Dotee Dolls (part two)....

.... there could be 37 parts to the story...hahhahahhah... okay...just kidding. But, it might be awhile...

I began a little Dotee last night .... only to discover I didn't really know much about beading.  So little in fact, that it was embarrassing.. (but mostly frustrating).
After spending some time..(quite a bit of time, actually) trying to figure out how I would thread the beads onto what kind of thread..etc... for the dangly "tail" and, just let me say, it was a bear trying to thread any needle I found that was small enough to go through a seed bead .....  silly me.   With our origami, we even thread the seed beads just with the lovely gold thread that is stiff enough to go through the holes without being on a needle!
I was looking for more info about beading this morning and all of sudden remembered...I took a short lesson on beading some time ago.   I think it was with a local doll group.  This should not be difficult for me.  And, I knew I must still have some beading thread.. I don't throw much away.  Found it.  White and black.  On little bobbin type thingies.  Alright!

Also, I discovered I don't have to go to the quilting or craft shop...I found beading needles too.  A whole new pack of them.  Now I have some ammo to attack the dangly and the hanger again.  I still don't understand how to get it attached to the inside of the wrong side of the fabric ..and, have no thread showing or to somehow not lose the last few beads up inside of her...but, maybe that's the ticket... put lots of the right colour on near the end of the loop or the 'dangly' and don't worry if they hide up inside...better than seeing empty spaces on a too long thread.

So... today I have now added a dangly thing and the hanging loop... and, was working on her face prior to that.  Honestly, I know how to embroider, but for the life of me I didn't get the stitches looking great on the first few mouths I tried.  And, the piece of felt I bought at Michael's ?... forget it.  So cheap it is almost transparent... I'll either be looking for some better stuff or adding a circle of cotton under it so you can't see the colour of the body showing through.

She has a cute little face... simple just like Dot made her little gals.....  no show and tell just yet.... and, even when you do see her ...she will be my prototype...on which I am learning as I go... and, I have to say the stitching is not great.... you know how it goes when you want to see the first one done already.... but, she will live with us and we will love her all the same.... just as she is.

Show and tell soon....

Huh ???

Yes, I guess I obsessed.  More than just a bit.  I had to figure out where I had put poor little Rumpel.  It totally freaked me out that I had absolutely no recollection of having put him anywhere at all... am I losing those last three marbles?... is it happening already? ...

So... back in there again I went.  He had to be there...somewhere... in that room!! No place else he could be.

I looked in every drawer and cabinet..once again...after already having looking several times.  This time I even climbed onto a chair to make sure I hadn't missed him ... perhaps on a higher shelf.
It was kind dim up there with no lights..but.... hey.. just a minute!

What's that? ?

Are those two trying to conceal something?
Is that a tiny foot ? ... a spindly leg?....

What the ????

Oh, sure ..just pretend nothing happened.  Nothing at all.  Weirdoes ! ...

.... oh, alright .... it wasn't all their fault.  I have to 'fess up.  Suddenly, I did remember.  During the week, I did a reeeellly good tidy in my craft room because we were having neighbours over.  I placed him in an inconspicuous spot... safe til I wanted to work on him again.  Yeh...safe... til about 2020 if I hadn't spied the poor little guy....

You know how we like to make sure there is not a lot of 'stuff'  hanging around making things look messy if somebody other than us peeks into a room... ...even if it IS my craft room.  Well, I do anyway.  And..I guess I figured I would make him disappear for the night.  Just like poor Harry Potter ...pretending he didn't exist.. and then... after a week of excitement and busy-ness....totally forgot what I did with him.

Whew!  I did actually have the awful thought ..for just a moment... that I had perhaps done away with him for some reason.... ...

I've got a loverly bunch of coconuts...

... along with various and sundry other bits and pieces ....
The one with the blue wig is definitely a keeper.  It is from a class by Judy Skeel...and I am very happy with it.  I still do want to do something with that one.  It had some amazing techniques that I think I managed to accomplish very well.  Just didn't feel impelled to complete the rest of the doll as it is in her pattern and so I quit.  Seems to be my MO some days.  The others...?  well, if you are doll maker, you will see the problems... although, some of them can be overcome with proper hair or banding or hats or something I suppose.... Most of them were trying to get a grip on how to put a second skin over the original stitched heads in order to hide the centre seam.  And..they did work.. sort of..... but, man, it's tough to get rid of wrinkles ..... as we know!

The tiny head is a bead.... haven't a clue what to do with that...although I did see some bead head angels on a Flickr site the other day.... perhaps a possibility.....

Doll Street is having a Boneyard challenge.  I have plenty of discarded or unused body parts and yet.... looking at them does nothing to tweak my imagination.  Who needs a head...an arm...a leg? ...to complete their doll.  Let me know the general dimensions or a size you are interested in....I may be able to help.

One leg has the beginnings of a shoe on it....hahahha.... from when I was making my ...erm... which doll was that now? ...... I think it was this one.... maybe .....

or , perhaps this gal..... who knows now. Years go by.........

Stuff accumulates........ my poor, poor crafting room.....yes....a whole room ....with a huge table and a large enough desk.... and I still have no room to work...and wouldn't know where to find anything to begin with...............

ohhhhhh...... look, poor little Rumpel....still unfinished .... .... I am pretty annoyed with myself now....

 Hey.... there's even a little mouse in there.  Obviously it's time to dig a hole.  No, not to throw myself into...but to make some room to play with some fun stuff in there.........

Madame brought home the bacon...

well, ...some bacon anyway .... ..... of course, not the actual bacon, you understand .... but, at least a sampling of the loot that was distributed to winners and in Madame's case...for honourable mention... .... .. 5 fat quarters and 8 full square meters of Hoffman fabrics ... there are several that I quite like and the others may become giveaways ... more to a quilter's liking perhaps...











it is quite a bit of fabric ....
























she's pondering it ....
















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....... and......I tried this wonderful recipe day before yesterday..... definitely wanted to make sure you checked out my other blog to get it.... you have to make them! I'm serious. That good. I can almost taste them with a bit of maraschino juice added and a couple of bits of cherries in the mix as well as on top for the festive season. It's not too far away to begin the testing........you have to know which will make the cut in the baking department long before you begin ... and it will soon be time to begin the "can-be-frozen-for-up-to-a-month" type. I know it isn't even Hallowe'en yet...but, you know how the downhill slide picks up pace by beginning of November... I'm not waiting... even if we are still painting and fixing...

I'm baking to save my sanity..and sipping wine out on the patio just to celebrate the small jobs we are constantly ticking off the long list.... enjoying some absolutely stunning days of a great late summer. It was +31 C yesterday...whew... hotter than some middle of the summer days.....the house was still up at +24.5 this morning.....

the green fairy......

Her little shoes are finally trimmed...but, not without mishap. Even though I glazed them with a protective lacquer.... the Scotch tape I held on the decor with while the glue set...peeled off some paint....sigh. Well, I say a mere sigh now...but, that isn't what I said at the time, believe me@! I've been mixing paint to try to get the exact match...and so far so good...but, need another coat on one spot.... then I paint a tougher glaze on top....















....a glass of Absinthe was in order.... hahhaha....

nawww....it's just my cute little liqueur glass of dipping water...but, it does look a bit like Absinthe, slightly louched....
on it's way to the "perfect opalescent milkiness".....


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Yes.... that is Mickey Maria! My sister's beautiful quarter horse. I hope to be petting him one day soon when I make my annual trip to her little farm in B.C. Click on each of the "Mickeys" to hear some of his story.... he is a great horse. A stoic as Vikki calls him.. and right now she is working overtime to help heal a deep gash that he got on one leg months ago... something scared or chased him and he injured his leg on something.... it is healing, but slowly... and she is playing vet as most folks do with animals. The vet comes a few times...shows her what to do and ...then, she just does it. At the moment, that includes cleaning and cutting away the remnants of unhealed flesh or crustiness... applying salves, dressings.... etc..... what a gal...and what a trooper Mickey is to let her do it.... it has been a long road on this one... and not his first leg/foot injury...















Mickey last year...

still putzing on her....

....at my usual slow and deliberate pace...
she is proud of her legs and takes any opportunity to show them off.

I made her top from strips of a beatuful ribbon that has water coloured flowers on it...lots of fiddling... but, I love that ribbon and this was a perfect chance to use some of it. I've had it years....

Then, found some pretty fabric that went so well with the ribbon...but, it is ...well, let me just say I was describing it to my sister and called it ...creepy.... hahhaha.... when I had meant to say crepe-y....but, then I laughed and said it must be a Freudian slip...or skirt...ahahha...and we were off on a laughing tangent....we're a couple of nuts, but happy in the knowledge. Our Mom used to say all the time...if you aren't worth a laugh, you aren't worth much at all. So, some days we feel pretty darn rich...... lol....

So, for the hem of a skirt that is slippery, slide-y ... and frays like nobody's business.... what to do. I keep mentioning that I don't really know much about sewing...and I don't...but, every so often, I do something that is kinda cool and actually took a while on the machine.... long enough to put me in spasm today... my back hurts! Of course, I really put everything into it when I sew... I have to.

I cut some long, half inch wide slivers of sparkly tulle. Laid them over the bottom of her circle skirt so that 1/4 of an inch was visible on either side.... pinned them carefully so they didn't pucker or bunch... then stitched a nice line of straight stitching all around the skirt. Then,... laid a piece of blue nubbly yarn over the line of stitching...and carefully stitched it on....it gave the bottom of the skirt a bit of visual interest and turned out much better than if I had attempted to hem that stuff. She keeps showing me both sides of the skirt...pretending she is Marilyn in a breeze.... I think she likes it too....














My flowers are still perfect after almost two full weeks... who knew that type of flower lasted so long when the petals look so dainty and fragile... Alstromeria ..I think...

the bag on her head is to help keep her hair out of the way of glue and stitching...

Onward to sleeves and shoe trim.... but, for now... bread to bake. I ran out... ackkk! And, I refuse to eat store bought anymore...now that I know how to bake my own. I love my own bread!

It's a beautiful sunny, bright, blue sky day... even if they are calling for more snow flakes later. Who cares...it is mild; the windows are open...the birdies are singing at the top of their little lungs...a perfect day in my mind.

I'm a wing nut...

..... that's nothing new. I make life difficult for myself...nothing new there either.... but, I am slowwwwly...ever so slowly.... learning lessons. Always a good sign, right?











...body parts ... yup, still lying..(or hanging when drying)... all over the place. Next time, I use flesh coloured fabric unless I am painting a specific "thing" or pattern on said appendages. It just happened that at this particular time I had some tight weave lighter (way too light as it turned out) fabric hanging around. I decided, without thought to consequence, to use it for the arms and legs after I did the face of paperclay and painted it such a light flesh tone. I really liked the lighter colour and didn't want to change that...so thought to make the rest of the body match her face. Not such a simple fix. At all. It is proving to be pretty darn tricky to get the colours to match...and to further complicate matters....even the arms and legs ended up being of different fabrics...because I ran out of the first fabric whilst trying for one pair of great legs..... hahahhah..yep....I'm a nut job. Oh, well, today I am ordering caucasian flesh fabric...thanks for the site Linda.... before I am tempted to begin any other doll. Because of all a sudden, I have another idea for something... make that "someone"....











My beautiful flowers are full bloom now...and look amazing...











How cute is this little guy? A company that builds pig launchers and other pipeline cleaning stuff was giving out these keyrings at a meeting. Somebunny brought one home for me.

body parts......

Monday..... photo a week day! And... bet that title drew you in right? .... well, it isn't what you think....

Every doll maker has one of these.....a box of body parts..... and most have a lot bigger box than this. I am not very prolific in the doll making department...not prolific in any department when it comes right down to it, so it is a tiny box, but I do have one. (I have a separate one for bear, dog and other animal parts) ... It's kind of gruesome. We save all the experiments.. or half done things. I do it so that I can refer to them later...or try to do something with them at a later date if I stump myself midstream or if I get totally disillusioned while trying to accomplish some technique.











heads, legs ...arms..

I have been trying to sculpt a face that is sort of flat with not too much detail so that I can glue cloth over it and then do a face with watercolour pencils. I have not tried painting a face with brushes and paints, but want to try that some day too....just too much fun stuff to try and not nearly enough hours in a day..or motivation to get started any earlier in my days...










anyway.... too much detail and it is verrrry difficult to get a piece of fabric glued onto it ... I want to figure out a way to be able to get fabric onto a face... with no wrinkles evident at the chin or neck area.... so that I can get a great head onto a nice body...with a long neck in the body of the doll. That darn chin area. Unless you have a monstrous chin and a neck that goes straight down from it... it is tough. But... I persevere...

...so, after listening to my complaints and a bit of cursing..... Mr. BumbleVee said... "why don't you try a sculpted cloth face like I know you have done... and put a nylon over it like that other doll maker does"? HuH?... this guy. Honestly, he knows more about doll and bear making than I do...because he remembers every word I ever say to him about it. Whereas, I generally forget what I say the moment I say it. But, does he mean like Lisa Lichtenfels? .... geeez...he sure has a lot of faith in my doll making abilities. She is a legend for heaven's sake!

this is the picture on the cover of her book. She is amazing. Needless to say I will never be in her class...but, the idea was a good suggestion.













I just used one of the old poorly sculpted heads for practice. Stretched a nylon over it and needle sculpted it along the nose and enough to hold it in position. Used a twist tie at the back to hold it tight. It's just a practice head....... then, put on three coats of gesso so that I could get a smooth stable face to draw on. I didn't think the nylon would even soak up anything..nor did I think it would stay in position.














If I do one later as a "real thing"...I would definitely be doing a lot more stitching on more areas to define them and also to make it hold in perfect position. I didn't really like the roughness that was still present after the gesso...so tried lightly sanding the surface... but, was afraid to wreck the nylon...and it did rough it up in a few spots...so just decided to go ahead and draw on a face. I still had a bit of roughness...and I just don't really like the feel of the stiff surface.














It is a bit difficult to make the dry pencils look as nice or as soft as I want...and wetting it down.. sometimes I got some streaking...so I was tentative ... didn't want to wreck it even if it was only an experiment... maybe I'll try a bit more colouring and use a Q-tip to smudge it a bit more..... to soften some of the hard lines I still see.











Hahahha...this chunk of blue Tibetan lamb fur gets a lot of use... it is used for modeling on many a face... and it looks good on all of them. who knew blue hair could look this good?













...on this close up you can see a bit of what I mean about the surface being a bit rough still. I think... maybe more sanding...then add another coat or two of gesso and the surface would be smoother. But... it still is difficult to get good results with pencil crayons. However.... maybe painting ....if I could figure out how to do that.... might be the answer. However, for the doll I want to get done within the next few months.... I might have to go back to methods taught by a couple of dollmakers..... gluing a tight weave fabric over sculpted faces.

Like this one...























.. again with the wrinkles..... still have some tweaking to do with the tecnique and the shapes in order to get the desired result.

Where did Tuesday and Wednesday go?

Look at this.... Thursday already. Again, the same old question.......what the heck happens to my time? Of course, I do have to listen to my own advice that I often give to others and remind myself... I do keep a tidy house, bake bread and muffins weekly, work out, go for groceries, run errands, cook meals each night and do the cleanup... it all takes time...but, somewhere I must be missing some play time hours. The computer does take up some hours, but, my carpal syndrome has been causing me some grief lately ... so I have been spending less time on it. The typing is not a problem...but, honestly, using the mouse for even half an hour... my hand gets numb. The scary thing is...I already had surgery on it a few years back..but, now, it is getting noticeably bad again, so I am trying to limit my time on here for a few weeks to give it a rest.

I was so sure that I would be back into the swing of things after Christmas but woke up groggy each day with a total lack of enthusiasm for pretty much everything. It seemed I was just going through the motions during my days. Lack of sleep was making me grumpy... like most women... the best gift I could receive would be 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It's been so long I forget what that actually feels like. A big rubber hammer could be the answer.

When Linda started the photo a day challenge, it seemed the perfect idea to force me to at least post daily and thus have to think of what to say..what to photograph, etc.. and it worked to at least keep me moving forward for the month. At the same time I figured .. why not link my workouts to a daily routine...and I did that too. I was so hoping I would get a better sleep by working out...and eventually working out pretty hard.... but, so far.. no luck in the sleeping department and I have ramped up the workout pretty good. My limbs are weary...my eyes are more than tired, but at the risk of sounding like a whiner...they have some problems too... ...and, yet, as soon as my head touches the damn pillow.... a million thoughts are racing around in my brain. Mostly thoughts that are not connected to each other at all, but, which somehow spring one from the other like sheep, but not one looks like the other if you know what I mean. I can't seem to find a comfortable position... and ... after thrashing around for two hours or so..I finally fall asleep. I have even been trying Melatonin...it doesn't help me to get to sleep any sooner..but, I do seem to stay asleep for longer at a time. Usually I am awake about every half hour or so.... but, last night actually only woke up twice.... and, this morning I got up and walked out of the bedroom without pulling a Wall-E..... not staggering around and bouncing off doorways.... woohoooo....

If I could get a better sleep pattern going, I feel sure I could be more productive in each day... which I am sure would relate to doing more fun stuff...

I want to get on with making a doll. Want to sculpt a face to be covered with fabric...then colour on the facial features. I actually took a sculpting class from Jack Johnston in June of last year but, for some reason haven't even touched a piece of clay since then. I think perhaps it was info overload or something. Anyway, then I hid my DVD on myself, and couldn't find it. So, yesterday I just gave a face a try on my own... it takes waaaaay too much time and effort when you have no clue what to do... and if you do things bass ackwards you are leaning on completed parts while still struggling with other bits..... sigh.........

Hours later...I had this... but, it is too tiny for my plan... and too much detail really. However, I did something... that's a good start. Then, I found my DVD...so today, I plan to do another.. with instruction. That'll be fun.











A few years ago I made this one...


































My Clownesse... made for a local doll club challenge in which we chose an artist, and made a doll to represent his style... I found a painting by Toulouse Lautrec that I liked... called La Clownesse... and here she is.

I had to resort to quite a soft, stretchy fabric for gluing into all the nooks and crannies. For the new one, I'd prefer a tighter weave fabric to work with ...so will need a somewhat flatter face or at least softly rounded features... with less detail...

-35C tonight !!!!

Oh, help ! Who ordered that? plus wind... seems the windchill will be -50C ... my brother the mountain man is even sending e-mail saying he is worried about me. Hahahha.... okay..I won't go outside. But... oh, yes...just remembered...silly me volunteered to shovel for the little old lady across the street for the next 6 weeks while her son in law is on holiday in sunny Vegas. The clever old weatherman is also saying there is big probably of snow as well. Great. Get out the balaclava, the long down coat, the Sorels, and ..oh, yeh..scarves, toques and earmuffs all at the same time. Nobody cares if you waddle around looking like a Stay Puffed marshmallow in this weather.
















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Did manage to get in a bit of sewing today... the FME took me much longer than I though it should...and I was actually sweating by the time I finished her tail. How silly is that? It is not as expertly done as Judi's...but for my first go round...I am pretty happy with it. I practiced for a bit and then figured I was wasting thread.. better just get on it. So I did. It seemed to be going along just fine 'til almost the last 4 rows of scales; then the thread really was causing problems. I did buy something called Sewer's Aid and had put a few drops onto the spool of metallic thread as suggested on the package ...and also a special needle... perhaps it helped. Near the end perhaps I should have applied some more... but just wanted to see it finished. I clipped off some of the bundled thread of the last tiny row...if it loosens I will just redo them..if not... good.










Also got sleeves and the parka hood done.. ... am awaiting some lovely fur from Alaska .... but in the meantime .. I still have to place some wire, then do a bit of stuffing...attach her head... and, oh, yes...hair..so plenty to occupy me for a bit yet.

The big debate rages on...and on... ad nauseum... .

Dolls are art. Hmmm
Bears are art. Hmmmmm.......

Personally? ... I don't get it. The bear and doll makers of the world seem to be protesting all the time that nobody takes us seriously (well, okay... they mean"them" not me and I mean "them" too...not me) ....that nobody calls what they do "art"... that they don't include them in juried art shows and galleries. So what? Who cares? As a matter of fact somebody yesterday on Doll Street suggested to another that she spit in the person's eye that told her she was not a "real" artist.. because she "just makes dolls". Brother...... what next? I can't figure out why it is such a big deal.

Others were talking about what is art... and why. This debate has been around since, well, ..... forever. If you check a dictionary, there are about 11 different meanings...including this one.. "cooking, sewing and housekeeping are household arts"..... mmm... yeh..... Maybe I subscribe to the one that says: "any form of human activity that is the product of and appeals primarily to the imagination" ...but that doesn't mean it should be juried into an art gallery showing.

Many of the doll makers in the discussion decided that art must "speak" to them; must have an underlying message or something.... huh?..... are they saying that dolls must only be made to carry or convey some special cryptic message? To whom? and why? Maybe I just don't understand what these people are saying. Most of them have some idea of what their own message is I am sure...but when others look at their dolls, how on earth are they supposed to figure it out? I think it goes beyond ridiculous when they then put up their little sign that explains what the doll symbolizes and what it is "about". It is not saying much on its own if it needs a hand written sign is it? Honestly, I just don't get it. Maybe they just mean that the dolls should be made for a reason and it can be as simple as Mingus ... he was made for a challenge on the doll site... they wanted a dungeon keeper... someone to also keep the rowdy jester dolls in line...so I made him look .. uhm... well, you know.... as if he could handle the job. Actually he looks a lot like my Dad used to look. Really...I can show you pics.... He didn't get the position. A felty cute little animal did. There ya go...the right guy for the job is in the eyes and mind of someone else...

But the real thing about making this doll was that I wanted to try my hand at sculpting. He is the third one I have done with polymer clay...and I was trying for more features in a face. Trying to figure out how to do different lips... wrinkles and cragginess.. even a scar.... and I like him a lot. That is what counts for me.

My feeling is.....they really are just bears...they are just dolls. (alright, maybe with the exception of creations by Lisa Lichtenfels and a few like her) So what? Why can't people simply enjoy making them instead of being upset that nobody views their "stuff" as art?

I love to do mine simply because I have discovered that I can. I love making bears, dolls, ( I especially love doing eyes for some reason).... paper things, etc... ...and just want to be able to use new techniques every time I see one... want to learn new techniques every time I even hear about them .... to prove to myself that it can be done perhaps?... I have to confess...I don't really know.

Perhaps as simple as to be able to see how it turns out.....to see for myself and to show a few other people what I am able to accomplish.


This particular face has been shown on my blog before.. but just to illustrate a point... this is a technique that I was learning by taking a class. Cloth over cloth. It was very tricky... took about 5 hours to get that cloth overlayed onto the sculpted cloth face under it. But, I did it!! I was ecstatic to be able to accomplish it. The lips are formed with a tiny iron so that they have substance and do not just sit flat. Absolutely amazing to me! The rest of the doll is sitting, waiting to be finished...she is to be a Harpy... a mythological creature; part woman, part bird. She certainly will get done too...as there are more techniques I have not yet tried, but real life intervenes.. other things need doing at the moment. Like tiles and plumbing etc...

My family and friends like to see what I have been making..but for heaven's sake...if I try to convince them it is art or it has some deep inner meaning...or should be viewed with an eye to interpreting something world changing or earth shattering...... ...well....

Why can't people just enjoy what they do? Enjoy the comments; be happy that anybody even bothered to stop and look at our small creations? .... enter them into challenges or competitions if they are inclined...but why worry if people in "art circles", or whatever they call their little cliques these days, don't accept dolls as art? Who cares? I don't........perhaps because I also don't happen to think welding some bolts and nuts together is art .... nor is the slapping of one big stroke of paint on a huge white canvas... nope..not to me.

I am more a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of person...no deep analytical thought processes happening here about bears and dolls. I hate analyzing things to death...like to get on with the business of living, and if, in that endeavor...I find some fun things to do.....I do them. Yup... dolls and bears.... and.... so much other interesting and fun stuff that I guess I just don't have time or inclination to ponder deep and disturbing things.... things like why is making dolls not considered art............lol..........

Okay...Laundry and Dusting are calling my name.....


...... same day...hours later............

Hahahahha... I was talking to my sweetie about the doll artist thingy... and he looked me straight in the eye and said... "Well, I think you are a doll artist"....... oh, no.... now I am in a total quandary ..hahahhah.......