Look What Susie did!

I have so wanted to make time to update this blog, but I have been a bit busy and quite ill with a flu.  But I am better now, and I have something to show you......

Well, as you may have gathered Susie McMahon visited Adelaide in a week that flew by, and now another week has flown by since she left!  But I was fortunate enough to have Susie stay with me, and in her quiet manner she gently nudged me to spend some time on doll making.
She is a brilliant talent, and when she found a forlorn stray unfinished dolly she said "I can fix her problem. I'll do that for you when I have a moment.."  ... and she did.  Just look at this beautiful face

Now this is not a very good photo at all.  (I seem to have moved my camera to the new office, so it is somewhere in an unpacked box.)  But you should have seen this sad little misshapen head before Susie worked on it.  This was a mask face doll that was glued a bit wonky (to say the least) and quite a lumpy bumpy face.  Yet when Susie painted her face this ugly duckling turned into a swan and she is the sweetest little thing.  Now I have to dress her and finish her - isn't that the sort of inspiration we all need sometimes?

As for inspiration, well you have seen the photos of the workshop dolls coming together.  Because I was quite unwell on the workshop day, I didn't progress very far, however...........................

look at this........................

From this.....to this.........

I just started to do a little at a time. 

(I learnt this mind set in sales training - it's called the Salami method, where you have a big job to do and just start to slice it into small bits to get through it)

One morning before work, I just mixed some acrylic paint and watered it down and then brushed it all over the body.  I was able to leave it all day while I was at work and then I decided to glue the muslin to the head.

I left a bit loose to go around the chest and then just glued the whole thing to the body.

Left it to the next day and decided she should have muslin hair and her little chest cavity should also be lined with muslin.

Once I started to shred the muslin into hairy lengths, I thought just a bit of PVA glue would help the tresses twist and stay in place.  This all sort of evolved as I looked at what the next step should be.  The doll really does create herself.  The Muse is absolutely the right name for her. I really needed a Muse.

So thank you Susie, I thought I would never have time to think about dolls, but it seems I do!