ART DOLL FUN...

My word, I can't believe I haven't posted for so long... I should have posted last Saturday but it was a nice day and with Father's Day on the Sunday and my parents being away for my birthday later, we went out for a special meal. A very nice time was had by all and the weather stayed remarkably sunny too- a blessing considering our recent wet trend.

I spent a couple of days last week getting on with one of the Elements dolls I'm creating for a Doll Challenge on Stitchin Fingers . We are only supposed to do one, but if you are doing one element, you should really make the set- I think, anyway! If you have followed my previous posts you will have seen I spent some time cutting fabric and designing/ painting symbols on the body pieces last month.

I've been hung up on finding suitable fabrics for the rest of the bodies in the set, but I found some rather nice pieces eventually so I've had to continue with the "Earth" doll.

Here she is complete... I'm not entirely happy with her face, and I plan on making a clay mask that I can paint up for each doll.

She has little suede pixie boots and bag, her own elder wand, and funky earthy dreads. As I said earlier, I want to create a mask for her and at the same time I still want to make a mold for clay hands, which can be smaller and more detailed. So I'm not too displeased with her, all in all. 

She'll be perfect once I make the adjustments.... and then on to another element, with my new sewing machine that should be arriving within the hour... goodbye to my 20 year old Toyota, and hello to my QE404. I'm so nervous it's killing me- I hope it's a good one, it does everything I want but I don't know the make... but for my budget it looked the best- so we'll see. I shall keep my Toyota as backup, no computer bits to go wrong there- it just doesn't do what I need nowadays. I'll be posting some textile work soon I expect- wish me luck!!!

Dolly doodles...

Well, not exactly! I've decided to take part in a doll swap over at stitchin fingers, particularly as the theme is Elements... well, the four, at least. Those of you that know me will understand I just couldn't say no - I've been interested and working with the four elements and symbols for years i one form or another, but I've never made Elemental dolls.

True to form, I start from scratch, so having designed the doll look, I went on to creating a set of symbols to use on the fabrics...

This is the first stage, the pen and ink design....

Air

Earth

Fire

Water

                              

I also decided to make a finished panel for each symbol, never one to pass up an excuse to doodle!

 

The others are done in a similar fashion.....

 

The next stages are countless... drop it into Photoshop and play.... colour them in, add a few filters... and come up with a collection of useful symbols...

I hate that my BA lecturer thinks photoshop is not an honest artist tool- so oldschool- it is so versatile, what she doesn't appreciate is that you still need a reasonable depth of knowledge to get what you want, and still have to master the software to create what you want... so what's the difference to using a paintbrush?

So here's the complete set in full colour, but un-enhanced...

I've painted the fabrics for the bodies using fabric paints, here they are, cut and painted, ready to sew together, but I need to find the right leg,arms and face fabrics first...

I've got till the end of June to finish one, but I reckon I'll have the set done as a whole, just too much fun not to!

Equinox dolls

Having finished the dolls for the Equinox swap on Milliande's , I finished my own equinox doll last night.. both sides, so she's now hanging up pride of place over the tv. Here's how she looks... I even managed to find some relevant little charms hidden in one of my bead boxes- I love not having to buy stuff for projects!!

 Remember those fimo faces I sculpted and then cast for a beading project? They're in the craft tutorial section if not... well, I decided they weren't what I wanted for that project and set them aside for later use. Perfect for this project, the resin plaster takes acrylic paints really well.

I'm going to make a Summer/ Winter doll to match, but I shan't start her until nearer the time... I need to gather my materials up first... can't wait though, these 3 were so much fun after 40 years since the last one, my how time flies...

Too old for dollies?

One has to ask that question occaisionally, and I'm not sure of the answer anymore! Regarding playing - maybe, but a return to creating them after 30+ years... well, maybe I'm not too old for that.

Lois is hosting an Equinox doll swap ready for the Vernal equinox on march 22nd. I couldn't resist... it has been so many years since I created a doll of any kind, and not having an interest in them generally I never felt the need. But to have a handmade doll celebrating the equinoxes seemed like a fun and relevant thing to do. In fact I'm going to do the Summer/ Winter solstice doll too to create  a matching pair.

I had a quick look online for inspiration, and set about re-honing my ability for pattern making. I rough sketch first and then work out the details like positioning,tucks etc. Although these are very simple flat  dolls, I am also going to make a doll with arms and legs while I have all the materials to hand- I'll be keeping this one as half of my celebration pair.

Here are the finished flat dolls... ready to be posted off... and a half finished proper doll ready to be embellished. I'll post pics of it when it's done, but in the meantime I'll be putting the tutorial over in the how-to's textiles section.

Goddess pattern, spring side

Goddess pattern, autumn side

Leggy doll ready to embellish