Steampunk Dolls

What is steampunk?  It has been all the rage for the last few years.  It is a cross between Victorian-era style with scientific-futuristic style.  It is full of nuts, bolts, gears and filigree.

I had fun making my steampunk crows (Frowning Francis pattern) and my steampunk troll (Ute Vasina pattern).  They are full of zippers, keys, filigree vintage sewing embellishments and rusty household bits (look at the outdoor tap fixture on my wee troll's head).  

The crows are made with cloth, stuffed, painted with gesso and then let dry.  Then painted black and let dry.  Finally dry brushed with bits of blue and red to simulate light on crow feathers.  Now the fun part begins:  embellishing with sewing parts, keys, watch parts, old jewellery and whatever else makes the crows come to life in their steampunk glory.  The troll is also all cloth (made with suede cloth), hand sculpted and painted with chalks.  As with the crows, the troll is embellished to look like a steampunk character.  This little guy has a sweater (made from an old sock), a steampunk vest, pants and hand made shoes.  He is quite proud of himself beside his buddies.  I hope you enjoy them and give steampunk a try yourself!

The three amigos.  The smaller crow sits on an old bicycle gear shift.

The smaller crow, notice the keys for wings.  The zipper is on his back.

The steampunk troll, full of gears and keys.

Close-up of troll.

The larger ceow with sewing gauge wings.

Kate Church Doll Finished

Well, less than a week back from my visit to Toronto and I am pleased to report that I have finished my first Kate Church doll.  I called her " On a Mission!".

Close up of her face and wild hair.

The next  doll that is almost finished is the bean bag style doll.  My sister has already claimed this doll for herself.

The face was made as a round robin face, so everyone in the class had a hand in sculpting him!

He is missing his hair and trim but I still love him.

Lastly, we had time to make additional heads and limbs.  What fun.

Now I get to think up characters for these wee fellows.  Perhaps he will be a jester.  The blue-eyed head looks younger, so perhaps she will be a little girl.  Stay tuned later in the year.

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.                  .