Harry Potter Theme

Mandrake Root was an interesting wee challenge that I thought of when I found some tea dyed quilters muslin!

And each time I made it, it came out differently!  Have made a few lately!

From the same cloth, I tried a Sorting Hat!  Taht was fun, but what to do with it?

Aah!  Dobbie!  I woulde never have tried him but for a friend, who died unexpectedly in 2021.  She made one from a free pattern on the internet.

So I thought I'd have a go too and put my own interpretation on it.

It all came together nicely, and I have made several of these for friends!

Very appealing!

 

Iconic Iris!

I started making a stump doll and because I like a character, I found Iris.  Iris likes things to be a bit OTT, so this is what I came up with.

She sold very quickly in the Gallery, so I thought I'd better do another!

Now I find myself going to even more lengths to exaggerate her style!

Watch this space!  I'm having so much fun with Iris that I am going to teach her at the upcoming Art Connections Summit in October!  Wonder what she'll look like then!
  

Graduate

Introducing you know who! My last pattern for 2121, and I call the pattern 'Graduate', because its useful to have a graduation doll for when the occasion demands it, and we are all in our second year and hope to graduate through Covid 19 times.

This doll came about because one of my dollmakers thought I could design it so she could make it for her grandson! So she made it all the while pushing me for more bits to add. Once I got up to the Gown, I gave up and decided if I do this much I should write it up. So I have just finished writing it in time for Christmas! Now she's on to Nana Santa for goodness sake!

Well, these are the things that motivate a pattern designer and dollmaker. We do things because someone wants them, or we wouldn't bother.

I have to say I quite enjoyed the process of this one, who shall be nameless, and he is now in my Etsy Shop and will be in your favourite pattern sellers this Christmas!

https://www.etsy.com/nz/shop/SFMClothDollPatterns

 

Drag Queen Bust 'Viola'!

 

I was experimenting with foam craft and managed to make some great eyelashes on a doll head. 

  Arley Berryhill encouraged me to exaggerate it more, and sent me a picture of what he meant.

Out came the Heat gun and the silicone glue!

After studying the Cos Play wigs a little, I began putting the wig together.

Unruly curls don't just form themselves.

A little glue in strategic places

and 'Viola'!

Pink

Playing with several elements today. 

looking sideways

Foam hair - first time with a heat gun!

Back view - lots to learn!

Got the lips right!

Those eyelashes!

 

It's the little things in life....A Cricket

 Looking for hope in the little things of life – this pattern came about to coincide with major events that rocked the world this year, namely Covid 19 pandemic year two, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and subsequent overtake by Taliban, and the 20th anniversary of 9-11.

Crazy times call for crazy creative endeavours, and I'd just watched a series of all the fairy tales (in lockdown) and spotted this little character, which inspired me to see if I could make something like it! I call it 'Dapper Cricket', but you can call it what you like - just not out loud!

Dapper Cricket stands at 17 inches tall, and is all cloth but for his hat. The pattern is 19 pages long with plenty of step-by-step photos to guide.

This pattern could be any gender dressed in many different ways! It could even just be a green grass hopper! Imagine!

Give a little whistle - and always let your conscience be your guide!

Times like these, you need someone to talk to! Dapper Cricket is qualified

www.etsy.com/nz/listing/1069862190/dapper-cricket-insect

Steampunk Needle sculpted Busts.

Steampunk celebrations in our town inspired me  to design a male head I had wanted to try, but didn't want to make the whole body, so I found the best stand for it - a drive shaft from an old car we once had, and a flange that just fitted the base, with a screw to hold it there, from my husbands spare parts in the garage.  Here it is in all it's dirty steel glory, just fitting for the job of a stand!

I made the female counterpart first, so she's a different colour, and mounted her on a ceramic candlestick. 

I had great fun putting these two pieces together, and painting the face!

 

Wall Art

 I've been playing with these doll busts for some time. They even came to Hamilton with me!

The thing is, when you make a doll, you have to give a lot of thought and much rummaging amongst your stash, to figure out what they will wear, based on eye colour, lip colour. and hair colour In this case, the dolls looked nothing, until I made them some glasses to wear. It somehow gives them a presence.

You can make the glasses from thin wire, wrapped around a shape, leave a gap for the bridge, and wrap again, making sure the wire is in the same position on both sides. once you are sure they will fit the head and eyes well, you can paint them with any paint, (I even used fabric paint!) You can seal the paint with Modpodge.

Next, cut the arms so they sit within the hair. Thread a needle with the same colour as the glasses, and tie a knot. (Double thread if not using strong thread.)

Insert the needle at the back of the head under the hair, and exit at the inner flare of the nose. Take the thread through the frame, reinsert it into the exit place, and exit in the same place on the other side of the nasal flare!. Take the thread through the frame, reinsert the needle and exit out the back of the head again. Gently pull on the thread to anchor the frames firmly to the nose, and tie off at the back of the head. These stitches will hold the frames in place and will not be noticed!

I made these girls from my pattern Light Hearted Lady. They hang on the wall, and talk to each other out of the corners of their mouths, whilst pretending not to move! LOL! they make great conversation pieces and wall art!

Quartet

  The #Quartet!. I was playing around with head/shoulder dolls in small proportions, much like others I have been making, trying to capture characters. I found a set of ceramic musical figures like this and was captivated by the expressions of the men, and also the idea of white hair!

Making the busts (from stretch fabric) didn't take long, but figuring out how to make the hair work took a bit of thinking. I found a soft cotton rope that I was able to use, stiffened with glue but still keeping it's soft look.

It took a while to come together because I didn't have any idea if it would work, so just did something every day. The violin is made from quilling paper. I saw a tutorial and taught myself quilling! Not perfect, but fun!

I liked the simplicity of the idea - one hand to suggest they are doing something. Mounting it was a problem, but I found some hard packaging foam that I could stitch through, and have stitched them on that.

I am pleased with the outcome.

Hatter and Hare!

I made these as a free pattern for CDC group this week, because I have just finished writing a pattern of the Hatter!  I was surprised at what a good fit it is!

 Topsy-turvy Twins!

I discovered I had these two scraps of t-shirt fabric - just enough to make these, so I thought I'd try my hand at this little twosome for my great granddaughter's first birthday. All the fabric is t-shirt fabric, all the same weight.

I drafted out the pattern and made the pink head first to try it out. I decided the head back needed a bit off it, so the other head looks a tad smaller. I even managed to get relatively the same look.

The overall length is 16 inches, and the heads about 6 inches long.

It was a fluke that I happened to have the fur fabric for the hair to - so it was meant to be! I thought about awake and asleep, but I find littlies like eyes.

So-exactly the same- but totally different!

Covid 19 Lockdown The Lion King - remember who you are!

7 May 2020

Looking at the end of Lockdown and moving into Level 2 - it's important to 'Remember who you are"!

I spent the best part of 2018 designing and making this series of dolls for an exhibition called 'Reflections on the Lion King"!

I drafted all the dolls from the original pattern I had begun with, a head, trunk and limbs., and changed them according to the pose and size I needed. This gave them all a uniformity, except the faces, which shape I changed for each character.

From this, I made both male and female, by widening and expanding, or decreasing chest, hip, arm and leg shapes, lengthening or shortening as needed to fit the character and to keep them to the correct scale. For this, I used images of the performers I found on Pinterest, as a guide.

I was very happy to discover how I could make Scar and Mufusa’s 3 D mask in cloth, and I had great fun making the Hyenas! So much so that I made a pattern of the head, and tutorial video showing how I did it, using a wet-on-wet technique, which I put on my FB page for others to try. I discovered that the more figures I made, the more instinct took over! I was in the zone, and each figure needed no reworking.

Process and problem solving is what excites me about design and creating. Making an expressive face through shape, needle sculpting and coloring, and the look of movement into a cloth figure is something to which I aspire. To make something out of the ordinary, to portray the story gives me a great buzz!

The Lion King is a story of love and redemption, and it was the story as told in the musical, as much as the figures themselves that inspired me to make this series - and to see if I could!

What challenges are you facing with the idea of coming out of Lockdown?