Susie McMahon Dolls

Heart Art

2012-02-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something I have made for a swap hosted by the Mixed Media Art site. For Valentine's Day, of course, but how weird that I happened to be working on this when I was carted off to hospital with heart problem! I'm thinking that maybe I have to be a bit careful about what I make!

Back In The Saddle!

2012-01-31T14:07:00.000-08:00

After a summer of many visitors (with all the extra cooking and washing that seems to entail), a bout of ill health, including a hospital stay, an interstate class and the annual string music camp, things are finally starting to settle into a more normal routine.......whew!

Here is a special order Zozie doll I finally got completed and sent off:

And here are the unfinished projects I'll be working on over the next little while (in between visits to the GP and cardiologist and the odd test or three!)

Something About Me

2012-01-21T15:47:00.000-08:00

Most people who know me or read this blog know me as a dollmaker, an artist or a sculptor......even a bit of a gardener.
What most people don't know about me is that I live with an auto-immune disorder called Crohn's Disease, having been diagnosed in my late forties. Quite a lot has been discovered about Crohn's in the past ten or so years, but what causes it or how to cure it are things that are still not known.
The genetic marker for Crohn's was found a few years ago (hla B27+) - the same genetic marker that in other people causes rheumatoid arthritis, I believe. In people with Crohn's the disease is manifested in various different ways, probably the most severe and debilitating is the ulceration that can occur in any section of the digestive tract, leading to some very nasty complications. It is
this kind of severe ulceration that leads many sufferers, myself included, to require major surgey to remove sections if the intestinal tract. But it can also affect the liver, skin, eyes, joints and other bits I don't know about.

I count myself as quite fortunate - incurable condition notwithstanding - because after surgery in 2003 I have been relatively symptom-free, bar the occasional "flare-up" and I can mostly live a fairly normal life. In fact, most people who meet me casually have no idea that I live with Crohn's (even if they do know what it is).

I decided, after some thought, that I should post about Crohn's, because it is important that people understand about such things, I think. So I hope you don't mind me using my blog to raise awareness of a very debilitating condition that many people live with. If you are interested in finding out more, a quick google search will yield scads of information. Thanks for bearing with me!

Done and Dusted!

2012-01-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

The class at Bear Essence at Tooradin went really well - those gals did a great job on their dolls! (And I have a feeling that some of them may be "turning" - from bear-makers into doll-makers!) I forgot to take my camera so you'll have to look at the Bear Essence blog to see pictures when they are uploaded.
I finished the "demo doll" when I got home yesterday, because I really wanted to see how this little knitted and crocheted outfit would look..........yay! I LIKE how it looks! This wild little red-head is called "Bettina". And no, I can't claim the bear as my work - my older sister, Jan, made it for my birthday a year ago.

What Would You Call This?

2012-01-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

A bevy? A brace? A clutch?
These are some of the blank heads I have made for my class in Tooradin (near Melbourne) next week.
I like the look of the very similar pristine heads all together - they look a bit like eggs, so I guess this is a clutch! They were made using my "Young Child" face mould. I made up foil armatures which I covered with celluclay. The faces were adhered onto the front and then a layer of paperclay was smoothed on...........and ears added. Bit of sanding.....and voila!
Most of the gals in the class, I think, are bear-makers, so this might take them a little out of their comfort zone, (but not too far, I hope!) The body construction for this doll is actually quite teddybear-like, only not furry!

With a bit of doll-making magic they will be transformed into something like these:

Jane's Dress

2012-01-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

After very little thought we (Jane and I) decided on the burnt orange cotton trimmed with the grey and burnt orange plaid and grey featherstitch embroidery. And some leather boots. She's happy. I'm happy. But we will both be happier when she gets some underthings! And if Jane is a very, very good girl, she might get a jacket or cape.

What To Wear?

2012-01-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

I have just finished the "historically referenced" doll that was the subject of my new face-painting PDF (available here) but now she is confronted with the eternal female dilemma - what to wear?
I have pulled out some suitable fabrics from my stash (did you know that doll-makers have ENORMOUS fabric stashes?) that might suit her and also have the relevant "old" feel. Actually, I would love at some time, to make a doll with a trunk and fill the trunk with a complete wardrobe and accessories. It won't be this doll, though - I don't have enough time to be so indulgent!
No doubt she will let me know at some stage how she would like to be dressed...........meanwhile, here she is in the altogether, and nestled with some of the chosen fabrics.

I'm also busy preparing for a class in Victoria next week at Bear Essence in Tooradin, which means I have to pre-make a number of doll heads ready for the students to work on in the class.

This is what they will be working on:

Summer Produce

2012-01-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

We are really reaping the benefit of all the effort put into improving our vegetable garden - produce coming out of our ears! It is a great feeling to be able to almost by-pass the fresh produce section of the supermarket and to be able to go out into the garden and pick fresh what will be needed for the evening meal.
Beautiful, pungent, glossy-fresh blackcurrants, destined to become blackcurrant jelly:

And aromatic, tangy, zesty tomatoes, so unlike the tasteless object known as a "tomato" that is available in stores. Store tomatoes only LOOK like tomatoes - in no way is the flavour the same as these home-grown beauties! These will be made into tomato relish. I have so many this summer that I should be able to bottle some and make sauce as well.

Fabulous Floating!

2012-01-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

We spent New Year's Eve floating down the Mersey River in inflatable canoes, shooting a few gentle rapids and drifting through deep pools. It was a pretty wet ride, so unfortunately I couldn't take my not-waterproof camera, so no pictures of the actual boat trip. The trip lasted a couple of hours from launch point to the cabin where we had our New Year celebration barbecue with friends. Home-made bread, barbecued salmon, baked spuds and corn and salads followed by the traditional pavlova made by yours truly. (It's only taken me about thirty years to learn how to bake a successful pavlova!) It was a perfectly magical day.

Launching!

Lyn tends the barbecue

Idyllic bush setting - friends meet.

Home-made pavlova with fresh cream and raspberries from the garden. Heaven!

Meanwhile, I haven't been neglecting my work in between the fun stuff. I have listed two new PDFs in my Etsy store for sale. One is a painting tutorial for dollmakers and the other shows you how to create dolls using a mixture of sawdust and glue.

Lacuna

2011-12-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece I was working on before I was rudely interrupted by Christmas preparations! Now that the dust has settled, I can get back into my work routine, at least a little...........it will be liberally interspersed with trips to the beach, casual meals with friends and lots of sparkling wine. We usually celebrate quietly on New Years' Eve with a barbecue and river trip with friends - something like that. We might be boring old fuddy-duddies, but I sure like being off the roads well before midnight!

This piece is called "Lacuna"..........I have some forming ideas about how she will be completed:

And look what my bloggy friend Ron Anger sent me! I called him Lord Cucurbita and this is him lording it over the Christmas tree. Even though he is very Halloweeny, I don't think he looks out of place with the other Christmas decorations. If you haven't done so already, have a look at Ron's blog - he's always got interesting and amusing things to say and I am constantly surprised by what he comes up with and how diverse his skills are - from wonderful portrait paintings to cute dresses for his grand-daughter and amusing dolls like my Lord Cucurbita. The man is amazing!

Whew!!

2011-12-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well...........It's done and dusted for another year - we had a family gathering for Christmas here in my studio, which cleans up reasonably well to be used as a dining hall for a crowd. Here they all are - sans moi - I took the picture. It's taken me a full day to recover, but as I write this I'm starting to feel human again!

And now I can post a picture of this very pink trio, which was made as a special Christmas order, so I had to keep it under wraps! Pink is not really a colour I use much at all, but I had lots of fun making these.

OK.........nose back to the grindstone today - I had lots of orders that came in just before Christmas, so I need to get them ready to post.

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful Christmas with family and friends!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of my world with you in 2012.

Season's Greetings!

2011-12-19T16:55:00.000-08:00

To all my readers and followers:
May I take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the Festive Season. I hope you all have a happy, fun-filled and safe Christmas and all good things in 2012.
I'll be back with regular posts shortly after Christmas.
Thank you all for your support during 2011.

Some afterthoughts:

THE WINNER!

2011-12-12T03:55:00.000-08:00

............And it is:
Tami @ Lemontree Tales! (Number 65, chosen by one of those random number generator thingys - beats cutting up and writing names on 76 pieces of paper!)

I'm Back!

2011-12-11T03:36:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful ten days or so away in South Australia, I'm back just in time to begin serious preparations for Christmas. I had a great time - fantastic students in my classes, which made for stress-free teaching and my hosts, Sandy and Malcolm made me feel very welcome, even though they were in the throes of moving their whole business from a home office to a new factory - lock, stock and barrel! And Sandy was coming down with the 'flu or something, so the poor thing had plenty on her plate.......what a trouper! Here are a few very bad pics from the "Muse" workshop (forgot to take any for the other workshop - very remiss of me, I know). If you want to see more and better pictures, have a look at Sandy's blog (link above) and also Peta's blog.

Busy gals getting down and dirty!

A being is born.

Putting it all together.

A fine effort!

I saw some great ideas emerging during the class and I'm hoping to see pictures of the finished pieces in the near future.

After I finished teaching, I was picked up by my friends Lynn and Margaret from Tassie and we ambled down to Victor Harbour to spend a few days with Lynn's brother and sister-in-law. We managed trips to Hindmarsh Island, Adelaide galleries and McLaren Vale vineyards. Lovely and relaxing and not even hot!

We'd decided to take two days to get back to Melbourne so that we could poke around the Koorong a little - what a stunning place! I've always wanted to see it. Unfortunately, it is so expansive that my camera just doesn't do it justice - you'll have to take my word for it that it was fabulous. And full of water at the moment after all the upstream rains, so we saw it at it's best. We spent a night at a sweet fishing town called Robe and then another night in Melbourne before heading back home on the ferry on Friday night.

Fine travelling companions!

The hills around Victor.

I'm going to draw my giveaway tomorrow, so there is still a bit of time to enter if you want - all you have to do is leave a comment on the giveaway post - just scroll down a bit to find it.

Farewell (for a short time)

2011-11-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

I'm heading off early in the morning to go and teach in Adelaide and then have a week or so R&R (wineries, art galleries, reading, walks, lunches.........it's going to be HARD!)
But I couldn't leave without saying "goodbye"..........and what use is a blog post without a picture or two? Remember the poly tunnel that Bob built in the late winter? Well, it's been producing really well for us. We've already harvested salad greens, bok choy, radishes, carrots and rocket and now the slower growing crops are starting to look very promising - tomatoes, capsicums, chillis, basil - all things that need a little extra warmth here in Tasmania. Here are some pictures:

We've become quite serious about eating what we produce and not really too much else. For instance, tonight our dinner was roast shoulder of veal which had been given to us (delicious!) with roast potatoes from last years' crop, new beetroot, roasted; new carrots and peas and spinach with garlic ginger and sesame oil. Apart from the condiments and the gift of meat, we produced it all!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway - there's still plenty of time, because I won't be drawing it until December 12th after I get back from Adelaide. Just go to the post before this one and leave a message there - it will be a random draw from all the responses I receive.

Hasta la vista , amigos!

Celebrate With Me!

2011-11-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yes......it's giveaway time! To celebrate the major blogging milestone of passing 500 followers on my humble blog, I'm having another giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment at the end of this post and I will draw a random winner on December 12th. I don't know what the prize will be yet, but I will make something nice for the winner. And dear followers: Thank you! Thank you!

Meanwhile............I have been working on a new piece. NB THIS PIECE IS NOT THE GIVEAWAY PRIZE - I'LL BE MAKING SOMETHING ESPECIALLY FOR THAT. Apart from some finishing touches with paint, I think it is done. Here are some progress shots:

Working it out.

Full shot.

Closer.

Angled shot.

And a closeup of the head.

I took the colours to paint this piece from the beautifully rusted metal pieces that I have used on the torso. Working title: "Rust Never Sleeps".

Time Warp @ Artisan and a Little Christmas Cheer

2011-11-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday saw the opening of a new exhibition at Artisan Gallery at Robigana celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the gallery and ceramic studio in a converted apple shed. It's hard to believe the gallery has been open that long, but all credit to Rudolf and Lisa for making it such a success! As one of the early exhibitors at the gallery, I was invited to put some pieces into the exhibition. I managed three. The show is up until mid-December, so if you are local, you might like to pop in and have a look - there is some fine work there - you won't be disappointed!

And entering into the spirit of the season, here is a very Christmassy "Sukeshi" doll that I have just made.

*Pssst! I know I said I was announcing a new giveaway this week - can you wait a few more days?

New Work

2011-11-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

I really like the look of hessian (burlap) and I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate it into some of my pieces. But it is very stiff, unyeilding and hard to work with on a small scale.......and it is so HAIRY. So I've been experimenting a bit. Here's a little head I made in the last couple of days where I've managed to make a kind of cap using hessian. I really like how it looks and I can't wait to get this painted so I can enhance the texture with some dry-brushing.

This piece is going to be more sculptural than doll-like and I plan to incorporate some of the hessian texture on the body. Not exactly certain how yet, but working it out is half the fun!

The finished piece will be along these lines:

Don't forget to watch this space - I'll be announcing a celebratory (500 followers) giveaway sometime next week!

New Work

2011-11-10T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece of sculpture I'm working on:

...........and some finished "Sukeshi" orders.

*pssst*! I have just noted that my number of followers has reached 500 - I can't let that go by without a small celebration..............I'll be announcing a new giveaway next week. Watch this space..............!

Two Girls

2011-11-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

One of these might look very familiar - she is the almost-twin of "Spring Girl" I made a couple of months ago. Someone saw that doll and wanted a similar one.........this is as similar as I could get it. She and her brown-haired friend are off to the same place when I get the finishing touches done. I never tire of making dolls like these that represent sweet young things..................but I'm getting an itch to sculpt!

Zozie Class

2011-10-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from almost a week away in Victoria at a pleasant seaside town not far out of Melbourne called Tooradin. I was invited by the owner of Bear Essence, the very lovely Kim Garratt to teach my Zozie class over two days. Having it over two days instead of trying to squeeze a lot of work into one day made it quite a relaxed class - and I don't think anybody felt too stressed out (mostly me!)
Here are some pictures of the wildly different results from the class.

Looks like I'll be heading back there in January 2012 to teach a couple more classes, so if you live in Melbourne or Victoria and you are interested, get in touch with Kim at Bear Essence for more details. (Use the link above)

Been Busy!

2011-10-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here's some stuff I've been doing:

These little softie dolls are a new design.

I love doing the occasional painting

And Julie, the person I made the little jointed "mannikin" doll for, has been having fun with wigs - here's a photo she sent me of the doll in a white wig. She even photoshopped a little tear into this picture! I think she looks amazing!

Mannikin

2011-10-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

The Problem Of Joints

2011-10-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

No, I don't mean sleazy bars, the kind some people smoke or the arthritic ones that some of us are plagued by...........I mean the problem of creating joints in dolls.
There is no doubt that any form of jointing in a doll is a bit of a compromise - you usually have to sacrifice some of the sculptural purity of your piece to achieve that joint mobility.
Of course, you can completely avoid the problem by completely avoiding any form of jointing, but it could be argued that a fixed figure is more a piece a sculpture than a doll ("doll" to many people implies a degree of interactivity and it is hard to interact with a rigid piece of sculpture, but that is an argument for another day. Suffice it to say that some things occupy a space somewhere between "doll" and "sculpture".)

Fixed figure - is it a doll?

You can create successful joints quite simply by sewing hinges into your fabric limbs like this:

Simple hinge joints - dolls can be very posable

Sometimes I like to create dolls with disc jointed hips and thread jointed shoulders:

And neck joints:

Sometimes I experiment with knee joints, which require a bit of forethought to be successfully executed in fabric.

Cloth knees

Some people are complete masters of the jointing problem - I'm thinking of those patient people who spend months making a BJD (ball jointed doll) with up to fifteen joints all strung together with elastic for total posability.....I'm in awe of that prodigious achievement! Maybe when I have a lot of spare time I might have a go at making one myself!

Melbourne Weekend

2011-10-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from a wonderful five days in Melbourne - yes - it was Grand Final weekend, and no - we didn't go, although we got caught up in the parade on Friday after visiting the National Gallery of Victoria (wonderful exhibition - the Viennese Secession - Klimt, Schiele etc).
The reason for the trip was that Bob was invited to speak at an International Forum - "Climate Change: Social Change" which had attracted the likes of John Bellamy-Foster from the US and Ian Angus from Canada, along with numerous speakers from movements such as the Arab Spring and so forth. We learned a lot, but we also had a bit of playtime.
This is what I saw when I looked out of the hotel window on Sunday morning:

We took a tram down to St Kilda on Monday before we flew home - just to walk on the beach and also check out the cake-lovers pornography shops in Acland Street - we were only window shopping!

Thursday Things

2011-09-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a special-order "Sukeshi" doll made for a bear-lover. (Could you guess?)

Check out these cheeky bunnies nibbling on the daisies just outside my window. We've had rabbits in plague proportions in the last few years.........there are not quite so many now, because some of them are now in our freezer. And I don't feel bad about culling them, because they are an intoduced pest species here in Australia and they cause havoc where they get out of hand. Cooked right, they are delicious!

And finally, here is the finished picture of "The Hart, The Hare". I grunged up the paint a bit with walnut stain to tone down the brightness of it.

The Hart, The Hare

2011-09-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

"The hart he loves the high wood,
The hare she loves the hill.
The knight he loves his bright sword
And my lady loves her will."

Misty Morning

2011-09-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

When I got up this morning, the sun was rising behind trees through the mist - it looked absolutely beautiful and I tried to capture the moment. The picture does not really do it justice, but you get the idea. I have been busy this last week - my grandsons passed through en route to visiting their father in the Kimberleys (remote North of Western Australia) - they stayed five days with their older sister joining them for the last day. I'd forgotten how much it takes to fill a 15 year-old boy! We did some fun stuff, including a picnic at Tamar Island - the girl in the picnic picture is their cousin and the dark-haired boy is her boyfriend.

On the work front, I'm busy completing some work to send for an exhibition in England - I need to get it in the mail this week. I'll post some pictures of it when it is complete.

Steppin' Out!

2011-09-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

All done with socks and shoes..........

And a cute little bunny in a felted bag!

Cold Feets!

2011-09-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

Well, apart from socks and shoes, this little doll is done! I had fun with the colours - these are quite unusual ones for me to use, but I took my cues from the Japanese cotton print with rabbits - the colours for the felted hat and the cardigan are in the background of this print. I'm thinking of making her a little felted bag from the turquoise wool like the hat, and popping a tiny white needle-felted rabbit in it.

Oh No! Nekkid!

2011-09-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

This is the little "green head" beginning to look quite acceptable and now I'll be spending the next few evenings getting her decently clothed. A couple of my readers asked how I attach the head to the body. This is one way: I hope it is clear enough in these pictures - just make two holes in the front and two holes in the back using an awl (give it your awl!) and attach using strong thread. Make sure you start and end it off very securely, otherwise your doll might suffer a terrible beheading! This little doll has disc-jointed hips and thread-jointed shoulders and needle-sculpted toes and knees. The wig is strawberry-blonde Tibetan lamb.

Happy Birthday To Me

2011-09-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, today is my birthday.......not that I make too much of a song and dance about it any more (nah....just do a posting on my blog so the whole world knows!) having almost reached an age when people might start referring to me as "venerable" (well, possibly, but a very least "old"). But I did celebrate with a few friends around for a lovely lunch yesterday. I was up at 6 am to start cooking...........not quite sure how that works when you are the Birthday Girl, but the day was lots of fun and I really DO enjoy cooking.

I quite like being an Older Person - I like to kid myself that it lends one a certain air of gravitas and that maybe one has acquired a little wisdom along the way.

A Special Little Something

2011-09-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a special order "Sukeshi" doll made for a customer who is a cat-lover (could you have guessed?) She wanted cat ears, slanted eyes and some cats painted onto the doll - there are three, but one is almost invisible on the right. I also gave her a fishy feline fetish around her neck.
Hope it fits the bill!

A Back-To-Basics Groundswell

2011-08-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

I have always been interested in growing, making and doing as much as possible for myself and my family........everything from growing food to making clothes and furniture. With the busy-ness of life and earning a crust often intervening, it hasn't always been possible to devote the time that I would like to these pursuits. But in recent years I have noticed a real groundswell of interest from so many people who want to do these things in order to live more sustainable, meaningful lives where their attachment to the earth and how we come by it's bounty is a really tangible thing. This is not just a dippy-hippie flash in the pan thing, but a real grass roots change among ordinary, thoughtful people. In part, it is a reaction to going into the supermarket and only being able to buy Chinese garlic and carrots etc, when these things grow wonderfully here. It is ludicrous to be importing food halfway around the planet - people are voting with their spades!

We ourselves have decided to devote more time and effort to our backyard food production.........we managed to eat all winter from our garden and we still have stored vegetables to last until new crops are ready. We have built this Greenhouse Hilton - a four-door poly-tunnel greenhouse already full of things popping through that should be ready to eat in a few weeks and put in new beds and started planting in the outside garden.

As a result, we expect a glut of vegetables and fruit this summer. Which brings me to a great series of classes that Tanya, who writes the Suburban Jubilee blog, is going to be offering in these parts soon. Called "Living Better With Less" she plans to cover such things as preserving your glut by bottling the excess, soapmaking, backyard poultry keeping and doing away with toxic cleansers around your house by using cheaper, safer alternatives. And she's hoping to keep the cost very minimal. You can read what she wrote about it in her blog. This is so timely for me and I am keen to learn more on all these topics, so I can't wait. If you are interested and live locally, you might like to check it out. See you there!

Progress

2011-08-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

That little green head that I posted about a few days ago now looks more human!

First coat of flesh-colour

Features blocked in

Shading added

Finished!

What's All This Then?

2011-08-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not planning to start making Martian dolls...............this is a new doll I'm working on and this green look is the underpainting. I often do this to prepare a doll head (or a piece of sculpture) before painting. It looks odd, but underpainting is a time-honoured practice among artists. You might have seen an example of an unfinished painting from the Renaissance, where it was widely practiced - the underpainting might be in some kind of sienna colour, but figures were often underpainted in green. The idea is that the underpainting will show through the final layers of paint very subtly and will impart a depth to the painting that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Cool tones work well - blue, green or purple, but I have also used red in certain cases and I often use dark brown. I will post more pictures of this head as I finish it, to hopefully show how this idea works. The key is subtlety - if too much of the green is evident, this doll will just look sick!

It's Here! It's Here!

2011-08-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

After a week of flooding rains, sodden ground and grey, drippy days, the sun has come out and it is actually WARM! The swallows are back (about two weeks earlier than usual) to check out their real estate under the studio eaves and to begin the necessary renovations and sweet things are popping up everywhere in the garden. After a fairly traditionally cold, wet winter, it is lovely to finally feel a bit of Spring in the air.

Do you remember me posting about our glasshouse that got completely destroyed by violent winds a few months ago? Well, here is the magnificent replacement that Bob (with a little help from Y.T.) has built to replace it. It's about four times bigger, so we'll be able to grow heaps more in it, and being a poly-tunnel, it should be flexible enough to withstand big winds.

"I built this!"

The "Sukeshi" dolls are in my Etsy store now and I'm working on a little "Zozie" doll like this one, which Tanya chose as her prize in my recent giveaway.

More Sukeshi Dolls!

2011-08-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've been having a lot of fun making these Sukeshi dolls - half the fun is coming up with new ideas.
Here's the whole crew:

The new ones are:

P'tit Fauve - a messy artist.

Safe!

Moonchild - she has a certain glow.

Fishy Tickles!

These will be in my Etsy Store in a couple of days, so if you've taken a fancy to one, keep your eyes peeled!

We Have A Winner!

2011-08-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway.......................103 people left comments and a couple of people wanted to enter without leaving a comment on the post. The winner - as chosen by a random number generator - is Tanya (post 35). Here's what she said:

"I think she is called Adelaide Maude. She is thoughtful, and calm and kind to animals. She doesn't like brussel sprouts but she adores peas from the pod" It's a lovely name and quite apt, because Adelaide is my hometown! All the names suggested were wonderful and there were quite a few there that I have never thought of so I'll be adding them to my list. Thanks to everyone for taking part. It was fun!

If you get a chance, visit Tanya's blog - it is interesting and often thought-provoking. I have been in touch with her - I'll let you all know what she chooses as her prize.

Adelaide Maude thanks you all.

A Bit Of Fun

2011-08-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

The community orchestra that I play in is hosting a trivia/social fun night tonight. When the call went up for a few prizes, I thought I could make something appropriate. I came up with this little "Sukeshi" doll playing the violin. Her name is "Allegretto".

There is still time to enter my giveaway - I'm drawing it on the 17th. Just go to the August 3rd post and leave a comment.
Have a great weekend!

This 'n That on a Cold Wet Day

2011-08-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it's cold and miserable here today in what I hope will almost be winter's last hurrah. Last week felt positively spring-like and things are definitely on the move in the garden, but this week is a different story: here's the view out of my studio window.

I went to a wonderful felting workshop in Deviot on Sunday conducted by Bettina Hockey - we learned how to make felted forms using the resist method. I already had a rudimentary knowledge of feting principles, but it was great to learn a new application in a convivial group! I made a doll-sized beret and a small purse/mobile phone case - forgot to take my camera, so I couldn't photograph what the others in the class made.

I've also been making a few of these "Sukeshi" dolls - I call them that because they are based on those simple Japanese skittle-shaped wooden kokeshi dolls - I added the "Su" for me.

PS: Please enter my 30 000 blog views giveaway if you haven't already - details are on the Aug 3rd post.

Why Random Acts Of Kindness Make You Feel Good

2011-08-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while I was shopping in our little town (one supermarket, two butchers, one newsagent and so forth) I spotted a banknote of large denomination lying on the footpath outside one of the butcher's shops. At first, I thought it was one of those fake trick notes that someone had stuck down on the footpath to watch as people tried to pick it up in order to have a laugh at someone else's expense. But when I bent to pick it up it was exactly what it seemed - a $100 note. There was no-one in the street at all, just me, my grand-daughter and a $100 note. I pondered what to do, knowing that if I'd lost that amount of cash, I'd be pretty devastated...........and decided that I needed to find it's owner if I possibly could. I dropped my grand-daugher off at the hairdresser, raced home to write a sign to put in the butcher's window, then dashed back to stick it up.

When I asked the lad in the shop if it would be OK, he said there had been a man searching high and low for the dropped note, but there seemed to be no sign of him any longer. We went out into the street and the butcher spotted the man disappearing into the newsagent's and pointed him out. I ran in there and went up to the fellow and just asked him if he'd lost some cash. "Yeah", he said, "A hundred dollars. It was my parents money - I've just come into town to buy their groceries. Now I don't know what I'm going to do". He looked really dejected and ill able to afford the loss of $100, so it gave me a really good feeling to be able to tell him that I'd found it and to give it back to him. His gratitude was almost overwhelming.............I believe he thought he would never see that money again.

So acts like this make you feel very good inside because you know you have helped a stranger out of a pickle and because it's the right thing to do. I'm a great believer in random acts of kindness - I do it quite often just because.

I hope he pays it forward.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway - you'll find it in the 3rd August post - I'll be drawing it on August 17th.

All Done.........And The Giveaway!

2011-08-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

This doll is now completed (except for her you-know-whats, but you know me - I usually do them last!). I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece and at times I felt like I really was channeling Kaethe Kruse. I consider this piece a homage to the wonderful work she did.

I looked at lots of pictures of early "Doll 1's" to get ideas for the clothing. The majority of them seem to have been dressed in fairly simple, practical clothing, probably a lot like what small children of the era (early C20th) would have worn. I didn't make a direct copy of any one outfit - I just went with a general idea.

With her woollies on for a cool Spring day

Ready to play in the sunshine

OK - Now, about the 30 000 page views giveaway (I pinched this idea from my sister from when she was hosting a giveaway on her blog). This poor girl is nameless, so I'm asking you to suggest a name and leave it as a comment on this posting. Your comment will be your entry into the draw for a special hand-made prize something like this:

Or this - you get to choose:

It will be a random draw and the name the winner has suggested will become the name for the "KK" doll.
I'll do the draw in about two weeks. Good luck!

KK Doll Gets A Body and Serendipitous Socks

2011-07-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

Worked at the weekend to give this new doll a body. Although not strictly a reproduction Kaethe Kruse-type body, it's a reasonable facsimlie. I haven't been able to work out just from old photos exactly how her bodies were constructed, but the were quite complicated with lots of seaming to give them the characteristic shape. For example, each leg alone had four seams and the feet were constructed from separate pieces. Also, she used "nettle cloth" (don't know what that is), and reindeer hair for stuffing (where am I going to get THAT from!!)
So this week I am going to work on an outfit for this doll - I've been looking at pictures of original Doll 1's to get some ideas. I already had these vintage socks which I bought in 2003 - they have never fitted anything I've made, but serendipitously, they fit this doll perfectly.

Later this week I'll be posting about the upcoming giveaway, so stay tuned!

Kaethe Kruse Lookalike Doll

2011-07-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

Do you remember some time ago I posted about a Kaethe Kruse look-alike doll that I had started?
I've finally started painting it in oils (like the originals). Having fun re-visiting oils, which I love to use, but don't very often these days. Here's a progress picture - still a long way to go, but I need to let this layer dry first...................which is the reason I don't use oils very often - I get impatient waiting for things to dry, when I want to get on with it!

-and another picture. Coming along!

New Stuff

2011-07-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

Having recovered from my emarrassing mathematical faux pas (and having come clean about it!) here's what I've been doing. The little doll got her unders and a white pinafore before I sent her off to a new home across the seas. And I've been making more Zozies to put in my Etsy store a a couple of days........here's one. Keep your eyes peeled for the giveaway.....coming soon!

OK, So I CAN'T Count!

2011-07-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

Well, maths was not my strong point at school. In fact I was downright BAD at it. I loved art, music, French, biology, English literature, home ec.......ANYTHING but maths! So you might forgive me for getting the numbers wrong in my previous post.............and nobody told me that 29 035 + 65 is NOT 30 000! It's only 29 100. Duh! *smacks forehead with palm of hand*. So I'm the odd few hundred short of my 30 000 page views giveaway. But never mind, it will be happening soon anyway - I've got a few things to finish off this week and then I'll be making a special little something for someone to win.

Exit stage left, mumbling "How did I get that so wrong......how embarrassing!"

New Doll and an Announcement

2011-07-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a little doll I've been working on this week. Of course, she's still waiting for her underwear and I'm thinking I might make her an apron. She's quite small - around 10". I photographed her with "Viola Rose" to show just how small she is (and to show off Viola's new crochet capelet and shoes)

I'm announcing here that I will be having another giveaway soon - when I pass 30 000 blog views.

That seems like a good enough excuse to celebrate! Last time I checked, it was 29 035, so only 65

more and the milestone will be reached. That will probably happen in the next few days, so stay tuned for what the prize will be and what hoops I'm going to make you jump through to win it!

I've Been Featured!

2011-07-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago I got an email out of the blue asking if I would consider answering a few questions for a feature on this site, a big online shopping site. The interview, is on this blog here, edited by Max Shpungin and it focusses quite a bit on my ideas about blogging. (You know I love to blog!) Check it out.

Meanwhile, here's what I'm working on this week (as well as getting my tax stuff in order for my accountant......YUCK! I hate doing it, but it is a necessary evil!)

Making Music

2011-07-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

I've just participated in a wonderful Winter Workshop that our community orchestra hosts every year. I had great intentions of taking lots of pictures, but my camera battery was almost flat and - silly me - I forgot to take a fully charged spare. So I only got this one photo of Darren our trombonist extraordinaire before the battery gave up the ghost.

Our guest conductor for the workshop was Willem van der Vis from Melbourne. It was hard work and we attempted some challenging pieces, but it was totally absorbing and a great way to spend an evening and a day. We always end these workshops with an "open rehearsal" in front of an audience - not a performance as such, because the four works are still works-in-progress. We will probably play at least some of them at our end of year concert.

If you've ever been a little tempted to join a community orchestra, my advice would be to just jump in and do it! It's a wonderful, fun supportive way to enjoy making music with others and you might surprise yourself with what you can do! I play second oboe in our orchestra, but I'm also playing first violin with the "Piccolo Strings" which is a training orchestra - strings only. I've been learning violin for about a year and a half from a wonderful , positive teacher who also happens to be the usual conductor of our orchestra.

New In My Etsy Store

2011-07-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

I have just listed a new PDF, which I put together as a result of many requests for information about this subject. The PDF covers making a moulded hairstyle for a doll - just like I have done for these dolls:

Viola and the Big Wind

2011-07-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the doll I was working on this week almost done. Her stockings are painted - I just need to make her some little leather shoes, underwear and a little crochet tan cape. Her simple dress has a bit of hand embroidery and the gingham binding at the bottom of the sleeves to liven it up a bit. She's called "Viola Rose" and she has cloth over clay head and lower limbs and cloth body and upper limbs.
We've been having a quite a "traditional" cold, snowy, wet, windy winter this year - like the winters of more than ten years ago. Recent winters have been much milder with hardly any snow in the mountains and not much in the way of wind. This is what we saw when we looked out on the morning of July 4th after a night of particularly wild, stormy weather - our little greenhouse blown off its footings and just a mangled wreck of aluminium and broken glass! Fortunately our insurance covers it, so we will be able to get a new one before summer.

Serene little Viola

Viola closeup

After the storm!

In My Studio.......

2011-07-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

I'm working on one of my "historically referenced" dolls at the moment. I call them this because, while they are not copies, reproductions or facsimiles of antique cloth dolls, they are more than a passing nod to these earlier dolls in the way they are constructed and how they look. I use modern materials and my own techniques in making these - I hope - timeless dolls.
These following photos show how I tackle the painting of one of these dolls.

Burnt umber under-painting

First coat of flesh-coloured paint

Features "drawn" with thinned paint

Colour added; blushing and shading

Oh, Humble Spud!

2011-07-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

It's enough to warm the cockles of your Irish heart....................well, neither of us can claim to be actually Irish, but we both have Irish forbears, as attested to by our Irish surname. And the growing, harvesting, cooking and eating of potatoes certainly appeals to some deep racial memory in both of us........Potatoes - we love 'em!
We did go a bit overkill on potato planting last summer - three varieties and some heavy crops. Yesterday, Bob dug the last of them - around 40 kilos. That should see us through the winter! We grew Pink Firs (delicious and prolific), Pinkeyes (BIG!) and King Edwards (smooth, even, good bakers) To celebrate, last night we had potato soup and potato and rosemary pizza. As I said; enough to warm the cockles of your Irish heart! Come to think of it, potatoes figure strongly in Northern German cuisine, so I'm doubly doomed!

Cloudbox 2

2011-06-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

All done!

Full view

From above

Through the pane of mica

Cloudbox 2

2011-06-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well......I was a little ambitious thinking I could get this completed on Saturday. Not much to do now, however. I just need to let the ApoxieSculpt additions set and then I can paint the whole thing.

Picking Olives and Giant Veg

2011-06-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

I was in my friends' olive grove again today helping with the last of the 2011 harvest...........it was sunny and almost warm - a lovely day for picking.

These are some of the Barnea olives - not a top rung variety like Pendolino or Frantoio, but they will be used in blends to tone down the taste of some of the stronger oils. They look pretty in the bowl, though.

And check this out! I dug it the other day when I was lifting the last of our King Edward potatoes - it's huge! It weighs over two pounds.

Meanwhile, in the studio, I've been working on "Cloudbox 2" - not finished yet, as I'd hoped it would be, but well on the way. Hopefully, tomorrow.

Wonderful Saturday!

2011-06-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

What is it about Saturdays? Even though I no longer work a nine-to-five, I still get that Saturday feeling of the weekend stretching ahead and Monday far away. Maybe it's because I try to reserve Saturday for doing things that I want to do, rather than things that I must get done. Today, that involves working on one of my small mixed-media sculptures - here it is as a work-in-progress and you might recognize it from the working sketch I blogged about a few posts back. I'm hopeful of getting this pretty much finished today............although I do have to clean up the studio for the monthly class here tomorrow.

Xanthe Comes Home and Other Stuff

2011-06-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

When you are a doll maker, you get to play with other doll makers quite a bit.........one thing we like to do is a kind of doll round robin, where you form into groups, each person starts a doll off and send it to the next person on the list who adds something and sends it on and so forth. Quite often, these dolls have accompanying journals, so not only to they acquire clothes, accessories and a personality, they have stories written about them as they go. I have just participated in the Art Dolls Only Travelling Doll Project in a small group that was within Australia. My doll has just returned home from a farm in Western Australia where Kailee (Sophia La La) gave her gorgeous silk clothes. Before that she had been in Hobart with Grace at Little Arty Crafty Crow where she got her underwear, a handknitted cardigan and beret and some cool artist's supplies, including a sketchbook which is filled with drawings!

I still had Grace's doll, Netty, here when mine arrived back home, so they had a bit of time to "hang out" together before Netty went home to Hobart. Here they are together, chewing the fat.

Netty arrived with no face and a sad story of abandonment, all beautifully told and illustrated in her journal. I gave the story a happy ending, Netty a new face, hair and shoes and some warm things to wear over the silk clothes that Kailee had made. (It's colder here than in WA!)

Grace managed to give Netty a wonderful "found-in-the-attic" look by using a crackled paint finish and staining.

I loved working in Netty's wee journal - I tried to replicate some of the character that Grace had given it.

And one more thing: my grand-daughter has befriended a German exchange student over the past few months. The exchange student is returning home soon, so she is hosting a special farewell dinner on Saturday night. Ten girls all dressed in formal dresses and high heels! I think this will be the first time my almost fifteen year old grand-daughter has got so dressed up! (*thinks*: have to get a photo of that!) Anyway, we made a special little "Zozie" doll for The German girl to take home from Tasmania - the little heart-shaped pocket on the front has a rolled scroll with a hand-written message from my grand-daughter.

Busy week - even managed to fit in a bit of olive-picking in a friend's grove on Wednesday, started back with violin lessons and I'm cooking for a visiting Japanese businessman tonight. Bob is showing him around the state and has set up meetings etc. for him. Whew!

Special Order

2011-06-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

I have just completed a special order for a customer who wants a doll of a specific size and proportions to correspond with the size and proportions of a certain very popular American play doll designed for girls in the older age group (7 - 10). The customer wants to make the doll herself, but needed help with the head and designing the body. Here is the head blank I created for her and I custom-designed a jointed cloth body to match this head. I have sent the customer the body pattern and instructions along with the head blank.
While I was working on this I had to do a bit of research to find out measurements etc. I'm pretty happy with the design I came up with which is more or less an enlarged version of this:

Here is the sculpted head I made for this special order:

I'm looking forward to some feedback when my customer completes the doll!

New Work In Progress

2011-06-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have sufficiently cleared the decks to be able to think about some new sculptural pieces. I often begin with some detailed sketches before I begin this type of work - it helps to work out any problems of construction and to solidify ideas that might be a bit vague. They often end up being a bit different to the original idea because they might develop more as I progress, or sometimes I change my mind about how to proceed. Nevertheless, I find the initial thinking and sketching invaluable in sorting out scattered thoughts and ideas.
Here are a few pages from my sketchbook:

By the way, if you are passing through Deloraine before the end of the month, I have a small solo exhibition there in the Bendigo Community Bank - both 2D and 3D works.

Our Tasmania

2011-06-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce you to my husband, Bob, adventurer, photographer and raconteur extraordinaire. (On the right in this picture)

He has just begun a blog (with a bit of a push and some help from yours truly) to showcase his wonderful photographs of the magical place we live in.......our Tasmania, and to update you on some of his exploits in Tasmania's wilder and less inhabited places.
Here's a taster:

These images are all from a walk he is doing around the entire coastline of Tasmania (for a book). If you want to see and read more, go to his blog http://bob-mytasmania.blogspot.com

He will be adding many more photographs once we work out the arcane and esoteric method needed to reduce photo files on a Mac computer.

So far, Bob has only one follower (guess who?) but I know he would love some more.........so if you want to keep updated on his exploits, please become a follower of his blog. You won't regret it!

A Twiny, Viny Chair

2011-06-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

It's done!

And she looks rather pleased with it, although I suspect (look closely!) that this might be a false smile ;-)

Making A Chair

2011-06-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

Remember this doll that I wrote about a few weeks back?

Well, she needed a chair to sit on - a special chair - something befitting a Renaissance princess! I started making the chair using Aves ApoxieSculpt over a wire framework and then I ran out of the Aves, so chair-building came to a standstill until more arrived the other day. (In Tasmania, I can't just pop down to the store to buy more - anything like that has to be ordered ............and waited for) Yesterday, I got on with the chair and I have now finished the framework. Next step is to paint it and then make some kind of seat for it.

Curious Cabinet

2011-06-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

I tend to collect odd bits and pieces - some of which might be seen as a bit macabre. But let's face it - you never know when you are going to need this stuff! It means that my studio resembles (slightly) organized chaos, but it also means that I have this wonderful old type-drawer filled with fascinating things, including a mummified mouse and lizard, a rusty railroad tie, broken doll bits, small plastic toys, the scrapings from a painter friend's palette, fungi, some little dolls my grand-daughter made when she was three and so on. What can you make out in my curious cabinet?

All Done!

2011-06-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

This little felt doll is all done now, with her red felt shoes and a pocket on her jacket for a hanky. I made the hanky from a small scrap of fabric that I've been saving - it has odd little nursery-rhyme characters on it - very cute! Oh..........and a needle-felted ball.

Felt Doll - Update

2011-06-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here is my experimental felt doll painted and basically dressed (warm jacket because it is winter here in Tasmania!) She's still waiting for her shoes and *s-h-h-h-h-h-* underthings.
To paint on the felt, I found it best to try and flatten the nap of the felt as much as possible. The tiny clover iron (see previous post) does this job really well. I then gessoed the areas that were going to have heavy paint - basically the eyes and lips. It took three coats to get a good, paintable surface. The painting of the features was then quite easy. Blushing and shading was done with dry-brush technique straight onto the felt, but I made sure I tested the colour on a scrap first because it is sudden death........no removing the colour once it is on, and no painting over to cover mistakes!

Experimenting With Felt

2011-05-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

I have always been attracted to well-made felt dolls, whether made by dollmakers from the past like Lenci or Steiff or by more contemporary makers like Maggie Iacono and R John Wright. I've made a few in the past with mixed results, but I've had the "doings" sitting around here in my studio to have a real try. I bought some lovely pure wool felt a few years ago and I'd sculpted a head with the idea to cover it with felt. I even had a body pattern drafted to try. Yesterday, on a whim, and with all the constellations in the right place, I got out all the "doings" and put a little felt toddler doll with a chubby body together. Here it is all ready to have the features painted.

This little "Clover" (quilting tool?) iron is great for flattening the nap of the felt before painting - it tends to get a bit fluffed up when you are working with it. The iron also works to smooth the surface of the stuffed parts of the doll. Now I just have to think obout painting the face and adding some hair and clothes. I have already learned a thing or two: One - be very careful with the glue - it seeped through to the surface in a couple of places, but I think I'll be able to disguise it with shading. Two - making the hands with the two middle fingers joined makes it much easier to turn them - felt is tricky to turn.

Terra Incognita

2011-05-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Collage and acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas - a tryptich.

Is This My Best Work?

2011-05-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have really enjoyed making this doll - I think it is one of the best pieces I have made. I started it while I was away, worked on it during the long flight over the Pacific - is still not finished, but it should be done in the next few days or so. This one is called "Silver Apples of the Moon, Golden Apples of the Sun". For those of you with a literary bent, this comes from the WB Yeats poem, Song of the Wandering Aengus.
The doll has cloth over clay head and limbs and a cloth body with joints. I am making a special chair for her to sit upon, using wire and ApoxieSculpt.

I'm Back!

2011-05-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm back home after a wonderful trip to the US. I managed to avoid hurricanes and floods, although it was the wettest Spring on record in Columbus. The AFIC Conference went really well - I had a wonderful, focussed class with a number of the students finishing their pieces in the three days, which was great. The atmosphere at the conference was buzzing and energetic with plenty going on all the time outside class time. Thanks must go to the indefatiguable Cyndy Sieving for her fantastic skills at organizing and running such a wonderful event. If you are at all tempted to attend in 2013, start saving and do it! You will have a great time, meet some wonderful people and learn a lot!
Here are some pictures from the class at AFIC:

Emily Eckel's wonderful w.i.p.

Cody Goodin's fabulous figure almost completed

Kristen Strand-Tibbets great idea taking shape

Hard at work

I wish I had taken more pictures, or at least more that weren't duds!

Here's a picture of The Ladies In Orange at the Hat and Heels banquet - Gypsy Pamela Armas and Peggy from Taos:

The class at Annie Hesse's place in Florida was also terrific - I loved what those gals came up with. When I am teaching, what I really like to do is to create an atmosphere where I can simply pass a baton (an idea; a technique or two) and then watch as the students take the baton and run with it, with bit of help where needed. That happened with both of these classes. It was great.

I had a bit of spare time on this trip, so I spent some of it with my good friend Linda Apple in Columbus. She is a talented painter and she also makes wonderful art dolls usually with a fair dose of quirky humour. Check out her work here: http://applearts.com/

We have a lot in common, so we spend time bouncing ideas off each other as we work. Here are some of the pieces I managed to get made in that arty hothouse atmosphere:

Departure Imminent!

2011-04-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Early (very!!) on Sunday morning, I'm leaving for a month-long trip to the USA. I'll be visiting some good friends and doing a bit of teaching - Florida first at Annie Hesse's and then at the AFIC Conference in Columbus Ohio.
I may not be able to post much while I am away - I'll try, but you can imagine that it can sometimes be a little tricky when you are on the road.
Meanwhile........here's a little something that I have just completed.

Spilling Over

2011-03-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

Pencil drawing.

Putting Things Together

2011-03-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of starts for pieces I hope to finish this week. As you can see, I like to start by assembling all the component parts to work things out before I finally put them together. It's quite a long process sometimes.........I find that I need to try different things and mull over them for a few days before achieveing the final picture that I have in my mind.

And these are yummy little parcels made with a savoury filling of spinach and tomatoes (from the garden, naturally!) with pine-nuts, garlic, onion, herbs and feta all wrapped in puff pastry and baked.....kind of Greekish, but I couldn't get filo pastry, so I improvised!

Funny Food?

2011-03-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well.......these might look for all the world, like a tray of funny cookies, but they are actually face-masks to be used in the "Zozie" class I am teaching tomorrow. These are made from paperclay and they will be popped into a low oven for a few hours to dry out.

And look! It hasn't been particularly cold yet, but Autumn is definitely on the way.

Introducing Sue McFadden

2011-03-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce you to one of my all-time favourite dollmakers, Sue McFadden.

Since I discovered her dolls and her blog several years ago I have been taken with the quiet poise and wonderful craftsmanship of her dolls, most of which are made entirely from wool felt. Sue quietly goes about making her dolls and her other art without too much fuss, but really, these stunning works of doll art deserve much more exposure!

Sue has decided to offer an online class in felt doll-making, which is wonderful news indeed! If you want to find out the details of the class go to Sue's blog and while you are there check out her galleries with lots of lovely finished dolls to drool over!

Sue kindly allowed me to use some of her photos of her dolls - aren't they fabulous?

Progress

2011-03-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the "Kaethe Kruse" head that I started a few weeks ago - I've added more clay and started sanding it - next step is adding the cloth layer. I studied lots of pictures of original heads to try and reproduce the nuances of form that are evident in the originals and which I find very appealing. I've drafted a body pattern that I think will work, but since I am leaving for the US in a few weeks, I think this project may have to wait until my return to be completed.

Felicity

2011-03-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

Finally finished! Felicity is a vintage-inspired cloth doll. I made her a crocheted cotton apron and cap and her dress is made from green and tan checked cotton fabric. Her hair is made from hanks of mercerized cotton which were impregnated with glue and adhered to her head, then painted. She looks quite satisfied with her lot.

More Eating Fresh!

2011-03-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here's what I harvested and cooked for myself last night, continuing my mini-challenge to only eat what is in the garden...........well, OK, I cheated a little with the dessert - I didn't grow the watermelon, but it was already in the 'frig, so it seemed wasteful to let it spoil and have to throw it out. BTW, the blackberries and raspberries with the watermelon drizzled with lemon juice and a sprinkling of sugar were divine! The main course consisted of oven roasted potatoes (pink firs), beetroot and parsnips - they were roasted in fabulous olive oil from a local grower (Lentara Olives) along with carrots with parsley and creamed spinach with garlic. It was very tasty!

For those of you who live locally, I will be teaching a one-day "Making Zozie" workshop on March 26th at Calico Crossroads here in Exeter a couple of weeks before I leave for an overseas teaching trip. (More about that in a future post.) Contact Pauline for details - I think there is room for a couple more. This workshop is great fun and you will end up with a unique little doll to keep or give away as a gift to someone special.

Random Thoughts On Doing It Yourself

2011-03-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

I've always been a firm adherent of a kind of do-it-yourself, make-it-yourself, grow-it-yourself kind of philosophy as far as is humanly possible. I think that is why I am really attracted to the idea of making my living totally from what I can create with my own hands.

I am fairly anti fast food and I try not to buy much food that comes from a long way away. Having said that, I am not obssessed to the idea of total prohibition - I just like to keep my consumption as local as possible and as home-grown as possible. In the past I have kept goats (for meat, milk and hair), sheep (for meat and wool), chickens and ducks (for eggs) and may do so again in future, but at the moment we are growing a good array of vegetables in our home garden. I love being able to pile a plate up with home-grown goodies, that I know have had no pesticides or other nasties applied to them and which have been grown using only organic fertilizers. I also bake......bread, biscuits (the cookie kind) cakes etc.

Together, we also like to make things for our house ourselves from soft furnishings to furniture and we generate much of our electricity from a roof-installed solar collection panels - we have six and we will, in future, add six more. We also heat our hot water with a solar system.
Next plan is to start collecting rainwater.

At the moment, after an unusually wet summer, I am eyeing off the mini-plague of plump little bunnies that are hopping around our yard as bold as brass - a few of those in the freezer might be nice! (To my sensitive overseas readers, you need to understand that rabbits are an introduced pest species in Australia and eradicating them is actually a good thing, even though they are mighty cute!) They are safe at the moment - I have no means of catching them ;-)

OK - long story short - I have three days at home by myself and I decided to try and buy almost nothing and only eat what was fresh in the garden as a little challenge. Here's what I cooked up for myself last night for dinner - all screaming fresh from the garden. It was heavenly, flavoured with fresh herbs and I didn't miss having a hunk of meat on the plate - I think I could almost live without it, actually (bunnies notwithstanding!)

Moonglow and Starshine

2011-03-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

Here are two cute little stinkers I just finished...........(*thinks* I am constantly amazed that I can finish making something and within minutes somebody on the other side of the world can be looking at it.........aah! the wonders of modern technology!)
Anyway, Moonglow (in stripes) and Starshine (in brown) are little owlie Zozies. I will be listing them in my Etsy store soon, so if you fancy one of them, better fly over there quick - they don't usually last long when I list them!

Kaethe Kruse and Me

2011-03-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've always loved the early Kaethe Kruse dolls - something about the chubbiness of them; the tactility; the captured essence of childish innocence; the simple rustic clothing. What's not to like? These dolls were first created in the early years of the C20th by Frau Kruse in her workshop in Germany by a team of skilled artisans. Completely handmade, these dolls retain their charm even when beaten up by a lifetime of loving. Not that I have ever seen one in real life - only pictures.

Since the originals are way beyond my budget to buy, I've always had a hankering to make a similar doll - just one. I'll never replicate the original processes exactly. (Brass dies were used to press the cloth heads; they were stuffed with reindeer hair, and where am I going to get THAT from; the bodies were made from nettle cloth and I don't even know what that is and the bodies seem to have quite complicated piecing and seaming which would be hard to reproduce without having a good look at an original). Long story short - I'm going to make my Kaethe Kruse homage doll to look as close to the originals as I can, but still put something of myself into it - I want it to be recognizably my work, and obviously I'll have to fudge and subsitute a few things.
Here are some images of original dolls and a picture of my rough initial sculpt.

Not quite finished, but.........

2011-03-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the little doll I was working on last week while I was looking after my son's children. In between cricket, circus practice, homework supervision, art activities, cooking, washing etc. I managed to steal a bit of time to do some of my own work. I'm still working on the clothing (don't look too closely - you'll see unhemmed edges), but she's finished enough to show her face here. I enjoyed crocheting the little lacy cap and I'm planning to give her a white apron with a similar crocheted bib front.

And here's a piece from my sketchbook - unfinished - that I've been working on. If you want to know what it is all about, click on the image in the Flickr Photostream to the right and it will take you right there - all will be explained!

A Walk On The Beach

2011-02-27T02:22:00.000-08:00

It is starting to feel a little autumnal here in Hobart, but lovely weather for walking on the beach - this lovely spot is only a few minutes walk from my son's house where I have been looking after his children while he has been away. Here are some shots of a walk I took with the youngest, Xavier, yesterday.

On Grandma Duty

2011-02-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

I'm spending a few days in the south of the state looking after my son's children, while he is in the Kimberly region of Western Australia scoping out an exciting job opportunity.
So I'm doing the grandma thing........ baking cakes and biscuits and spoiling them rotten. Still finding time to do some of my own work - good thing it is easily transported!

Here's the view from the front window of my son's house in Taroona and a pic of the little IW doll I'm working on.

Hoot and Little Peep

2011-02-19T01:16:00.000-08:00

Meet Hoot and Little Peep. If you are wondering why Hoot is carrying Little Peep around in her pocket........well, obviously she's a MARSUPI-OWL! (Don't blame me - my husband came up with that one!)

One World One Heart Doorprize Winner Is............

2011-02-17T12:13:00.000-08:00

Well.........I was going to write the numbers on bits of paper and have a physical drawing from a real hat......but the thought of writing and cutting up 295 numbers on little bits of paper made me feel very tired, so I baled out and used a random number generator thingy.

And guess whose name came up...it was number 274 - pinkglitterfae (aka Betty) from Ontario in Canada!

So "Tweet" will be going to live in Canada!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment - I really appreciate every one of them and I would have liked to have made 295 "Tweets" so you could all have one....I can't believe I just wrote that :-}

OWOH Prize Draw

2011-02-16T19:24:00.000-08:00

I'm fairly certain that midnight where I live is 8 am the previous day in New York, so I'll be drawing my OWOH doorprize winner tonight at midnight. It is already well into February 17th here, but to be fair, I'm making sure I draw this on the 17th for most of you!
Good luck!
I'll be announcing the winner as soon as I do the draw.

What I'm Working On

2011-02-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

Here's what was on my table waiting to be worked on when I came into the studio this morning:

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and left a comment on my OWOH post - there is still a bit of time left before I draw the winner of my doorprize - all you have to do is leave a comment on that post (find it below) if you want to be in the running and some way that I can contact you.

What great fun it has all been! I've met a whole bunch of talented people with exciting blogs in my OWOH blogcrawl.......just wish I had a bit more time to indulge!

Thanks also to all my new followers!

Announcement: New Sculpting PDF Available

2011-02-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

For some time people have been asking me to publish something on sculpting - at long last, here it is! I have just finished writing up this PDF which is available in my ETSY store as a download. It is as clearly explained as I can make it and copiously illustrated with photographs of the process step-by-step from making the armature to the final sanding. Here are a few sample pictures:

When I finish making the complete doll using the example head in the PDF, I will post a picture to my Art Gallery, which you can access by clicking on the button under the header.

Still time to enter my OWOH giveaway!

Etsy Treasury Feature

2011-02-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

I've just had one of my dolls featured in a new Etsy Treasury made by KalliopeAmorphous! - here's the link:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d516e9b1f2d6d911d056559/dollen-stunning-handmade-creatures

New Doll

2011-02-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

I have just finished this historically referenced doll. I may add a bit of embellishment in the form of lace or embroidery to her dress, but essentially she is done! If you click on the "TUTORIALS" button under the header, you can see the step-by-step process of painting this doll.

I have also finished putting the final touches on "The Girl With A Pearl". I needed to do a little more painting on the face and do a finish on the outside of the box.

I've been having great fun with OWOH and I've had lots of lovely visitors to my blog. Only problem is, I could waste a whole heap of time visiting blogs when I should be working!

The event goes until February 17th so there is plenty of time to get in with a few entires for some of the fabulous door prizes being offered by bloggers all over the world. If you want to enter mine, just go to the OWOH post below and leave a comment there. Simple as that.

One World One Heart

2011-01-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

This year I am participating in the One World One Heart (OWOH) blog event. This is an International link-up of bloggers and it looked like a lot of fun last year, so I thought I'd participate this year, sadly, the last time it will be held.

So, to new visitors to my blog - WELCOME! I am an artist living in Tasmania at the bottom of the world - a kind of afterthought to Australia - it's smallest, but most beautiful state.

One aspect of OWOH is a giveaway "door prize". Pictured above is what I am offering to one person who leaves a comment on my blog on this post from today until the 17th Feb, when I will draw a winner using the very scientific random selection method of a number drawn out of a hat! This is one of my hand-made Zozie dolls - "Tweet"

Good luck everyone and have lots of fun on your OWOH blog crawl - I'll certainly be visiting lots in the hope that I might be lucky enough to win one of the door prizes being offered by generous bloggers all around the world!

Click on the OWOH logo in the sidebar to go to the OWOH site and connect with other participants. Big thanks to Lisa for organizing such a great event - it must entail a massive amount of work!

In My Studio Today

2011-01-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

Here's what is on my studio table today. I started this piece a while ago and have just got back to working on it. It is almost done - just a little more painting, gluing the bust inside the box and doing the outside of the box. The figure is kind of spilling out of the box and into the space in front. I made a "Mona Lisa" piece similar to this some years ago, but I forgot to photograph it before I sold it (can't remember who to, so I can't even beg for a few pictures of it!) I used to do that all the time.............thank heavens for digital photography - it has revolutionized my life.

I had great fun working on this!

I've Been Featured!

2011-01-20T04:14:00.000-08:00

Dixie Redmond is a wonderful selfless artist, dollmaker and researcher who does so much to promote dollmaking, especially re-creations of the cloth dolls of the past, through her website, blog and Ning group. She has been running a series of "interviews" with dollmakers who use antique cloth dolls as their inspiration. Today, she posted an interview with me on http://www.maidatoday.com/. So if you want to read a bit about what makes me tick, head on over there and have a look. While you are at it, check out her blog, (http://www.northdixiedesigns.com/) where she often features techniques and works-in-progress and maybe you might even like to join up at http://www.maidatoday.ning.com/ for a great forum about antique-inspired dolls. You can even take an online class there.

One of Dixie's faithful Izannah Walker style dolls made from patterns she produced after painstaking research on original dolls.

Mary's Prize

2011-01-18T21:14:00.000-08:00

Here's what is on the way to Mary as her prize in my recent giveaway. This is Starchild #4 and he keeps his heart in his little pocket when he's not playing with it. Hope you like it Mary!

Notice anything new about my blog? I thought it was about time for a change, because I've had it looking the same way since I started it. I had fun changing it around today and giving it a facelift!

Wintermoon - My Muse

2011-01-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

Well, here is my latest art piece "Wintermoon : My Muse - I thought it was finished, but now I'm not so sure - I may add a little more of the floaty fabric, but not much. Occasionally, I am quite happy with the way something turns out - in other words it comes close to what I had envisioned. This is one such piece.

I suppose it seems a little strange to be making something with such a wintry name, when it is high summer here, although the strange weather we have had lately has had me wondering where our summer went............the last three days it rained non-stop, so it was like summer disappeared. We were getting the dag end of what has devastated the state of Queensland and by noon yesterday we were marooned in the middle of a lake, both studio and house sprang leaks - I had pots everywhere catching drips. But today a big bright sun is shining out of a flawless blue summer sky and there is a pleasant, warm breeze blowing, so all the water has just disappeared!

In case you missed it, Mary Mangini won my giveaway. Thanks to everyone who entered, (and entered, and entered!) You all made it fun. If you want another chance to win something, I'm participating in the One World, One Heart blog event at the end of the month. Click on the link in the side-bar for more info about the event.

ANNOUNCEMENT! You're A Winner

2011-01-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

Mary Mangini - You're a winner!

Thanks everyone who entered - you all made this so much fun and I was overwhelmed by the response. If you didn't win this time, there will be another chance shortly, because I am taking part in the "One World, One Heart" blog event at the end of this month - (click on the little thingy on the side bar to see what that is all about).

Progress

2011-01-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

My new sculptural piece is coming along.........here are more progress shots of it assembled and the painting started. I tend to work in multiple translucent layers of paint, rather than putting it on thickly in one go. That way I can achieve more subtlety in tonal variation. The merest hint of the underneath colours show through subsequent layers adding a greater degree of depth. As you can see s/he now has arms, as well.

Also, I finished off "Essie" as an evacuee child of the London Blitz, 1939. She's waiting on the platform for a train to take her to the safety of the countryside. She now has a little suitcase, her gas mask in it's container, her toy monkey and she's well labelled with her name and destination. She has a look of apprehension and her eyes are a little watery - after all she's only five and she's being separated from her parents for the first time, but she's trying very hard to be brave.

My Muse

2011-01-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

I know some of you like me to post pictures of works-in-progress to see how a piece develops. I often forget to take progress photos, but with the piece I am currently working on, I've remembered, so here are some progress shots of "My Muse" - I'll post more as I get more advanced with this piece.

There are still a few days left to enter my giveaway, which I'm drawing on the 14th of January. Just go to the Jan 6th post and leave a message - I'll draw a winner from all the entries received.