Pensive Rosie.

Rosie is finished. She surprised me at the end. She turned out to be very different from what I planned in the beginning. I planned her to be highly decorative with gold locks and complex headdress, but as I was working on her, all these ideas have changed.

Rosie turned out to be a day dreamer, living in her own world. She is a quiet, pensive child, just like me when I was little. Yes, I had my Mom worried there for a while, because I could sit in a quiet corner for hours, daydreaming, inventing my own stories and living through them.

Rosie has musical mechanism inside that also activities motion. She is not big, only fourteen inches (36 centimeters) as she sits on her stand. She is very pleasant to touch, I tried raw mohair for her hair for the first time. I love the feel! I also finally mastered the embroidery option on my expensive sewing machine, therefore Rosie sports a cute little embroidered jacket, custom made just for her.

Working on Rosie

One of the heads from the "August Project"reminds me of my
childhood. I decided to start with this little head. I called the

doll "Rosie".

 She reminds me of time, when I was a little girl.
Once upon a time (long, long time ago)  I had a beautiful German made doll.  I called it "Rosie" because of her sweet face and a pink dress. "Rosie" was my all time favorite. Therefore all my sweetest childhood memories associated with her.

"Rosie" is the first doll of mine that will have a musical mechanism with motion inside. I am not very technical person, therefore I did not make the mechanism myself. The mechanism I found attached to an old broken  porcelain doll, that I bought for four dollars in a thrift store.

I am a thrift store junkie. Love them, thrift stores. It is like going hunting or looking for a hidden treasure. I found quite a few old musical mechanisms this way. "Rosie" is the first to have one inside her.

Here are the first steps of working on "Rosie"

The August Project: Saturday Fun

August is one of my favorite months. There is slight shift in the nature toward the Fall season, nothing major, yet sun light is slightly softer and more golden, the light breeze brings just a hint of coolness, leaves on the trees are whispering wistfully… sky is so blue. Love it.

Today is the perfect Saturday day, beautiful weather. You would think that I say all that because I enjoy this weather to the full extend, spending my time outside, however it is not so, not quite.

Today I have my precious "ME" time that I was anticipating all week long. Today I sit in my studio, admire the golden day from inside. I am painting today and having so much fun!
Painting is important part of doll making, well done painting breaths life into face of a doll, layer by layer.

For painting polymer clay, I prefer to use Heat Set Oil paints, they do not dry out until they are baked.  I prefer to bake the layers gradually adding more, like china paint. Therefore, painting heads and hands is slow process. The finishing touches I add by "Fiber Castle" markers, they also need to be baked for sealing.

Here are the results of my hard today's work:

This little girl reminds me of me, when I was little.

I just love this little sweetie! 

The Wild Thing! The ears were an experiment!

The light is almost magical.
It is a perfect Saturday afternoon.

August Projects

I have decided to use new approach to doll making. Before now, I have been working on one doll at the time. This time I tried to start multiple projects at the same time.

Why? I don't know… I just wanted to practice sculpting heads, then hands. This is how I ended up with these three funny characters. I did not have anything special in mind when I started them, so I decided to take it as it goes. Here is what I came up with:

I like all three of them, and it starts getting interesting as the ideas form in my head about what to do next. Oh the possibilities! I will keep you posted.

"Pearl"

As I said earlier, this little Lady is an experiment in many ways. I made the head, using Elena Kunin excellent tutorial book. It took about three months but I can finally display "Pearl" to the world. The inspiration for the costume is high wested fifteenth century Italian dress. Thanks to Pinterest, it is easy to research and look for costume ideas! I decided to include some of the "in progress" pictures into this post. Here she is, my beauty!

The Experiment

It has been a long time since I blogged, but not because my passion for dolls has cooled. On the
contrary, I am having a great time experimenting with new ways of sculpting. I have decided to change my approach a little. I bought an ebook written by one of the masters of the craft and the artist whom I greatly admire, Elena Kunin.

Since it was the very first time doing a head this way, I was not sure if I want to go on and finish off the doll completely, or move on to the next head. However, as soon I painted her, I liked her enough to continue. Not everything about it I like, but I think she turned out interesting. Here are the first results.

"Natasha"

"Natasha" is an experiment on many ways. She is the biggest doll I ever attempted so far, I also changed a few things with sculpting and armature making, while working on her.

"Natasha" is about 30 inches tall. This time I used strong wire armature for her,and gave her permanent position, so it is more of a sculpture than a posable doll, her head is turning freely though.

"Natasha's" head and hands are hand sculpted with "Fimo Pippen" polymer clay and the rest of the body is soft sculpture. More about making her you can see here  Her wig is also handmade with Alpaca natural fiber, also new material for me. I loved working with it. Here she is, my little beauty!

"Sunflower" is completed!

It is a big deal when one of my dolls is completed at last. With everyday pressures of life, I do not have as much time left for my "doll passion"as I would like.

Sometimes, the "girls" are rather stubborn, and the work doesn't go quickly and smoothly. "Sunny" is just one of these "girls". It took me more than a year to complete her!

Oh, but what a journey it had been! I learned a lot as I was working on her: she is the first doll that I blended two kinds of polymer to sculpt. She is also the first I mounted on flexible plastic armature instead of wire. She also has removable clothes, instead if sculpted ones.

So, here she is!

Meet "Natasha"!

This little girl I started to work on about a month ago. Her sweet face came to me very quickly, it was amazing, how smoothly she emerged. I worked with my favorite "Fimo Puppen"

I decided to share a little of the process with you in this post. I still work on her body, and wanted to try a few new ways of building.

"Natasha" is one of the biggest dolls I ever attempted: 27inches (70cm) and she will be rather static sculpture, than posable doll. Here are the first steps:


 Here "Natasha" is nothing more than a head. Her face is sculpted, sanded and polished. I fit her eyes for the first time, so to say, her first glance at the world.

Now, she has neck and hands. Her head will have an ability to turn and adjust.

I also put painted several layers heat set oil paints

 "Natasha" is mounted on strong wire armature.

I use two kinds of fiber fill to make the balk of her body: loose one  that is usually used to fill in soft toys, and one for blankets.

I sew it together and fill. 

Time to put everything together for the first time!

Next step is to make "skin"

Новогодний Зайчик для Юли!

Этот Зайчик был рожден как следствие участия в одном из "Сумасбродных Проектов" от "Теффи Эффи"

Честно скажу, это был первый опыт сделать что то такое уж маленькое как новогодняя елочная игрушка.

Я очень старалась, ведь это подарок для Юли Назаренко, талантливой художницы и просто очень хорошего человека, которая является для меня постоянным источником вдохновения.