Category: Art Dolls

Original, one-of-a-kind, art dolls

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Kitten in Black and White

Here is my little kitten, with his/her (still haven’t made up my mind) face sculpted and dry, and some basic lines marked with pen. I’m going to use that adorable tuxedo kitten to the left as a model when I paint.

It was bound to happen some day…I’ve been tagged. I may be the last person who hasn’t been tagged yet, ever. I think I just passed my first year blogging anniversary too, roughly. I erased my first post that said something like, “Just testing.” So, no accurate date there. I digress…I’ve been tagged by Annie Oakleaves (I like saying that. It makes me smile.) Here goes… five random facts about myself:

  1. I am an only child. People have always asked me, “Did you miss not having brothers and sisters?” I never understand this question, but I try to answer it politely. The truth is that I never had them, and so I have no idea what it is like to miss having them.
  2. I like to watch campy TV. My dad says that my mom and I will watch anything that “sparkles”. Dancing with the Stars, American Gladiators, Passions, Dr Who…if it has some element of the ridiculous, I’m in.
  3. I hate to buy new sneakers. I will wear them until they die. I’ve been known to strap them back together with duct tape. I really need a new pair right now.
  4. I am a pack rat. I had to reduce the number of my possessions when we moved several years ago, and it still pains me to think about it. I must have saved everything I had ever had, including piles of junk mail.
  5. I usually remember to take the laundry out of the washing machine, but I usually forget to take it out of the dryer.

Okay. Since I can’t believe I am not the last person to have been tagged ever, I will leave it up to anyone who hasn’t been tagged and who would like to be tagged, to volunteer five random facts about themselves. Or even one random fact. I’m not fussy about rules. Even if you don’t blog, you can just leave one or more in the comment section 🙂

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Brownies

They may not be fancy, but they are good. These are the made-from-scratch kind of brownies. I got the recipe right off the box of my Baker’s unsweetened baking chocolate squares, Baker’s One Bowl Brownies. I never have pecans around, and so I always go for the chopped walnuts instead. Quick and easy.

I had my first sculpting lesson from Max today. I was told that I behaved myself and didn’t yell, although I did get a little frustrated at points. All in all, we both thought I did pretty well, better than I expected. Hence the need for a brownie reward. I was going to take a picture of my first kitten, but I was afraid to touch him/her because he/she wasn’t dry enough. At some point I will have to decide on a gender. It is always hard to tell with kittens, isn’t it 😉 So far my kitten makes me think of what a Maurice Sendak version of a kitten might look like, which is good, I think. Quirky, cute, a little odd.

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Kitten, Bunny, Kitten

I have a mean headache today, but I managed to finish stuffing and assembling my bunny doll. So, now there are three dolls ready and I think I am about to start my sculpting “apprenticeship”:) Max has agreed to give me lessons, and has high hopes that I have the sculpting gene in me. I hope so. The first requirement was that I make my own doll patterns up and the second is that I don’t share any of Max’s sculpting secrets. I guess that means the next time you see these dolls, they will have sculpted faces. That, or they will have clothes, depending on which I take on first.

To answer Annie Oakleaves question in my comments section about which dollmaking book I would recommend to start with, it depends on what you are most interested in learning, but my personal favorite so far is Antonette Cely’s book, Cloth Dollmaking. Her instructions are great and she starts with a very simple doll. Then, in the following chapters, she explains how to make increasingly difficult dolls. There is a doll pattern for each section of the book, and so you really get hands-on experience of what she is teaching. I love Antonnette Cely’s book because you can keep progressing right up to her very advanced designs, and it’s loaded with clever, helpful tips.

P.S. Don’t my dolls look like they are at the drive-in or something in that second photo? 🙂
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The kitty community is growing…

Now there are two kittens assembled. The first one has more of a baby body and this second one has more of a toddler body.

I’m going to give the toddler one some Mary Janes, and so she doesn’t have the toes sewn in. She also has bigger ears.

They both have metal button joints, and are of my own design. Since everyone’s own pattern designs are copyrighted, it’s important to learn about designing your own dolls, if you want to sell them. I thought I’d share some of the books that I’ve found helpful.

On the far right is Antonette (Noni) Cely’s Cloth Dollmaking. Not only is Antonette Cely an amazing doll artist, she is a wonderful instructor. I’ve learned so much from this book, and it includes patterns for a few of Noni’s dolls. She also has videos. There are a couple of clips from her dollmaking videos on YouTube too: Customizing Doll Patterns and Making Faces. Just see if you don’t learn something just from watching the excerpts!

In the center are some of Susanna Oroyan’s books, Fantasic Figures, Designing the Doll, and Anatomy of a Doll. Susanna’s books include lots of examples from a host of doll artists, along with how-to drawings that are really helpful. Both her and Antonette Cely’s books include some information on both designing cloth dolls and on sculpting doll faces. They are full of inspiration.

On the far left are two of Patti Medaris Culea’s books, Creative Cloth Doll Making, and Creative Cloth Doll Faces. They both explore various techniques for making cloth dolls and include other artists’ interpretations of the patterns included in the books. They both have very good basic instruction for sewing and assembling cloth dolls, and all kinds of ideas for embellishing them.