Playing with Dominos

 

Ah, more ideas from Pinterest. What to do with all those dominos laying around the house that no one plays with anymore? Well, it seem people are making jewelry and tiny folding books with them. So, I thought I would try it out! Above and below are two of the pendants I made by gluing some of my favorite graphics onto dominos and embellishing them with vintage jewelry parts.

 

Below is a pin I made from a domino. Actually I made several for gifts. One of my favorite subjects... poor Marie!

 

And, below is another pendant.

 

The following are photos of the folding books, made with a dominos for the front and back. I work in cycles... for each type of project I usually can made about 8 to 10 items max, and then I am burned out and need to move on to something else for awhile. But, the door is always open to return to dominos, or anything else, once I forget the exhaustion I endured, but remember the pleasure.

 

More Small Scale Dolls

 

As I run out of display space at home, I find myself creating smaller and smaller dolls. These dolls were created for a Flying Phoebe Doll Club challenge to make cloth dolls using our interpretation of a published Nola doll pattern.
They were subsequently exhibited at the Castro Valley Library for one month. The Nola pattern is for a simple cloth-sculpted doll with a flat, painted face. The first one I made is a steam punk doll with wings made from parts of my old vegetable steamer, and she is embellished with vintage watch parts.

 

 

I cut up a pair of my vintage elbow-length gloves from high school days to make her boots. Her face is  slightly needle sculpted and painted.

Below is a smaller version doll, modeled after the Harijuku girls of Tokyo who love to dress up as cute, very young girls. Lots of pink, bows, hearts and ruffles. She has an unsculpted, painted face.

 

Small Scale Dolls for Window Displays

 

The Flying Phoebe Doll Club I belong to (go to http://flyingphoebe.blogspot.com) has been exhibiting our dolls every year for the month of December in the window display at The Book Shop on B Street in Hayward, CA. For 2014 members were asked to create small dolls for the exhibit there. I made a series of three dolls from a combination of materials 

 

 They are each about 12 inches tall. The ballerina has a cloth body and cloth legs that are painted, but her head and arms are sculpted from polymer clay.

 

 The doll below is made entirely from sculpted cloth. To me she looks like a princess from ancient Asia.

 

 The doll below has a cloth body but her head is sculpted polymer. She looks more like an ancient warrior queen. Her clothing is from dupioni silk and some very old lace from the late 1800s.

 

 

 

A Love Affair with Yoyos

 

There are so many different items on my list of things to try. The list keeps growing each time I go into Pinterest and get inspired by the fabulous photos I see. I had never made yoyos before and was fascinated by them. So, I found some fabric scraps in my stash and gave it a try. The best use for them I could imagine was to turn them into jewelry. Necklaces, perhaps? And, what better way to use some of those many, many buttons, seed beads and embroidery threads I  either inherited from my grandmother or mother, or bought myself over the years! These are some of the results of my love affair with yoyos. I think I made 10 altogether. And, while I need a break from them for awhile, I think I will definitely revisit them in the future!

Leslie Molen Doll Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

 

In January of 2014 I took the Phoebe sponsored Leslie Molen workshop. It was a fabulous experience. Love Leslie, and had a great time completing my doll, shown below. She is all cloth sculptured with a needle sculptured face. Leslie provided real horse hair for us to use to make her little braids. 

 

After the class, all the proud "mamas" were anxious to take photos of their new children.  

 

 

Here is a photo of my doll, right, with some of

her new sisters.

 

Christine Delgadillo's Altered Book Workshop

On October 3, 2013 I attended the Flying Phoebe altered book workshop conducted by Christine Delgadillo. Christine is a fabulous instructor and was so generous with her kit items, freebies, as well as unusual charm and embellishment items we could purchase. We all agreed it was one of, if not the most enjoyable, educational and inspirational workshop we had ever taken. We learned about so many new materials, methods of construction, and clever tips regarding paper collage and altering and assembling projects with match boxes and books. Here is the cover of my finished book. We first cut out pages to leave a space for inserting match box drawers.

 

The cover had two areas cut out and removed. One held a recessed photo of one of my favorite vintage graphic ladies. The other was backed with paper with printed vintage script and a gold key charm was glued on. That recess was framed by a row of rhinestones.

This photo show the match box drawers after they were inserted into the cut page section.

 

A few complete pages had been left uncut in the front. These were grouped together, joined, and covered with scrapbook papers and an assortment of embellishments.

I had a total of 8 pages to collage and decorate. This was a great project to use of bits and pieces from my stash.

For this book, I used my favorite theme, Paris. Even added vintage embellishments my late grandmother had crocheted.

 

I love this book and was so glad I had the opportunity

to take Christine's class!

Frida Kahlo Doll

 

The first doll I made in 2013 was "Frida,"  a tribute to Frida Kahlo. It is a 21" needle-sculpted fabric doll with no armature wiring. Her face and hands are two layers of stiffened fabric with no visible seams. She sits atop a birdcage, representing the rooms in which Frida spent many months recuperating from numerous surgeries and ailments throughout her lifetime. She  may have been confined to her bed, but it never stopped her from painting her favorite subject, herself.

 

She is wearing her favorite custom-made red boots she wore with her prosthetic leg after having one leg amputated in later years. In the birdcage are her paints and brushes, the wedding photo of her and Diego, a hand mirror she used to help capture her likeness, and one of her paintings.