Art Doll

This is an art doll I made using the techniques of doll artist Joanna Pierroti. There was a wonderful section about her dolls and her techniques in the book, Exhibition 36 by Susan Tuttle. Joanna used antique wooden spools for her dolls' bodies. I do have a few of those but I want to practice a little more before using them.

You start with any plastic doll head and after you use her technique you end up with what looks like an antique porcelain doll. Here are some closeups of the face:

You paint her lips and give her a little color on her cheeks and then decorate the head. I love this technique. The body of her her dolls was usually just wrapped in vintage lace and fabrics and she had them mounted on a piece of wood. So, not bad for a first try.

Art Doll: Moon Dance

~ It's a marvelous night for a moondance, with the stars up above in your eyes, A fantabulous night to make romance, Neath the cover of October skies... ~ I've been listening to a lot of Van Morrison lately. I LOVE the song Moondance, and can't get it out of my head! So, I decided to make a little dancing art doll. She's made of fabric, dominoes, yarn, beads, clay, whew! I think that's all. Oh, and mounted on paper to cardboard. I'll find a suitable frame for her later. She's dancing down the hall now, so I must go get her before the cat pounces! That's all for today. Just something fun. ~ One more moondance with you in the moonlight, On a magic night, La, la, la, la in the moonlight, On a magic night...Can't I just have one more moondance with you, MY LOVE!!

Miss Glamour Princess

Straight from the red carpet, here is Miss Glamour Princess. She's seen here admiring her jeweled tiara. She's wearing her new sapphire blue taffeta gown, complete with a dramatic gossamer ruffle and her white arm-length gloves. She was recently crowned Miss Glamour Princess and she is savoring her moment in the spotlight. You can click on the photo and get a larger view.

She was a lot of fun to make. I'm not happy with a few things, but with each doll I learn a little more of what to do and NOT do next time. Right now I'm working on a woodland fairy doll taken from an idea project sheet I saw at Hobby Lobby. I also have some ideas for future dolls that I'm sketching out. My e-friend Lori was right when she told me that once you start making dolls it's addictive and you sometimes never go back...

It's time for my next ATC swap and the theme for this one is "Secret Door". I have to finish these by early next week and get them mailed off to Artella. I'll post those when they are finished. For some reason, I thought the theme was Secret Garden. I'm glad I checked. I like Secret Door better; more creative ideas came to me with that one. :)

Also in the works is a painting I'm attempting. I'm not ready to talk about it yet, as it's still in the early planning stages, but I'm very excited about it. Hope you all enjoyed your July 4th holiday. I will post that gorgeous quilt I mentioned in my last post very soon! I haven't forgotten. Right now it's back to work. Until next time...

Sneak Peek At WIP's

I thought I would post a couple of photos of my works-in-progress and some of the materials I am thinking about using. I don't like to post to the blog if there isn't anything to say but I did want to show you some of the things I'm working on behind the scenes.

The first photo is my newest doll. She's a glamour doll. I don't have the eyelashes glued on yet, but they managed to stick for the photo. The hair is just as I imagined it to be when I started knitting it. I LOVE this "Dream Girl" yarn by Yarn Bee, and the color is "Tiffany". I think it is my favorite of all the yarns I've tried to date. It's so silky soft, just heavenly to touch! ;)

The second photo is my newest bridal paintover. This is how it starts out. I painted a background in colors I like, added a few swirls when the paint was wet and adhered my image. Now she's ready for the paint. I loved this picture when I saw it in the bridal mag. We'll see how it turns out!

The next photo is my prize find from my trip to Wisconsin! I have looked high and low for these Angelina fibers. They are shiny, gorgeous little fibers that you use to couch between layers of fabric; usually something see-through like organza. I was all set to order some from the internet, when we happened upon these in the best craft store I have ever been in. Thanks, Carmen, for taking me!! I was one happy camper when I left the store with these and another item that is just not out there: doll eyes! It creeped my husband out when I showed him all of these different sizes of blue and brown eyes, but he's getting used to heads, eyes, hands, etc. in various stages of production when he enters my studio.

The next two photos are some fabrics I'm thinking about for glamour doll's gown. Again, some gorgeous finds in Wisconsin. I can't decide which ones I want to use. I'll see which ones she starts to favor, then we'll go from there.

We had a great time visiting Carmen and Richard on our Wisconsin trip. We agreed it would be so cool to live closer to them. We visited the University of Wisconsin campus right on the lake. That's one of my favorite places to go. Carmen and I had a whole morning of shopping: quilt shop, fabric store, beading store (ooh, the goodies in there!!) and the craft store from heaven. Maybe it's a good thing I don't live there. Could get into trouble buying up the goodies. :) Another added bonus: we went to Borders and Carmen and Richard had Border dollars to spend. I ended up with a coveted book I've always wanted on doll making. Thanks, guys!! Now, back home, I'm eager to get started with all of these goodies. Stay tuned...

First Art Doll On Canvas

Here is my first attempt at making an art doll. Technically, she's half a doll on a 5 x 5 canvas. I wanted to get some practice painting faces and then I needed to give her a body of sorts. I saw on Black Eyed Suzie's blog how she mounted her half dolls onto canvas. Hers are professional and look absolutely gorgeous, but I decided to try it just to see what it felt like to a) work with air-dry clay and b) to put it onto something. It's fun and she turned out better than I thought.

I bought a bunch of these little canvases from JoAnn at 2 for $1. They come with pictures of fruit drawn on them. Easy enough to gesso over that and voila you have cheap canvases to try your techniques on. The other plus is they are small enough that you are not investing much time or energy into them. So for a first attempt I'll keep her. I have a lot more ideas and a lot more dolls (whole bodies!) in different stages of drying.

I started out working with the modeling compound. I really like it. It's very light. Then I went to the paperclay that everyone who uses it raves about. I'm not sure. I need a lot more work with it. You have to work with wet hands to knead it and I'm still getting used to that. I have a few things in process using both kinds of clay. I'll post those when they are ready. Just thought I'd share this little tidbit today. I added the second one (top) after I blended the background more. I like it better. Back to work...

Art Explosion Wednesday

My art zines that I won on e-bay arrived in the mail today. Yay! Here is the first group. Blogger only lets me upload five images at a time :( so I'll post the rest of the zines and dolls tomorrow. I've been stalking my mail delivery person everyday waiting for these. Oh, btw, Priority Mail does NOT always mean two day delivery. These were mailed Friday and I just received them today. So, when they say they don't guarantee two days, they mean it. There are so many goodies in the box I can't wait to dig in. Lots of inspiration and a variety of art; everything from altered art to bookmaking. Cool stuff! Enough gushing about all of that. I'm like a little kid when I get stuff in the mail.

I also included a sampling of what I've been working on lately. My feeble attempt at doll-making is a learning experience. Air dry clay is great. I love working with it. The learning curve for ME in color blending, etc. in painting the faces is very LARGE. But, I've got lots of faces to practice on and can always make more. ;)

The second picture is a sample of some of my work in progress. I have fallen in love with all of the great yarns out there now. Knitting has made a resurgence, and there are aisles and aisles of yarn that are just yummy! I picked up a ton of yarn at a flea market for $1/pkg. This is the stuff that's at the craft stores for $5 and $6 each. Woohoo, did I love that! So, I went to work teaching myself to knit. And being a lefty, everything is so geared for right-handed people, I just tried it like a "normal" person. I had to laugh when the so called "directions for left handers" included the sentence: "substitute the word "right" with the word "left" and hold your work up to a mirror." What? Are you kidding me?!

So, for now, I knit right-handed! These are some of the wigs for my dolls. I love making these. The fibers in these yarns just scream to be made into doll hair. So, I did. You'll see none of them have faces painted yet. That's coming. Just thought I'd show you a small sample of some wigs. I think after I get them onto the heads, then the idea for the face will follow. The dolls have their own personalities after you give them hair!

The third picture is a small 5 x 5 canvas that I am working on. I love the background. It is sort of a goth feel, but a little softer. I'm working on her dress now. She looks kind of dreamy, and the canvas is working out to have a dreamy feel to it. You'll see what I mean when I finish. I did like her face. After blending three different flesh colors of paint with a hint of pink, I think I came up with the perfect formula.

The next one is my very rough first attempt at "sculpting" a sitting body. I'm not too worried about it because her dress will cover it all up. I just needed a form to fit the dress to. I already have her arms and hands finished, so I just thought I'd show you what the first try looked like. I approach all of this with the attitude that it's fun to try things. There is no pressure to have it look a certain way. It just has to please me! Check out those little boots! I loved them!

And, finally, my little guy that keeps making me laugh every time I look at him. The photo turned out blurry (sorry, my bad), but he's really funny! I'm still thinking about what to do with him. Stay tuned...

I've also had family visiting this past week and tried to spend as much time with them as possible, since who knows when I'll see them again. My visit with Sherry was alot of fun, but too short for my taste. Paula came in Saturday afternoon and had to leave Sunday morning. It was fun to catch up on everything. Unfortunately, that night she and her daughter were both sick. Paula sounds like she has walking pneumonia and her cough kept her up. My niece, Liza, seemed to have a case of the nerves. Just a nervous stomach and a little too much pizza. Not a good mix.

That's all for now. I'll post part two of all of the above tomorrow. Need to tend to some real-world issues so I can get back home and escape into the art world...