to name her... and alas, can't post any photos yet as my camera took a little trip to South America with my in-laws. So, stay tuned!

Would You Like to Swing On a Star?

2010-01-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Yet another fairy, based on a design by Salley Mavor from her book, Felt Wee Folk. I like the purple and green together. This one is going to be a surprise gift for a friend, who I know doesn't know about my blog, so shhhhhhh!

The Angel Agatha

2010-01-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

Last November, I made this angel doll for my good friend, Laurel, as a birthday gift. I forgot to photograph her before she flew away... but her new owner graciously snapped a few shots and sent them to me, so now I can show her to you. I was inspired by a doll made by Nancye Williams, that I saw just a partial view of on her website. I humbly admit to basically copying her color scheme and facial expression. Thank you, dear Nancye, I hope you don't mind.

I used techniques I learned from Judy Wise last fall at Art & Soul, so Agatha is constructed of Sculpey clay. Her arms and legs are attached with wire joints. All body parts were then painted with acrylics. Paper wings and crown are collaged with vintage text and decorated with jewels, sticker stars and plenty of glitter. She wears a smidge of a vintage quilt as a wrap-around dress. Agatha is approximately five inches tall.

Christmas Butterfly Girls

2009-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there were two sweet sisters... who took my heart long ago and inspire me daily. Christmas just wouldn't be right without new dolls for each of my granddaughters... so Happy Christmas to my darling girls, Iris and Stella!

These 13" butterfly dolls were made from a pattern designed by my favorite prim diva, Donna Veal of Mooonchilds Primitives. They are sewn and stuffed muslin, painted with thinned acrylics and stained with a coffee/cocoa stain, with wired cutter-quilt wings and skirts. The petticoats are cut from a vintage curtain.

Stella with her Flutterbye on Christmas Day. :)

Paper Doll Collage

2009-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

These two collages started out as birthday cards... and morphed into gifts for my sister and her daughter, who celebrate their November birthdays just one day apart. I decided to let this project take me "along for the ride", knowing only that I wanted to use some pages and text from a box of my grandmother's writings. Once a journalist, Grandma has been gone for many years now, and I am in possession of numerous rough drafts and manuscripts of her short stories and articles from years of writing. Included in this box of treasures are several rejection letters from such prominent publications as The Saturday Evening Post and McCall's magazine!

Some of the paper is old newsprint school tablets, with her stories hand written in pencil. They've been rolled up and rubber banded for many decades, and now are practically falling apart in my hands as I unroll them and try to read the fading pencil marks on yellowing paper. I decided that since much of her writings will probably never be read by anyone, I would sacrifice a select few of the pages... either written in her own hand, or typed on her ancient manual typewriter... and create art! I wanted to bring the spirit of our Grandmother to life again, in a small way, by creating a collage that contained some of the phrases and words that she wrote long ago, no doubt with high hopes of being published.

I let her work speak to me as I skimmed through the pages... my eyes falling on a phrase or two. Sometimes just a single word would jump out at me. I tore these bits from the pages... simply because I like the effect of a torn edge, especially when dealing with vintage paper. Soon, I had a pile of phrases, and somehow, as I arranged them, a theme emerged.

I decided to create a jointed paper doll blank from card stock... and collaged the entire doll with random text, then highlighted individual words in certain spots. I used collage sheet photo images for the two doll's faces. One is the famous ArtChix "Spoil Me" girl, as many of you will instantly know. I've lost track of exactly which sheet the other came from, so my apologies for not now being able to credit it's origin.

Each of the dolls sports a skirt of pleated pattern tissue, which were a little smashed flat in the scanner, but in reality, add a nice 3-D aspect. The red and yellow piece, with red flower behind her head, was for my niece, Nicolette, who was turning twenty this year... so finding and including the phrase my grandmother had written, "scarce twenty years old", in some of her notes for a story she was writing about Rob Roy, was a stroke of luck!

Both collages are 8" x 10", on foam core, with wrinkled tissue paper as background. The paper doll's limbs are brad-jointed and fully pose-able. Gel medium both adheres and preserves all the vintage papers. The back of each collage is covered with pages from my grandmother's college notebooks from when she studied Journalism at the University of Missouri in 1927. I added a wire hanger and a small paper pocket, inside of which is a short note, describing the process and origin of the papers, and the occasion for which the piece was created.

Witchy Woman

2009-11-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hallowe'en snuck up on me this year. Didn't I just turn the calendar page to October last week? I had much greater intentions than just finishing ONE doll... but as it turned out, I had to scramble to finish this one at the 11th hour, literally as I was throwing my own costume on for trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with my daughter.

I have wanted a witch doll for years, so was determined to make one for myself. My original idea was an all-cloth "prim"... and I definitely knew I had to design this pattern myself. Wanting a really classically "witchy" face, but not being able to figure out how to accomplish that in cloth, I reached for the polymer clay and modeled one up over a core of crumpled aluminum foil.

I used simple rag doll construction for the body, arms and legs... with button joints at the shoulders. I stuffed the muslin parts, then painted, sanded and aged with a coffee stain.

I've been dreaming of those black boots with turned up toes, and green and black striped stockings since I was a little girl, and was downright giddy while watching them take shape!

The hat is also a simple muslin form... stuffed, painted, sanded and stained.

Next came hair... grizzly gray, of course, to perfectly play up her beady-yet-bulging yellow eyes. I used some lovely Romney wool fleece, so fresh from the sheep it still had hayseeds in it.

See the perfect blend of wit and wisdom in her expression? (And the ever-so-slight resemblance to Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein?)

Her clothing is minimal, and casual... as witches go. She's not in full-tilt flying attire here, with cape and all. I think she looks as if she's just finished up some sweet herbal brew in the kitchen... and thought to go sweep the porch before the kiddies started knocking on the door. I used part of an old curtain for her skirt- simply painted and aged it, wrapped it around and tied it with a bit of jute. Her collar is vintage, with some extra aging added. The broom is made from twigs cut from our pear tree.

I may make some little tweaks and additions before I stash her away for next year... but all in all, I'm pleased. Call her Brunhilda, if you wish... but when I look at her, I can't help but call her "Witchy Woo".

Miss Clara (aka "Pink")

2009-10-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

Dolly redux... finally finished. New arms, new legs... properly baked and strong as can be. I decided to collage her torso with vintage text, similar to Judy's "Grace", which I had so admired in class.

I just happened to end up with a small snippet that said "Miss Clara", and it seemed to want to be applied front and center. So, that is how she got her name. All the text was clipped from an 1891 newspaper from near Davis City, Iowa, where my mother's parents lived. The paper is so old, it's literally crumbling apart, but matte media and an acrylic varnish work wonders for adhering, coating and preserving old paper.

I put tiny pads of wool felt in between the limbs and torso at the joints, just for smooth movement and less chance of chipping the still underbaked torso clay. I also added an aged, gauzy underskirt and a satin cord choker.

Beautiful Iris, and other stories

2009-10-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

I've departed a wee bit here from my usual focus on doll making. Art & Soul was such an infusion of creative energy... and I had a fantastic time making my very first Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for an official ATC swap there. I challenged myself to this new mini-format and made some collaged ATCs that didn't turn out half bad. More on those later...

The process was so much fun, and the result so inspiring, that I decided to make a collage for my granddaughter, Iris, for her 10th birthday. This was the first larger collage that I've designed and finished as an art piece, and I'm really happy with it. I used the following: Tissue paper, water color paper, watercolor and acrylic paint, paper and miscellaneous ephemera and gel medium. Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

And here are some of the ATCs that I made for the Art & Soul swap... which were traded away.

I now have a small collection of other unique ATCs made by other Art & Soulers, and have been e-mailing back and forth with a few of them. A great experience... and probably stretched my creativity more than the doll making classes!

Art & Soul recap

2009-10-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Art & Soul Portland was September 30th through October 5th this year, and it was a blast! This was my first time... yes, an Art & Soul virgin. I only wish I could have taken classes every day. I took just two... Judy Wise's "Dolls for Big Girls", and "Who's Your Dada?" with Linda and Opie O'Brien.

Here is one of Judy's great dolls...all of hers inspired me, but this one in particular...

We had some technical glitches during the class, resulting in incomplete curing of our clay, and so many doll parts ended up crumbling... mine included.

Here's mine... let's call her "Pink". Her tutu is an upcycled Art & Soul trading badge. (If you were there, you know what that means!) She has one shoulder joint hot-glued together, and broken left leg propped up just long enough for a photo session. I've gifted her to Iris, but she won't get her until repairs are finished. I will absolutely be working soon on a re-do... baking new limbs tomorrow!

I'm excited to incorporate collaging some vintage text to my next doll, as Judy has done with her "Grace" (pictured above). I simply ran out of time while there. It was an easy technique and Judy is a great person... really easy to be around and fun-loving. I met some wonderful new friends in class and enjoyed it immensely.

"Who's Your Dada?", with the O'Briens, was such a good time! We had a small group, so Linda and Opie were able to devote a lot of individual attention to each one of us. Linda was extremely encouraging and supportive. Opie did all of our drilling and figuring out how to attach various pieces and parts. These two are an inspiring and remarkable couple, who work so well together. We all loved spending the day with them.

Some of my classmates made truly FABULOUS Dada dolls!
Here is one from Diane in California:

My doll looked like this when class was over, however:

... definitely not "fine art"!

I realize now that I was not well-enough prepared, and should have brought a lot more of my stash of crazy-ass junk, and had a better concept of what I intended to make. I kept thinking of all the stuff at home that I wished I'd had there! Soooooo.... my "Dada" doll now looks like this:

Stripped down to bare basics! I took the giant key out of it's back, now allowing for the finished doll to hang on a wall, and installed it into the hole in it's cranium, which Opie so patiently drilled for me in order for my tea set sugar bowl lid to serve as a hat. Well, good idea, Patti... but it just didn't look right after all that trouble. So, now, everyone agrees that the key looks just right, and we'll work from there!

The only negative to my full day class with the Amazing O'Briens was that it was over far too soon. I bought their new book "Who's Your Dada: Redefining the Doll Through Mixed Media", and it is a real gem. Probably the best doll making book I've ever purchased. Can't wait to sign up for more classes next year, and only wish I could join them for the upcoming Art & Soul cruise in the Mediterranean. THAT would be something downright incredible!

VooDoo!

2009-08-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

It was birthday time for my youngest son, Dylan, and I knew I needed to come up with something wild, weird and memorable for him. So, for some reason, this idea popped into my head... a Voodoo Alien! I've never made anything resembling a voodoo doll before, but have seen some artful renditions, and have appreciated those artists who make them with only good intentions, as protectors and intercessors... rather than as evil little pincushion beings that might be intended to cause harm, stuffed with the hair and fingernail clippings of one's enemies.

Working directly from the only sketch I made, this guy came together fairly quickly. I wanted him to look "tribal", in an other-worldly way, and a little bit scary... but only for purposes of warding off any evil spirits that might be lurking around. He's intended as a sort of totem or icon of protection, with some elements that are strictly for the fun of it!

Keeping the shape simple, I started by creating the basic body from a scrap of an old wool Navy blanket. The arms are cut from a felted thrift store sweater. Except for the initial outside seam, all the stitching is done by hand, using bright red or brown button & craft thread, and I let that stitching show wherever possible. The eyes are mismatched on purpose, giving him that intimidating squint that shows he means business!

I wanted to embellish this doll with lots of found objects, charms, beads and wire. The mouth idea popped into my head as a clear image- a red felt oval, and six white pony beads for teeth. When I later opened my bead box, it was amazing to find that when it came to white pony beads, I happened to have EXACTLY six... no more!

The charms each mean something (sometimes just some random thing I made up). His heart is a copper penny that I found, with a heart-shape punched out. This gives him compassion, and protects his owner's heart. He also sports a gold Barbie shoe, which represents his "soul" (sole), and offers protection from Barbie dolls, something my sons definitely thought were evil when they were young boys! A "Holy Family" medallion covers the possibility of the Catholics actually having it right.

There are a couple of old keys sewn on, including one on the neck piece, which also contains various bits of old fishing tackle that my husband picked up on the shores of the Kalama River. These items offer protection from the loss of keys, as well as protection from stepping on fish hooks! An NRA button protects against gun violence. But, the most important charm of all is the purple armadillo pin, which represents Dylan himself, who was sometimes called "Armadillon" in his youth. This one also offers him the protection of the well-armored armadillo's tough outer shell!

Just for the art of it, I used several of my very favorite vintage buttons, including one white dollar sign button, leftover from a shirt my mother made for my dad when I was a kid. I like to think it's imbued with some prosperity energy and/or protection from financial hazards! This doll is also quite obviously male... being endowed with a strategically placed dangly doodad, which is really just his codpiece, serving to protect his *ahem* "naughty bits" (not pictured).

The legs are sticks, donated by my neighbor's gigantic beech tree, and wrapped with brass and copper wire. His hat is made from a very large and unusual plastic button I bought at an antique store recently, topped with a faux ivory bead and a red pony bead which looks just like a "cherry on top".

Smiles, guffaws, raised eyebrows and various exclamations were heard all around upon VooDoo Alien's unveiling at my son's 22nd birthday party this past weekend. I'm assured it will not soon be forgotten, which is good enough for me!

Duffy

2009-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Duffy is down on his luck... times are hard, you know. He's making a living selling snake oil, whiskey, and whatever else he can convince someone to buy. He's even sold his only suit of clothes... and had to make himself a new suit out of old newspapers.

This doll was made as a gift for my son's 29th birthday. I let this one "evolve" and sort of create himself. I only started out with a few main ideas... that it had to be about 12 inches tall, and intended to hang on a wall... and it had to be male (a first for me).

I had a stack of old newspaper, circa 1900 and older, that my grandmother had saved, and was inspired to somehow incorporate that. It is so old and brittle that the only way was to use lots of gel medium and collage it to brown craft paper.

I first had to design his suit, so created a craft paper pattern, sewn on the machine, with seams on the outside. Decided I liked that look... so the final newspaper suit has the same exterior seaming.

I clipped some of my favorite ads from that newspaper, including one for "Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey... for medicinal purposes only!", which became part of the left front leg of his pants. I started calling him Duffy in my head after that... and it stuck.

Construction is as follows: Wire armature, cotton batting, sculpted paperclay, vintage newspaper, craft paper, gel medium, acrylic paint, wool fleece, cloth, polymer clay.

The Iconic Miss Raggedy

2009-06-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

Who can resist that face?

I've been entranced by the clown-like face, loopy red yarn hair and lumpy over-sized mitten hands of Raggedy Ann for years. I bought an old Ann and Andy pair for myself when I was in my early 20's... simply because I had never owned a Raggedy as a child, and felt deprived, I guess. Those two have long since disappeared... what with raising my three sons, moving house and losing my deep connection to dolls for a while.

My dear granddaughter, Stella, turned 7 recently... and I was determined to make her a doll. I'd been lately drawn to some photos of old Raggedy's in a doll collector's book, and so decided on a "prim" Annie for Stella. She's just 10 inches tall, with an over-sized head and wide-spaced eyes. Hair is cotton yarn; face is painted on with acrylics, and she received a coffee stain aging treatment. I used vintage fabric for her sweet little dress. Pattern design credit goes to Denise White. This Annie was great fun to make, and Stella loved her!

A day with elinor...

2009-05-15T19:11:00.001-07:00

Was this a fun day... or what?? I had an incredible time at the home of one of the Queens of the doll making world today... the amazing elinor peace bailey , who just happens to live in my home town!

She had an Open House... and took myself, and several other awestruck visitors, through every room in her fantastic place. What a rare and wonderful opportunity. I felt like I was in a doll maker's fantasy museum!

Each room was filled with quilts, handmade books, paintings, mixed-media collages, collections of tiny things. And (big surprise) dolls, dolls and MORE dolls! SO many things to look at, and so much COLOR, of course! elinor is ALL about color, in case you hadn't heard. :)

A group of us were on hand for elinor's demo on face painting, which really started with a quickie tutorial on needle-sculpting, which she showed us on a pre-stuffed head that someone had sent to her. I only wish that I'd had a video camera, and could now re-play it in slow motion. elinor is so deft with her #7 darner, threaded with good old button and craft thread... she made it look incredibly easy!

She then quickly sketched features with a fine-point permanent pen in dark brown (never black... too harsh!). Those oh-so-elinor eyes, with exquisitely long lashes, just came flashing out... and we saw the secret for drawing eyes evenly. Simply flip the head over and draw the other eye upside down! She filled the irises in with brush markers, in several shades of blue and a bit of ordinary crayola crayon, in midnight blue, extending some strokes of blue up into the lashes, "because color reflects everywhere".

Then the nose, cheeks and all the shading in pinks; the lucious lips of a smiling open mouth in two shades of red. "The top lip is darker, you know... it's in the shade". She painted the teeth with a dollop of white acrylic paint, squirted out onto her favorite "palette" (the top of a coffee mug handle). A dot of red marker in the inside corner of each eye and VOILÁ! A glorious face in ten whirlwind minutes! We were dazzled!

Now, all during this face-painting demo, elinor was dispensing essential wisdom, as well as basic doll making tips. She talked directly to us, seriously impressing upon us the imperative that we must find out who we are... whether we are 70 or 50 or 20. To forget about blaming our angst on our parents or whoever in our past that might be "holding us back". To grow up into our separate selves as adults, find our style... and then JUST MAKE ART! How did she know just exactly what I needed to hear?

I would have loved to stay for several more hours, but had another appointment. I bought a large bag of scrap fabrics which are just delicious... and one of elinors pattern CDs. I can't wait to play!

I'm over-flowing with inspiration, between today and my wonderful weekend with Pamela Hastings two weeks ago. I realize now that I never did blog in detail about that weekend, and that is a shame. I'll have to go back and write something belatedly... I'm still walking on air from that fabulous experience! Lucky, lucky me!

Zero Percent Blonde

2009-05-09T20:32:00.001-07:00

Fresh from last weekend's workshop in Corvallis, I had to dive into something right away. I wanted to make something fun, quick and easy... and knew that I wanted to try something similar to Pamela's pieced bodies. I drew my own pattern for this doll, but based it on some of her simple two-piece designs with button-jointed arms. I used some new batik fabric, and some vintage velvet, and a lovely vintage rose, machine-appliqued to her bum. Don't ask why, I was working intuitively!

I decided early on that this one would be a gift for a friend's upcoming birthday. Of course, that automatically meant I had put pressure on myself! The body was really free-form, fun and easy... but the head. OH, the head! Let's just say it went through several incarnations. This is the fourth one! I learned a lot about what I won't do next time.

The face is stuffed muslin, painted with thinned acrylic paint. The features were drawn on with Prismacolor pencils and Pigma Micron pens. I then sprayed the face with a clear acrylic sealer.

Her name is Zero Percent Blonde... which is sort of a private joke between the doll's new owner and I, based on a silly time-wasting quiz we both took on Facebook.

Weekend worshop with the "Reel Dolls"

2009-05-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

What an amazing weekend! Imagine fourteen doll makers huddled around tables and sewing machines for two days, all being patiently instructed by the amazing Pamela Hastings. It was a rare and wonderful event!

I'm currently far too exhausted to go into great detail, and must go bake an anniversary cake for my husband, but you can see the rest of the photos I took here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattikate

Pamela Hastings workshop

2009-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Getting very excited here... as I'll be heading down to Corvallis, Oregon next week for a weekend workshop with Pamela Hastings, a master doll maker I've admired for years. This photo is of her famous "Hot Flash" doll. Oh, how she speaks to me!

I was so lucky Pamela was teaching somewhere so close to where I live... just a two hour drive away. This will be a first for me... hanging out for a whole weekend with a group of doll makers! This workshop is sponsored by the Reel Dolls club in Corvallis. I can't wait to meet everyone. I don't quite know what to expect, but I'm up for anything. Just getting away for a weekend will be heaven... and I know I'll learn a lot.

Getting Un-Stuck

2009-04-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've been digging around in old photographs, looking for the very beginnings of my artist soul. This seems to have been an old toy of mine... although, frankly, I have no memory of it. I do have vivid memories of several other dolls I had, though there is unfortunately no photographic record of them. Since it's the Easter season, I thought this bunny ought to make the scene here, as one of my earliest playthings, regardless of my faded recollections.

I spent the day re-organizing my kitchen and moving large cabinets and shelving. Just had an unquenchable desire to get some energy un-stuck around here. Also got a fair amount of "spring cleaning" done in the kitchen, while re-listening to the audio book version of Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth on my kitchen CD player. It felt great! I will take more photos tomorrow. Am just too bone tired tonight. A really GOOD kind of tired.
Here's the ledge above my kitchen sink... crowded with pottery and "stuff". It's so much fun to move things around and lovingly wipe the dust from some of the things I love to look at!

I have been working on tapping into more intuitive creativity lately. Reading some great things about art journaling, which is giving me jumping off points, as well as techniques to just get past what seems to be a period of "creative block" I am going through at the moment. It doesn't help that my daughter has not been able to attend school for the past three weeks (school snafu, not due to illness), but I've also just been stalling, avoiding, stumbling, losing momentum, getting discouraged, getting tangled up in problems that I can't fix... then just chucking my work and starting over.

I figured it would be much better to stop and work in some other mediums for a while, do some introspection and play a lot. So, I've been drawing, making jewelry, painting, etc. Am trying to do open-ended practice, rather than be so project-oriented and worried about the results. Finding a great deal of anxiety lurking under the surface. Funny what you find when you start peeling back the layers, isn't it?

Anna's Harlequin

2009-03-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't she exquisite? This is a porcelain doll/clothing brush that belonged to my paternal grandmother, Anna, who died before I was born. I don't know anything else about it, and I think it may be the only thing I own that was hers.

She is 6.5 inches tall, and in rather rough condition. Obviously, the head has been broken off, and glued back on.

I look at her every day, as she resides in a glass vase on top of my dresser, along with a little group of other small dolls. The vase belonged to my other grandmother, Lela. It was always on the middle of her kitchen table, filled with spoons!

Guardian Angel

2009-02-27T14:49:00.001-08:00

Just a little something for today...

Unable to fight the urge to wire some random things together, I just started playing around with an old doll head, some fine brass wire and a woven potpourri basket that's hung in my closet for decades, filled with old lavender buds.

Karl made the inlaid wood wings and the lathe-turned base the round-bottomed basket stands in, years ago. She's wearing a guardian angel medallion and her halo is a sterling silver bubble wand that "Auntie O" gave to Katera when she was tiny.

I'm not sure she's finished yet, but my studio time for the day is about over. I spent some of it today trying to figure out if my silly little camera will reveal some hidden functions and redeem itself as blog-worthy after all... but I'm afraid hope fades.

I set up my etsy shop yesterday. If all goes well, my friends, you may see something actually listed in it soon! My user name there is bungalowgal, but I'll post a link to the shop as soon as I take that Big Step!

Fairies and Felting

2009-02-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

The time I spend with my granddaughters is more fun than anything I can imagine, and even better when we make art together. Iris (age 9) started a fairy while she and sister Stella stayed with me on Winter Solstice Eve... but we only recently got back together, just Iris and I, to finish her up.

Iris chose all the colors, the flowers and felt. With just a little guidance from me, and following Salley Mavor's book, she wrapped the arms, legs and feet with embroidery floss on her own. She also painted this lovely face... me helping only with the nose. I embroidered and constructed the felt jacket and attached the wings. We'll focus on learning embroidery stitches next time.

Then, Iris chose gorgeous flaxen mohair locks for the hair and we worked together to style and finish it up with a sweet acorn cap. While the glue was drying, we got side-tracked into playing with my collection of wool felts and bits of fleece. Iris has decided she loves needle felting and still wants to do more of it, despite bloody fingertips from stabbing herself several times with those pesky barbed needles!

Mermaid Marionettes

2009-02-10T09:38:00.001-08:00

Since my new projects are coming along so slowly, I thought I'd just catch up by posting some older work here. These are photos of some papier mache mermaid marionettes that I made for my two granddaughters in 2007. I'm wishing now that I had taken some more close-ups of their faces after they were finished.

I found this project at the incredible website, The Paper Mache Resource

The heads are blown-out eggs, with features sculpted from paper clay, covered with basic homemade paper mache, finished with several layers of tissue paper, then painted with acrylic paint and sealed with gel medium. The bodies are built using a nylon stocking, with the torso and tail sections constructed out of newspaper-stuffed cardboard inserted inside the stocking, and separated by rubber bands until the final drying step. The nylon serves to keep the whole thing connected as one piece, with flexibility allowing the tail to move and "swim".

Each section is layered with paper mache... with much drying time in between each layer (did I mention this was a very labor-intensive and time-consuming project?!?). Then paper clay was used to sculpt the shell-bras and the arms and hands.

I painted the fish scale designs on the tails, consulting a book about fish species, using metallic acrylic paints of various shades of green, blue and purple... with a wash of a white opalescent paint and a final coat of gel medium.

The marionettes are strung from four simple points... the crown of the head, each hand, and the end of the tail. Kudos to my husband, Karl, for crafting the wonderful wooden crossbars! I happened to have the most perfect eyelash yarn for their hair in my yarn stash, and the wigs turned out brilliantly, even though I was winging it at the last minute.

Needless to say, I got almost NOTHING else done that Christmas, but my darling girls loved them, so what else matters?

Lost in The Process

2009-02-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Some good intentions rose to the surface recently. I made a decision to create a doll for possible entry in an upcoming challenge, in the category of "Famous People". This will be a first for me, and there is a distinct possibility that I will not actually enter this piece... however, I have made a commitment to FINISH it, and to keep it in my personal collection. After much brainstorming and list making, I decided to make a Frida Kahlo doll, since she's always been a favorite figure of mine.

I have now checked out every book our local library system has in it's collection about her... and was thrilled to discover more inspiration online. I just discovered the 2007 title, Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress: Frida's Wardrobe: Fashion from the Museo Frida Kahlo.

What a jaw-dropping book! It is the culmination of a monumental effort to document, catalog and restore Frida's huge clothing collection that was finally seen in 2004 for the first since her death, when her dressing room and bathroom were finally opened. Diego had ordered those two rooms to be locked when she died in 1954, and not to be opened or entered for 50 years... and his wishes were honored. Some things had disintegrated quite a bit, but others were well-preserved. OH, the COLORS... the embroidery, the lace, the hand-woven embellishments! Preservation and restoration experts are repairing and storing each piece properly now.

Numerous others have made art doll versions of Frida, of course, and I found some wonderful examples. My plans are to focus on her clothing and to make a representation of Frida as she was in life, not from any of her self-portraits. I have been sketching her face over and over... have made one test head/face...

and am just immersing myself in Frida's freaky world while I plan this piece. She causes the strangest emotions to come up for me. I've even found myself resenting the fact that she got to lay around doing nothing but paint and smoke cigarettes for years! Very strange and mixed feelings are churning around. We will see where this leads me!

Excitement Abounds!

2009-01-13T21:40:00.000-08:00

I'm all smiles lately! Looking all the way back to one of my first posts last July, you'll note that I submitted a photo of a project for possible publication. I had almost forgotten about it but was excited to find out it was included in the March 2009 issue of Soft Dolls and Animals! I found out and ran out to buy a copy... then did a little happy dance right there in the store when I saw my work on a glossy magazine page! Too much fun!
Here it is again... but do blip back to the July 2008 post for more details.

Christmas is a Speeding Bullet Train

2008-12-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

Many were the good intentions for making oodles and oodles of prims and fairies for our local "Hometown Christmas" bazaar, which happened on December 6th. Back around Halloween, I'd committed to sharing table space at the December event with two friends... and was rip-roaringly motivated to sew, wrap, stuff, paint and embellish up a winter storm to make a little shopping money. Well, "LIFE" had other plans, which diverted us (by ambulance, with a little side jaunt to the ER) to a "weekend retreat" in the pediatric ICU at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, in early November. Many seizure drugs, antibiotics and a pneumonia diagnosis later, Katera took two weeks off from school to recover, throwing a king-sized monkey wrench in Mommy's ambitious crafting plans.

I did manage to finish three prim dolls from Donna Veal's fun patterns... a Santa, an Elf and a Butterfly doll... plus four Salley Mavor flower fairies, which worked just fine to fill up my spot on the table.

By sheer happenstance, we were given THE plum spot in the building... leading all the day's foot traffic directly to us. I sold all three prims in the first half of the day, and all but one fairy by the end of the day. I did price everything quite reasonably, given the economic slump of late... (and given the expectations of our usual "home town" attendees). Still, I noticed quite a few other vendors did not sell much of anything, so I was quite pleased.

Skully's other brother, Skully

2008-11-01T10:20:00.001-07:00

I simply can't put this Halloween season to rest without showing off the Skully doll I made for my niece, Portia. Today... the Day of the Dead... happens to be her tenth birthday, so this seemed a fitting gift.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PORTIA!!

Hallowe'en Prim Madness!

2008-11-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

I have Donna Veal to thank for my current addiction! I was working furiously right up until Trick-or-Treat time last night, making sure that OUR house had at least one great Halloween prim to deck out the porch.

This Trick-or-Treat cat is one of Donna's great patterns, and is the second one I made this week. I finished one (below) for Sarah the day before... so much FUN!

Here's a close-up of my kitty... wearing the skeleton key that actually fits our own front door (pre-installation of dead bolt)! Is she fun and a LITTLE bit scary, or what?

Now it's time to start whipping up some Christmas prims!

Vampires!

2008-10-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

Since I'm currently into reading the "Twilight" series, this project was very appropriate. :)

This Vampire Bat is another great pattern from Donna Veal of Moonchilds Primitives.
Mine didn't turn out as nicely as hers... but I'm going to make a couple more and "tweak" my technique.

"BAT" is a primitive "make do", made from painted/stained/aged muslin. His wings are wired... head and body are stuffed with polyfil and he's standing on a candlestick base that I picked up at Goodwill.
No... I didn't make the fun chenille pumpkin... I bought it last fall at Lily Wiggins in Ridgefield. But I may try to copy it! :)

Skully

2008-10-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Finished just in time for granddaughter Iris's ninth birthday party yesterday, this Halloween skeleton "prim" was made from a pattern by Donna Veal of Moonchilds Primitives.

He was easy to make, but involved some new techniques for me. It was a whirlwind project, as I only settled on making this for Iris three days ago, and really didn't think I would get him finished in time. Just went for it!

Skully is about 18 inches tall (probably more, if we include his hat)... made from muslin, painted with acrylics and "aged" with sandpaper and a coffee/cinnamon/cocoa powder stain. His "friends" include a snake, a mouse (looking warily up at the snake) and a spider.

I'm starting another of Donna's fun Halloween prims today... this time, for OUR house. :)

All better!

2008-10-03T13:52:00.001-07:00

Ahhh.... that feels SO much better, now... doesn't it? New hair, hat back on, new sash, ribbon rose straightened up. She'll be released from the hospital later today.

I feel a sense of accomplishment in finally getting around to this repair! (Sorry so long, Sarah!) I needed to get "unstuck" and get things rolling, and this did the trick!

A Trip to the Doll Hospital!

2008-09-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

One of the wee dollies I made for my granddaughter had a very unfortunate adventure recently... tumbling from her shelf as bedding was being stripped one day. She went through the entire wash/dry cycle along with dear granddaughter's sheets! So, this is what a Wee Folk fairy looks like after going through the wash. Not too bad, really!

Her curly Romney fleece locks have felted into a flat, matted toupee... she'll definitely need new hair and a re-glue of her wool beret. Her jacket has shrunk a bit, petal skirts are in disarray, ribbon sash and trim needs to be pressed, re-tacked and/or replaced. But, other than that, I'm quite impressed that she's still recognizable! Stay tuned for "after" photos. :)

The Babies

2008-07-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

An upcoming issue of Soft Dolls and Animals magazine is requesting photo submissions related to the theme, "Babies"... and I'm thinking this one might fit the bill.

This is a pin doll that I made for a shower gift for Sarah, when she was expecting twins, Ruby and Larkin, in June of 2007.

The baby dolls are made using techniques learned from Salley Mavor's book "Felt Wee Folk".

They are 1.5" tall (yes, you read that right) and are made with pipe cleaner armature, wooden bead heads... hand-painted faces, wool felt dresses and bonnets, wool fleece hair. What do you think? Should I send it in?

The Wonders of Wire

2008-07-22T10:29:00.001-07:00

I was fascinated by the black wire sculptures of Leigh Pennebaker (www.leighpennebaker.com), after seeing her work in Home Companion a few months back, and tore out the article to save in my endless pile of "ideas and inspiration". It resurfaced during my recent "upstairs studio" move, and needing something creative to dive into, I simply couldn't stop myself from buying some black steel 19 gauge wire at the hardware store and seeing what I could do. It was FUN and FAST... and I actually ended up with something that faintly, though rather crudely, resembles Pennebaker's incredible wire-sculpture gowns.

This first attempt is 15" tall. I even made a few of the tiny wire coathangers. Am thinking about experimenting with adding fabric and ribbons... weaving some different materials in with the wire, and/or creating an actual full doll figure with wire, and taking it from there.

In progress...

2008-07-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here are two dolls that are still "in the works".
On the left: I call her "Trust". This was my attempt to get around my perfectionist nature and just quickly throw together a "prim" doll, without using someone else's pattern. I very quickly traced this out by hand... on the fly... and managed some pleasing proportions. TRUST... is the word that popped into my head when my "self-critic" tried to take over and tell me I couldn't possibly do this successfully. I forged ahead and "just did it". Her skin fabric is cut from a vintage bedsheet that I found in between the front and back of a log cabin quilt I bought YEARS ago at a garage sale, for $1.50. I used my own version of Donna Veal's recipe to "age" the white cotton... with espresso, cinnamon and cocoa. She still smells WONDERFUL! Her limbs are button-jointed, and I now know that I need to buy a LONG needle for accomplishing this in the future. The felt heart is covering a hole that sort of got bigger during the stuffing and rinsing and whatnot. She is still waiting for me to conjure up some sort of appropriate clothing.

On the right: "Aqua Girl" - This one is made from a Patti Medaris Culea pattern, from her book, Creative Cloth Dolls. I had no skin-colored fabric on the day I was driven to put her together, so I used a great aqua/teal batik fabric I had on hand. I absolutely LOVE the legs on this particular pattern. They are capable of so many flattering poses! Her face is drawn on with Prismacolor pencils and Pigma Micron pens. I refused to follow the book's face formula, and just did it my own way, finishing it off with a purple jewel bindi. The hair is Romney wool fleece, hand-dyed to this exquiste deep burgundy color by my fiber-artist friend, Eileen. It needs a bit more tidying up, and perhaps some hair ornaments glued in. Her blouse is made from an already-beaded Indian cotton top I picked up at Goodwill and cut up... her skirt from Fabric Depot remnants; burgundy satin and teal tulle. Her waistband is a jade bead necklace that my neighbor, Diane, bought for me in China. I think she wants me to finish her off with a corset made from a thrift store jacket I bought recently... a very thin rose-colored suede. This would greatly enhance the illusion that she actually has something other than a totally FLAT chest!

They both perch up there on the top shelf... beckoning me to FINISH them... while I am drawn on to other projects.

New mini studio!

2008-07-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on keeping this updated.... blogging is time consuming! And sitting on my a$$ in front of the computer is not good for me, so I try to do less of it these days.

Here is my new upstairs mini studio space... complete with bright ORANGE wall... which is supposed to inspire me to sit down and work, but so far, has only enabled me to do small amounts of mending. Some of Katera's stuff is still housed here, which will hopefully keep her from clearing all of MY shelves.

See my beautiful new IKEA storage boxes? Such a bargain at $1.50 each!

Gigi

2008-07-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the Parisian girl that I finished for Angie after she returned from the City of Lights in May of '08.

I'm not sure what she's decided to name her, but I was thinking "Gigi" was appropriate. Madeline was already taken. :)

She hasn't yet found her bags and passport, so she's a little frantic at the moment... or maybe she's planning on marching in the streets, protesting the war?

I was so inspired by the color of her stockings, that I painted the wall of my new "mini-studio" this very shade!

Parisian Fashionistas!

2008-07-01T15:33:00.001-07:00

May 2008- These little dolls were a custom order, made for a special group of friends who were traveling to Paris together.

The design and construction was very much inspired by the techniques in Salley Mavor's book Felt Wee Folk, but the costumes are original designs of my own. They are 3 inches tall... and dressed in wool felt, with wool fleece hair and black wool berets. Each carries a bag containing her own tiny passport, and stuffed full of wee Euros! They are ready to shop.... mais oui!!

Aunt Mimsy - 2006

2008-07-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

This is the first doll of my current collection that is entirely finished. The design was inspired in part by Denise Marie Warner's Oh La La Garden Fairy, which was the cover feature in Art Doll Quarterly's Spring 2006 issue.

Aunt Mimsy is constructed from a basic wire armature... foil, tape and cotton batting... wrapped with cloth, attached to an old candle holder base. The head is cloth, with a sculpted mask made from polymer clay, detailed and accented with acrylic paint. She is clothed in wrapped strips of lush velvets and skirted with velvet, tencel and ribbon. Details include a snippet of antique lace that belonged to my grandmother, an antique button at the bodice, and a "dingle ball" for her little handbag (dingle balls have snaps on them and were once for holding mink stoles in place, circa 1930-ish). I've used various ribbons and silk flowers for her collar, bustle, underskirt and bonnet.

She was exhibited at the Columbia Gorge Art Festival in Corbett, Oregon in May of 2006.

Starting Somewhere

2008-07-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

This will be the first installment in this blog, totally dedicated to my artwork... and especially doll making.

Celebrating taking myself seriously today. On orders of Julia Cameron, I'm supposedly practicing reading deprivation this week... but I'll assume writing is kosher. My next assignment is to describe myself at age eighty and list some things I did after fifty that were "fun". Daunting INDEED!

Many thanks to Anne for the nice visit today... for appreciating my humble work so far, and for sending me away with many goodies to play with. I liked your elven gal very much, and hope you'll assemble her, despite the blood stains! That just adds character! I loved her slender fingers, loved her ears, loved her eyes, loved her funny feet... and especially her mossy hair. Pllllluhhhh, to all the people who don't get it!

I'm forcing myself to set things in motion... and so, fear aside! Universe... consider them moving!