The Devil and final photos of Princess in Boots and Elvin doll

Took myself and my computer plus Christmas presents to Redding to see our kids. Weather is so much nicer, plus they have citrus trees which almost all the fruit froze except for tangerines and lemons. Myer lemons is a favorite so I brought a few home and froze the juice. Yum! Lemon Bars coming soon! Oh, and my computer is fixed now. Then I had to come home to snow, ice and cold, cold, cold and more cold.

New photos of Elvin and Princess doll are posted plus photos of  a not quite done little old devil.
Yes its Christmas time and I make a devil. Oh well at least he is wearing red. So much for this post I'm going to make a spiced rum hot toddy for my husband and I and watch probably something stupid on Netflix. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Elven Court, Lace and Boots.

Dec. 3, 2013 where has the year gone? I feel like I'm behind all the time. My husband says; you don't need a schedule you are retired just rest. Well I just can't seem to do that except when I'm not feeling well. Lets look at this way, I'm now 66 and feeling lucky to have lived this long and at this age you don't know really how long you've got. So-o-o-o-! I want to do all I can get done while I still can. Okay enough of that. I'm posting a couple of photos showing the progress on the two dolls. The little elf is done and the larger doll is in progress. I will be putting her hair up but first her hair will need some trimming, wash, conditioner and put in rollers. Which means lots of little tooth picks. It seems odd to do it at this stage when her dress is almost done but it tells me what style the hair should be. Her body will be covered with saran wrap and tape so nothing but the hair will get wet. She will get a crown  when her hair is done. Then the base will be painted. She has boots too, Ha! under a lace dress. that's so she can jump on her horse after the photo shoot and race into the wild yonder! No, they are not western just white boots with a touch of pale blue. A prince might like them. Hmm-m-m.  The little elf is about to enter the Elvin court for the first time, she believes she is dressed appropriately she will soon know, suspense has been building for several days now. We may let you know or not.  Well, its getting dark and the chickens are probably on the roost so I better lock them in and start dinner. Its just to bad I can't snap my fingers and dinner would be on the table.  Hopefully, this last doll will be finished before Christmas so I can soon get into the clay again.  I never know how to end these little blogs so here -EAT COOKIES!!!!!!

Dolls and More Dolls in my Head!

Finally some time to work on dolls! Sometimes I wonder if this is such a good thing because it is in my head all the time. Especially when I'm doing dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc, etc. I'm really sick of cooking and doing the dishes but unfortunately I like to eat.  I will have to admit that I don't clean that often anymore only when I know someone is coming. So what! This is supposed to be retirement. Ha! I don't know how we had time to hold down a job. Retirement only means you now have time to clean  up all the mess that built up which we couldn't get to  during the time you have a job. Well, I've always had doll making, painting, drawing ideas in my head. I just have to get all those ideas on paper. Which I'm really trying very hard to do. Unfortunately now I need to gather up all those papers and various notebooks  and take time to put it all in just one. One good thing right now is I am enjoying a cup of hot tea and a couple or more pieces of a chocolate bar. Yum! One of my head ideas the last two weeks was  to make a smiling blue eyed and probably a princess doll. I just finished baking her head and a little brown elf head about 3 days ago. Today I cut up a bunch of cotton batting strips and formed their bodies. I use super glue to dot here and there as needed to help keep the layers in place. Then I will use some solid colored fleece for their bodies or some flesh colored tight woven knit fabric. Getting the bases and tubes for legs, feet and shoes is always nice to get done so the doll stands for you like a little dress form. For me it makes it easier to move them around to measure and hold various fabrics to see what I like best. I've actually got ahead of myself and did the body in batting first and now this week I will be working on hands, arms, feet, legs, shoes. That is unless my husband decides we need to get more fire wood. Oh well I love the forest. I will just get more dolls and ideas in my head for later. Wow, its getting dark I need to gather the eggs and lock up the chickens. (After I finish the tea and chocolate!)

Knee deep in Sunshine, Water, Dirt and Hard Labor.

Well, I've set a record for myself, no blogging for 3 1/2 mo. I really needed to be outside this summer and that's just what I did. We planted a big garden. We don't have a rototiller so the shovel gave me a great workout. Summer is very short here and I have always felt like we lived like squirrels.  We start out on a run getting the ground ready, planting and then a harvest (hopefully with no freezing) and last; canning, freezing and drying. We also need wood to burn and this year so we are going to the forest (all of about 5 miles) to cut our own wood. Then there's always the property maintenance which is never ending. My 2 goats helped out a lot with weeds until the trees started tasting better, so they had to go back to their pen and only out when tied on a long rope. I have enjoyed every minute of it, well except for the aches and pains. Winter is coming, it is beautiful but with mostly dark cloudy days most of the time it is depressing. I have to work really work at not becoming depressed which will happen no matter what I do so this year as my lovely daughter suggests; that I can get a light (for depression) over my work table which should help a lot. I hope so because each year is getting worse.  Well enough of that.  I have lots of plans for doll making this winter which should keep me really busy. After I've caught up  with some canning and I don't have to water and weed etc. I will be able to sit down and focus for longer periods of time." Looking forward to it". I have been taking a class from Joey Mcphale on A for Artistic; How to Make a BJD.  I have made  a diagram and armature but with all that's going on I will probably not be able to make the doll until later this winter. A great class ! I will add some photos and may I can get back to blogging more often.

Teal Fairy

WARNING: NUDE FAIRY!

My latest doll, Teal fairy is finally finished. She is 11" tall, including her base.  I've done my first full body sculpt, so I did a lot of study in human anatomy.  Also, I have taken more of Deb Wood's anatomy classes and in depth study in my personal little library.


A great thing about Deb's classes is she offers a lot of great anatomy photos to study plus personal help through her website.
Yes, you need to be a member and the classes are offered at very reasonable prices. It saves a lot of time and money as apposed to hours researching on the Internet and printing out a lot of info you may never use. At least that's the way it is for me.  Patrica Rose's website is a good source of free tutorials among others you may find on Pinterest and the of course the never ending surfing the Internet.
I need a lot more practice but the quest for always doing better is non ending which is what I love.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF!!!

March Dolls

Again, time has gone to fast  but I finished up all but three dolls.  All of these dolls have a polymer mix of Cernit, quick mix, Kato and Fimo which makes a very strong clay with a touch of flexibility which is used for their heads, hands and feet. All have a wire armature, cotton body wraps to make the form and then covered with fleece, stretch knit or a thin sock. The paint I use is acrylic and genesis heat paint. I love using pigskin  leather and burning designs into it with a wood burner which I did with some of their clothes. Another technique learned in the class I took from Wendy Froud. ( I hope to take another class from her someday.) The Froud family is beyond inspirational!. I could go on forever about them! but I would have to write a book.  Back to the dolls.

I looked at alot of porcupines and marmots and came up with this pair in red leather and I found a heart shaped basket and repainted it for them to put all their goodies into it for their picnic. By the way the lady is pregnant. Faux fur was used for their big fuzzy tails and hair. The male is 7 1/2" and the female is 61/2".

The Butterly Fly Elf has buffalo hair. All of his butterflies are hand made and I realize he is missing one from top of his head so I will have to make another one. His net is cheese cloth attached to a wire ring and attached to a wooden skewer. Polymer clay covered the wire where it was attached to the skewer and then painted. He is 9 1/2" including his base.

The little elf sitting is 4''. His hair and beard is white angora fiber. (mohair).

Elf with a tail dressed in pink is approx. 6". Her staff has a charm and swarovski pink crystal.

Elf with tail dressed in greens carries a rose of Sharon seed pod with a tiny swarovski crystal. She wears a enameled metal acorn pin at her waist. Small gold trinkets are on her boots and back of her coat.  She has angora fiber hair.

9 1/2" Male elf has llama fiber hair. A Gold spider on gold colored wire is worn as his belt. He Carries a wood staff painted black with a small charm and swarovski crystal.
5 1/4"  Tall is the " Forest Fool"  tailed elf dressed in purple and red.
5" tailed Forest Creature wearing 3 tiny striped bead necklace. May his tiny blacked tipped fingers never touch you!
6 1/4" tailed elf with crocheted hat, neck scarf and and stick flag. She has faux fur hair.
Sitting on a tree trunk is a mad little girl with her broken pink flowered kite. She has dyed angora fiber hair. The tree trunk is polymer clay. The mushrooms were picked from my backyard and dehydrated then coated with liquid polymer and touched up with genesis heat paint. I am so lucky, we have 2 two fairy rings in our backyard and several varieties of mushrooms! A pro gardner would say: Oh no! This little girl is inspired by my kids when they were little and all of us out in the wind trying to get  them high and higher and higher! We had our share of broken ones and sad or angry faces.

January 2013 Dolls in PJs?

Wow, its been 2 months since I posted. It is  the Holidays fault this time especially since my decision was to decorate a little this year. Now its time to take it all down and with so much snow outside I don't wish to go out to the shed to get storage tubs. Maybe I will wait until Valentines day but there may be even more snow by then. Oh well, excuses, excuses. I have been busy working on many little heads and just recently have them ready for their little clothes. They all look like they are in PJs. This is another fun part. I painted faces on all but one (Marmot husband or boyfriend) so it may show me a little more of their personality helping me to choose their costumes.  Can't wait to get started but guess the dishes need to be done so we can have lunch. It would be so nice if we didn't have to eat, theres just to much work involved just to eat, and eat again and again. It would be nice to just work on dolls and nothing else. Its almost noon (skip lunch) so I better get over to my little room and get started. Happy New Year everyone!