Some More Dolls in Progress

Here are two more dolls in progress.  I created the pattern, cut out doubled muslin and cotton fabric and machine and hand stitched these two little lovelies.  I  painted the eyes last night.  I decided to keep the focus on the eyes and make the mouth and nose very simple.  For me this harkens to the Waldorf ideal a bit, where their dolls have neutral, primitive faces to engage the imagination.  The eyes go beyond primitive here, and certainly indicate personality, but I don't think that's a bad thing, in this case. 

I think these dolls must be friends, even though they have very different personalities.  Originally I was making one doll as a birthday present for a little girl I know, and then I figured I'd make two.  I'm torn now, as I'm thinking I'd like to send them in to see if they might get published in Stuffed or Prims.  I might just have to make some more with the same pattern.

I'll post more pictures when they have hair and clothes :).

 

 

Bunny Plushie Party Favors

Originally, we were just going to have a family celebration for my daughter's 2nd birthday, but this quicky expanded to include a day to celebrate with the family and a party with friends on the following weekend. I've had the idea for these little plush bunnies running around in my head for awhile now, and I figured that this would be a good opportunity to create some to use as party favors. They are fairly simple in design, and their small size makes them great for little hands. I put a loop on them for the older kids, so they could attach their bunnies to their backpacks, if they so desired. The legs are made from an old curtain I made in grad school, and their decorative embellishments are made with scraps. I hand embroidered the faces with cotton floss.  They seemed to be quite a hit, so I think I may make a few for my etsy shop.

Prim Doll for my Daughter

My daughter has been fascinated with the primitive style dolls I've been making to sell, so I thought I'd make her one of her own for her 2nd birthday. She's at the stage where she constantly wants to undress the doll, so I decided to make one that was essentially clothed, but had a removable skirt. I plan on making a couple of other skirts so that she can have a bit of a wardrobe change. For this doll, I decided not to distress her, figuring that my daughter would be doing that quickly enough.

Monday Craft Project: Felt Crown

I've been meaning to make a felt crown for my son ever since I made one for my niece. He asked for his to be a pirate crown, so here we are.

Felt is a very easy material to work with, and, if you are just getting into sewing, it's an ideal fabric. It doesn't fray, it runs through a sewing machine easily, and it's very forgiving. All wool felt is very expensive, so unless it's a project where I specifically need 100% wool, I either used a blend or use synthetic (especially for projects that the kids might end up trashing). For the crown, I also used a little bit of elastic for a better fit and room to grow.

So here's my pirate king thinking up his next dastardly plan.

Collage With Cereal Boxes

So I thought you might like to see an example of something I created using a cereal box as the substrate.  Here are some collages I made to use either as journal pages or digital scrapbooking pages.  As a bonus, I'm providing a link so that you can download one of the images to use in your own journaling and/or scrapbooking.  All I ask is that you not use it for commercial purposes or in artwork you plan on submitting to a magazine.  Of course, I would love to see the final project showing how you used it.

To download a 300dpi version of the first background (the one with the flower), click here.  When the image opens, right-click on it and save as onto your computer.  Enjoy!

Doing More with Less

Art supplies are expensive. I shudder to think how much I have spent over the years, especially since I have so many artistic interests and they all require their own set of tools and media. To make matters worse, new tools and gadgets keep coming out that are oh-so-tempting. You can never have enough art paper. Really. Ok, maybe you can, especially if you are like me and fall in love with those beautiful, fluttering treasures and can’t stand to “ruin” them by, gasp, actually using them. (I know, I’m working on that.)

This causes two issues: 1. Supplies are expensive and my budget doesn’t leave much wiggle room for extras and 2. Some of those supplies become too precious to use, especially if they are both gorgeous and expensive.

Both those issues interfere with my goal to make more art. My solution is this: to repurpose items that would otherwise be recycled or thrown away. I know, this is nothing new, and plenty of other people have come to this realization as well. But for me, it’s progress.

My favorite repurposed item is the cereal box. It makes an excellent substrate for a variety of projects, from bookmaking to mixed media collages. It is also a great art supply for kids. Mine run through paper so quickly (often making just a few marks before deciding they need another piece of paper), that an alternate source for things to draw, paint and collage on is a relief. Plus, I’m not ruining a precious material, as my household goes through an inordinate number of cereal boxes that would otherwise be recycled. The downside is it’s not archival, but since much of what I’m doing right now is practice and experimentation, this isn’t such a huge issue to me.

So do you have a favorite repurposed material you use in your art?

Weekend Family Art Time

One successful way I’ve found to slip in time for art is to make a weekend morning of family art time. My husband and I take turns getting up with the kids on the weekend since they both seem to have this unnatural urge to get up early (don’t worry, I’m storing this away for when they are teenagers and want to sleep until noon). Having them work on art projects serves two purposes—it usually gives me time to do some simple art along with them, and it keeps them quiet. I find that simple drawing projects or clay/play dough projects work best since cleanup is easiest and supervision isn’t as intensive. My oldest child especially loves that I make art along with him, providing some always welcome Mommy-time.

Finding the Motivation

So after reading Shona Cole’s book The Artistic Mother, I totally felt energized to do daily art. In theory it seems so simple, to break projects down into smaller pieces, prioritize your life, etc. Reality never seems to want to follow the rules. As I was trying to work on a couple of pieces this morning while my children played, I kept on having to interrupt what I was doing, and I became really frustrated. And so I realized this about myself; I often procrastinate from doing art, even in small chunks, because once I focus on something it really bothers me if I have to stop before the process is done. As a result, I find it hard to even start because I want to avoid that kind of negativity. Anyone else in the same boat?

Rather than give up, though, I’ve decided that now that I realize this about myself, I can work on changing that feeling—learning to be more patient with myself and others. It’s hard work.

Here is what I was working on: faces for some whimsical people collages. I painted the flesh color yesterday in acrylics. Today I was using a combination of water soluble oil pastels and watered down acrylic gesso to add some interest. It’s been an unnaturally wet and cold winter here in the NW (even by our standards) and it still doesn’t quite feel like spring. To combat that, I’ve been focusing on using a lot of bright colors and cheery themes.

New Elf Doll

So I used a basic Waldorf doll pattern and adapted it to make this elf for my son for Christmas. The fabric is an upcycled t-shirt belonging to my husband. It is stuffed with wool except for the ears which are made with cotton quilt batting. The clothing is made from felt and the scarf is knit from a soft wool blend. The hair is mostly wool yarn with some wool roving thrown in for texture.