Frida Kahlo Doll

I've wanted to do a Frida doll for a very long time. I finished her a while ago, but entered her into an art show, and wanted to wait to see how that panned put before showing her to you.

I'm happy to announce that she will be a part of the Art Source Gallery's Annual Juried Show!

If the show sounds familiar, that's because it's the show that had my Edgar Allan Poe doll last year! It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to it this year, too.

Finished! Hansel and Gretel Completed

It took much longer than I intended, but I'm very happy with the results.

I had planned to make a hat for Hansel, but my heart just wasn't in it! I couldn't bear to cover up his hair. It's the first "boy" hair I've done with yarn, and I'm amused by the side swept bangs. He sort of looks like an emo kid, eh?

I have also started work on my next project. I am making a big batch of little brown boy dolls for a drive I found out about for dolls for orphans in Haiti! I found a link to this blog, Dolly Donations while searching for other doll-maker blogs one day, and was so impressed with Sarah and her program. Look at those pictures from her last drive!

I can't wait to mail these to the collection site! I will post pictures of those before I send them off.

Work In Progress: Hansel and Gretel

Well, since finishing the  Amelie doll a few months ago, I have been itching to work on another costume/art doll. I had kind of forgotten that I'd started Hansel and Gretel even a few months before Amelie.

I tucked them away because I just wasn't feeling inspired or motivated to work further on them. Well, I've been working on them this week. I squealed with delight last night when I finished Hansel's tiny lederhosen! (pencil for scale)

And this afternoon I finished Gretel's little apron and am equally delighted.

Isn't it funny how inspiration and creative energy ebb and flow? I'm looking forward to making their little boots (using the skills I gained from making Amelie's), and a little Alpine hat with feathers for Hansel! And of course hair and faces. Stay tuned!

Amelie Finished!

I am so tickled; I finished my Amelie doll last night, putting the final touches on her Doc Marten's boot's shoelaces and finishing her garden gnome.

I was really intimidated at first  by the shoes. I have never done boots before and didn't really know where to start. I was just going to do little ballet flats for her, but in the movie she wears the boots and I wanted to be as authentic as possible. So I took the plunge and after several trials and errors, came up with these. Aren't the little tongues funny? And anyone who has seen the movie knows that Amelie isn't complete without her father's garden gnome. My version is a little finger puppet!

My favorite part of making a doll is always painting the face. I usually just jump in and see what personality emerges. But with Amelie, I needed to make sure several features were present: her big black doe eyes, and her little pursed, humble smile. I sketched it out beforehand to get the feel, and I'm sorry to say the final product wasn't quite as good as the sketch, but I think it's quite nice after all.

 

For her little outfit, I wanted a pretty red skirt, and I've been dying to use this pretty, wide, red lingerie lace I bought at a thrift store. Instead of an A-line skirt, I went with a pencil skirt with a ruffle. And for her top, I used a fabric with the reds, blues, and greens of the movie, and I even think the pattern has a bit of French flair to it. 

Complete with her little green sweater (with blue button), I think she turned out quite nice! Now maybe, just maybe, I can stop obsessing and watch a different movie.

Itching for Spring and Latest Project

The weather this week in Boise has been beautiful, sunny and in the 40s-50s, despite rain being forecast for the whole week. Today it looks like the forecasts will come true, but Blake and I enjoyed lots of time playing in the backyard in the spring-like weather this week. I saw some early signs of spring: a lady bug curled up in a dead leaf on my raspberry bushes, and some tiny green spikes pushing through the dirt in my tiger lily patch. It's January, for goodness sake! But still it sent a little thrill through me to know spring will arrive someday. Blake enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline, and running his Percy train up and down the apple tree trunk, perfectly content to be running around on gray grass.

I've also been feeling more inspired this week, and have gotten to work in earnest on a doll I've had in mind for quite a while. It is Amelie from the eponymous French movie. I had wrestled for quite a while on what direction to go with her hair (yarn, thread, paint, felt, etc.) since her hair is so iconic to her look. I finally implemented a 3 dimensional felt method, which I have to say I am very proud of.  I am also excited about the little tiny sweater I crocheted for her in the pretty deep green color that is all over the movie.

(Side view of the doll. Here, the "wig" is just pinned to her head.) I'll post more as I progress. I plan to paint her face soon, which is my absolute favorite part, and to make her pretty little red skirt today. I also have to figure out what to do for shoes...