Day With Dolls

This week I attended ODACA Day in Kansas City.  ODACA – in case you’ve never heard of it – stands for Original Doll Artist Council of America.  It is a group of doll artists (obviously) and some “patrons” who promote original one-of-a-kind doll artists.  There are some amazing artists in this group!  You can find more information on their website:  http://odaca.org/

Four of us from my local doll club drove over for the luncheon.  We figured this is the closest the conference will ever be and who knows when they will be back in this part of the world, so we might as well grab the opportunity.  I was pleased to see several doll artists I know from past workshops and/or conferences. 

Our after-lunch speaker was Brenda Gehl who had a circus-themed story she told us, along with props – some in progress.  I am very interested in seeing how the work evolves as she finishes the stage settings and dolls.

The theme for the day was Under the Big Top.  I came home loaded with goodies!  I’m still wondering when I will wake up from a dream.

 

This is the little table favor I got.  He’s about 3 inches tall.  Each table host did their own thing with the favors and my table did a Chinese exchange type of game, where you have a choice to keep the gift you have or take someone else’s.  We had fun and I think everyone was happy with what they ended up with.

Everyone received a souvenir doll.  There were five different poses, all hand crafted by doll artist Barbara Schoenoff.  I got the one on upper left and I love her!  They are all wonderful, but if I had to choose, I think that is the one I would have picked.  Good thing, huh?

There were a number of raffle items and I did my part to help ODACA’s treasury by purchasing tickets.  I always buy tickets at these kind of events, figuring it is pretty much a donation because I almost never win anything!

There were two items I was particularly interested in (although not the only two – everything was yummy!).  Imagine my surprise when I was the winner - twice!  The beautiful mermaid is from Mimi Winer and the t-shirt from Christine Shively-Benjamin.  Mermaids and Alice in Wonderland are two of my favorite fantasy themes!

But wait – there’s more!

The table centerpieces were made by one of my favorite artists – Ute Vasina.  She showed some of her progress making these on her blog and when I saw this little one, I WANTED her!  But I knew it wouldn’t happen and it wasn’t until they stumbled over my last name that I realized I was a winner – again!  This is by far the best of all!

So much for never winning anything!  I hope my traveling mates don’t hate me too much.  I hope they enjoyed themselves in spite of me!

Happy 20 Years

The doll club I belong to had a big celebration this past weekend. 

Twenty years ago this month, a group of ladies decided they were having so much fun taking a cloth doll class that they wanted to keep doing it!  They formed the Pin-Ella-Ps and have been meeting and crafting and sharing ever since. 

We celebrated by inviting previous members to join us for a day of remembering.  We had a lot of dolls - both old and new - to share with each other.

There were long lost friends to greet

and picture albums to go through.

A lot has changed in 20 years.  We meet in a different building now, but we gathered in front of the original meeting place for a photo.  The church has been many things, including a quilt shop, and is now a private residence . . . so we had to be good!

I am one of the "new kids" in this group, but they feel like family to me.  Dollmakers are just like that I guess.  I'm so glad they got together all that time ago.  It really was a good idea!

Me and Bobby McGee

Now there's a title that brings the '60's to your mind, doesn't it?  I do apologize if you find the tune running through your head now.  I've been trying to get rid of it for a month or more!

The Bobby part of this post is my latest cloth doll.  You've seen previews of her and you'll be pleased to hear she is finished!

Bobby is for my doll club's "traveling" project this year.  Each month, she will go home with a different club member and spend time with them and their family - cloth and flesh!  While she is gone, a different dolly friend will come to stay with me each month. 

The dolls will all have a notebook or journal/scrapbook of some kind, so we can write about their visit and add photos of places we see and things we do.  Sounds like a lot of fun . . . and a little scary, too!

This is Bobby's scrapbook.  In a moment of madness, I decided to make her book completely by hand!  Well, I did take that journal making class last year.  It has to be good for something!

I painted some pages, and grabbed some used envelopes along with scrapbook and artsy papers and made the book.  I forgot to count, but I'm thinking around 30 pages or so.  Pages that are dark colors or heavily textured have a square of lined writing paper attached. 

The front cover is made with fabric and just inside is a scrapbook accessory Passport with exactly the right number of pages (I think).  It was so cool to find that!

And the back cover is actually a box!  So there is a "safe" place for Bobby to stay when she's not visiting.  Finding this box was real serendipity.  I was dreading having to make a box or stand for Bobby, when an item that's been on backorder arrived in a little box of exactly the right size!!!  The box is 10 x 7 and you can see that Bobby tucks inside just right.

So, Bobby is all ready to set off on her travels, guitar in hand of course.  She should be gone about a year and I can't wait to see what kind of adventures she has.  In the meantime, though, I can't wait to see who is coming to visit me!

A Peek at Our Batiks

My doll club had a challenge this year.  We exchanged 1/8 yard pieces of batik fabric and challenged each other to make a doll using all twelve fabrics!

Here is what my doll looks like:

Meet Yolanda . . . or Yoyolanda, as I like to call her!  As I pondered how to use 12 different fabrics, I thought of using yo-yos.  The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.  I took a head from my "basket of heads" and re-worked the eyes a bit and then started looking for a body pattern.  I found one by Sherry Goshon in Soft Dolls & Animals magazine (Heather in Aug/Sep 2003 issue) and it suited that head perfectly!

From there Yolanda pretty much built herself!  She did not want a lot of bling, and she told me exactly how to make her "real" yo-yo (two shank buttons wired together with perle cotton wound around the center). 

As happy as I am with Yolanda, I was blown away by the dolls made by my fellow club members!  People, we have to have the most talented doll makers in the country right here!  In my humble 0pinion, of course.

These are just some of the finished dolls.  They are all wonderful!  I think we did an outstanding job of choosing batik fabrics, too.  The colors really complemented each other and make for an outstanding collection!

Good job, ladies!  What's next?

L'Amour, l'amour . . .

That is one of the songs that Carmen sings in the opera bearing her name.  And here she is . . .

For those that read my question of a couple of weeks ago, you can see I went with the hair all down - and mildly tamed! 

Carmen is wearing two ruffled petticoats.  I really gave my ruffler attachment a workout with these!  Yes, I'm still loving that toy!! 

Carmen was made using Arley Berryhill's Le Femme pattern.  She is actually one of my UFOs, since I made her for a class I took from Arley several years ago (six?  seven?).  This pattern is one that my doll club chose to make this year and I decided now was the time to finally get busy and finish this doll! 

Now, Carmen and Aengus are off to the State Fair.  Wish them luck!  (Don't they make a pair?)

Fun with Altoids

. . . er, the tins they come in, that is.

This month at my doll club, we experimented with making things from Altoid tins.   There are really quite a few things you can do with these (and other) small tins - from useful to purely decorative.  There were many, many ideas being bounced around the table!

I did some pre-work on three tins before class.  I painted gesso on one (not shown), ground off all the paint on one (this can be done by hand-sanding but I used a grinder), and mod-podged papers on a third.

And here is what I ended up with!

I used wire to string beads and buttons for the arms and legs and to attach a flattened bottle cap along with doll-head bead as the head.  I had a piece of Tyvek and a footprint in paperclay which I used as embellishment on the lid. 

Inside, I mod-podged clip art of a vintage brandy advertisement.  I'm not sure what the message is here, but it's bound to be a good one!  LOL!

For the gessoed tin, I stamped a face on the lid.  The ink was not really permanent, so it smudged and ran a bit when I sealed it with mod-podge.  Actually makes it a bit more interesting, doesn't it?

On the inside is more "vintage" clip art and a stamped message.  The legs and hands - more clip art - were attached using wire and beads - and some cute little blue clothespins!  By the way, all of the clip art is from Alpha Stamps collage sheets.

Apparently two tins is my limit for one session - because the third one is very simple!

I glued some grunge board arrows on the top - and that's it!  Of course the paper mod-podge was already done.  I discovered that just one layer of paper can prevent the lid from closing properly.  For the next time, I will trim off the paper cover right at the lid line.  But this little box will be good to hold paperclips or something like that on the desk.

I provided several of the tins for the group to "play" with.  I've been collecting them for awhile  . . . and forgot to stop!  It was nice to clear some of them out!  But I've got more, never fear.

If you would like to see more samples of what can be done with these little gems, just put 'altered altoid tins' into your favorite search engine.  One of my favorites for eye candy is the Art-e-zine site.  Yummy stuff!

Double Double, Toil and Trouble

My doll club met this weekend and our project was to make these little witches.  They are not quite completed at this point, but enough to see that they have individual characters.  In fact, one of them is hiding on the far right because she "doesn't have makeup on yet." 

 

A couple of close-ups.  They do like they could stir up some trouble, don't they?

I'll show you something that is very special about these witches.

They are made from plastic water bottles!  A piece of the neck was cut out and we glued paperclay faces to a piece of cardboard which fits in the cut out area.  The hands are also paperclay and have wire going across the back of the shoulders.  Slip a fabric tube or three on, add a cape and hat - and there you are!  We had brooms and pumpkins and other embellishments to add.  Guess we will be ready for Halloween early!

I'll show a close-up of my witchie poo when she has all her embellishments.  Still working on my lap quilt, but it is just about ready for a binding, so stay tuned for more pictures coming up.

Where Have I Been?

  I know, I know.  I've been on the Missing Blogger list lately.  I'd love to tell you all about the wonderful things I've been doing and fascinating places I've been, but . . . it would be a lie!

Yup, I've been right here.  Doing some of this and that.  I kept thinking I should post some in-progress notes, but never quite found the time.  Sure, there have been some doctor appointments and some afternoons in the garden and visiting family and shopping trips.  You know, all that Real Life stuff that gets in the way.  But good golly molly, not that much!  Well, let me catch you up now.  Sit back and relax - this could take a little while.

Meow

The big project these past weeks has been a crib-size quilt for Project Linus.  I have the top all finished, using several cat prints.  As I started preparing the "sandwich", I came across a tutorial at Anyone Can Quilt.  Just the information I needed to get going!  It is all ready to start quilting next week.  Just grid quilting for this one, but the tutorial has some nice tips for free motion quilting, too.  Oh boy!

Button, Button

My little town is preparing for the annual festival.  This year I was asked to make a sash and button for the parade grand marshal.  Nothing very fancy, but I did need to do some research about honor sashes to figure how wide and long, and then hunt down some 4-inch ribbon.  Lots of good Christmas ribbons just coming out now, but I didn't want red or silver or gold!  I know - picky, picky.  The button was easy, thanks to Nellie and her post last May about making award medallions.  It worked like a charm.  Thanks, Nellie!

More Peacocks?

Last month Rivkah posted about a vintage peacock block pattern she had found.  She has been working on this quilt for two years and making very slow progress.  She figured it would never get done unless she got some help.  So I volunteered.  Why, you ask?  I mean, I don't already have tons of projects?  Well, it was just after I finished Percy and shipped him off and I was loving all things peacock.  I figured I could at least do a block or two - and maybe wind up with a cool pattern, too.  Rivkah makes wonderful dolls and we don't want  that kind of talent getting stuck on another two year project, do we?  Well, I made a block for her quilt - and another for myself.  Hers is ready to go in the mail on Monday.  Mine?  Well, it will go on the wall for now.  I will find a project for it eventually.

Speaking of Peacocks . . .

If you haven't already heard . . . Percy won a prize in the Hoffman Challenge!  He and Pegwyn were selected as the Most Humorous entry!  This weekend all 300 plus traveling entries are at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival in Loveland, CO.  They will then begin a yearlong tour of shops and shows before coming back home to me.  Percy has been all atwitter.  I suppose he will be even more obnoxious than ever.  Oh my.  The price of fame!

Doll Club Meets!

And, of course, I've been to a doll club meeting.  We always have a good time and this month was no exception.  We had some really great Show N Tell items, too.  I put together a photo collage to give you an idea.  Some of the Flap dolls are finished and there are always new ideas showing up.  One of our members is doing some drastic de-stashing and brought many, many boxes of goodies for us to rummage through.  To a fiber addict, nothing is better than rummaging through boxes of fabric, lace, feathers, leather, trim, and seriously necessary "stuff."  I brought home a stack of fabric (actually a fairly modest stack [no, really!]) and some leather and  lace.   See all  those butterflies in the bottom corner?  Wow!  I see butterflies in my future!

 

Well, that brings my blog about up to date.  Once the "Meow" has been quilted, I should be able to get back to a normal schedule.  One can only hope!

How To Dress A Toad

So it's been a few days since I posted last. The big party was pretty exhausting, but that is not the reason I've been quiet lately. I've been very busy working on dolls!


I have two deadlines in July for special dolls. One is already gone for an exhibit, but here are pictures. The exhibit is at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and our doll club is displaying dolls inspired by children's story books. These will be displayed in the rotunda as you enter the library and there are some great dolls in the group. You will want to see these if you are anywhere near Topeka, Kansas!





My book is "Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame - a real classic. I've always loved the slightly crazy Mr. Toad and his obsession with motor cars.





Let me tell you, folks, creating a toad is not as easy as it looks! But, getting him into his clothes - well, that's another story all together!!





First of all, toads have these huge feet. Thank goodness they are a bit flexible! Those trouser legs were just a wee bit skinny!





With such a generous belly, keeping the pants up once they are on is also challenging. Solution? A bit of needle and thread. Ouch! That's got to smart!





A lovely vest, complete with watch pocket, is next. Nice fit.





Good thing this toad is double-jointed. Putting on a jacket calls for extreme acrobatics sometimes!





It does help to put the sleeves on last. After all, he won't be taking the jacket off and on every day.





Whew! He's dressed at last. Got his driving goggles and - er, what's that in his other hand?





Oh dear. Another motor car in the ditch! Oh, Toad. When will you learn?