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.

Leopard Girl

Leopard Girl stands 11" tall. Her head, and hands are made with a polymer clay mix. She has a leopard colored custom made body suit with a black leather vest. Her black leather belt is adorned with a golden spider charm. Boots are made from black leather stretched over her polymer clay feet. The end of her tail and hair is faux fur. She also has a matching spotted scarf. This is a fun doll and I think I'm going to make her a spider staff. When?, is the question.

Rose

Rose is 14 1/2" tall, dressed in red silk which looks orange in the photo. Her head, hands and feet are made with a polymer clay mix. The base she stands on is hand painted with small delicate roses on a black surface. The paint is liquitex acrylic sealed in Krylon spray gloss. A vintage jewelry piece adorns her back waist line. She wears a red seed bead headband with two emerald glass drops. She has angora goat fiber "mohair" used for her hair. It was furnished by Shannon, one of my special angora goat girls. The fiber has some gray in it so I dyed it black. Since all the stuff had to be brought out about 2 pounds of it was dyed black for future use. It has to be washed, dyed, dried, combed, shampooed, rinsed, conditioned, rinsed, dried, combed, glued to the head, styled, sprayed with hairspray. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for doing all this. Oh well!

Well, its a sunny day today. It feels so good! I've put the fininshing touches on the elvin doll and hare. I couldn't decide if I wanted them together or not but when I started the hare it was meant they be together. After taking the photos below of elvin's top half and lantern I noticed the light colored spot on her cheek. It was where she fell off the table onto a hard floor. Fimo, quik mix, and cernit makes a really hard clay after baking and was worth the trouble to mix. I've been experiencing with genesis paints which is what was used on this doll. So her cheek was touched up along with some more freckles and eye makeup. Using a embossing heat gun the paint is sealed. I was not happy with her hair so more was added. Then I noticed it still did not look just right so I covered the doll with plastic wrap and carefully washed, conditioned and rinsed it. "Much better". Water ran down her face but since the makeup is baked on there was no problems. Posted is her final photo with the hare. Oh, and their names are: Kaila and Twitch.