Another Garden Goddess

This one is called 'Rose' and she was made much the same as 'Fern' (in previous post below) except she isn't completely covered in Decopatch paper - her neck and arms are painted in a flesh tone and she is wearing a lace shawl and some sparkly jewellery.

I love the voluptuous shape of this template - and must say it pretty much mirrors my own body shape ................ except I have a few layers of fat on top!

Meet 'Fritzi' the Festive Fairy

Whilst blog hopping recently I came across this intro  'Do you like a challenge? Do you like Art Dolls?  Well you have come to the right place.....'  Where is this place you ask, Artist Trading Dollz Challenge Blog created by Linda B - her own dolls are truly amazing and if you like art dolls do go have a look and a drool over some of hers. 

The first challenge was to create a 'Festive' doll she said 'think parties, celebrations, happy times, lots of colour and sparkle'.

My doll 'Fritzi' is from Germany and over Christmas went to a fancy dress ball as a 'Festive Fairy'!  Her crown and outer wings are made from some fabric leaves which are absolutely dripping with silver glitter.  The rest of her clothes are an assortment of fabrics.  She just couldn't get her hair right on the day so wore a glitzy, red sequined wig instead.

Lovely as the silver glitter is, it does unfortuntately get everywhere - much to my hubby's amusement!  Over the last few days he's gleefully informed me that I had a silver moustache and a silver neck!  I had to laugh though when after I gave him some sandwiches he asked what the glitter was actually made of - is it glass?  His sandwich was liberally covered in the stuff and he was actually contemplating eating it!!   What does this say about me?  No, don't answer please. LOL.  I didn't do it on purpose to get my own back - honest!!  I will say though that I did take the sandwiches off him and made some fresh, glitter free ones!  Incidentially, what is glitter made of? LOL

The festive fairy has a lot to answer for!

Girl With A Heart - Paper Doll

This one is a bit different from my usual dolls as I've made her clothes (the sleeves and the skirt) with old book text coloured, then rubber stamped with ink.  I thought the book text was applicable as she's gone to Cindy to wish her a happy birthday and Cindy does like her books methinks!  The wings are a sandwich of acetate and tissue paper made in the same way as I did some Christmas baubles - well actually I made them from the leftovers of the baubles - waste not, want not - and they sort of determined the whole colour scheme.

The heart she is holding is made from metal and is left over from some Christmas ATCs I made recently - oh no, I don't throw anything away!

Anyway, I know that Cindy now has the doll so here she is!

I'd just like to take the opportunity of thanking those of you who leave some lovely comments here (and on Flickr) on my little creations - it means so much!  Thank you!!

 

'Elfie' Paper Art Doll

'Elfie' is an old English girl's name meaning 'elf' or 'magical counsel' and I think it suits this paper doll perfectly.  She's a little woodland elf!

I made her dress from some fibres from a ball of wool (well, it's polyester really) and I didn't knit it, just stuck it on.  Other parts of her dress and her booties are made from some silky fabric in a co-ordinating colour.

I love her hair - probably because I had mine chopped off today - and mine's dark brown (with a nice grey parting!!!!)  The doll's hair is from a cone of something or other - it's very fine and silky.

Her overall costume looks a bit like she's in a Panto - girlfriend for Jack and the Beanstalk maybe?  Well, at least that's seasonal - lol.

Masquerade Paper Doll

This is a paper doll for a swap entitled 'Masquerade Ball' on the Yahoo group Fantastic Flat Paper Dolls.  As the doll is going to a ball I thought a long gown was in order, so for once, the legs are covered up (although you can still see them through the lace insert of the skirt!). 

Her mask is painted onto her moulded clay face and that cone on top of her head is supposed to be an 'up do' hairstyle - It's a card triangle shape covered with some embroidery thread and hightlighted with Stickles and seed beads. I cut her fringe a little too short too (it's lucky I'm not an hairdreser!!)

The curly strings are meant to be hanging from the mask and they too are embroidery thread coated with the paint and curled around a thin stick while still wet.

The gown is from oddments of lace, silk, netting and plastraw.  I rubber stamped some stockings on the legs with one of Tim Holtz's texture stamps and her sparkly shoes are more of Ranger's Stickles.

So all she needs now is a partner to accompany her to the ball!

Miss Halloween 2009

This month's theme on the Art Raffle is 'Black and Orange' (although it doesn't necessarily have to be Halloween related).

As my creative brain doesn't stretch very far I decided to make ... yes, another paper doll!  She turned out to be something of an exhibitionist with her tight bright orange bodice, pumpkin button bra and black lacy tutu with matching cloak.

Her hair and bodice are Plastraw (like raffia but stronger), her crown is a glittered up plastic embellishment and her stripey socks are coloured in with Marvy LePlume markers.

She looks like a winner to me - so I've crowned her 'Miss Halloween 2009' ........ what's that you say .... 'Smashing Pumpkins' ?   No, I've never been into their music ..... sorry, I couldn't resist adding that!

ATC - Dolls

These two dolls (Purple Polly and Orange Olive) are on a smaller scale to the others I’ve made - so they can fit onto an ATC. Well that’s what's supposed to happen but due to a … design fault shall I call it … Polly’s legs can’t quite make it pass her skirt! Just as well really in view of the lack of any underwear!!

I found some wired ribbon in my stash and it’s ideal to use for skirts since it can be manipulated into folds without the need for any stitching! I did stitch Olive’s skirt at the top onto her body and her legs are free to move so she fits nicely onto the ATC. With Polly however, I glued her skirt at the sides so therefore restricting her movement. Oh well, I’ll know for the next time (if I remember that is!)

For the faces on these two I used only chalks and watercolour pencils for the features (no pens) and the effect is much more subtle - I think I prefer that - for now anyway.

'Princess Pewter' Paper Doll

Another paper doll. This one I tried to give a metallic look to so used a silver acrylic paint for the skin. Her dress is card covered in silver aluminium tape, embossed and coloured with alcohol inks. She also has some nice dangly jewellery too! Almost forgot to mention her head piece (or crown as she is a princess) it's just a fragment of a CD cut into strips.

Clay Faces - how I do mine.

I've had a bit of trouble lately with painting my little clay faces so decided I would blog about them as much to help me (as a memory aid) as for anyone else who may be interested.

My last few attempts have failed at the last step - when I sprayed a little finishing gloss on them everything smudged which is so disappointing. I have been using Sharpie pens for the detail and it seems the ink in those pens reacted adversely with the finishing gloss.

So having had a little play around this is a Step by step guide and seems to work fine:

1. Paint the whole face with skin coloured acrylic paint and let dry
2. Apply chalk blusher to forehead, cheeks and chin
3. Outline the eyes - using a watercolour pencil
4. Paint the whole of the inside of the eyes with white acrylic and let dry
5. With watercolour pencil, draw in the inner eye
6. Paint the eye colour in the whole of the inner eye section and let dry
7. Paint or pencil in the black part of the eye and let dry
8. Dot a spot of white paint for the light in the eyes and let dry
9. Pencil in the eyebrows
10. Spray a light spritz of the finishing gloss - only a very light spray else it'll smudge and be ruined.

The finishing gloss I use is called 'Porcelain Gloss' and is from Sandra Lee's 'Floral Kraft' range. It is really meant for dried or silk flowers but works fine on the clay (unless using Sharpie pens as mentioned above!)

I have in the past used Sakura Glaze pens for the features and they have been fine, although when I tried recently, they too smudged! I think I need to let them dry completely before spraying on the finishing gloss - and then make sure to spray only one light spritz.

The difference in using watercolour pencils and Sakura pens may be seen in the photos above (from the top, the first picture shows pencil finish and the second picture, the Sakura Pen finish). The pencils give a much finer finish than the pens - but I think both work equally as well. Once the heads have the hair applied, the details of the face don't show up so much anyway.

I'm off now, to make some more - they are something I never tire of!

Pretty Ballerina - Paper Doll

This month's theme over on the Yahoo group Fantastic Flat Paperdolls is 'Ballet' and I made this pretty ballerina for my swap partner. Hope she'll like it!

Mermaid Paper Doll

Isn't she lovely - well, I think so, especially her wild hair! Being underwater most of the time plays havoc with your hair so I must recommend a good conditioner - lol!

I've joined a new Yahoo group called Fantastic Flat Paper Dolls and this month's theme is 'Mermaids'. Well, I've never made a mermaid before but really enjoyed making the tail! The base is two layers of card (the back is covered with a scrapbook paper) and on the tail I used some self adhesive silver tape (I think it's what electrican's use, but for what I don't know!). I embossed it free hand to make a scaley effect then coloured it with a few different alcohol inks. I had trouble finding a top for her. I wanted her to have a bikini top but couldn't find anything suitable (much like me when I'm getting dressed these days - lol) In the end I used some more of the silver foil and made her a little triangular shaped top. Her face is moulded for air dry clay and coloured with pens and chalks and her hair is some gorgeous fibres which are incredibly soft and fluffy.

She is jointed at the arms and under the belly button. I think I'll have to make another one to keep for myself so I can play with the hair all day! Help someone.....please!!!!!!!!! LOL

Button Fairy

Meet 'Yellow Wings' she is a button fairy and my entry for this month's challenge on MAMMA's Monthly Art Doll (MAD) swap. MAMMA (Margaret) has a tutorial on her blog showing how to make a fairy.

My fairy has an air dried moulded clay face which I painted and made up. She has pink fibres for her hair, buttons for her body of course, and her wings are card with some bobbly cotton yarn glued onto. She can hang up by means of a beaded hoop.

I like this little fairy and she will be hard to part with, but at least I know I'll be receiving in return a wonderful creation as everyone's work on the group is fab!