Collectors Sneak Peek New Dolls Hana and Button

Collectors :) I am going to start posting my new work here on my Blog before I list on Etsy.

SOLD-Hana is approx. 8" length and 4.5 sitting. She has 3 needle felted wild toadstools with her and wears a matching needle felted toadstool hat ;) She is a froggy kind of girl big dark blue eyes and deep swampy greens. She has a funny little look on her face lol

SOLD- Button is approx 8" length and 4.5" sitting. She wears a hand stitched clown suit in light blue and purple with buttons all around her. But is a sad unsure of where she fits in clown with big violet colored eyes

Snow Queen

Calista Snow Queen 

She is created with polymer clay and covered with mica "micro pearl" pigment to create her shimmer. She was painted with blue acrylic accents around her eyes and lips so she looks like she has frostbite. lol Her crown is created from a translucent polymer clay and also covered in the mica. The Mica is mixed with a clear acrylic floating agent so it "paints on" and dries.

She has faux fur cuffs around her arms and faux fur around her ankles. Sparkly bits and beads adorn her and some super old Vintage ric rac with silver threads running through it. 

She was a lot of fun to create! Taking photos of her has been a challenge. The mica shimmers and looks different at all angles. lol

She is about 12" in length

Steampunk Christmas Holiday

Brindle

Edwin-Sold

The thing I love Most about Art Dolls is... I never know where they will take me. Last year I was painting  and selling needle felted goodies on Etsy. This year I have been sculpting Dolls and living in a Steampunk World ;) It's been so much fun watching each little person evolve and take on their own personality. It is amazing to me that a little lump of clay turns into a sculpted face that I honestly have no clue who they are going to be then just start to take on their own little life. Brindle is my Last Christmas Steampunk Girl Edwin was my last boy for this year. They have been soo much fun! I have some Zombies calling my name :D

Where has the time gone?

Wow I cannot get over it is December 1st? I feel like the days are whisking by and I would just love another hour or two please! Thanksgiving completely snuck up on me. I usually have the house decked out like a crazy North Pole by now. Honestly I am starting to panic. Last night I could not get to sleep I got up at midnight poured a glass of wine and hopped in the tub trying to relax. Panic attack....and I don't know why! lol
I think I need to schedule stuff out a bit better. Since it has just been me and my youngest daughter in the house  (they all moved out and went off to college) I feel like maybe I am not on the ball like I used to be. My time is more loosely scheduled and I think that is why I feel like it is slipping away? lol Or maybe I am just getting old and it's and empty nest thing? ugh.... well thanks for the therapy blogspot! hahaha

But in Etsy world I think I have been busy and have accomplished some work at least....(ya I guess this is where my time has been going O_o

This Is Gurty she is a creepy Elf and feels quite bad she has ruined Christmas....well she thinks! hahaha

This is Fiona Fruitcake. Paperclay Ornament. Fiona and Imelda below are the largest heads I have ever made lol 3"

Steampunk Ornament Imelda

Narcissa Steampunk Zombie Wall hanging art doll with laser eyes 0_o

Poor Remy hates life in the Colony

Amaltheia Steampunk Zombie Wall hanging Art Doll. Amaltheia and Narcissa were my first Wall hanging art dolls.

PeaBo Steampunk Girl who has no Family or Friends for the Holidays. Both Remy and PeaBo are going to a new home for the Holidays! The same home :D yay! They are both excited! hehe

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my first fairy wings

My very first Fairy wings lol and I was so excited to watch the Angelina film shrink and change color. I tell ya I am easily amused! They were so pretty cute and nice looking my 15 year old said "oh mom are you going to start making pretty happy dolls now?" My heart sank I looked at them and thought she is right, they are too happy looking...bummer.

So I did not even take a before pic of them cause I almost scrapped them. But I adore that shrinking film so much I want to use it for more things so what could I do?? Goth it up! hahaha 

I took it back to the candle to burn some uneven holes in it. Wow ok already better. I used the Ranger inkssentials glossy accents to make dots and swirls on the film. Love that stuff! Then I glued strips of black and white fabric to the edges to cover my not so pretty aluminum wire. Once all that was dried I used the Ranger Glossy goo to cover all of the fabric. The Ranger goo is flexible once dry so you can still bend the wings ;) Wrapped them in black and white threads in a very messy way and done!

I am so happy with how they turned out. A simple shape and lots of stuff added on haha

And here is Bitty she is just 6.5" in length about 4" sitting she is a mess of threads and trim :D

Her hair is 2 colors black and pink and just pulled up and tied with threads all over the place. 

She has less face paint than my recent dolls. And I figured with all that crazy costuming going on she didn't need it. 

Taking something Old and using it in something new

I try to use items as much as possible in my dolls that have a past life. Not always something I have purchased, but something from me. 

I realized this awhile ago; That the most rewarding part of creating these dolls is the fact that a little piece of me is traveling to places and homes unknown and that someone made a connection with them. It is an incredible feeling. So not only am I sending a piece of me in the form of hand sculpted art but I enjoy the fact that some little piece of trim or metal or old jewelry that once was enjoyed on its own merits is getting a new life.

Mila has bits and pieces that once belonged to my Father. He was an organized collector of tools and parts to replace and repair everything. We made an enormous Family move from Napa Valley in 2004 to Mendocino County. The combined belongings of 2 homes and 6 people made their way to rentals and garages while our houses were being built. My Father's collection of bits and bobs were piled into boxes new garbage cans and anything else we could shove them into. He had many plans for his collection. In a new Garage he wanted benches and cabinets built. He had plans of a new shed forsitting watching the wild turkeys roam the hillside and and tinkering the days away. The day came the houses were built and we made the final move. Unfortunately my Father was to only spend one night in his new home. He passed away at the hospital after a heart attack, he was 83 years old. Never to unpack his collection never to tinker the days away watching the Turkeys. It has taken me 6 years to start looking at his collection and seeing it for the treasure it is. 

Mila was sold on 11/5 and a piece of me is making its way to homes unknown ;)

Christmas Dolls

I have created 3 actual Christmas Holiday dolls so far. While trying to keep to the mood and the "style" I have found some Holiday is possible for me hehe. The mood is pretty easy so far..as I find the Holidays a bit depressing. It is like a kid anticipating the whoa big day and poof it is gone. It always leaves me a little blue. So I can say my Holiday mood is shown in these art dolls for sure! lol 
Style wise I have kept to the sad faces with the crinkly nose. I find that where the heads were larger in proportion to the body, they are now smaller. I like them this size, I think it makes the hair look bigger :D Staying with the skrinkly noses 4 fingers and toes. Now the eyes I have a bazillion of them, I cannot decide if I want to keep to a certain size, shape or color? Right now I like the variation, I think it gives them personality. But who knows where the eyes will take me lolol

Hollie Holiday- sold

Merry Holiday-sold

Scarlet Jingles-sold

Excited!

Ooh! I am so excited I just got notified My Creepy Needle Felted girl Prudence was included in Artizen Magazine!! woohoo happy dance lolol  http://publications.catstonepress.com/issue/44809/8  Awesome I love it!
She is the one at the top left sitting on the white pumpkin :D yay Prudence!

Strawberry YoYo - inspired yoyo doll

My 3 year old  granddaughter is visiting this week and she loves to watch Strawberry Shortcake on Netflix over and over and over again. The song is stuck in my head strawbababababababerry! So I sat down next to her on the couch and I can't just sit it drives me crazy. I played with my iPhone for awhile got bored and this doll head that I had and had not done anything with was just staring at me all the way across the room from my studio. Seriously it was! hahaha I started painting her face and she started looking like a strawberry (to me) I painted dots on her forehead reminded me of seeds and a pinkish tinge became her. I was inspired! I found some small print fabric in a pink color and started sewing her clothes. I hardly ever start out with a strict idea of what my dolls will be dressed in, I usually let it evolve. I will go and grab some fabrics I like and see what happens. Well a puffy jumpsuit started to develop. Her limbs started to look like yoyo dolls in my head. Silly cause they really do not but too me they did 0_o
I could remember making little clowns out of scrap fabric yoyos when I was a kid in girl scouts. A million bazillion years ago. haha 
 The whole while my granddaughter is still watching Strawbababababerry.
Her hair sealed the deal for me, white Tibetan Lambswool that I dipped the tips in Strawberry koolaid! A few yoyos later and some in her hair, here she is! My Strawberry Yoyo :)

Belinda Gothic Angel

Belinda Gothic Angel

I love using the dark brown color Living doll clay it's been a blast I just cannot get the orange cast off the pics. Drives me crazy! I swear I need to learn how to use my camera. I keep falling back on Photoshop to correct all my photography faults...it's getting to be too much. I think I am going to take a photography class at the college next year. LOL

Anyway... Belinda is about 12" and I adore her wings. If I were a better photographer you could see them hahaha

They are on a black wire frame. I used black sheer polyester and just loosely cut it out to the size of the wing frame, leaving an inch to overlap. I knew I didn't want them too neat, so they are scraggly. I have sewn the fabric again loosely around the frame and then took the black thread and just started stitching and wrapping and crisscrossing the thread around the wings. 

Done :D hehe

The wings are then sewn to her back. The wire is pliable enough to bend the tips and pull the wings out or wherever :)

This one I did get the orange cast off but she is too de-saturated. ugh

October Girls

Here are my Minis For October. Willow in Green, Felicity in the top hat, Salma Dia de los muertos and Melanie in the front in Rags :D They are all approx. 7" in length...trying to stay to the style thing I mentioned in an earlier post. Slant of eyes,wrinkly nose,chin,4 fingers...so far I can stay to that . Where I am playing more is painted faces. The eyes, while I love the pink colors around their eyes, I yearn for some darker colors as the seasons are changing. 

Felicity Here started out with pink around her eyes. I even posted her on Etsy this way. I adored her clothes but her face was lacking. And well the views for her showed she was lacking! I almost just left her up but last night I had a dream and she was in it! eek spooky dreaming about my dolls now! I saw her with long spikey eyelashes. I woke up this morning redid her and she had a new photo shoot and wow I love her :D

I don't normally redo dolls. Actually I don't think I ever have? Not even sure if it's kosher to do so? But oh well Here she is and I am happy!

Sophia in the Works

Sophia Dia De Los Muertos Day of the Dead. 

Sophia is not finished yet, but I thought a little pre photo shoot would get her in the mood lol I just finished tacking down her hair, it is still a little wild. I plan to add more locks by sewing them in and then pulling it back. 

She has a removable hooded cloak, I think it is still too large I need to adjust it. Overall I do like the look. She also has some Victorian style boots that are not shown. 

Her face is painted with an opaque paint marker. I was not sure about the regular acrylic with her skin color. I tried a test and it was super heavy and thick looking, so the paint marker won out :D 

Her eyes are crackly and a bit scary looking. They did not photograph well. I used a pink and gold mica that I baked before the paint was dry. The paint cracked so nicely I put the resin over and was amazed at how much depth they ended up with. 

Hopefully I will have her finished shortly and off to her photo shoot for Etsy :)

Finished memento Mori Boys

Jackson on the Left and Thomas on the Right. Finished :D well a couple days ago but I could not get Blogger to upload the pics..But I ended up making the little buttons and I am so happy I did. They (buttons) are painted with mica brass pigment and yellow acrylic. Buying a set of Mica pigments about 4 years ago turned out to be a great choice. Not sure at the time what I would do with them; I end up using them for everything from art dolls and paintings to Halloween costumes and jewelry. Jackson and Thomas are already sold. I am thinking about making a set of girls.. maybe later this year.

Memento Mori Boys 2

Poor sad boys not sure what caused their demise yet. But they are almost done. I want to add some brass buttons to the older brothers jacket and maybe the little boys pants. I guess I will have to make them out of clay and paint them. Probably the spats too. I am not sure if young boys wore spats? But I thought they were too cute :D One of my kids said the little one looks like he needs a pacifier. lol Creepy but good