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.

"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!

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.

"Alice" Is finished at last!

It is wonderful to finally see the results of three mounts' work. "Alice" did not go easy for me. For very long time I could not decide how to finish her off. I lived through  quite an artist block in these few mounts, uncertain how to go on. But now she is finally finished and I am proud of her!
So, here she is!

"Alice" is 23 inches (59 cm) tall. "Alice" is fully posable soft sculpture, mounted on flexible plastic armature. Hands, head and feet are sculpted in "Fimo Puppen" polymer clay.

Golden Renaissance. Lucretia.

I finished one of the most complex of my works so far. Lucretia was inspired by the Renaissance Era.

I have already wrote about the making in the earlier entries, so I will not say much here.

Here is the link if you would like to find out more about the process.

Instead, I am posting the wonderful pictures, that are made by my talented husband. I hope you enjoy them!

Lady Marie and Her Wolf

I finally finished this project that took me about four months to complete.

The title is "The Mysteries of Broceliande Forest" This is a composition of two figures.


The work is the tribute to Gillian Bradshaw's novel "The Wolf Hunt". The novel is based on "Lai de Bisckavret" by the12th century poet Marie de France. The story is set in 12th century, therefore I made my best to depict the clothes to reflect the style of the time.

My favorite part of this excellent novel, is the willingness of the main character, likable and brave Lady Marie, to overcome society's stereotypes and be able to face her deepest fears. 

One of such fears for her is the fear of wolves. However, when the incredible turn  of her life brings her face to face with one, she does not back out. It is a very strange wolf: he is wild animal and free spirit of the forest. Yet, he chooses to live among humans. Marie is able to look at the animal without prejudices of her time. As a result, she gains a loyal and loving friend. 

Moreover, Marie applies her  critical and open mind in solving the mystery of a disappearance of a noble knight, who once saved her life. Last time he was seen walking into the Briceliange forest to hunt, at least that what he told his newly wedded wife, and did not come out of it. He is believed to be dead, but Marie has her doubts. So she starts her own investigation.

Will Marie solve the mystery of Broceliande Forest? What will she discover? I can't tell this intriguing story better than Gillian Bradshaw already have. If you want to know more, read "The Wolf Hunt"  You will not regret it!

"Petals" my May project

Ahh, spring! Gotta love it! Especially after this long gray winter that we just suffered. I was so happy to see bright sun and fresh green grass!















One of my good friends just got married, and now is getting ready to move far, far away… This little quick project ( it WAS quick) is for her, as a wedding gift.

I called this charming girl "Petals". She is inspired by May flowers and my friend Olga, the very girl "Petals" is created for. Olga is a wonderful dancer. Although "Petals" is not a portrait doll, I wanted to reflect Olga's light spirit and grace in this work.

Petals is 18 inches tall. She is mounted on flexible plastic armature ( my first so far). I found that I like it very much. Flexible plastic armature is easy to find in doll supply internet stores, it also comes in different sizes. It is not very expensive and easy to use. If you want to create "posable" doll, it is much better than wire. "Petals" easily changes her position. She can stand or sit without any trouble.

The lower legs, arms and head are hand sculpted in "Fimo Puppen" polymer clay.

The wig, dashing hat and dress are made with "recycle" materials:
I love to visit thrift stores that often carry devastated, broken and dusty porcelain dolls. I buy them very cheaply and reuse all I can. The dress went trough a lot of cleaning, alteration and change before it was refashioned for the doll.

"Little Red"

"Little red" is a relatively small doll for me, only 9.5
inches tall.

"Little Red" is the name that I gave this creation of mine. "Red" was born when I decided to try  "Fimo Puppen" polymer and see if it works for me. As soon as this sweet face emerged, I could not stop until he was completely finished! I have been busy lately, but had enough time to work on him. So here he is, quite a dandy, in his bright red suit. Made of scraps, in a scrap of time…

"Tea Rose" Completed!

I am very pleased that I finally finished my "Rose" I started her back in October and it took me longer than I thought to finish. One of the reasons was that I wanted to do a lot of details on her clothes , and well… I am not very good at sewing. Although idea of "Tea Dress" was exiting it also was very hard to execute.




















Here is the source of my inspiration












And here is the result of four months of labor (on and off…)
Meet  "Rose" in her full glory!
Well, as full as it going to be, I don't think I can do more for her.