My Family

Dolly making is a bit slow at the moment and it's been raining here in Sydney since October 2011 (hardly a full day of sunshine since then - seriously!! - and it's raining heavily now!), so ......... I thought I'd share with you pictures of my four legged "children".  Don't have any of my own 2 legged variety - just nieces and nephew.  Both were "adopted" when we were living in Tasmania and are just wonderful....... sometimes trying but always wonderful..... and as you can see they do get on.

Mr Darcy is my Cavalier - just turned 5 years old.  Real smoocher, very affectionate, snores like a lumberjack and LOVES his toys - this is Noddy Toy.  He also has Gingerbread Toy, Girlfriend, and Bert.

and Mouse is my Burmese cross cat - I think he's about 8 yrs.  Big beautiful boy!  Happy to sleep in the sun on the balcony.

Love 'em both.

Oh yeah - I'm also married to a Greg!  Wonderful and extremely patient (with me)!

Mary and Walter - First Offering for 2012

Mary and her beloved Fox Terrier, Walter, are now finished.  I just absolutely loved painting Walter - I must get my paint brushes out more often!  He has such a shy little face, and just loves snuggling into Mary as she makes him feel safe. 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15-Inch-Izannah-Walker-Inspired-Cloth-Doll-Mary-and-Walter-/330673540613?pt=AU_Dolls&hash=item4cfdadce05

Goldilocks

Christmas and New Year was a very busy family affair but I did manage to finish off a paperclay head using one of those foil armatures I blogged about earlier.  I have in mind a Goldilocks theme ......... but it all depends on what this little girl decides!

Very Happy 2012

Wishing you all a very happy 2012 and may all your resolutions be fun while you're achieving them.

My New Year's Resolution ................. regular blogging and more dolly making!!!!! 

Susie Heads

Kathleen Lynette Mack's beautiful paperclay head in her Maida blog inspired me to get the foil and paperclay out to practice Susie McMahon's technique.  The foil armature is so important and for me it's always the back of the head that lets me down - I keep forgetting that there is a skull behind the face and end up creating flat heads.  So following the saying "practice, practice, practice" I've created 5 armatures - all looking like silver Christmas baubles at the moment, with the intention of paperclaying over the weekend.  Will they be Izannah's or just little heads????? ........... only time and my fingers will tell. 

P.S. I'm using Susie's "Sculpting A Head In Air Dry Clay" booklet, which I think she still has for sale on her etsy, as my guide - it really is very good.

Izanna Inspired

It's been a while since my last Izannah inspired doll, so I've made 2, plus a Queen Anne inspired sweetie. 

Mary, the older of the three is seated and wearing a red dress and little Iris is seated beside her.  Is it me or do Izannah's tend to the more serious side?  Alice is my first attempt at a Queen Anne inspired doll, and she is wearing her Sunday best, made from an antique table cloth (well beyond it's use-by date).

Little Iris is finished so she is now up for adoption on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330654050602 if you would like to take a look.

The other little ladies still have a little work to be done on them but hopefully ready just after Christmas.

Finished Heads

I finally finished the two little heads I created about a month ago - they're christmas presents, so thank goodness I didn't leave it till the last minute!  I created a simple pattern for these two and boy did they come out differently - position of their heads, not to mention their features.

On top of that I was able to finish 8 of these little ladies (plus a dozen stars) for a local shop that specialises in local handmade items.  I've named these Leura Ladies, and unfortunately I didn't take photos of all of them.  Two were so sweet with their red caps and red and white bathers.  Next time.  They're only small, about 4 inches, but I tried to capture as much detail as possible in small a piece.  I've hand drawn each face and hand painted them using acrylics - no stencils or printed images here!  I just love painting faces - getting each to look different is such a buzz.