St Catherine of Siena

I have just finished making this figure of St Catherine of Siena, a Tertiary Sister of the Dominican Order of Preachers & Teachers. She was the 24th of 25 children, a twin born to a well off couple in Siena, in the 14th Century. Known as a Mystic, she became a force for good, working tirelessly for the poor and sick. Although illiterate, she wrote a book that is still studied today by Dominicans all over the world, called The Dialogue. She died at age 33.

I had fun draping this figure in medieval costume and figuring out how it all goes. I didn't want to make her look too holy, but to look like someone to relate to. Her arms move, so she is easily posed!

Another Marie Antoinette Bust

 I decided to try a different colour hair  to see what it does for the Workshop I am preparing for Fabric Addictions Website.  This is some Merino wool that I dyed a long time ago and have never used.

Not too sure of the colour combo, but it looks ok to me.  What do you think?  I am making several of these as part of my workshop.  I hope to have some video's as part of this workshop, to demonstrate the process of needle sculpting the face, doing the make up and needle felting the hair.

I like the shapes of the little vases I found in the Warehouse!  They work well for this, but candlesticks or any other little things can be used as a holder for this bust.

 This Bust will be a workshop on Fabric Addictions Website, starting in mid October.

Father Christmas!

Here he is, all finished and looking a lot like old

saint Nick - but cheekier!  His beard is made from a very soft long fur fabric - quite whispy! Vset from cotton print.

Hard to see his dark green cotton pants beneath the coat, which is made from Pann Velvet and a short staple fur.  It took a while to handstitch the fur on.

The coat took longer to make than the whole thing! His bag is well balanced on his back - stuffed with paper to bulk it out and square packing foam, wrapped parcels, with small toys stitched in the opening.

He stands quite firmly in his stretch leatherette boots. 

 I am looking forward to making another one now!

Constructing Santa's Face!

I am making a Santa from my Innkeepers Pattern.  He's got a great body for this, so thought I'd show how I do the face.  I have not included the sculpting, sorry!

Before and again after Needlesculpting, I mark in the features, paint the eye with acrylic white and outline again with Tan or copper gel pen.  In this case, I have raised the eyes.

Here I have added black Gel pen and black pencil to shade the face.  The colour tone is taking on a sickly hue and I am a bit worried about it now, but will carry on!

Next go on the whiskers and hair piece.....

then the beard.  Now he looks like he's crashed the sleigh after too many egg nogs!  POOR SANTA!

I decided to redo his eyes, so painted on more white acrylic and smudged it into the red prismacolour pencil on the shut eye.  I changed the whole look of the eyes and used light brown prismacolour pencil to lighten the face a little.  Not entirely successful as a Jolly Santa.

So I did another face.  This time I did not raise the eyes, but drew them in place with a better effect.

Here they are for comparison!  I can still use the other face, but not as Santa.

Pippa Pout!

Now, let me......

see...........!

Oh yes...........

What's that you say................?

I can come out................?

Okay,  here I am...........number three!

Pop-up doll number two!

Slowly.....

Peeking.....

Seeking..........

Wriggling..........

Stretching................

Ahhhh...................!

I am enjoying making these!  Next one - hopefully photo's tomorrow!

A pop-up character doll- for a change! My design, but not my idea.

He's playful - not shy, this pop-up-guy!

He surveys from his cone that he calls his home,

and looks around, without making a sound,

With a nod and a wink, he begins to sink,

With his one little eye he will furtively spy,

Until all that is left is his hands and his hat!

Fancy that!

This fun character is inspired by Kathryn Walmsey, a doll artist I really  admire for her story book characters. The original is made with cloth and clay, but I am useless with clay, so wanted to see if I could needle sculpt it instead.

 I have been lucky enough to take one of Kathryn's online classes a few years ago and the doll I made from that is now in a restaurant in Nelson! 

 Kathryn is currently teaching a class of the original on Doll Street Dreamers!  Go and check it out! 

Making brooches for fun!

I was unsatisfied with the mouth, so I changed it to an open mouth which gave her a more engaging look, as there was plenty of room on the lower face. 

This is an example of how you can critique your own work and make improvements.  If I had botched it up, I would just have had to make another head, so it wasn't a biggie.  However, I think I am happier with this now.

Of course then I had to add all the other bits to finish her off and make her live up to her name, which is "Practical Pindora!"  She is to be my new pattern, which I am in the process of finishing off as we speak!  What do you think?

I've been experimenting with needlefelting on fabric.  What fun! I made a pincushion doll!

What do you think?  The fairy of Christmas Shopping!  I'm trying to develop this into a pattern, but struggling with the clothing.  Got to make it so it fits well and that anyone can make it easily.

The other one is a bag doll I was designing gone wrong, so I unstuffed it to the shoulders, stitched it across, put a bag on it and stitched around the arms and neck, posed the arms and stitched in place and - Voila! A cute wee PJ bag for the bed, or a cuddly doll for a toddler!

Gave myself a little challenge today.  There's a Victorian Mannequin at TOTE where I sell my dolls.  I thought it could do with a head, as they are going to change it's dress for the coming season.  This head is made from rolled up newspaper, calico and wadding, overlaid with thick ballet tight fabric.  It is coloured with gesso, watercolour paint, gel pen and prismacolour pencils.

Add a little hair and a hat - yes I know the eye is offcentre, but  I will fix that.  I just wanted to see if I could make a lifesize head.  Actually, it's a bit larger than life, but that might be ok.  Now I know I can make one, I could easily do another.  She looks a bit static, but not too bad for a first attempt.  The theme might be Steam Punk, so I can do something with the wonky eye to make it fit the  theme!  We're going for drama here as the Manniquin is set at the entrance, to attract the gadding crowds!  LOL!

Meet Maximillian the Masterful!  He's a new doll I've just completed for the Steam Punk Exhibition in October. 

I will  add a few more gadgets and get better pics of him, but he's turned out ok I think.  Maximillian is the concept of my Grandson Ben who is doing the digital version for his design course, but got interrupted in the Christchurch earthquake. 

He's an upright lad!He will have a female counterpart when I am done!

Meet 'Owlish'!  He came together quite quickly from an idea I saw, and is sculpted from an old jersey.  He's very distinguished as befits his Wisdom status and his heart is worn out - as you can see, though he has feet of clay!

I played around with this doll for ages before I found something that would make it work.  Then  trying to remain multicultural and not offend any cultures, I named it 'Ciceroni' meaning guide - as in 'tourist guide'!LOL! I have since added some gold dangling beading to her hipline and now she really looks like she could show us a thing or two!  In her hand she holds a numbered wish list!

I needed to make a bench seat for Jeanne - the Innkeepers Wife!

So here is my badly made - but authentic looking - bench seat!  It's made from Balsa Wood with a scrap of boxwood top that looks worn.  Badfly painted, but I figured it would look more authentic that way and no-one will see it with her sitting on it! LOL!

It's a very simple design.  Because of the flimsy nature of the wood - and my craftmanship - I Gesso'd it, then painted it with Acrylic, then a topcoat of Mod Podge.

Seems to do the trick!  It's large enough and the right height for Jeanne to sit leaning forward on her left foot, so her chest is better displayed and her eyes in the right position for best effect.  I have taken the measurements and later, I will post it on my free patterns if anyone else wants to make one that might look better than mine!