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!

Seed Journaling again...

What with all the yucky weather and ice outside I decided Sunday was a day for catching up in my seed journal. I hadn't been working in any particular order, but I had drawn and inked out my sketch for "Vessel" last week so that needed finishing. I'm staying with the same materials for the time being- a novelty for me, who's usually flitting between projects to vary my addiction, so again I'm using acrylic inks and technical pens. I'm also staying with a limited palette to emphasise the theme of seeds/ nature, although I may use one new colour in each spread.

This is "Vessel" completed...

I also chose to do the "S" words prompt

I spent some time thinking about seeds, growth, how it all relates to my life and made a list of appropriate words. I wanted to work in a precise way rather than just plop words over the page, so I began with a central seed, and created radials  to separate the words. After that it was all impromptu, choose a word and find a relevant visual symbol to accent it...

I used the same materials and colours as before, but with alot more emphasis on contrasts and shapes rather than natural shading...

Four more spreads and I'm up to date... yay!

Under the sea....

Following on from my red textiles collage, which was created as a base for further projects, I used a similar technique for another postcard swap, at stitchin fingers.  

The theme for February is "Under the Sea" and there are some beautiful postcards being posted, and while I'm a competant chain stitcher, my imagination doesn't stretch to a decent rendition full of wonderful stitches and  sealife. So I did what I'm comfy with... got the machine out again...

This is the base complete- there's alsorts in there, curtains, organza, medical gauze, bra lace,felt, angelina, mulberry bark.... and as usual I made the piece alot larger than I needed, so there's plenty left for new projects later.

But this is what it was for in the end.... The fishies and starfish were extra goodies from a friend, I'm glad I found a use for them, I don't do fishy things much and I'd hate that they sat in my box of bits without hope of life. (Hope you like what I've done them them, Mary!)

 So these will be swimming their way to the States shortly... hope they arrive safely.

New Year, new plan...

It's taken a bit of planning and time but yesterday I spent a day with my sewing machine... it's been a while. I promised myself  that this year I would do what I've been thinking about for a long long time... and actually start living by what I believe, rather than just float on through in a vacuum.

So having performed my first blessing for Brighid, and a little self contemplation, I got my stash of bits I'd been collecting for my new BOS and began making it. 

Here it is finished, well the outside anyway, I've got more ideas for the inside.

Now the fun of making entries and filling it up....

Aquarius bead block for BJP 2012

Well, I finally buckled down to beading my first block for the Bead Journal Project this year. I'd designed my wall hanging earlier, but not begun designing the beaded elements...

Once I got going it didn't take long to come up with a set of designs which I thought would be blocky enough to work in beads... but I'm sad to say my first attempt looked awful, no definition and with all the bling there was just not enough contrast between object and background. So I had to retry, this is the second attempt (the 1st attempt is over on my BJP-2012 page )

Aquarius second attempt

 I used delicas, bugles, hex, teardrops and huge seedbeads on felt. I'm still not happy with this- I thought the design might have worked better, so I'm looking at redesigning all 12- or only beading a section of it, but having seen some of the entrants on BJP already I'd feel lazy if it wasn't fairly well covered in beads rather than silks. Best get my thinking cap on before the end of February when I'll need to post my Feb effort on the BJP 2012 Blogsite