Ursula, Queen of the Trolls

The cloth doll group to which I belong, the Cloth-a-Dollics, had a challenge to make a doll with the theme "in the forest".  My mind immediately went to Arley Berryhill's "Troll Queen" doll.  I knew that I could turn her into a forest troll but Arley's pattern was not yet available!

What to do.  No problem I decided to forge ahead and use Arley's "Fairy Godmother" pattern and make adjustments.  I made the head using Akira Blount's technique.  The doll is fully wired and all cloth with lots and lots of fun beading.  Enjoy!

Her staff is made from aluminum foil wrapped in plaster cloth and painted.

Details on the from of her skirt

As of last week Arley now has a pattern for the troll queen!

Alice in Wonderland Teapot

In my previous post, I mentioned the "Alice in Wonderland" teapot that I made a year ago for a club challenge.  In the challenge we were given a fat quarter of brown printed fabric and the theme was to make a teapot.  I immediately thought of Alice in Wonderland and knew I would be using some of Karen Shifton's patterns for Alice and the Mad Hatter. 

The concept was mine: a teapot with Alice and friends on top.  Flowers and teacups. Somewhere nearby would be the Cheshire cat and the march hare of course.  The result was a lot of fun.  Here it is:  

 The brown fabric is in the middle of the teapot and forms the door for the march hare.

Wizard of Oz

A very special lady asked me to make her a tribute to the "Wizard of Oz" as a teapot ensemble similar to my "Alice in Wonderland" teapot.  I was happy to oblige and I am very pleased with the final result.

I started with the idea of the teapot: I wanted a green teapot with the yellow brick road and the field of poppies featured. I made the top of the teapot as the poppy field using my embellisher, crocheted and felted poppies and embroidery.  On the back of the teapot was Emerald city of course:

Toto is featured trying to enter the door of the emerald city.  Notice that the handle is the rainbow (made of felt).  You cannot see it in the picture but there is a metal door to enter the city and behind the door is the US postage stamp issued of "Dorothy and Toto". Dorothy's friends are all featured as is one member of the Lollipop Guild:  This is a pattern from the Cheswick Company.

Here are some closeups of the tin man, lion and scarecrow (all adaptations of patterns).  The teapot is my original idea and pattern as is Dorothy's house that fell on the wicked witch of the east.

Overall, the piece is full of colour and whimsy.  The flowers around the yellow brick road are all hand crocheted.  It was so much fun to make!