Category: Art Dolls

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

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Be-flowered Fairies and Babies in Progress

For these little fairy babies, I tried out Mimi Kirchner‘s directions for hidden button movable joints. They worked out great. I’ve made them jointed at their shoulders and their hips so they can sit or lie down. I’ve also weighted their bottoms to make them sit nicely.

They are made from all sorts of things, 100% cotton fabric, Creative Paperclay, and Li-Qua-Ché pourable papier mâché, not to mention fabric flower petals, pipe cleaners, carpenter’s glue, and Poly-Pellets. I hand quilted their wings and left an opening on each one for wooden stands that I plan to add later. Since they they can be posed, I thought it would be fun to

This is my Spring fairy, a little further along. She is actually a little further along than pictured here, and has been already sanded and gessoed, as have the babies. I am just a bit behind on my photographing!

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New Original One-of-a-kind Star Baby Art Doll by Elizabeth Ruffing

“Sigrid the Star Baby” is making her debut. Sigrid is a newly born star. She is jointed at her shoulders and hips so she can lie down or sit. She is made of 100% cotton which was gessoed, painted with acrylic artists’ paint, then sealed with matte varnish for protection…just like I would treat an original painting.

She has an adorable pouting baby face, with one little tear on her cheek. Please click here to visit Sigrid’s web page.

I put my picture “Moon and Star” her hang tag because it goes so nicely with her turquoise and gold onesie.

Prints of “Moon and Star” can be found on our web site, in my Etsy shop, and on Ebay.

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Spring Fairy Art Doll in Progress

I am getting my hands dirty now…

First, I thought Plastic Wood would be a good modeling compound to use on my doll, just for a change, and it might have been. Unfortunately, I had no recollection of its ability to bond with, well…me. After much grumbling over my encrusted palms and fingers, I finally got it off with nail polish remover, the kind with acetone in it, which stung a bit. I was quite relieved just the same. At least I didn’t bond one hand to the other!

I also relieved myself of the Plastic Wood, which is now in the trash. No offense to DAP…I’m sure it’s great if you mind the warnings not to get it on your skin. Mea culpa.

So, I am back to Creative Paperclay, which cleans up nicely with water. I also used some carpenters’ wood glue (Titebond Original Wood Glue, which also cleans up with water) to attach these big green flower petals to the head of my fairy art doll, and then made a cap and stem from the Paperclay. Her be-petaled head reminds me, for some reason, of those funny flowered bathing caps my grandmother used to wear to keep her hair dry while swimming. She and her best friend Lottie used to have a humorous assortment of them. I can still see them, perched on the edge of the pool, cooling their feet in the water, tucking their hair carefully away, talking whispering talking talking whispering…

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Order out of chaos

Finally! I’ve sewn and stuffed and attached all my previously adrift doll parts. They look like little fencing champions, all lined up in white. Are there only ten? Oh, but it feels like there must be more! Perhaps I just had two more in mind.

To celebrate, I made Swedish Lucia buns which, according to our old Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook, are traditionally served in Sweden to celebrate their Queen of Light Festival, also known as Saint Lucia Day, which comes at the beginning of the Christmas season. Once again, I am a bit off with my holiday traditions.

They are wonderful, however, and similar recipes can be found online, like this one.

Copies of the old Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook can still be found on EBay, which reminds me…I’d like to get an extra copy for myself. Ours is getting tattered.