So the plan was...........

So the plan was to make a heap of dolls and sell them at the Hahndorf Doll Show. Well, the show is next weekend, and somehow, I have not managed to get one doll finished!! I have lots of heads, arms, legs, bodies and quite a few dolls - but nothing finished. And now I have run out of time. This week I must get my house in order for the guests that will be arriving for my son's wedding on the 9th April.
I am really looking forward to the wedding - I just wish I could get things organised.
 I need a miracle.....

Heads, arms, legs
What I have realised is that my heads are a bit narrow, so I have had to add to the sides, to make them look softer.

 Now the face on the left looks too  cartoonish to me, so I have had to take off her eyes and do them over. 

Surprisingly, it is much improved!

 

So here I am still in progress, and run out of time.

Stay tuned to see what happens. 

 I may end up at the show with some of my old, old, old creations...

Change

I like a change of scenery. And when it comes to my blog, I think it should look interesting and cute. I am still trying to work out how to change some of the elements, so bear with me if things get a bit mixed up. I am not that good with changing things in blogger - but I sure do like to try!

Last days of Summer

 I have to share these pictures with you.  I don't like to post unless I have pictures.  Well, I haven't progressed very far with dolls, so...............because it has been such a beautiful Summer, and these are the last days - Autumn starts in March..............   But these are the transitional days, and they are warm, with light breezes and cool nights and crisp mornings. 
My DH and I try to walk every day, and when we do, this is where we go.  From our street, we walk down to the beach and along this path.  Sometimes we go right to the Jetty, (in the opposite direction)   other times we just walk around the caravan park (and Fort).  This first picture is of the Surf Life Saving club - nothing like Baywatch...............


This walking path has little paths through the sand dunes that lead to the waters edge.  My DH doesn't like walking on the sand - it aggravates his knees - I love to walk along the waters edge, and on hot days, without shoes, splash through the water.  There are millions of tiny shells, little starfish, cuttlefish bones and tiny crabs......and these weird jellyfish that look like giant transparent beans that squish through your toes when you step on them..........

We are fascinated with the rabbits that live in the sand dunes.  They hop around the sea grass, and burrow into the sand (how they do this I don't understand - sand collapses and yet they have burrows!) We sometimes see them skidding down the small dunes.......

This is the best picture I could get of one little rabbit - I circled him in the picture.  There were 2 others, but they hopped away and my camera wasn't fast enough.

Next to the Caravan park, there is a Fort, you can see the cannon on the hill.  We have never toured the Fort (we have lived down the street for the last 15 years! but never investigated it)  There is also a tiny train that runs parallel to the path that takes childern (& adlults) from the Semaphore Jetty to the Fort.  It is a lovely ride for little ones and you must always wave to the train as it passes.  It goes all weekend through the Summer, and on holiday weekends through the year.

This is a common site, lots of dog walkers, even horses get exercised in the water, you see their hoof marks in the sand most mornings.  Mondays, after a weekend of football the local team come and exercise in the water. If I was a morning person I would time this more accurately - you get it, a bunch of muscular, fit  footballers in their swimmers getting wet....

Back to the sign - if you look closely, you will see a snake sign!  I have never seen a snake in the sand.  I once met a sleepy lizard which scared the pants off me!! (Lucky the footballers weren't around  :-o !!) I guess there might be snakes - aren't rabbits their favourite food?

Malcolm is heading toward the playground.  The council have also installed exercise equipment - small stepper machines, leg presses and stationary cycles!

Noonies the Icecreamery.  If you look closely you will see some people having coffee under the verandah.  (And my shadow on the left!)

All Summer you can buy fish and chips, drinks, Icecreams and hot dogs.  In Winter Noonies is open only on the weekends.  There are always people at the beach, and an icecream in Winter is still a treat.

This is my favourite picture.  This is my first sight as I cross the road to start my walk on the beach.  When I walk over that mound of sand, the water is sometimes lapping at the edge of the dunes.  Early morning, the sun is behind me.

I do like living so close to the beach.

Presenting Lady Emily

This is the clay over cloth doll I made a while ago.  She has a clay face and a painted body.  I really like her, but she is not quite there.  I will make sculpted hands and legs as in the previous post

I really rushed to do this next dolly.  She is a little bit prim, but not enough I think.  I'm not sure where she fits in doll making.  I would really like to try a Queen Anne Doll - actually I like  the Christine LeFever  interpretation of these types of dolls.
I have not actually finished her clothing and she needs some lace and trims on her dress to make her look more appealing.  The hat ribbon is too heavy I think.  So this girl will take a little more work to look good enough to sell.

 

Here is a Barbara Willis doll.  Her name is Forget Me Not Fairy (I think :-) (nearly forgot!)

She has been waiting for her clothing for over 18 months.  I would like to finish her and sell her at the Hahndorf Doll Show coming up in April.  A friend and I will have a stall there and I need to make some dolls to sell!  I thought it would give me an incentive to make dolls, but I am struggling to find the time of course!But I am trying, so I have a few heads underway, and arms and legs...............

Now I have something to show you!

I started with a foil skull and neck

 Rolled out the paperclay and smoothed it over

I have not worried about the back of the head, but you should sculpt a nice shaped  head to get a more realistic shape!

        I love chopsticks - I use them for necks, for stuffing, for armatures. 
Here I have used them for shaping and the size of the leg and arms. 

I have some 'vintage' wooden chopsticks - seriously 30 years old! -  I like them because they are very tapered at the tip.

  I have made cupped palms for the hands

Adding clay

I use may hairdryer to speed up the drying

 Adding fingers

Adding clay to the face.  The head has already been baking for a few hours prior to this. 

 It is a much better way to add features.  Things stay put.

Baking, baking, baking for hours and hours and hours

My dolly is coming together

Here she is!

What do you think?

Finally I have had some time to do this.......

Now, this is really a bit of a cheat................I  have just shown pictures of a doll that I made last year.

I don't seem to have shown this doll at all!  I took progress pictures as I made her, and did not share this with you!  So now I have given you a glimpse of her, I will post her picture soon.  I am changing direction at the moment, and trying to decide what size doll I enjoy making, and just what style I want to do.  So, once I have worked that out....................

New Year - New Dolls

No, these are not my new year creations.  These are last years disasters.  It is a sad story.  Just before Christmas, I wanted to make a couple of little mask face dolls.  I bought some buckrum, moulded it onto the doll heads I had, and waited patiently for it all to dry. 

It was all going so well, but.................. when I decided to add some strength, I just decoupaged some paper to the inside of the mask.  I am sure I did that with the little Red Haired Girl . 
Well............. the glued paper did not just stiffen the mask, it added a bulky, lumpy, bumpy change to the smooth surface of the mask.  One mask was so badly affected I prised the decoupage off and ended up with a shapeless stretched out piece of buckram.  Not happy.
And I had started on the bodies and all.......................  So then Christmas came and all that socialising, and family and friends, and then New Year and all that socialising and family and friends.  But, I know I have to try again to make these dollies.  So in the next few days, I will need to go into my studio and pull out all those bits I had started on, and try, try again...........

Happy New Year To All

Happy New Year 2011
I did not take my camera to the fireworks display, so I have (borrowed) a photo.  I would not like to upset anyone by stealing their image and claiming it as mine, but I wanted to show you the small carnival we have on Summer nights. I googled this image, I guess you could google it too - thankyou to the person who took such a great photo of our little seaside secret.