I don't. At least not in the way that modern usage means...........these photos are the closest I come to "tweeting"! This is a new Zoziedoll design.
I am in the middle of making some sample dolls for my upcoming classes. This is "Lou-Lou" - a design I came up with in 2006. It has been a while since I made a doll using this pattern and I had forgotten how much fun she was to make........so here is "Lou-Lou" in blue and gold. She is all cloth with a cloth-covered paperclay face-mask from one of my original moulds. The costuming is very simple and relies on fabric choices (shot silk here) and colours as much as anything for appeal.
Here is a quiet little corner of my dining room - beautiful Spring flowers!
And the next little head taken from the silicone mould I made last week - interesting how different it looks from the first one I made from the mould.
Here is the little doll I made using the two-part silicone mould that I blogged about last week.
I had to share these photos of me with a five month old baby Tasmanian Devil. Dear friends of mine rear babies like these when they are orphaned. Devils have a fearsome reputation, but they are truly wonderful unique marsupials - intelligent, playful and just so endearing. The really sad thing is that they are now critically endangered, because they are being wiped out by a particularly nasty transmissable cancerous facial tumour. The jury is out as to the cause of the outbreak of this disease, but I remain to be convinced that increased habitat destruction, clearfell logging, burning, aerial spraying of plantations and wildlife poisoning with nasty poisons like 1080 has nothing to do with it (yes - in the C21st this kind of thing is still happening)........the correlation between the two things is just too strong for it to be ignored. Just another sad chapter in the total lack of regard we humans have for our fellow species. I don't usually use my blog as a soapbox, but I had to make an exception in this case.
I have finished making a two-part doll head mould to use with my up-coming "Historical Doll" class. The mould is is two parts - front and back - and I used it to press-mould the paperclay head in two halves. After it dried, I glued the the two halves together, cleaned up the seamline a little and sanded it. The result was better than I had expected it to be. Here is the two-part mould and the first head taken from it.
I'm in the middle of making arrangements to head overseas next month to teach at a number of locations starting in Albuquerque, NM. There is always plenty to do in preparation for a teaching tour like this. I have been making a number of moulds from my original head sculpts and making sure all my notes are in order. And booking tickets. And contacting friends. etc, etc.
Here is a mould I am making for a couple of "Historically Inspired " doll classes I am running. This will be cast in silicone in two parts to make press moulds for complete heads (for those students who are a bit timid about sculpting their own!) This head is loosely based on an Izannah Walker style of doll from about 1850.
So what do you do when it is pouring with rain all day and you have two active grandsons to entertain? Obvious - you head to the studio and make puppets! These are what my two grandboys Laurence (14) and Xavier (7) did to make the rainy day pass faster. They sculpted the heads with paperclay over foil and a cardboard tube and sewed the cloth bodies. Even Xavier managed some of the machine sewing all by himself - his first go! Then it was into the paint - green for the frog and purple with spots for the alien. I made Xavier an insect on a wire (which is just visible in the photo) to tease his hungry frog with. It stopped raining last night, which is just as well, because I was considering the possibility of needing to make an Ark if it rained for much longer.
It is my birthday today (not that I really like too many reminders of advancing age these days!) and it is wonderful to have the grandchildren around to celebrate the double (Father's Day). Might pop the champers tonight!
Here is a picture of part of my exhibition in the barrel room at Holm Oak Vineyard. The room has a gorgeous fermenty smell and pleasant ambience and by some serendipitous turn, a couple of my pieces were painted in almost identical colours to the subtle and stained barrel colours. I sold a number of the pieces, which is always a bonus.
And the next little head taken from the silicone mould I made last week - interesting how different it looks from the first one I made from the mould.
