Fluevog Shoes

At last!  Today was the grand opening of the first Fluevog Shoe store in Victoria BC on Johnston Street.  The shoes are works of art!  I would not know which ones to try on!  Here is a sampling:

Comic Relief

I did not make the doll I am sharing here today.

I am sharing it  for some comic relief for my friends "in the know":

Question:  What happens when one fails to settle one's debts?

Answer:  One is left out in the cold!

Yes, poor Bentley the butler has been let go.

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.

My Etsy Shop

I have been thinking about opening an Etsy shop and this week was the week that I plunged ahead.

The link is as follows; https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Ziajoeysdesigns?ref=search_shop_redirect

I have nine items in my shop, all of them my Wooly Critters ranging in price from $45 to $52. 

For those of you that do not know, I have been making these little guys for two years now and they are a favourite at craft shows.  People would keep asking me where they can buy them and now I can point them to the shop.

Here they are:

Ellie, 16" tall

Sassafras, a spunky fellow

Copper, a spunky pup

A wee Canadian Kitty (10" tall)

A rascally bandit

A lovable, huggable monster pal

A sassy purr maid that has a removable tulle skirt

Another purr maid

The last panda cub from my visit last year to the Toronto zoo to see the wee panda cubs.

I just opened and my first sale was to a lovely lady in Alabama who purchased these two little bandits: she should receive them this coming week and I hope she loves them!

Saanich Peninsula Arts and Craft Show 2017 (SPAC)

I was so excited to be asked to be the guest artist at the Saanich Peninsula Arts and Craft Show in Sidney, BC. It is rare that I am able to display all my art dolls in one venue as I have been very prolific over the past 25 years.

The show took place this past weekend with patron's evening on the Friday.  It was a huge success!  The quality of the art work was amazing.  There were paintings of all media, sculptures, steampunk, pottery, jewelry, basketry, weaving, glass work and porcelain.  As guest artist, I was able to use the entire stage at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney, BC and I interacted with the guests telling them stories about my dolls.

It is so rewarding when new people are exposed to art dolls as they had no idea that this art form even existed.  One woman made sure to tell me that when she heard that the guest artist for the show made "dolls" she was expecting her grannies rag dolls or "scary" porcelain dolls, but my dolls she exclaimed, were "fantastic" and nothing like she had ever seen before.  That one comment was priceless.  I told the guests about our local doll club and about the Coast Collective Art Centre where some of my pieces are on display.  It was great fun.

Here are more photos of the event:

Now for a sampling of some of the talented artists at the show:

There were so many wonderful works of art that this is just a small sampling.  If you are on Vancouver Island, it would be well worth keeping your eye on the SPAC web site to find out dates for next years show.  I hope you have enjoyed the quick peek of this year's art.