Thursday, November 29, 2012

A Challenge...............

One of the online groups I belong to (Dixie Redmond's MAIDA group: http://maidatoday.ning.com) is hosting a challenge to recreate a version of one of the best-loved early cloth dolls - the "Columbian" dolls of Emma Adams, which were made between 1891 and 1910. Here's what the originals look like:



The dolls had well-designed but simple bodies with flat faces, which were expertly painted by Emma using oil paints. The hair was also painted. There are a few designers out there who have excellent patterns for reproducing these dolls - I used one by Connie Tognoli, which makes a 19" doll. Connie took measurements from actual examples to make her patterns. The doll went together really well, with some interestingly different pattern shapes.
                              My doll is not completed yet, but this is what I've done so far:




             Then I had a bit of a play with Picmonkey to make my doll's face look a bit "aged".




Sometimes a gal's just gotta have a bit of pure FUN!




Sunday, November 18, 2012

It's getting to be that time..........

Trying to engender a bit of Christmassy feeling (bit over a month to go!). This is the first of a few.


Also completed this 13" doll......keeping busy trying to get pre-Christmas orders done in time.




Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Little Cloth Animals


Here is a little cloth deer that I have just completed - I absolutely love making things like this.....don't know why......it's just FUN! Here are the steps in deermaking 101:


Cloth parts sewn, turned and ready for stuffing and assembly


All assembled, needle-sculpted, paperclay eyes added and sized with a mixture of acrylic gel medium and modelling paste, which seals the fabric, preserves it and gives a great surface for painting.


Partly-painted and sitting in my hand to give you an idea of the size.

I also made another of these frogs.....see the fairy wings sticking out of his mouth?


And if you go to www.marijkevanooijen.blogspot.com the lovely Marijke has written a post about my work. her blog is beautiful - a real work of art in itself. I'm going to write a post about her work in coming days, when I can free up a bit of time to do it properly.





Saturday, November 3, 2012

A Special Visitor

Look who came visiting today............


At first he tried to pretend he wasn't there, but once he decided that I wasn't too much of a threat, he went on his waddling little way in search of ants to eat.



This is of course, an echidna, a primitive mammal of the monotreme class. The only other monotreme I know of is the platypus. What makes them so special is that, although they are mammals, they lay eggs. Echidnas are only occasional visitors to our garden, so it is always a great thrill to see one passing through. This little fellow was obliging enough to hang around long enough so that I could fetch my camera. We love to encourage native wildlife in our garden, and with five fairly unkempt acres, we do see quite a few different species. Apart from echidnas we also have visits from: wallabies, bandicoots, brushtail possums, ringtail possums, blue tongue lizards, green-and-gold bell frogs, black cockatoos, white cockatoos, a sea eagle, masked lapwings, native hens, mountain ducks, magpies, superb blue wrens, scarlet robins, Eastern rosellas, swallows and a few snakes. I'm pretty sure I've missed a few.
For those of you who have never encountered an echidna, they are about the size of a football and the spines are very sharp!




Friday, November 2, 2012

New Work

First, a new wall piece - "Winterlude" - mixed media (cloth, clay, sticks, string)



....And a cloth child doll, Matilda






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