New Design- Ghost Story Dolls

Finding lovely cotton fabric with writing and pressed flowers printed on it got me thinking about making some new ghostly dolls. I added some sheers and some tiny printed toile to the mix to add some different fabric textures.

Shimmering cat's eye beads should make interesting eyes. I've had a bag of these beads forever and have never found just the right doll to use them on. I'm really pleased with how she turned out. I've never made anything so gruesome.

Now I have to come up with the reasons why that even with a cut throat and 2 missing hands my ghost is still smiling in such a beguiling way..... My guess is she's plotting to scare the person who did this to her to death.

In my mind this Lavinia is going to be even more proactive in avenging the crime against her. I remember reading Titus Andronicus years ago and thinking it was too bad she didn't get to kill
Demetrius and Chiron herself.

Mermaids

While I'm terrified of water, I do really love to watch documentaries about undersea life. Sea horses, sea dragons and octopi are my favorite sea creatures.



I like to design my mermaids to be more sea horse women than fish women. Sea horses are more dainty. Most of my mermaids are more animal than human. I find this type of figure more of challenge.

I did create one amphibian female once. But the mermaid like creature that amused me the most was the fish demon from the South Seas that attacks fishermen by flinging fish at them.



















My love of old monster movies crops up in my work too. A giant starfish monster capturing a mermaid is one of my favorite pieces.

Adding new things

Okay, I've been busy creating armatures so in the next few days you're going to see some cthulhu
babies, some hex cats, a couple of Chihuahuas and a crawling eye or 2.

If you want a special custom item, you'd better hit my shop this week or I'll never get it done and shipped for the holiday.

I'm really pleased with Bitsy thulu. I like her little silk flowers. I'm working on a baby Nyarlathotep too. Stop on by to see the new magic animals and cthulhu monsters I'll be adding. See you on the "Dark" Side... :)

Happy Solstice! Christmas....etc ! Be happy!

Pre-Holiday Sale

I just wanted to show some of the fun things in my shop that will be on sale until the 18th. Everything in the shop is 30% off.


I have cthulhu monsters, beaded jewelry, plush cats, wrist cuffs....all kinds of fun things.

Oh, and if you want a custom piece, best contact me now so I can get it finished in time for the holidays.

Binding Your Demons-- Bound Fantasies Part 2

Hummm.... What to say about this beauty? In my previous posting about Red Roses and the Ram Goddess, I wrote about finding tying or chaining up figures very freeing.

It was like the more they were bound the better I felt. Well, My Golden Demon here seems to have served the same purpose.

I'm very pleased with how she turned out. I like the contrasts of the different textures of cloth I used. But using silk for her skin, even though it looks good, was a huge time consuming nuisance. The delicate fabric didn't like being cut and sewn on the bias.

I never thought I'd get the pieces of fabric to lay flat enough to be sewn down properly.

After the silk torso fiasco, sandwiching red sheer between 2 pieces of netting and sewing the pieces to the wire wing frames seemed so much simpler than it usually does.

I think my favorite parts of this piece were picking out the fabrics for her dress, sorting the floss for her hair, and choosing the chains. Arranging the chains just so was almost like putting jewelry on her....which is odd in a way.

I love these pieces when I'm done with them and don't really try to analyze them too much. I think that ought to be up the viewer.

Marvelous Wearable Monsters

I love old monster movies. One of my favorites is The Crawling Eye. When my husband came home from his special effects shop with a bag of random resin eyes, I just had to start creating Crawling eye figures.

I went from the dolls to making wearable pieces. I mean really... who wouldn't want a beaded representation of alien monsters who pop the heads off unsuspecting
humans?



I have dolls, barrettes and pendants in stock at the moment as well as resin eyes if you'd like to make a monster of your own.

Creating Art based on your Fears-Big Dolls And Ventriloquist Dummies

Okay, I have this thing about big dolls.... That kissy doll is around 2 feet tall and when you pull her arms together with the palms touching she blows a kiss.

Now if the fact that old kissy was as big I was at age 3, the hissy popping sound of the kiss, surely scared me. I thought she had a snake inside her that I woke up when I moved her arms together.

The other doll- like creations I still get the creeps over are ventriloquist dummies.

My Mom used to make me watch scary movies with her when I was little. One that has always stayed with me was the 1964 Devil Doll.

This evil magician found a way to trap a victim's consciousness inside his ventriloquist dummy. He kept the poor dummy in a cage each night. So, we have the origins of my claustrophobia, the fear of being controlled by someone else, and the hatred of humanoid doll like things pretending to be something they're not....what a cornucopia of fears....

Now at age 49, I make art dolls for a living....go figure. I make Cthulhu monsters, ghosts, anthropomorphic figures, and all kinds of strange creatures.



Sometimes I wonder if I'm really overcoming my fears by making these sculptures or just feeding them.

But, I do think it is much more challenging to create something that you're not completely comfortable viewing when you're finished with it.

Bug is Complete! Works in Progress Part 3

I finished the wings on Bug last night. I've now given her the name Moira in honor of
the Dancer who inspired me as I
worked on this piece.
I'm happy with how she turned
out, but I really need to find another way to
do wings, using a buttonhole stitch took forever.

Bug and the Tales of Hoffman -Works in Progress Part 2

Bug's been coming along nicely over the past few days.
Her arms and hands were stubborn, but I finally got them into an attractive pose.

Actually, The film the Tales of Hoffman with it's lovely sets and ballet sequences and vivid use of colors, really helped me figure out a gesture that didn't look clunky.

You can see the Doll's story sequence here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9oK24SFzHw&feature=related And the Dragon fly ballet here..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnHKm9fn2yo&feature=related

Shearer was such a great dancer.

So, Bug is nearly complete. She just needs her wings . If you think she 's lacking anything, please feel free to give me your input. I was going to bead her, but metallic fabric is so much more bug like and I like her smooth lines.

Works in Progress- BUG

While she may not have an original name at the moment, Bug is the first in a new series of insect women sculptures I've been working on over the past few weeks.

She started out as another half doll for the doll making book I'm writing.

But when my husband saw her finished head, he thought the face was very insect- like and
suggested I follow through on the idea.

The biggest problem was that
the doll's torso armature was
covered with yarn, batting
and fabric.
Adding legs meant that I would either have to tear apart what I had completed or build a separate leg armature that could support the torso in an upright position.

Since I felt that the doll up to that point was successful, I opted to construct a combined set of 4 legs with a center opening that the doll could be inserted into and secured in place at the waist. I used 14 gauge wire on this armature section instead of the lighter 16 and 22 gauge I used on the torso because I wanted the legs to be able to hold the weight of the torso and the embellishments I intended to use when the skinning of this figure was complete.

At this point, the arms and hands need to be completed, the wings need to be made and secured to Bug's back. I'm thinking that beading done on her torso and head would be the best final touches. My favorite final thing to do on a doll is it's hair, but in this case I probably should let Bug stay bald.....maybe a turban or some other head piece might work?

YART SALE--All sorts of lovely things marked down

I'm part of etsy's Yart Sale this week. I have several art dolls and pieces of jewelry marked 25% off.




MJ has several of his paintings and prints marked down too. His magnets and keychains are offered in a buy one get one free sale.







Please feel free to stop by and look around. If you have any questions, convo me or ask them here.

Titania- Fairy Queen

The headless winged figure I wrote about a few weeks ago finally decided who she is.

I was trying to decide what to do for a Shakespearean Challenge that one of
my doll groups is hosting.




I was going to do a new version of Ophelia or maybe Livia from Titus Andronicus, but I watched a version of A Midsummer's Night Dream the other afternoon.

Now the frilly tiny sweet Victorian fairies are just adorable, but to me real fairies seem more earthy and temperamental..... if not down right nasty if their desires are thwarted.


My Titania is regal and pretty, but more sinister and more animal than human. I realize she has no arms, but I was thinking fairies would be able to transform themselves to fit the situation.

If Oberon could give Puck a donkey head, I don't see how transforming wings into arms when necessary would be difficult.

Titania is in many ways an experiment for me. She's my first freestanding figure built over a hidden base. The interior of her wings are appliqued and beaded pieces of lace. Both experiments were successful and I intend to create more freestanding figures.

Works in Progress--Photos for Book in progress

I started a book sometime ago on how to create a half doll like my blue and green creation Nerina.









Well, I've gotten the sections on how to make a metal armature for a half doll done.








Yesterday I worked on photos on how to cover the armature with yarn and batting. I am getting the hang of photographing as I go. I found it kind of frustrating at first. Today I'm working on pictures of sewing the first layer of fabric to the batted armature.


Yes, all these are random photos....I'm not giving away this process for free ......:)



Eventually these steps will give you a doll that looks something like Nerina. I 'm enjoying this writing exercise, but I am still nervous my written directions will be difficult to follow.


But I'll never know if I can do this if I don't try. If everything goes well, I should be done soon.:)