What To Wear?

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

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!

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

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!!

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!

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!

............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!)