I spent the last 8 days sick with a head cold from you know where. I didn’t accomplish anything accept single-handedly boosting the January profits for tissue suppliers. Other than that, I’ve been working on my pin doll samples for the final All Dolls Are Art class to be announced for 2012. My partner in crime, Theresa, is also hard at work on hers’. We should be ready to unveil early next week on the website, but in the mean time, here’s a sneak peak.
I posted the pink angel in my last post. I completed the turquoise one, taking a more minimalist approach to the design.
Last but not least is the Seahorse, which I started and finished this evening!
If you are interested in learning to make dolls, we have a variety of classes available at ADAA from a world class faculty. The conference is July 26-29, in Austin, TX. For all of the details, check out our website or our Facebook Page! You can also see photo’s of the class samples on Pinterest!
Tags: ADAA, All Dolls Are Art 2012, classes, Dolls, Pin Dolls, Pinterest
I have been working on a very late birthday present up until Friday, when I decided to do my end of year (yeah, I do the end of year stuff in January) filing, which was preceded by needing desperately to clean. This urge was, of course, precipitated by my inability to find something…. I need a better organizational system. The archeological method isn’t working for me. So, Saturday was devoted to a few errands and cleaning and watching the playoff’s. The weather was beautiful, the way it is rarely before we get the next cold front blowing through. I know, Texas doesn’t really get cold, cold fronts, but this one was supposedly an arctic blast. Whenever one of these fronts starts dipping down, it drags moisture up from the gulf, which, IF WE ARE VERY LUCKY, results in a little bit of rain. The big thing it does, is make everything cloudy and gloomy. So, Saturday was a great picture day, if I hadn’t been cleaning that is. I did take a few minutes to snap these wise guys on my tree. I can almost see them “Hey, you! You wanna piece of me? Huh? You wanna piece of me?”. I think that obscure reference is from the Animaniacs, but I honestly can’t remember.
Sunday morning, I woke up with a very sore throat and a head-cold. That’s what I get for telling the girl at the hospital (long story short, sat in the ER with my Dad for a loose screw – his) that I never get sick…. I’m not getting the last laugh… So, not working on the present, because I’m not giving the recipient his germs back… Yeah, he was out Friday sick; so I’m guessing he’s the donor of the germs. Anyway, I slowly poked through cleaning up the paint studio. Again, watched the playoffs, but the first game was so bad that I spent more time in the studio than out.
I finally got space cleared enough that I could work and decided to try out a vague idea for a pin doll. Even in my mentally challenged state, I came up with this pretty little girl.
I’m trying her out as an idea for a class, but am also thinking of listing her in my Etsy shop. She was a lot of fun, especially as I got to play with the Sizzix die-cuts and embossing folders.
She is made from some small wood pieces, grunge board, copper wire and copper sheet metal, fibers, beads, pearls and is backed with felt and has a pin attached. She’s almost 7” from wing tip to wing tip and is 5” tall. I’m really happy with how she turned out! I was thinking V-day when I came up with the color scheme, but I really like copper with reddish tones. Of course, I love turquoise with copper too. May have to make another one with turquoise!
Tags: Birds, Creating, Etsy, Grunge board, painting, Photography, Pin Dolls, Sizzix, Valentines Day
I finished the second Kate’s Party Doll, this one is going to my mom. She had a couple of refinements that make her easier to construct, so she would have gone together faster, if not for the pattern writing that was interspersed with the doll making! I got the doll and the pattern finished as well as completing the pattern for Corazon I, so they are both now on Etsy.
Speaking of Etsy, I received an email earlier this week letting me know that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon and that Mercadriel had been featured in an Etsy Treasury. I have grand plans to get a couple more dragons done this year. We’ll see!
Next up for me is a body for a head. 
I am making bodies for the heads that elinor gifted me. The completed pieces will go to a friend and co-worker who instantly claimed the heads as his own.
Tags: AnLiNa Designs, Art Dolls, Art Quilts, Etsy, Heads, Patterns, Year of the Dragon
My time off is almost at an end as the New Year begins. It’s a bittersweet moment. I did not accomplish as much as I would have liked, but spent time with my family, and enjoyed every minute of it.
I spent this last weekend working hard on website updates and patterns. I finally finished Modron’s pattern and got it posted to Etsy. The Goddess of Fall was actually completed soon after Christmas, but I didn’t get back to her pattern until Thursday. She’s such a lovely doll. I am very happy with the way she turned out.
I also started another Kate’s Party Doll, this one for my mother, who was as enchanted with the first one as I was. I’m doing the pattern for this one as I go along. It’s a fast doll to put together, as I said in the midst of the last one. I would have finished it today, if I hadn’t been writing instructions at the same time.
Actually, I would have finished her, if I’d not spent most of the morning finishing the updates to my website that I planned to get done. I have Modron up, as well as Alvan, the Gypsy Queen, Count to Ten, the Nutcracker, and Kate’s Party Doll. I did not get the Monkey commission’s page up yet, nor my quilt from Stretching Art and Tradition this year. Actually, I think I’m a couple of years behind there. Anyway, it was a busy weekend, but now I have to go back to work at my day job and back to part time on my artistic endeavors. The cats are going to be disappointed that I’m not at their beck and call all day!
Tags: Cloth Doll Design, Cloth Dolls, Dolls, Modron, Patterns, Seasons of Goddesses, Silly Dolls
In between running around shopping for groceries, errands for my mother, and a visit to the farmers market, I’ve been working on the last Christmas present, my nephew’s Nutcracker. From such a humble beginning, he emerged to be a handsome guy. I have to give credit to Diane Keeler, who’s class on constructing Cloche Hats I’m enrolled in and the lessons from which I applied to make my hat. This is the second class I’ve taken from Diane over at Adele’s Sciortino’s A for Artistic website. I highly recommend the experience!
So, here’s the unveiling.
This doll is another without an armature. I need to make some changes to his body, but after which and some simplifications, I’ll be producing a pattern.
I’m very pleased with the end result, even though some of the intermediate steps had scary results!
Doesn’t he look regal?
I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope that the holiday season is one full of warmth, family, love, and joy.
Peace, Joy, and Love to All on Earth!
Tags: A is for Artistic, Cloth Dolls, Diane Keeler, Hats, Nutcracker, soft sculpture
