Long Time Since Posting!

I can't believe I haven't posted in so long. I guess I have been busy. I have 4 new dolls in the works--2 will be online classes and the third is my Hoffman challenge doll and the 4th is for an upcoming issue of a magazine. Have to be mum on that one! I also attended a Scrapbook/Stamp show and bought some new stamps, twinkling H2Os, some stencil paste from DreamWeaver (worth checking out!!! http://www.dreamweaver.com/) , took a Bargello class with my EGA, and had meetings with the Garden State Doll Artisans and Sew Sew doll Club. We are readying our display at the Garden State Quilt Guild's show June 12-14th at the New Jersey Expo Center in Edison NJ. This year I am curator of our exhibit but I have lots of help.

I have also been sketching in my Face Book. I have tried to take those sketches and translate them into cloth. Here is the first, Jasmine. Her face is done in a cloth over cloth style with set in eyes made from wood. Not bad for the first try but her eyes need to be set in a little more--she looks like she has Graves disease and her nose is a but large though it doesn't look quite so big in person. I was going for a 1920's flapper look. Oh well, maybe the next one!

The next is my OhOh face based on this picture from a hair dye ad.

Here us the sketch.

Here is the head. Not sure I am happy with this one yet. I'm sure she will look better with hair!

I have also been working on the faces for my CQ doll class--the kits contain completed heads. I sketched them out then scanned them and manipulated the files until I got faces that printed out OK. I also have been making some more sample dolls so I can time all the steps to make sure the doll can be completed in 2 days. Here is a sample with a printed face. I think I need to make the features just a bit smaller. Her colors were taken from the focus fabric print on her bodice right--another piece of tie fabric.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words about my class pieces. I am excited about teaching them too.

Second Version with Paperdolls

I wanted to give the students some options so I made another sample. I also wanted to work with a paperdoll. Originally I was going to use a stamp, but decided to make my own body to use. The heads are from a pressmold. The crowns are stamped on clay and then cut out. The hearts on the top of the poles are made from polymer clay. Her dress is a piece of napkin on fabric then painted with glossy medium and pearl-ex powders. Each doll is set against an open curtain of sheer fabric or lace. The background fabric/paper is printed tissue with solid hearts over it. The hearts were cut out on my Big Kick. This crown is actually from foam. The clay is very brittle and breaks too easily so I switched to the foam.

The Golden Queen's overdress is embossed velum--embossed with the Big Kick. Love this tool! Her crown says Create.

The Pink Queen's dress is also embossed then glitter glue is used to highlight the embossing. Her dress is silk paper.

The back is decorated with hearts in different medium. The pink hearts are Fun Foam, the large yellow heart is fun foam over embossed vellum and the smaller gold hearts are scraps from the other two base fabrics covered with a thin layer of gold paint. The purple hearts are water soluble paper over the same heart stamps as the pink hearts. Hope the students have fun with these two options.