Two dolls into Doll Collector Magazine

I just received my January 2012 magazine and saw my Mr. and Mrs Santa with all their goodies in the Holiday Magic section and after going further Canival Girl and Dino can be seen in the gallery section. So nice, Thank You doll Collector Magazine!

"Through the Windows II"

Before bedtime I wanted to post the deer which didn't make it in the earlier post. So here they are.

(I sculpted two small heads and part of another today. I will try to post later on them)

"Looking Through The Windows"

We woke up to more snow this morning. It was really needed but I'm not one to run out and play anymore. When the kids were home it was all about sledding, snow ball fights, snowmen, snow ice cream and building a snow house. Now that we are retired I don't venture out until almost noon. Its so nice to get up, fix a cup of hot tea or coffee and just look through the windows. We have  several does and older fawns here everyday. Some nice bucks too! A little two point, one large two point and yesterday a nice sized 3 point so I'm wondering what may come by the windows today.

I'm posting two dolls I finally finished. One in black and one in pink. The little princess in pink floral had her eyes repainted in acrylic paint and I am happier with the result. She is 10" with stand and has a cloth body over a wire armature.  AB swarovski rhinestones make up her buttons, crown, stand and staff.  "Love that sparkle!" I should have been a fish! I joined the international art doll registry some time ago and followed Deb Woods tutorial for making a crystal crown for this little doll.  My 16" doll  has a Gothic - vampire thing going on which is what I wanted. The egg is just to wonder about - what could hatch from it? Hmm m m m. She is wearing a crown from my own design. It has black and red Swarovski rhinestones plus there are red rhinestones on the dress. Her black top was made from recycled black velvet-(actually a tank top my daughter wore in High school-that's been along time ago-I am a true pack rat)

Getting her tiny teeny little seed bead necklace and ring on her was a pain in the... you know where. I really want more than ten fingers in my next life. How about at least seven on each hand and one or two of them has to be longer and pointy and one with a small suction cup.  The black layered ruffled material was a recent purchase from JoAnn Fabrics. Fabric shops are a curse for me. My husband asks every time I come home from a two hour drive from Klamath Falls, Oregon what kind of fabric did you get this time? Head thought; I do every time for over 40 years. Answer; yes I did, just a small piece of fleece to make body covers. Head thought; hmmmm.  Back to the doll. I was going to make a short skirt but ended up with a long one thus covering up all the work I did on her boots but a photo of them is posted. She has a cloth body over a wire armature. Mixed polymer clay is used for hands, chest, shoes, legs for both dolls.  Both dolls have mohair from my angora goats. Well, I have started some new heads so guess I should get over to my little studio and get busy or maybe I'll have another cup of tea and look through the windows for awhile. Best Wishes to you all!

 

Happy Halloween!

Snow was on the ground this morning and more is coming. I knew I should have went out and put the hoses, shovels etc in the shed but my husband Don said he would take care of it, so that allowed me to take photos of my new witch doll. She is 16" including her base to the tip of her feathers on her hat. She wears recycled clothing from fabric and leather. She is my typical wire armature and cloth body. I really like using natural cotton  batting cut into strips which I form to make the bodies of most of my dolls.  Just in case someone would like to know I love buying the wood placks from Michael's in a variety of sizes. I like painting them to go along with the dolls and they are easy to drill and put the foot pegs in. I found a liquid type epoxy (magic sculpt) to fill in around the pegs which is very sturdy.
The leather apron was made from a piece of an old leather coat and  was found at Good Will. It was in the worst condition and I really love it. Ha! I will have to check Good Will again soon because since winter is here for us, that means all the new donated goodies plus leather coats should be out. Her boots are made from pigs leather which works great because it it thinner making it more pliable to work with.  I decorated the apron with Halloween pumpkins etc with a wood burner. Her leather patches (deer hide) were decorated with a micro felt pen. Her hands, feet and head is made from polymer clay. This is the smallest pie I've ever made! I would be much healthier if this is all I ate when I make the normal size ones. Pumpkin, apple, lemon and but not chicken feet, worms, snails and bird heads. I knew a very old woman once who put the chicken head, heart, liver, gizzard, feet etc in meat pies they were cleaned first. I don't think I would care for the crunch, though. Almost forgot the pumpkins, making these was very much fun! Polymer clay over tin foil balls and painted with acrylics. The largest being 2" and the smallest is 1"

 I have another doll made but when I was photographing her I was not happy with the eyes. I painted them with Genesis heat paint so I think I will do them over with acrylics and take new photos. I'm leaving soon to go see my grand kids for a week so - Yeah! Trick or Treating!!!!!! Happy Halloween!

(Just kidding about the meat chicken head pie-etc.)

Fall and Two Dolls

October 1st my birth month and on the 5th I can officially use my medicare card, that just doesn't sound right. Ageing happens and you can't stop it. Fortunately my husband Don and I have some great kids and grand kids to be thankful for and being able to share one anothers company for all these years.

 It certainly is fall here, the deer seem to stay close to our place as hunting season has begun. The four fawns have lost their spots and along with their mothers they have put on their winter coats.Trees, bushes, vines etc are starting to change and a little pole cat came to spray Biskit our dog again,  I assume he or she is looking for a place to spend the winter and hopefully not under our porch.

I will post photos of the two dolls I finished up from last spring. The mad girl with black hair was actually a study in facial expression and I went ahead and finished her. A good name might be Storm or ?  She is 13" including the stand. Her hair is made from mohair from one of my Angora goat does. She is wearing a cotton blouse and skirt with embroidered tiny roses and vines. Covering her blouse is a black ribbon vest and a striped red and white silky fabric makes up her skirt. Small black ribbon adorns her wrists and waist. She is also wearing black leather boots

The second doll is 12 1/2" including her stand.  She is wearing vanilla floral lace and silver sequin fabric with a silver ribbon at her waist. She wears tan leather boots. Her crown is silver diamond beads. AB Swarovski crystals adorn  front and back of her top as well as her boots.

My little red headed doll is awaiting a prop so her photo will be published eventually.( I started 3 other dolls so she has to wait a little longer.

A photo of one of the does and her twins will be posted. It had to be cleaned up little because I was sneaking around trying to get a good photo and this was a quick shot.

Snog with Dinner

With this little guy's nose I figured Snog was a good name and of course fish is his dinner. and I was welcome to join him at 10 am. At least his hands and clothes are clean and he said he would roast it over an apple wood fire.  I think I will go, he said it would be cooked in our backyard by the jade rock pile and all I needed was a couple of toothpicks. Its 7:13 am now so I have time to get dressed, fix my hair, wash my face and finish baking that loaf of bread I started last night. It sounds like a very light breakfast so when the bread is done baking I'll take a large buttered piece and some pickled red apples, or maybe some garden tomatoes diced with spices or both. Yum, talk to you later?

 Snog is approx: 10" with wood base. Fish is about 1 bite.  He has a wire armature and cloth body. Lime green fleece covers his body. Recycled and new leather makes his boots, cuffs and hat. Buttons, feathers, and small charms decorate his outfit.

Here it is September and I'm still trying to get 4 dolls done that I started before last spring. We have a new grandson (Evan Ukiah) so spending more time with my kids in Redding Ca than home this summer was sure worth my time. Its always fun to be with grand children especially in their big back yard where magic happens. Big juicy red tomatoes, yellow and green squash, and cucumbers appear overnight. We ate allot of cucumber tomato salads. I made fresh tomato sauce and we put it in the freezer while holding some back for spaghetti. Yum what a big difference. Wish we had time to make a few gallons of it. Ha! Check out the 2 photos. My little studio is a mess as it usually is especially when picking out the fabrics for the dolls. You can see our dog thou the window (barely) her name is Biskit. She guards the property keeping the coyotes out as well as the dogs that come around.  Hopefully I can get the dolls done soon. We are doing major gardening outside as well and we have to hurry it is really getting cold in the mornings. Its already 7:30 am so I better get all the creatures fed and us too.

Baby Brother, Cookies! and Flour!

Its July 8,  2012 and I've been at the Maloney's home since June 25. Their unborn son has decided to take up permanent residence since his due date was June 26.  We thought maybe he decided to come July 4. No, he decided to stay in his mother's womb constantly pushing for more room and keeping her awake 24 hours a day. Meanwhile his big sister still rules the household.  Today we need cookies! The favorite in this house is Chocolate Chip Oatmeal.  So the only way to accomplish this feat, is to occupy wild child, I mean Vivian, my 2 yr old granddaughter.  A metal bowl with about 1/4 cup of flour and a big spatula was set on her Dora table and with that she was told to help Grandma stir. So about 2 hours and 30 min later we had cookie dough. There was flour on Vivian's face, shirt, arms, lets just say her entire body and at least 1/4 of the kitchen.  Little flour foot prints on the floor were the best.  Second best is when she threw up her hands after making all those designs through the flour on her Dora table and said; "Beautiful!" You see how much doll making I'm getting done? Ha! But when I do, I can sit back and think about some wonderful memories. Thanks and find great joy doing something-maybe with a little flour?

June Snow, Typical for Modoc and News

Its been cold with rain and snow. A little snow ball bush in full bloom was already leaning and with the morning snow its on the ground. I'm posting a couple of photos this morning so you can see what the weather is like this last week. Sometimes we will even get snow in July. Well, so much for the weather, its always a mess. Thought since I have not been able to get to my blog in some time I would update whats been going on but only briefly. There has been no time for doll making. Three dolls are waiting for their feet, stands, costuming etc but they will have to wait awhile longer. My mother went into the nursing home which has been emotionally draining in itself let alone dealing with family and about 3 weeks of paperwork and driving back and forth into town. We are now cleaning out the house. My mother was a heavy smoker so its been a full day to day job to clean. My time is also running short because I've been going to Redding to help my daughter with our granddaughter while she is pregnant with our grandson who will be here about the 29th. We are all so excited and I do enjoy going down there to help. At some point we have to have our other granddaughter up to visit because we have not seen her in awhile and greatly miss her and her mom and our son. Kids grow up to fast especially when they are grand children.  Maybe I will get some time soon to post photos of the upcoming dolling but then again it may be around the middle of July. Best Wishes!

Beautiful Sunday

Well finally a beautiful warm day with blue skys and sunshine. All but one of the angora does has had their babies. We have a white doeling, a black doeling and 3 black bucklings. Today I sheared the last two does and have two bucks yet to do and I will be done for awhile. I take that back. I have to tag and vacinate the babies and trim a few feet and maybe soon I can get back to doll making. The weather has been awful as usual for a Modoc spring. Wind, rain, hail, snow and more wind and all that wonderful mud and cold. So today I spent time outside taking a few photos and playing with the new goat kids. Even with the cold weather I guess the chickens know its spring because they are all laying. The deer have been here almost every morning eating up the new spring grass. Wow, its still nice outside and its 6pm, so guess I better get that last to kid doe in the shed and get some dinner started. I think I would really just like to go to bed right now but have to much to do yet. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the photos.

First new baby here!

Wow, I barely got thru blogging and heard the commotion in the shed. (My husband set up cameras and microphones out there last week.) Zuri had her first baby, a healthy blue eyed white doeling. As many that have been born here it is still exciting. Mother and baby doing very well. So I had to hurry and get this posted and then go out and check the heat lamp etc. Tomarrow Zuri can have her wormer. She ate down her wet cob in a hurry, after all that work I'm sure it tasted really good.

Color Angora Goats

Soon it will be baby time. My color angora goats are due any minute (I wish), which could be a week longer since my calendar dates don't seem to matter. Two weeks ago they received their shots all but wormer which I don't like to give until after delivery. Thank goodness there is only 5 does. I've been cutting the size of my goats down every year. I may be selling them when the babies are a little older. One nice red buck sold last fall and I only have twin black bucks presently. I really love them but I want to put all my time into my doll making. Its tuff work especially when snow is knee deep and its below zero and we have been doing it for most of my life with all kinds of animals. My health has been better this winter which I'm very grateful for. I was relieved of some major stress last year. It is so unreal what stress can do to you. I have been lucky to enjoy my goats for allot of years and I have my husband to thank for it. I will be posting new babe photos before long I hope!

Biking to Shasta Dam

I went to Redding for a week so my daughter could work on the website she created for me and put my dolls up on Etsy. I in turn watched our granddaughter Vivian. Nice exchange! My son in law Sean treated me to a bike ride to Shasta Dam the following weekend. The emerald green water of the Sacramento river with lots of ducks on it was to our right side. To the left of us was lots of manzanita, rocks, gulley's and a few streams. We were so focused on seeing the Dam that we almost missed a beautiful bush covered in yellow blooms. About half way was a curving tunnel which just added more fun to the trip. The bike ride was about 17 1/2 miles total. I thought I would not make it back but I did along with toe and leg cramps. Sean is so patient with me because every now and then when it gets to steep I have to walk while he still pedals right along with me. I need to get in shape but when its 30 degrees or less with snow here at home jogging in place while in the house is no fun. Shouldn't have made that double batch of chocolate chip cookies either. Ha! just can't leave them alone. Our spring will hopefully be here by June but my husband and I are planning a few more trips south for fishing, visiting, biking, visiting and more visiting.

"Old Elvin"

Old Elvin is wearing a hand made green leather vest and tan leather pants. His head, hands and boots are mixed polymer clay. He stands about 9" tall. His little beard and pony tail is made with mohair fiber from Poppy, one of my angora goat girls. His cane is a piece of Virginia Creeper with clay added at both ends and painted. His little brown basket has magic butter beans enfolded in deer leather. A golden leaf charm rests on his small homespun scarf. He also has a little cap adorned with a small peacock feather but not shown in this photo.

I will try to post some more photos of the last few dolls in different poses later on. I won't promise though. My eyeballs are trying to crawl out of my head down my shoulders to the hallway and up into my bed without the rest of me. I've been cleaning up my photo folders, posting, on and on, so I just want to start some new sculpts. Thanks and hope everyone is warm, full, and happy!

"Bling It"

Bling It is wearing a pink fleece body suit with pink leather boots, wrist cuffs and belt. She stands 11' tall. Vintage jewelry adorns her boots and vest. Hair and tail is vintage recycled silver fox fur from an old coat. She has a cloth body over a wire armature. Her face, hands and feet are made with cernit clay.

"Miss Mischief"

Standing 9" tall '

"Miss Mischief" is wearing a red leather hand made dress. Dark brown leather covers her polymer clay boots and wrists. Criss crossed red leather creates a design around her tail. She has a faux fur tail and hair. A copper butterfly adorns the back waist of her dress. She has a cloth body over a wire armature as all my dolls do.

"Wild Deer Boy"

This little boy is 8". His outfit is handmade from deer leather. His hands, hooves and head are made from a polymer clay mix. He has a faux fur tail and hair. Around his neck he has seed beads and one tiny piece of turquoise. He is painted with liquitex acrylic paint and sealed.