I have just spent 4 days doing the newsletter for our doll group. It is more time consuming than I remember, but I am very fussy about the format and layout, so it takes ages to get it just right. It seems to satisfy a creative mental need whereas dolls satisfy my physical need. I haven't posted a picture of my Impossible Princess so here she is.............

She is a mask face doll. I intend to do a workshop on her in the new year. It is such a busy time at the moment and with Nathan's wedding just weeks away, not many dolls will be made. I have so many things on the go right now - I was going to release the Princess (and frog) pattern ,

while I am still designing the trapunto face and body for the Fairy Godmother - all of these to be patterns.

Then I think, well maybe I should just make dolls and sell them on Ebay, it would be so much easier. I am going away for the weekend so it mayhit me as to what I really want to do. Design and sell patterns, sculpt fairies, do clay over cloth, sell at craft fairs, sell on ebay, teach workshops................ oh boy...................I can do this - I just am not sure what this is!

Patti Culea

In my last post I hinted that we had a special guest at our doll group meeting. It was Patti Culea! She was able to offer a couple of workshops while visiting our part of the country. I was not able to attend the doll making workshop and because it was Father's Day on the next workshop I could only stay a short while (my boys wanted to have a BBQ with their dad).

I would have liked to have made the paper doll the girls embellished on the day. I LOVED paper dolls when I was little and am still fascinated with them. Patti's was the prettiest fairy which could be embellished with tyvek, angelina and embroidery tecniques. I have the pattern, so when I have time I will try to make her, she is such a sweet fairy.

Anyway........Patti was the sweetest lady. She is tiny, probably 4' nothing (Australian expression......) and was just so nice to talk to. She made time to mingle with the ladies and talked about the dolls and was genuinely interested in what we could do. Her comments were very kind, she said our dolls were better than some she had seen at the Houston Shows. We did excel ourselves with our display, and there were a lot of entusiatic dollmakers who brought a doll for Patti to judge. I do not know who won because I left early - not me had to take my doll and run...............but I will find out shortly.

Now Suzette tells me I am such a groupie and I am a bit for rubbing shoulders with famous faces, so I took my Patti Culea books for her to sign and she graciously put in a personal messge in both. I was so pleased, little things like that mean a lot to me, becuase when I am 99 and can't do stuff anymore at least I can sit and look at all my stuff and see I did meet some great people and had a great time learning from some very talented artists. Well that's my plan anyway, I still have lots of artists to meet!

Leslie Molen - The Gossip

I recently sent away for the CD to make "The Gossips" by Leslie Molen. I learn so much from doll makers, each pattern or even photo I see gives me so much to work with.

I admire the giving nature of doll makers and I will share a pattern on this site very soon. I am still getting used to adding information and finding free space. I will be expanding my picturetrail so that may be my best option.

In the meantime take a look at this lady. I actually made her some bread and a cheese to go in her basket after I took this shot. she came with me to meet a famous doll maker who has been visiting Adelaide......................I'll tell you about that tomorrow!

New Spoon Doll

Well after last weeks episode when Gordon was sold I decided to look at the spoon doll technique again and try a Santa doll. Here is the result............


I am so pleased! This is such an easy way to make a Santa.
I would love to submit the pattern into one of the magazines and have tried to contact Australian Dolls Bears and Collectibles - but to no avail. After 2 phone calls and 3 emails - no follow up. I have been trying since February to submit. Obviously they consider me to be a dipstick. I am really upset about this. So I am going to push it and be annoying. It just makes me wonder if it is worth it. I don't beleive I am not good enough, I haven't even been given a chance. Anyway I have another trick up my sleeve - let's see if this works......................

Gordon

Last week I was contacted by a collector who had purchased one of my previous polymer clay dolls. That doll was made by a method I discovered on the website of the fabulous Jill Willich
http://www.studiowillich.com/
Jill creates spoon dolls which are types of goblins and fairies sculpted over wooden spoons. She has a turorial on her site and being the creature I am, I tried her technique. My first goblin fellow was Fergus, who caught a fish. I have no photo of him but he had a lot of character and was very likeable, hence he sold rather quickly. The second character I made was gordon and he told me he loved to collect rocks..........


I didn't think he was going to ever be sold and out of the blue this wonderful lady contacts me and wants to purchase him. So Gordon has been sold, and now I am thinking about making more of this type of doll. I make Santas and I will attempt to create a pattern for one and see how it goes. Anyway here are more pictures of Gordon.......

South Australian Doll & Bear Show

Well I did my best........I was given information at very short notice we (the cloth doll club) could have a free space at what I consider the best show for dolls, bears and collectors in Adelaide. As you can see it was only one trestle table and fortunatley many of my dollmaking friends supplied their favourite dolls. There is a very special dinner with an auction that raises funds for a childrens' charity which is such a good night, music, three course dinner, dancing and of course the auction which is so much fun I always come home with lovely teddy bears.

I will post a pic later.

Naturally, there is a competiton as well for dolls and bears. I decided to enter a doll which had been patiently waiting in my studio for clothing for 12 months. She just came together when I decided to enter the comp and as you can see she won best original doll and best original in the show! She is sculpted from air dry clay with an armatured body. Her little marionette is wood. I am very pleased. I even won some money ($100) - which I promptly spent at the show. It was a good weekend and such a great opportunity to showcase what can be done with cloth to make character dolls.

cloth doll group

Well, today was AGM for the Fabric of Society doll group here in South Australia.
I put my hand up to do the newsletter, which may well take up more time than I thought, but I need to start to be more interactive with other dollmakers. Doll making and design can be very solitary work. It is actually good to socialise with like minded people who can encourage and inspire you. The doll group has been in a bit of a rut lately. Not many members bring in show and tell and there seems to be a move toward other crafts like beading and mixed media techniques. Being a mixed media artist I accept that those skills are what can make a doll wow - but it is really the doll that is the star - not the amount of stuff you can stick on it. I just want to see some enthusiasm for dolls and all the different types of dolls that can be made. That is just my two cents worth today. In the meantime I am psyching myself up to do a workshop in my home studio. I have a lot of work to do between now and Xmas and start planning for next year. I need to come out of the shadows and show my work, because I think I have found my style and medium, but if no-one sees it why do it? I think dolls can give a lot of pleasure and many times my dolls have made me smile with their quirky personalities. Even just holding a dolly in your arms is a comfort thing that must take you back to childhood days............ I love dolls. I plan to make lots more..............

Early work

Another early work that

I wanted to release as a
pattern but it seems

there is a plethora of witches
out there.

I may list her on ebay

with a few other early works

that may find happy homes.

Little character dolls

Here are some killed projects that never really made it. They are polymer and made from commercial molds. All are less than 10'' high and I liked them, but they never sparked any interest from the public so now they are "in the artist's private collection".

I have no body..............

A clay sculpt I worked on around Xmas last year. A work in progress that never got finished.

Well I have been in excruciating pain from a pinched nerve in my shoulder. I finally decided to see the chiropractor and lo and behold he fixed it. I am feeling much better. I haven't worked on any of my projects for a while and I get withdrawl so I will get back to it tomorrow.........

Little Lottie

Here is Little Lottie - at this stage she has a weak chin so I will adjust this and get her ready for painting. I find this process very scary.............I feel like I don't know what I am doing, I just want to try this technique. As soon as this doll is finished I will have to start another to just get my confidence up that it works.......

Polly and her dolly

When I made this doll she looked so forlorn, I actually painted
the rims of her eyes red because she looked so upset.
She is Miss Polly with a sick dolly.

Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick sick sick

So she rang for the doctor to come quick quick quick

The doctor came with his bag and his hat

And he knocked on the door with a rat-tat-tat-tat

He looked at the dolly and he shook his head

He said Miss Polly put her straight to bed

He wrote on a paper for a pill pill pill

I'll be back in the morning with my bill bill bill

Princess

This is my version of the Princess and the frog. I planned to release her as a pattern, but I am not sure if there are too many princesses out there kissing frogs. She is a mask face doll, cloth over clay. What do you think?

Aliyah

This is my doll named Aliyah. She is a pattern that comes as cloth only or clay over cloth.

It creates 2 entirely different looking dolls in one pattern.

clay over cloth

This is a picture of my current doll painted and dressed.
She has a little sister that I am working on, waiting for the clay to dry.

First Post

Well here I am with a blank page ready for me to share things I am doing at the moment. I plan to enter info about what I am working on, and what I am interested in. I like seeing pics of peoples work spaces too so I will upload some pics of my workspace soon.