Kate Church Workshop

I was fortunate enough to coincide my trip to Toronto with one of Kate Church's workshops!  I took a three day class with Kate learning her technique to sculpt a head, hands, shoes/feet.  She also teaches how to put the doll together with internal armature.  

There were 12 of us in her class and it was wonderful.    Most of us did not know each other, but what we had in common was a love for Kate Church's work!  Kate is not only a magnificent doll maker but an amazing and patient teacher who is so generous with her techniques.  I am sharing some pictures of our works in progress.  Once I finish my doll(s) I will post the pictures.  I took pictures of heads/dolls in progress but I forgot to take pictures of my own dolls!  Enjoy! If you get the chance, I would highly recommend Kate Church as a teacher, check out her blog and website. I apoligize in advance if I misspelled anyone's name or mixed up the dolls.  I was concentrating so hard on my work that I did not learn everyone's name!

Fashion gal in progress by Foun-Lee who took the workshop with her sister.

Biker in progress.  I think by Alison.

Cool goblin in progress.  I think by Wendy.

Doll in progress.  I think this belongs to Carla.

Funky doll in progress by Gaye.  She was there with her daughter!

Doll in progress by Catherine.

Too cute guy in progress by Catherine.

The butler in progress.  I think by Lisa.

Adorable.

Cool character in progress.  I think this is Trish's.

Wee mouse in progress by Yelena.

Wise mystic in progress by Foun-Lee's sister.

Catherine and her guy.

Gaye and her funky gal.

Wendy and her cool goblin.

Mystic magic.

Funky character in progress.

Arellya's doll in progress.  Inspired by Cirque de Soleil.

Arellya's doll with her costume, waiting for her balloons.  

Here are some of Kate's dolls which she brought for us to see during the workshop.  You can see why we love her work!

Christine Shively Doll

Our doll club was very fortunate to have doll maker Christine Shively teach "Dress Rehersal" and "Rainbow of Chaos" last fall.  Before taking her classes I decided to make one of her earlier patterns using paper collage.  In order to make the doll a little bit easier I enlarged the pattern by twenty percent.  I added paper flowers using pages from old books. I used crackle medium over the fabric body to give an "aged" appearance. I am very pleased with the result.

Here is the result of the two classes I took with Christine Shively, "Dress Rehersal" and "Rainbow of Chaos".  Christine is an excellent teacher who shares so many techniques and tips with her students.  Her face painting techniques produces beautiful faces every time!

"Dress Rehersal"  She showed us how to make the presentation box.

Rainbow of Chaos

Sock Doll Challenge

Last fall our local cloth doll club, the Cloth-a-Dollics, had a sock doll challenge.  I wanted to make some cool animals.  I finally decided on a cat and a fox.  The cat was made with a white sport sock and a black sport sock.  I decided the cat needed a wee mouse so I used a gray baby sock for the mouse.

The fox was made with a rust coloured hiking sock, a white sport sock and a black sport sock.  I then decided that I wanted to make him steam punk and so I used a plaid tie and made him a vest and a matching hat.  The tail is made with tibetian goat hair.  I  used a metal zipper for his smile.  Enjoy!

In addition to dolls made from socks, I also made a doll wearing socks.  The inspiration came from the book titled "The Sock Fairy" by BC novelist  Bobbie Hinman.  The pattern of the little fairy (minus all the embellishments) is by Sarah Clarke.  I knitted the sock that the fairy is holding and I made the mouse from felt.                  .