Kate Church at Blue Moon Winery

What a wonderful week I have had in Courtney BC with fellow doll makers taking a Kate Church 5 day workshop!

Barb and I took walks before breakfast  by the Puntlege River

There were seven of us from the Victoria doll club (Cloth-a-dollics) in a group of twelve.  Marla of Blue Moon Winery was a wonderful hostess and provided a great space with yummy lunches and snacks every day (from a local chef).

Here are some scenes of the venue:

Rosie the sweet "guard" dog.

Table set for our Thursday night banquet in the backyard of the winery.

Kate was an excellent teacher giving us step by step instructions on sculpting the head in polymer clay and giving us individual attention as needed.

Here is the start of my two heads.

Now they have mouths.

Examples of other heads-similar but all different!

Makeup is used for adding colour to the wet heads.

Kate's demo doll in progress

Hands, feet and ear.

Shoe demo-so much fun.

Heads coloured and ready for the oven (250-275F for 30 min)

I knew that one of the dolls I wanted to make was a Pipi Longstocking character.  I have always loved this Swedish story about an adventurous little girl with red pigtails and a pet monkey!  I was so pleased with the final result:

Pipi (titled Monkey and Me)

Here she is with her cloth monkey (made by me).

I covered the base with fabric and crocheted orange flowers.

I loved making Pipi's costume with her coloured mis-matched stockings, big, floppy shoes, frock full of patches and her red hair with pigtails sticking out (wired to stay in place).  The doll is all polymer clay with an internal armature so enable the pose.  The clothing is fabric and the hair is mohair locks.  The monkey was made using upholstery fur with hand colouring details.

Next post I will show my second doll that is a slimmer doll with a floppy "pellet" filled body.  I will also show some of the other student's work in progress.

Pipe says good-bye for now.