Rhonda and Rex are ready for a walk

Rex is anxious to get out for a walk and Rhonda needs to get dressed. I made a two layer skirt of miniature lace and sheer bronze organza which has a free form edge that was made using a mini tip soldering tool which I purchased from England. She has a sheer silk ruffed blouse and a faux leather hand stitched jacket which I embellished with micro trim. For accessories she has real leather shoes with tiny straps and buttons and a leather belt with a tiny gold buckle.

Her hair is baby angora, hand dyed a beautiful shade of auburn red. She sports a pink ribbon in her hair which matches Rex's pink collar and leash.

Take a close look at her eyes, I used a two part epoxy resin for a glass like finish. It almost looks like water when it dries and adds a realistic look to her eyes.

Rhonda's armature and costuming

Ok, Rex is finished and I'm returning to Rhonda. She now has a fully sculpted body and movable arms. My next project was to knit miniature stockings. I used 6/0 knitting needles and 1 Ply Cobweb Yarn to create her striped leg ware.

I dyed some of the ivory yarn a warm brown to match her outfit.

Rhonda & REX a new sculpt

For my next sculpt I want to try a more whimsical character, stretch the guidelines for correct proportions. Rhonda will be a 4 1/2" child, ready to go for a walk with her loyal bull terrier, Rex.

Rex has a full wire armature and was sculpted using Fimo classic with inset black onyx eyes. After sculpting he was painted with an acrylic base coat and then flocked with alpaca fibers. I used Alpaca 18 by RG in black and white and cut it up to a fine powder using a Dr. Slick scissors. I carefully applied Clear Gel Tacky glue with just a tint of white paint and applied fiber to small sections at a time.

Rex was then shaded with Pan pastels to hi-lite his fur, with special attention given to his paws, ears and mouth. I applied a light spray of Krylon to seal the chalk.

A bright pink collar and leash from Aztec Miniatures and he's ready to go.

My version of Alice in Wonderland

I just finished my entry for the International Art Doll Registry IADR. This month's show features story book characters and is called Bambino Romanzo .

I always wanted to create my own version of Alice in Wonderland, because my daughter looked like this when she was young.

Alice is 16" tall, constucted with a strong wire armature She can stand alone and has movable sculpted arms and legs. Her dress is made from a fine cotton micro check and her apron was created from an antique handkerchief, with beautiful miniature lace work. Her shoes are real leather with soles, heels and tiny brass buckles. She has fine silver WireLace stockings and a petticoat trimmed with ribbon. Her hair is soft baby angora mohair.

The white rabbit is handmade, with a wooden body, arms and limbs. He is fully jointed, even the head moves. The hands, feet, and face were sculpted with La Doll. I was looking for a porcelain like finish. Everything is hand painted, no stencils were used. I even carved the tiny trumpet he holds. The only thing that was purchased was the small 22 kt gold plated pocket watch, which I got from Ginny at Hbbrass.

I really enjoyed making this doll and I hope you like it too!

The Eyes Have It

Eyes are such an important part of a sculpt. They make it come to life. I mentioned in my last post I've been experimenting with different mediums to make an eye with more depth. Thanks to my friend Colleen (dolljourney.blogspot) she directed me to a sculptor's website that had a great tutorial http://www.fairiesndreams.com/ That site also referred me to another site, http://www.renatajansen.co.uk/ that had addition eye tutorials. While I didn't follow them completely, I did get ideas from both. And I always wanted to know what they were referring to on ebay when they said a sculpt did not have computer generated eyes........now I know how those are made. You print tiny irises onto transparency paper with your ink jet printer and carefully cut them out, you can see the steps on the fairies and dreams site. I thought the result was still a little flat so I hi-lighted and out-lined the iris with watercolor paint right on top of the printed iris on the dull side of the transparency paper. I think I like the glass eyes I did with the glass and metallic paint the best.......the liquid fimo gives them a nice clear lens. I must warn you though, be very careful with the thickness of the fimo gel and baking them very slowly by adjusting the oven temperature every ten minutes..........or you get cloudiness and bubbles........destroys the eye.........

When you're done with the oven curing you can use your heat gun to make the lens even shinier.

Take a look at these photos.......you can use a lot of interesting colors and tints for fantasy eyes.

Christmas Elf

Finally finished my elf......I put many hours into this little guy. He's 9" tall, with sculpted head, arms and lower legs. The body is needle sculpted with a wire core and is gently posable. His hair is a rich auburn kid angora mohair, which I hand dyed myself. I re-worked his eyes several times. I'm not happy with the results I've gotten with acrylic paints and varnish, they don't seem to give the eyes enough depth. I've been working with some new mediums and experimenting. I think I've come up with a combination that looks much more realistic using glass paints, metallics and a two part epoxy glaze which simulates glass, it even wells up in the corners of the eyes. I also applied real hair eyelashes, one by one.

Costuming:

I used a mini print metallic brocade for the vest, a mini stripe corduroy for his knickers that have little gold buttons on the cuff, black suede for his elf boots and belt, all with tiny buckles. And a black velvet cap with antique style button and feathers.

His stack of presents is decorated with miniature candies....a candy cane, ribbon candy and peppermints.....all topped with a bow.

Click on the finished photo for a closer look. I've also included a photo of all the pieces before he was assembled.

Sculpting stand

I've been looking at different sculpting stands, to use for full body sculpts. Some of them are pretty pricey. I found a link on a sculpting website to a free video on how to build your own. It's really quite easy and you can buy all the materials at a hardward store for about $10. It works great, it rotates and is adjustable for different heights...........here's a photo. I had no problems putting it together after watching the video and making notes.

You can view the video at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...10073597844707

New Oven

How many times have you burned clay in your toaster oven? I bought a Cuisinart convection toaster oven because I thought it would be better than the cheaper ones out there. I even got a liquid thermometer so I could make sure I had the correct temperature. I don't know how many times I burned or darkened clay in it........especially tiny fingers, it's very frustrating. I tried aluminum foil tents, lower temperatures, different baking times, nothing seemed to work.

I finally decided to look for something else. I found a Deni Convection oven on the Morezmore ebay store and e-mailed the gal and asked her about it. She sculpts a lot of polymer clay and it's the one she uses. I got it about a month ago and I LOVE it. The oven shuts off when the timer runs out.......no more running to turn the oven off. It blows hot air from the top and circulates it around the dish.......I haven't burned anything yet......even re-baking tiny hands.

Natasha, from Morezmore, did say she uses a liquid thermometer to check the temperature because the control knobs on the oven aren't extremely accurate. She also said to insulate your sculpt with a folded cloth napkin if it gets close to the glass bowl, because the glass gets hotter than the air circulating in the oven.

He has a face

Just finished my elf face. I used Genesis heat set paints and a touch of oil pastels. For the eyes I used Pro Paint from Reaper Miniatures, with a touch of metallic.

Individual applied lashes. He looks mischievious to me..........what should I have him doing?

Starting a new sculpt

I'm starting a Christmas elf using the clay mix Dianne Keeler told us about, cernit, super sculpey and white classic fimo. I like the consistency, although it did take a little time to adjust to it. The baked clay has a very nice translucent appearance as you can see in the photo. Now I need to add some color and paint in the eyes.

On Saturday, I received the fleece I ordered from Patricia Keeley, Autumn Hills Woollens and Sheep Co. Gorgeous, blue faced Leicester......it's a soft white with beautiful curls. Patrica's fleece is great to work with, very clean and easy to comb out. It will make great hair for my elves and santas., take a look at this fleece I just washed.

The Toad Prince

A real prince or just another toad?

Patterned after a picture I saw of a prehistoric toad.......full body sculpt with wire armature, black onyx eyes with metallic hi-lights and oil pastels for his skin coloring. A crown finished to look like hammered brass with small fleur-de-lis finding.

OFFF

This past weekend I attended the Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, Oregon. It's a great event and I met so many wonderful people. There are fiber arts demonstrations and many hands on activities. I even tried spinning for the first time, I have to admit I felt a little klutzy.

I met a woman from Germany who was demonstrating bobbin lace making.....it was quite amazing, she said it was easy, but I have my doubts.

One of my favorite parts though, is viewing all the animals. I made three trips to the barns. I love the angora, blue faced leicester, lincoln, icelandic, alpacas and many other varieties that breeders bring to the fair for judging. The people that participate are so friendly and truly love their animals.

I also went upstairs in the Main building and to see the samples submitted for the fleece competition. I met a very nice woman, Patricia Keeley, when I was admiring her 1st place blue faced leicester fleece....I need to buy some of that!

Some of the priced fleece is available for purchase, I split a bag of 1st place Icelandic x Lincoln fleece with a young "spinner", TJ (Tracy Jane). She and I were both amazed by all the beautiful shades and textures of black, grey and brown in this very soft wool fleece, but we didn't need 3 pounds of it! TJ can't wait to see what it looks like spun, and I'm anxious to try it out on a doll.

Speaking of buying, there are so many fiber vendors, with some great products at reasonable prices. I spoke with Sarah Anderson, who I met last year. One of her hand-made yarns was featured in Spin-off this past spring....it's amazing. I've purchased quite a few beautiful fibers from her booth and incorporated them in doll clothing.

I just received some awesome, kid angora goat mohair, which I ordered from Lin Schwider, who I met at the OFFF, www.thepinesfarm.com , she won first place for her angora fleece.

Queen LadyBird

Queen of the Lady Bugs








An OOAK full body sculpt with artist made inset eyes. She has an anemone crown adorned with Swarkovski crystals and cultured pearl. Her shell is a gourd that has been lined in velvet, trimmed in metallic braid and gold leafed. Small skeletonized leaves form the wings. She has a regal silk brocade gown, gold wire mesh sleeves and a period collar.
Her tiny shoes are of dupioni silk with micro bead trim and real leather soles.

A sculpted labybug rests in her hand.

She has a dreamy look in her eyes, as she recalls a fond memory from long ago.