Another Abundance

This is another version of Abundance that I made this summer. I had the honor of teaching her to a great group of women here in my neck of the woods! The Material Girls of Houston kindly had me teach her as a class this fall.

Abundance is about 18", and fully cloth. No paper clay this time! I think she is an enjoyable doll to make, because she is fairly easy to construct....and most of your time is spent on embellishing her, one of my favorite parts of doll making!

2 New Dolls!

I don't know if you suffer from this, but sometimes the more behind on something that I get, the harder it is to make myself catch up. Such as blogging. If I miss more than a few months, I find it almost impossible to add an entry. So to "help" myself get over my self-imposed phobia, I've redesigned my blog. I'm still of the opinion that blogger does not make the process of changing a blog easy, but after spending all the time it took to just fix the margins, I kind of feel it's worth it to start blogging again.

Here are 2 dolls that I worked on over the last year. The first doll is called Reluctance. She is a paper clay doll made over a wire armature. Reluctance is about 22" tall, if she were to be standing.

This next doll is called Réalití. She is also a paper clay, stump body doll. She stands about 18" tall. As always, I enjoyed making them both....and finally sharing them with you!

Ode to Waterhouse

J.W. Waterhouse is probably one of my favorite painters. This doll is called "Ode to Waterhouse" as a nod to his work "Windflowers".

"Ode to Waterhouse" is 18" tall with base included. I really enjoyed making her, especially sculpting and painting her face.

Her clothing is from bits of silk and satin, laces and bead embellishments.

Pantomime Joy

I made this doll probably about 4 months ago. Her name "came" to me immediately! But her "story" is a whole different....er....story. I had been playing a board game with my children and one of the parts of the game was to act out being "happy". Well, we didn't quite get it....as we watched my youngest child "act" out happy, words that began to be shouted out were "crazy", "strange" and "luny"!!! LOL



At the end of the charade we were all laughing hysterically! That's when the idea of the doll came to me.

Pantomime Joy is 15" tall. She is sculpted from paper clay and covered with fabric. Her facial features are done in pastels and colored pencils.

I don't know if she is as successful in her pantomime as my daughter was in conveying "happy"...but I do wish you joy and contentment and the hope that in your life joy will become real....and not just a pantomime.

Ophelia, Her Older Sister and the Fish

These dolls are sort of a tribute to sisterly boredom! I have 3 girls and for the most part they get along in a grand fashion. But every now and then they get really, really tired of playing together.

Especially the oldest one.

I can always tell when she's had enough of her younger sisters. She gets this incredibly bored looked that is seasoned with just enough "do-I-have-to" and "surely-as-the-mother-of-those-two-crazy-kids-you-should-see-that-what-you-ask-is-unreasonable" to pretty much convey to me that play time is over. And when the oldest gets "that" look....my middle girl gets a stoic, but desperate look on her face. The silent plea that she, though she is a reasonable being, should not have to play with her youngest sister all by herself. (In case it hasn't hit you....my youngest daughter is quite lively! She can whistle and sing louder than....anyone.....and when she's happy, she's usually singing or whistling. Trouble is....well...there's only so much loud whistling and singing most sane people can take!)

These dolls, OPHELIA and her older SISTER capture the look. I want to do a third doll that will represent my youngest daughter. I just have to figure out how to make a doll look like it is talking non-stop!

A little mermaid....

This is Arisa. She is a companion child mermaid to a mermaid I made a while ago. She is about 12" tall and the pattern for her will be included in my online class Enkai Nou .



She is a cloth doll with a softly needle sculpted face. Her features are pastel, and watercolor pencils. Arisa is a wall doll and I'm rather fond of her as she looks like my daughters....minus the tail!

Titania...the Younger

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;"

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer's Night Dream
Ahh, what a position to hold!...Titania Queen of the Fairies....sure, it sounds like a glamorous job, but can you imagine the day to day grind of it? Holding court with a bunch of ill-mannered pixies, dancing till all hours of the night...how's a girl to keep her looks? Falling in love with a guy that has the head of ...well...you know! Not to mention keeping gremlins and goblins at bay...while your constituents thought that perhaps you could be doing a bit more. Doing loads of laundry, cooking dinner every night....no wait, that's my life!

Suddenly "queen" just doesn't seem so wonderful a position!

This doll is Titania....before she was queen...back in her carefree days of wandering hill and dale. I think I may have caught her a bit off guard...I can't tell by her expression if she is glad for the company or would rather pursue her travels alone.
Titania is a paper clay doll that has been made inside a frame. The background is painted in acrylic paints and the foliage that surrounds Titania is wired and "posed". The entire piece is 13" x 13". It was a bit daunting to do a 3 dimensional piece that would be seen as a 2 dimensional work, but it was fun...in hindsight!
This doll is dedicated to all the women that I know who deserve the title of Queen and may feel that their better days are behind them....may you find that this is not so! Your best days are still to come!

Joyous Noel!

Merry Christmas to all! One of my favorite songs by Michael W. Smith, set to Christmas lights....how cool is that! See you next year!

Hugs!