Finally FInished (I think)

So I think I am finished with this doll... Finally!! I know that she needs wigs but she was made for my brother and sister in law and the last few fairies that I have made for them, she redoes their wings with stained glass.

So I don't know if I will make any wings. I need to talk with them and find out what they want. I have some pretty blue wings on transparency I think would look nice.






















I kept her hair long, that is what the customer likes :) It is hard to see in the photo because her hair is so dark but there is a tiny braid around her head. I think it looks pretty good.

Almost Finished!

How long have I been working on this doll? I don't even what to think about it. But I made some good progress this week.

I got the painting done, her face, nails, and a light wash of color on her body

Here is a picture of her skirt, it is made in a peddle design. Layers of sheer white with pinkish, periwinkle dots and then sheer peachy pink. The color reminds me of the color of ballet tights when I was a little girl in ballet class.

Her top part of the dress is made from fusible fiber in a opal type color. You can't see it in the pictures but the iridescent color in the fiber is the same beautiful ballet pink color as her skirt. I used a silk fusion method that my older sister taught me to stick the fiber to her body. Around the back is some cute rosettes and then in the front I randomly sewed seed beads to the skirt.
I thought I would be able to finally finish her up but when I got into my storage of hair I was out of black! Since she has a very Asian feel I think she will need the black hair. I also think it will be a nice contrast with her outfit. Until her hair arrives she will have to wait.

Best of Show!

So I entered my angel in the Bountiful Davis Art Center's Show. They had called me to let me know that she had been accepted into the show, but they didn't say that I had won any awards, just that I should try to make it to the opening of the show. I figured they had said this to all the artists that had been accepted into the show so I didn't really pay too much attention to what she had said.

Here is a photo at the awards ceremony, I was happy with the way they displayed her and I think the lighting in the gallery is pretty nice. She is right as you turn into the main gallery I was amazed!

Here is a shot of her on the pedestal. You can see the ribbons that she won, the big one is the best of show and the red one is for my sister Denise Maisak winning 2nd place in the needle work category for the costume. You can check out here flicker page here.
They pinned up her dress in the front to show her sculpted legs and the shoes that I made. I never really liked her legs so I can't say that I was really thrilled with this, but I was just happy to see her in a show.
I was overwhelmed to get Best of Show and also to win some award money for this show. I have to say it felt pretty nice to finally get a bit of recognition for my art. I hope that this is just the start and more will come!

More Progress

A bit more progress on the flying fairy. She now has hands and arms. Her proportions look a bit off in this picture. It would probably help if a had a good camera instead of my phone. In person they are not so off.

Here is another picture at a different angle, I think the proportions look a bit better in this pic. All I know is I really need to finish her up so I can work on something else. I am getting to the point with her that I either need to finish her or throw her out.... I will try to be patient and finish her.

Flying Fairy Take 2

So the previous try at making a flying fairy was not acceptable this is something that my brother-in-law has asked me to make for him, and as much as I like fairies but am a bit tired of them. After this one I need to try something new.

Here is a shot of her face... I think the book I am reading about some Chinese sisters has somehow seeped into my fingers. I really was not intending on making as Asian looking face so I hope my brother-in-law doesn't mind. She seems a bit masculine to me, but hopefully I when she is painted and has hair that will change. I also don't really care for the glass eyes that I used. I would have liked to use white beads and paint the eyes but again that was not what the customer asked for so I used glass eyes. I think the pupils are a bit to big.

Here are a couple of body shots so far. I hope to add the rest of the arms and legs this week.

Updates on Memory Doll

Here are a few updates on the doll that has been giving me so much grief. I still don't know if I will finish her... still not certain I like her. I guess I will see how I feel about her as I work on her a bit more.

She sits on a pedestal that has been covered with some gray and orange paper and some other decorations.

So there is a story behind this doll. If I ever finish her and sell her the money will go to the NAMI organization, in the name of my friend that I lost almost 6 years ago. The NAMI organizations color is gray, you know like breast cancer is pink and Aids is red. The orange is because when our family does the NAMI walk in our state we all wear orange.

Hopefully I will get her finished soon, but since I am not really liking the way she is looking she has been placed up on the shelf again, until I can figure out what needs to happen with her.

Oh The Frustration!!

So here is a doll that I had wanted to finish for a contest that I had seen out on the web. The deadline is tomorrow, as you can see I will not make the deadline :( Between my new commute and added stress that I have been having with the new position at work and then trying to train for a half marathon in a few weeks I have not devoted enough time to her. Today I thought I would be able to get her done, but then..... CRACK!!! You can't see it in the pictures, still need a new camera, but her shoulder has cracked.

I am so sad!! I have not been feeling particularly creative lately, feels like I have lost my ability to sculpt. I know that some of it is because I just don't have the time to do it.
I will try to repair her tonight, if I can't get it to work she will sadly sit on my shelf until I feel I have the ability to fix her. My dear brother in law has patiently been waiting on me to make him a new fairy... so I need to man-up and try to get it done. I hope that soon I can get over this hump and on to a more productive/happier time.

Finished Angel

So I got the angel doll finished and entered her into the Springville Art Contest. But she did not get accepted into the show. I think she looks too doll and not enough sculpture, if you know what I mean. I don't think many people think of dolls as art, sad but true.

I like the way she turned out, but I really need to try to get more movement into my work. I'm defiantly stuck in a very doll looking mode and I don't think that is very marketable. She is bigger then I have worked before but I kind of liked that.

Someday soon I hope to get a better camera so that takes better pictures. Hmmm don't see that happening anytime soon, but I can wish.

For now she is above my fireplace... she will probably stay there for a while. I think I will give her to my mom for Christmas, since the last doll I gave her was hideous!

Gothic Little Red Riding hood

So I finally got a doll finished and some pictures taken. As always I apologize for the quality of the photos. I will try to take some pictures with the camera later, but for how these were taken with my phone.

So let me know what you think of her... your likes and dislikes are always welcome.

A bit more work on the new doll

I have done a tiny bit of work on the new doll, I have also bought the fabric that I will dress her in, but boy I have been having a hard time finding time to work on her.

I'm liking her quite a bit... this is a new process of making a breast plate, I have had a bit of trouble but seem to be doing a bit better now.

Here she is with a bit more paint. Most likely her eyes will be light blue or gray. This is just the dark outline color of her eye. I think she will be blond also... so what do you think so far?

More new work

So I have put the flying fairy to the side for now, I don't know yet what I will do with her, most likely she will end up with her eyes being dug out and the rest of her tossed. I know this sounds rather harsh but come on she is not helping the situation... she has turned a terrible shade of yellow, when I try to add new clay it's lovely and pink, so I don't see how she can be fixed. The other doll is still at my sisters being costumed. So I have been working on a new doll.

Here she is with her head attached to a breast plate. This is something new for me to try... so far I think I like this process but we will see how thing go when she is cook and cooled off. Let's hope that all goes well. This head is about 2 1/2 inches tall, a bit bigger then I usually make, so this will also be interesting to work at a bit bigger scale.

Working on the new dolls

Updates on the new dolls I have been working on. I have painted her face, got her tights on and pantaloons. After messing around trying to make her a dress, I finally gave up and sent her to my sisters for her to make her costume.

Any guesses on who she will be? I'm not going to tell you yet.

So I'm very unhappy with the flying fairy that I was working on in the previous post. She has turned very yellow, looks like she has liver trouble, so I'm putting her to the side for now and will try to figure out how I can fix her later. I will try to start another flying fairy soon. But for now I'm just having some fun with this little girl.
Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, I have just been using the camera on my phone and it doesn't do a very clear close up.

New Dolls

So I have been working on some new dolls. The first is a fairy, for now I'm calling her Crackzilla because she has been a complete pain!

I thought I would try Kato Clay, and have so much trouble with it. I love the finished look of the clay but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong... It has been cracking so much I don't know if I will be able to finish this fairy.

As you can see by the pictures, I have had to fix her numerous times and I'm still not close to completing her.

Karl, who asked me to make this doll, wanted a flying fairy... so here is a funny picture of her flying in my oven while she was cooking a bit :)

Here is another doll that I'm working on. I thought this was a rather sweet face. I have some plans for her running around in my brain but I'm not saying anything yet, so stay tuned.

Here I just drew some eyes on her, so you can see what she might look like. Boy after looking at the pictures my room looks very messy... I will try to at least clean off an area to take the pictures so you don't have to see all my messes.