Blog Archives
Earth Goddess
My latest fabric sculpture is an Earth Goddess. She is inspired by the colours and shapes of the ochre quarries of Rousillon, France which I visited several years ago. There is no mining of the ochre now but you can visit an old quarry.
I took this doll to the NIADA Conference in Asilomar, Pacific Grove, California, where I had a great time and met some wonderful doll artists.
In order to facilitate packing and transportation I used magnets to join the legs to the torso.
I painted her with watercolours before adding the face features with pastel pencils. I painted absorbant ground on the base before painting it with the same watercolours.
I spun the yarn for the hair on a drop spindle before sewing it to the head.
I randomly beaded the light parts of her torso, arms and legs.
She is named Poly because she has 6 fingers on each of her hands.
Seahorse in a Snow Storm
I think this seahorse must be a little cold.
It has snowed for 2 days and now it has turned to freezing rain.
I usually use rayon thread to free motion embroider the fins but this time I used variegated cotton.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of my family for Christmas.
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Whatever Lola Wants…
Lola wants to dance.
This is what Lola looked like a few weeks ago.
Since then I have had to make several versions of some of her body parts before I could get them to look the way I wanted.
I usually have a standard order in which I sew the different parts of a doll together. I sew the legs to the torso first. I sew the arms on after the clothes. I usually sew the head on before I put on the hair and then paint the face. This time I put the hair on first. Big mistake! The hair kept getting in the way as I was sewing on the head.
Painting the face comes last.
The first thing I do is draw in the features with an air erasable pen. I cover her hair with a piece of cloth to keep it out of the way and to protect it when I spray the face with fixative.
Once I get the features correct, I go over some of it with a Pigma Micron 005 brown pen. This is permanent ink.
Except for the high light in the eye, the face is painted with pastel pencils.
I use 2- 3 colours for the eyes and eyeshadow and 2 colours for the lips. The top lip is always darker than the bottom, which catches more light. I add the highlight to the eye last. I use acrylic paint applied with the tip of a needle.
I also paint the fingernails.
So here she is, practicing her routine to be ready for her audition for So You Think You Can Dance.