This is the doll I have been working on. Doll all stuffed with her pieces parts.


Then I collaged her with my painted fabrics. Doll front.

This is the back.

Ahhhhhhh, at last. 90% done. My art doll. Well , that's what I call her for now. I had some choice words while I was designing her but that is for another time lol. She is 38 inches tall and she got started with me cutting out what I thought was a head. I sewed it up and stuffed it and liked it. I sketched a pen and ink face for now. I haven't done anything else with the head. The body has consumed me lol. Her body has language, don't you know? she is saying, let dance.

Here is a close up of the body. First I made an armature and then I totally covered and stuffed her. Then I collaged her with my painted fabrics.



Close-up of the back of left arm. I did her entire body in DecoAmerican products. Fashion Beadz, Fashion Beadz Writer, Craft Twinkles, Craft Twinkles Writer. Glamour Dust.

Back of lower legs. I did beadz all around her ankles and just played with the rest.
I made patches of jewelry and had to wait 24 hours for those to dry, then I adhered them to different parts of her with glue.

Back view of her butt, it's nicer than mine lol....I continued to turn her on different sides and just did my thing...she has lot of jewelry patches.

Close of top back.



Full vies of legs back.


Right side view.



And the feet.

Pumpkin Patch Spirit

I joined a Fall Pumpkin Doll challenge in a group I belong to on Yahoo. I had such fun making this cute doll. Her head is shaped like a pumpkin and her body like a pear. Instead of making her head orange, I decided to use one of my painted art fabrics to make the entire doll.

After I put her together, I made her a tie on -skirt and tie- on sleeves, this way I can change her attire if I want to. I then painted leaves and vines down her head legs and arms. I added glitter to her eyes and hot shots paint to her cheeks. I used glitter writers to make extra vines and to add more glitz.

I have her sprawled here so you can see her entire body ,while she is drying.

Here is a close-up of her face.

Here is a close-up of her arms.

All products I used were from the DecoAmericana Paint line.

There will two post today to make up for lack of ? lol. Here is our dinning room that hubby has been working on for a month now. He is doing a floor in the mosiac style out of Travatine stone.

He has done such a beautiful job.
Anytime I look at it I just keep looking at it.

I love it!

This is my idea of a doll. Nice big, substantial body to hold lol. I don't have a name for her yet. I will wait until I paint her and see what character she comes up with. I do love the smaller dolls too. I just haven't seen a nice big one lately.

I wanted a nice round head, so I have been drafting dolls heads in muslin and then sewing them together and stuffing them for the last two days now. I made 5 doll heads lol. Well when I got to this head, I liked it good enough and I decided on the body. The size of the body is measured by the size of the head, so this doll should be about 7 times the lenght of the head. Well it's not going to happen. The head is 5 1/2 inches so the body should be between 38 to 40 inches tall. She looks good at 31 1/2 inches tall, nice.

I really had to jury rig around with this doll as the head was already stuffed and far be it for me to unstuff anything. I did up the body, attached the stuffed legs and arms. Stuffed the body. Then I made a square breast plate? out of muslin and batting, cut a hole in the middle, whipped stitched the head in. Then I ripped open the top part of the body and inserted the head and whipped that into place. Then I sewed down the breast plate firmly. The breast plate came out nice, considering I did it freehand. When I sewed up the sides, it made a nice covering sleeve over the arms.

I will tape her up today and gesso her entire head, forearms and forelegs (is that the correct way to say it?) Well the bottom half of her arms and legs. I have used a brown gell pen to sketch in her features to get a sense of what I want. I like huge eyes.

I will dress her in civil war fabrics and will try not to make her smile too much so she can remain in that catagory of old time dolls. Even though she is new and clean and not a tear on her lol.


Here she is in all her glory. I love her little tummy, oh she has a nice bottom too. I haven't decided if I'm going to paint her shoes on or make them out of suede......

I have been having fun making and drafting dolls. Here is my latest..she is the napking doll by Judi Ward. Here she is naked. lol


She's sorta skinny, big feet and omg, the ears. Oh well I got her together and this was the first pass, no shoes yet.

I hated her head, her face and her ears, so I lopped off her head and her ears hahahahahhaaha.

I painted her face first on a piece of cotten.

I then redid her head without ears. I had made a little wig, so thank goodness I didn't have to redo hair. I made her shoes. I fused two pieces of each pattern piece together with the pelon stuff. I then sew the shoes and used a large knitting, sewing- up needle to make the holes to lace up the shoes with yarn. I made her a tote bag. Her cheeks came out fat, but that's ok. I like this model better.


Here is another view with a purple ribbon.

I have made my first Izannah Walker doll. I have researched and looked at pics etc. The orginal doll had a molded face, where cotten and cloth were pressed into a mold with glue and then the faces were painted etc. I drafted my pattern to be something like an Izannah, since I have never seen one in person to know the measurements or anything. So I am guessing at the size head and did the body accordingly. If anybody has an orginal Izannah please email me if you would like to give me some stats.

I made a rag doll body like the ones I saw on the web. I gave the knee and calves a little shape and extend her booty a bit lol. Then I covered her entire head and chest with air dry clay and molded her face the best I could, since I am new at this. I should have looked at a pic but oh well, this is only the first one.

I will gesso her head and breast plate and paint her in acrylics, make her clothes and post another pic of her when I finish. I still have to do her thumbs, they are seperate and added after the hand is complete. I noticed when I posted the pics that one of her legs was sewed accross a bit higher. I have fixed it lol.

It took me all day saturday to make the patterns but once finished, I made the doll right away and did the sculpting today. It was fun.

Update: I have been busy learning to sculpt, small stuff that is. If I disappear for while, take heart as I am working on stuff lol.

In my spare time, not to be totally craftless, I have been trying my hand at clay modeling. I am going to make the Goblin Princess and need some goblins....well to tell the real truth, I did want to sculpt a pretty face. Well, all I could get were these goblins hahahahha....but that's ok, I love them. These are originals and I will cast papers masks off them and make my goblins....





In the top pic, the white goblins are curved out of styrofoam and cover with glued on cotten. The rest are super sculpty.

This was not the second lesson. This was the way I decided to go lol. This is the famos Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) from one of the EZ books. It is made like nothing you have ever made. There are just two seams to sew together and they are at the shoulder. The jacket is all made in one piece. I think it is the most adorable thing I have seen yet and it will grace the body of one of my dolls no doubt. I will just have to make a special fairy or troll or whatever. I have also learned to knit the continental way. So now I knit with both hands. I did use the both the book and the dvd to make this jacket.

Oh, I ordered some more doll patterns last night lol. I want to try the celluclay/fabric mask. You make a mold of the face out of super sculpty, bake it (I think) then you cast your mask off of that with the celluclay and then you cover the mask with fabric...and another doll is born. I want to make an ugly doll, like the ones they sell on ebay hahahahahahaha

So long for now, need to check my order and make sure I ordered the correct stuff, it was kinda late.....

Just a quick note. I did a quick page on MSN for my quilts as I have lost the earthlink page. The link is listed on the right on this page, under links.

The knitting fever has struck again lol. I am now having classes with EZ at home from her dvd's.

Last night I did the first project and knitted into the wee hours of the morning, 4 am to be exact lol.

I went to bed got up at noon and started the hat again and finished at 5 pm, all the while watching the dvd's of all the other classes. The color knitting was easy....

Side view of the hat and the true color.
Worn pulled down low.
A little higher.

The back of the hat. Neat isn't it?

I had one of my painting fits and just had to paint a skein of cotten "Bernat Yarn". I am dyeing to dye yarn but don't relish the thought of boiling, steaming or microing it after. There has to be a better way. So anyway, off I went outside in the blazing sun with my acrylics , mixed with fabric medium and did my thing. Here it is all tied up in sections and washed and damp.

All painted up.. BTW, that table consists of wooden planks on two horses. Those blanks have been soaking up paint now for quite a while. They are a bit of art all by themselves lol.

Drying on the line. It looks like A calypso. Hmm I wonder what I will make out of it. It's a huge skein.

Here it is, all dried by baking in the sun and drying in the dryer. I used DecoArt acrylics mostly and their fabric medium, as you can see the colors are very bright as they have good pigment. I try to use up all my oldest paints or almost empty bottles...so nothing goes to waste. Painting yarn or fabric for quilting or art, is a good way. One just needs to remember, when using acrylics, to paint fabric or yarn, to add fabric medium to retain softness. Once washed and dried, the color is there to stay and you have something unique and orginal to work with.

I will wash it in a couple of days and then decide what to do with it. I kinda like painting yarn. ...it's easy...one has so much control. Now I have all those tubs of fabric dye powder, that I have never opened. I need to sell them on ebay.

I was laughing so much at 3 am when I finished this piece. I started it about 9pm and was bound and determined to finish it to see if I have really arrived at being at intermediate knitter. I think I have. I followed the instruction to a T and it worked. This is an old pattern designed by a knitting Icon to the world of knitting, "Elizabeth Zimmermann". I now own 3 of her fun stuff- to- knit books. I love old time stuff, especially if they make sense and serve a purpose. I have always admired the ingenuity and talents of the 14 to 15 century folks and of course some other centuaries. I am a history buff to say the least. Remember when the soldiers back then wore those mail armours to protect themselves? The head covering was like a cap with a point and made out out of mail. Later on the same style was used for a winter hat or a sleep cap. Liz called this particular one, "Maltese Fisherman Hat.This is a pic of it before felting.

In order to felt, you put the item in the washer in hot water and let it agitate for 6 min. checking it now and then as each type of wool felts differently...when it is felted to your satisfaction, rinse and spin dry. Oh it is in a pillow case the whole time it is washing. Then it's time to block it into shape. Notice now how all the holes are gone and the yarn has closed tightly. If you were to wear this cap in the snow. The snow or damp or rain would not penetrate....weren't the old ones smart? I mean, a sheep is alway dry true? This process can only be done with 100% wool. I had such fun doing this. This little hat is perfect for a night cap in the winter when your head gets cold. I love the little point. The flaps cover your ears and the the nap in back covers your neck...just perfect.

The cap is knitted in one piece. My kind of deal.

Isn't it cute.

Blog for today part 2

I was so tired after convention that I decided to paper the kitchen finally. This job has been waiting for me for two or three months now.

Finally the house is done. Then I was even more tired so the next day I decided to finish out two lines of paints by Deka. One line was for silk and the other for fabric. I was limited to just a few that I had left so off I went. I just starting tearing off 1 1/4 yard pieces to more or less, some 2 yards from a roll of fpd (fabric prepared for dying). I would wash 7 pieces and hang on the line. I don't know why I did that as I had to dampen them anyway lol. I had the one large line going and 4 smaller ones on the other side lol. I would wash, paint, hang and overpaint some. The day was hot and windy and I got a good tan. I am now overtired lol.




Here are some close ups of the painted fabrics. The silk paint on cotten came out very very nice indeed. I like. The fabric paint was also very nice. Now I have gotten rid of two lines of paint that I didn't really need and before they got too old and nothing got wasted. I have read on the web that hand painted fabric sells for about 30.00 per yard. I think I will try selling some on ebay but a bit more reasonable.

I put the whole mess out every day to bake in the sun.

I will wash them after a few day or weeks when the mood strikes. I have at least 260 yard painted so far and have a basket washed and folded. I have lot to wash. Some of the fabric is for actually framing as they have lots of texture and those won't be washed. Percy's coat is made out of some of that fabric, the soft ones that is.

These are also considered my dark line more or less. You must have darks to show light right?

I think I'll rest over the weekend and do my knitting on Lyra.

Convention part 1 blog

As you all know I went to the NSTDP convention. I forgot how hard it was to work one of these so this was my last one lol. I only had time to take a couple pictures as we were so busy. I was in the selling booth. Here is a pic of my painted and hand made Percy. They put him on the top of the booth and he was a hit. He sold lots of paint.








I was able to take pics of these wonderful carved wooded Santas painted by the Russians and up on display.

And a wonderful coffee table painted by David Jansen. The bottom pic is the waterfront by the convention.