This is my Frankenstein doll....

There is no other way to say it.  She has a reject body without arms or head.

Not the clearest image, but you get the idea.  So the idea is I am making a doll for the Craft show here in Adelaide next week.  Now the theme is Musicals, which I assume is like 7 brides for 7 brothers or the Phantom of the Opera?  So I decided Baz Leurhman's Moulin Rouge would be an appropriate choice.  So then I had to find a doll idea.  Well there was a costume called Pink Campagne which was beaded and all ostrich feathers - perfect for a doll. 

So I have this reject body, which needs a head and arms.  But I am too lazy to make new arms, I knew I had some arms somewhere, hopefully they will be to scale........................
Then there is the head.  This is for the Cloth Doll Association, so she has to be cloth, so I decided to make a head.  A Barbara Willis style head would be good, all sculpted and cloth..................Well.............. you always should make more than
one head......................

Well, I thought I did a great job of  sculpting the head.
I even managed to add eylash wool for eyelashes.
But.................... the eyes were too small, and so was the head for the body.  So I had to make another head!!

But like Goldilocks, this one was too big and did not look very good.  My thing is mask faces, so of course I will have to find a mask face to make a whole new head!

And you know I did have a rather nice face that I could use, and I did find those arms, and I still have to make shoes, which I think will have to be sculpted from paperclay, because the Frankenstein feet are so out of shape..........................

Stay tuned to see the next episode of the Frankenstein doll alias - Pink Campagne!

Where do old dolls go?

I decided to add a couple of pictures of my early dolls, that I may not have shown.
This one is a pattern doll from Sherry Goshon, it is one of the first mask face dolls I made.  She turned out quite well, but she is nothing like the pattern that Sherry did.
 (When I have more time I will add the links, it's a bit late at the moment.)

This is another mask face doll created by Leslie Molen.  The pattern is The Gossips.

Now here is Moxie.  Another mask face doll which I had the pleasure of making in a class with Susie McMahon.  Again, she is nothing like Susie's Moxie, but at least I did finish her.  Often with workshops, if you don't finish the doll on the day - she becomes a UFO and then it takes forever to get back in the mood to finish.

You will be shocked to hear that the first 2 dolls have been dis-assembled.  I feel bad about doing this, but the challenge is in making the doll - then what do you do with it?  It can sit on a shelf for forever, with all the other dolls that come along.  You might be saying sell them on ebay, but you know, because they are another artists design, you often cannot 'sell their work' and as I have designed my own dolls now, they are not really my dolls, they are someone elses vision.  So the sad fact is that a lot of my dolls have been dis-assembled.  Many.  And there are currently a few more hovering over the bin.  So if you think I am wrong in doing this, you are welcome to suggest an alternative.  The more dolls I make, the more they change and some of these old dolls just don't belong anymore, and sadly are just not good enough to sell.

Hannie Sarris

I have just found out that we have lost Hannie Sarris.   I beleive she passed away in May of this year The pictured bust is called sadness and it is a recent work.  Hannie had for the past couple of years been doing workshops teaching her sculpting method in air dry clay.  When you visit the web site have a look at the wonderful dolls her students made.  I am devastated, especially since I bought her book

I learnt so much from her clear pictures and instructions.  Her dolls are beautiful.  I am ashamed to say I have lost her book.  I have a terrible feeling I put it out with the recycling.  I have searched hi and lo and with all the shifting from room to room and going through my stuff......................it is definitely gone.  And now Hannie is gone and there will never be that workshop to go to.

This quote I found on  Annadan  - the translation from russian is a little wonky......
I know that angels are all around us,
we go through life "the way" and are confronted with them at every turn.
Books that we read
The colors that we see
All information that passes through us
and we are through it - all is the manifestation of Angels,
manifestation in all - the main thing to feel.

The more things change the more they stay the same......

Surprise!  I could not stay away from my blog.  Even though I have not been making any dolls - well actually I did make these................but I will elaborate on that later...........
I just need to put something out there, I guess as a personal journal - although the whole world can see it if they choose - not that personal?
Anyway, I just have not had the time or inclination to make dolls.  Remember I moved into this terrific new space, and I had room to do workshops and blah blah blah.  WELL, I decided my creativity was stifled in that part of the house - it was too removed from the living areas and I would walk in and walk straight out again unable to pick up a piece of work!  There are so many UFO's that I could just quietly work on to finish - but nothing!
Soooooooooo - I am moving back into my tiny workroom.  Malcolm refuses to put any shelves on the wall, and the storage is all on one wall, not quite how I had it before.

So now I will see if I do get to make a doll in this space.  In November there is a craft show here in Adelaide and the theme is Musicals - so I will make a Moulin Rouge type doll, because I promised a friend I would make something.
A few weeks ago, there was a doll show in the southern suburbs and I found this.......................

When I was little, my dad would get books from the second hand shops, I remember reading the Rupert annuals.  I loved Rupert.  He was such a helpful friend - not as silly as Pooh bear (but I still liked Pooh bear too).
Many years ago I found a small Rupert bear in a shop here in Adelaide, but I did not buy it because I thought it was too expensive.  So when I saw this one, I had to have him, he is about 14"  (45cm) and compared to the little one (20years ago) he was a good price.
So, let's see if I can get something made in between all the work I have now I am working full time for my husband.
Also, I have come to a decision about my doll making.  I will no longer make or sell doll patterns.  As much as it is a great little sideline to earn money from this craft, I just don't want to do it anymore.  I don't actually want to teach either!  I still want to explore my own methods and create a distinctive style - which I do not have- so any dolls I make now will be just art.  I am a doll artist or figurative artist or whatever...........I am still trying to find my way, so teaching others is not really logical.  What do you think?