Attitude!

Here's a paper mache doll I made a while back. I call her "Attitude" 'cause she's sure got some! I made a wire armature, then paper mached and painted. The red handbag and the darker shopping bag are also paper mache. The pink shopping bag is fresh camelia petals embedded in pink bubble wrap and then fused with the iron. The petals have faded with age as in every other method I've tried for preserving flora. Attitude stands just under 13 inches tall, which is a large 'un for me.

Pretty Covers

My friend, Joy, decorates the covers of all her sketchbooks, journals, notebooks, etc. Everywhere you look in her shop/studio are beautiful collaged, painted, and altered book covers. I just love that. So I decided to decorate some for myself. Here's my first - a collaged and painted 9" X 12" spiral bound sketchbook done in a garden theme (since it is that time of year!). This is the front.


And this is the back.

I likes the front bestest.

PEACE DOLLS

Here's one of what I call my Peace Dolls (sorry about the sucky pics). This gal has a stick armature and a polymer clay head. Her garment is woven and wet-felted wool yarn and she's embellished with beads, copper thingies I made from copper flashing, and painted string. The birds came off a necklace made in Pakistan - they're hollow, stamped tin. She stands about 7 - 8 inches.



I can't do much with this dad blame broken shoulder. But I guess I'm lucky that the pain meds are helping as much as they are. I'm okay as long as I don't move that shoulder. The hardest things are that I can't lie down, bend over very far, or do any crafty things requiring two hands. I'm sleeping a couple hours at a time in my futon lounger, just slightly reclined. My neighbor is coming over every evening to put the dog food bowls down on the floor for me. Can't take a shower yet. Can't floss my teeth. Don't dare drive with one arm yet. But all in all I'm happy that I can do as much as I can do. It was much more difficult when i had broken ribs. But I had a husband to help me then. I'd still choose the "no hubby" life, though. LOL. This too shall pass...

OUCH!!!

Argh! I tripped over my dog and broke my shoulder yesterday. So it's slow, one-handed typing for now. Sigh. My whole life will be discombobulated for a bit.

SHARK TEETH

I went to the beach for the day on Saturday. With the help of my friend, Anna, who is ten years old and an expert shark tooth finder, I came home with another 115 teeth! Here's a pic of my collection. The large teeth, which measure over 1.5 inches long, I found after a huge storm in 2007. But you can always find smaller ones at Topsail Beach, NC which is about a 3 hour drive from me.


I have enough collected now (over 200) that I can start using some of them in my doll making. I've only used one so far, in this postcard I made for Cyber Fyber 2009 . If you look really close, you might be able to see it on the Native American's necklace.


I also made the hair from horse hair and put real bird feathers in her hair. Yes, this is an old squaw - I call the postcard "Elder".

Tribal Totem

Here's another doll I made recently. I tend to make tribal or spirit type dolls. This gal was inspired by the fertility dolls of Southern Angola. She's just over 6 inches tall. She's a true mixed media creation. Started with a stick, some padding, and some wrapped fabric. Painted and clear coated the fabric so it resembles leather. Paper mached & painted the face. Her hair is zigzagged yarn embellished with glass and paper beads. Acorns, Indian corn, gourd seeds, and hemp cord are incorporated into the design.


Once again, I really like her back and side views. She fits well in my hand, too. Feels good to hold her. (EGADS! Hope I don't end up pregnant!)

I don't make dolls that stand up by themselves. I like to dislplay them laying down or propped up on a shelf or in a display cabinet. And I never hang them on the wall. I just don't think of dolls as being hung on a wall or as standing on their own. The ones I played with growing up never did. The fertility dolls of Southern Angola don't...

Natural Treasures

I love using things from nature in my doll making. Sticks, seeds, nuts, shells, horsehair, pinestraw... I recently found this cool little cocoon.

Won't it be cool used as some kind of vessel on an art doll? Maybe a tiny quiver holding some itty bitty arrows?

My online pal, Barb, sent me some birch bark from NY.

And Jeanne sent me these natural treasures from Oregon.

A Favorite Doll

Well, I decided I better just start blogging and then fine tune my blog header and layout later.

So with no further ado, here's one of my favorite art dolls.

I started her with two sticks wired together to form a T. Then added some padding, wrapped fabric, and a mask-like face of kiln fired clay. She stands about 11" tall and is wearing a wet-felted wool robe and ropes of knotted fabric embellished with beads, yarn, fibers, etc. Her bird friends are stitched, stuffed and painted fabric.

I especially love her back view which shows her long, long braid made from my horse's tail hair.