Black and White Challenge

Our doll club, the Cloth-a-dollics has a new challenge that is due tomorrow: create a cloth doll piece using only black and white and one colour.

For this challenge, I wanted to try something different, a primitive or "Prim" design so I chose a wonderful design by "Pixies Thimble" Etsy shop.  I did two dolls of course, in honour of Canada's 150 birthday: so black and white and red

They are quite large, at 21" seated and so have quite the presence.  I just loved making them.  I used a plain cotton fabric for the face and body and then used acrylic paint and markers for the details.  The arms and legs are make of cotton fabrics in black and white as are the clothes.  The colour I choose, of course was red in honour of the Canadian flag.

I was so thrilled with this fun project that I promptly made more "prim" animals once again using Pixie Thimble's designs.

First the sweet elephant, ready for her party:

 Next is the Froggie that is going "courting":

 Last, but with more to come, is the brown bunny that wants to show off his rather large radish: 

I had great fun using my cotton fabrics for the outfits and my acrylic paints to make sure the critters were just right in their features.

I want to use these techniques to make some Christmas ornaments in this "prim" style for something different than my usual (I will make my usual felt ornaments as well though!).

Bye for now.

Mysterious Fashionista

The Cloth-a-dollics are having a doll challenge this September called "Mood".  Since I am going to Toronto for vacation and will not be back until the week of the doll club meeting I decided to make my doll now.

I decided on which mood I wanted and I choose "mysterious".  Now I have always wanted to make a fashionista doll asI love, love watching Project Runway.  I remembered a "haute couture" gown made by Mondo Guerra in Season 8 (I think) of Project Runway that I loved.  I googled the gown and started collecting appropriate fabrics:

I choose the fabrics (I did make one change as you will see).  The colours are true to the original gown.  I used the Arley Berryhill "Candlestick Diva" pattern for the doll and off I went.

Here is the finished face of the doll:

I wanted to try colouring the face with bolder strokes (inspired by the talented Linda Misa) and I used watercolour pencils, art pencils and sigma markers.  I used three different yards for the hair.

To make her "mysterious" I added a hat fascinator that covers part of her face.

As you can see, I substituted the yellow cotton for a silk checked fabric to add more lustre.  
Here is a final close up of the hat I made using bias tape stuffed with pipe cleaners.

Does she look "mysterious" enough?  She is quite tall at about 23" in height without the hat and 26" with the hat.  I had fun making her and hope that she will be enjoyed at the big reveal in mid September.

My Little Cubbyhole Finished

I finished the doll and then decided to knit her a sweater.  Not content, I then embroidered some flowers using silk ribbon on her sweater!  The effect was worth it as  the embroidery picked up on the flowers of her dress.  She may be a sad little girl at times but her granny and mom dress her well. The cubby hole was made by Don Campbell (Cedar Creations on Craigflower Rd in Victoria):

Now she needed her toys surrounding her.  I made her a Raggedy Anne, a "waldorf" style doll, a bunny and a cat.  I also found two perfectly sized teddy bears to add to the tableau.

I think she will be very happy in her cubbyhole and hopefully her parents will stop fighting!

My Little Cubbyhole II

The body for this little girl came together well.  I used a combination of ball joints and traditional joints to pose her in a seated position.  The legs and arms are made from the same cotton knit fabric as the face while the body is calico to prevent it from becoming too "fat" when stuffed firmly.  I used wool batting to stuff both the head and body as I wanted the doll to feel warm to the touch.  Also the wool packs well and is easier to needle sculpt than polyester stuffing.  It makes the doll heavier and for this piece, it works well.

I am pleased with how she is able to sit and her legs can pose as well as he arms.  I found a perfect pair of shoes for this little one in my "stash".  They are real children's shoes, size 2.

I was pondering hair as I want her to be a brunette and I found one wig that was made for her: medium brown with two pigtails and some loose ringlets to frame her sweet face.

Now she needs some clothes.  Back soon!

My Little Cubbyhole

This year at the Coast Collective Art Centre(CC)  in Victoria, BC, similar to last year, there will be an exhibition of poems and their interpretation by various artists.  Last year's event was a great success.

The way it works is that local poets submit their poems and the CC artists choose a poem to illustrate using their medium, be it paint, pencil, sculpture, glass, wood, or fabric.

I participated last year with the poem "The Mushroom Angel" and it was fun to try and make a figurative cloth piece to illustrate what the poem meant to me.

This year I choose the poem, "My Little Cubbyhole" by poet Chris Henry:

This poem touched my heart and I could picture a little girl with pigtails hugging her dolls and stuffed animals after hearing her parents fight.  The tears dried up and she starts to find happiness in her special little cubbyhole with her cuddly friends.

I started the head using the technique I learned last year from NAIDA doll artist, Shelley Thornton:

The head is made with a underlay of thick "fleece type" stretchy fabric that is needle sculpted to bring out the eyes, nose and mouth.  Then the head is covered with a cotton knit fabric and carefully stretched, pinned and then secured to the underlay.  Ears are then added.  I needle felted some wool fleece to the back of her head to get the proper dome shape.

I used acrylic paints, pencil crayons and sigma permanent markers to detail her face.  I then used "Diamond Glaze" to add a tear that had not yet dried.  I am happy with the result so far.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's progress.

Steampunk Mechanic

A while ago (well many months ago) a good friend asked me to make him a Ferrari Mechanic in the "Steampunk" style.  I was up for the challenge.  My friend is a car aficionado and especially loves Ferrari.  He owns one and has a room that is dedicated to his love of this Italian jewel.

When he asked me to make him a doll that would compliment his collection of Ferrari memorabilia, I started thinking of steampunk and mechanical bits that could be used in a doll!  My biggest challenge was keeping the doll to under 14".  I spent a great deal of time looking at photos of Ferrari for inspiration.  As luck would have it, while in Toronto visiting my family, I found a Ferrari car model in red that would be perfect in my piece!

Once I returned to Victoria in May, I assembled my materials and forged ahead (well I did travel for a workshop before I actually started, but this doll was in my thoughts).

I am very happy with Francesco (the new Ferrari Steampunk Mechanic) and he stands only 12" tall!  He wears a medium blue mechanic's outfit that is complimented with steampunk fabric.  Under his jacket he has a fine Italian Merino sweater and an Italian wool vest.  He sports a brown leather pouch and a black felt cap that has the "Ferrari" prancing horse symbol, of course.  He also wears a steampunk magnifier to help him catch fine details in his work.  His boots are black and brown faux leather with steampunk gears:

A close up of his face (I used doe suede for the doll as it is easy to work with and has a natural "olive" tint that would be ideal for this Italian stallion):

A side view with a good look at his funky hair and his special steampunked eye piece magnifier.  His ball cap is felt with stitching in the Italian flag colours:

 The back of this piece shows the mechanics jacket with "Ferrari" spelled out on his back:

Notice that I covered the platform with "Tim Holtz" steampunk fabric.  I used "Sobo" glue to attach the fabric to the base.  I used "Scrabble" game tiles to spell out "FERRARI" on the base:

 Francesco has a leather pouch around his waist to carry additional tools of the trade.  He is holding gears and his boots are also festooned with metal gears!

 I found great metal tools and tool buttons to decorate his jacket.

I hope my friend enjoys his piece and I hope Francesco enjoys his new home among the Ferrari books and Ferrari models!

Analogous Colour Challenge Doll

Our doll club, the Cloth-a-Dollics will reveal the dolls from our recent challenge at the Victoria Quilter's Show this coming May at the Pearkes Arena in Saanich:

As always our Quilt Show Challenge organizer, the one woman dynamo, Charlotte, has arranged for the display and has given us a challenge doll to make that is in concert with the Quilters' challenge:

Make a doll using at least 3 analogous colours plus any skin tone fabric.  The doll must have some sense of motion.

I had to look up the definition for analogous colours:

I decided to use the fabrics in my stash, so I chose the following combination:

Blue-Green/Blue/Blue-Violet/Violet!  (that is four analogous colours and I was set!

I love Alice in Wonderland, as you may already know, so I chose to make the Mad Hatter using Johnny Dep's outfit as the starting point but in a different colour scheme.

I like the way he turned out! Here are his pants and home-made shoes using my colour scheme:

Here is the famous hat with violet and blues: I added buttons and hand-crocheted flowers for interest and texture:

Now for his face:

I just had to keep the orange hair as I had the perfect tibetan lamb wig for him and the orange compliments the purple (hair is exempt from the colour scheme). Notice his funky feather eyelashes in the green.

Now for the rest of the doll (he sits about 16" tall on his wicker chair.  I just had to use my sweater pieces in the colour scheme to give him a cuddle with his Chesire cat:

He is holding a porcelain tea mug.

The Chesire cat is made with a wool sweater and felt.

I am quite happy with this funky Mad Hatter and I hope that everyone enjoys him.  Oh yes, the "Motion" aspect is the scarf fluttering in the wind: I used a light layering of glue to make the silk scarf stand straight out.

If you are in the Victoria area, please visit the Quilt show and see our club's dolls.  There will be many vendors selling fabrics, trims, wool felt and patterns at the show as well. (May 6, 7, and 8 at Pearkes Arena in Saanich)