More Busy Days Ahead!

Next month will start off with a bang—I will be in shows the first and second weekends. On June 4-5 I will be participating in the Flying Phoebe exhibit at East Bay Open Studios at Wanda Fudge’s Goose Cottage, 1610 Minturn, Alameda, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. I will be exhibiting sculptured cloth dolls, crowns, and my “Mad Hatter” 3-dimensional collage, plus a few small mixed media items. Can’t wait to get together with the other Phoebes and “hang out” in Wanda’s cozy garden.




Then, on June 11-12, I will be participating in the Live Oak Park Fair, 1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. I’m planning to exhibit items similar to those at East Bay Open Studios. I will be a part of the “It Figures” Art Dolls and Mixed Media group made up of Phoebe members.

However, even before June arrives, I am most looking forward to a 5-day doll-making class with internationally known Akira Blount. I have admired and loved her dolls ever since I saw her “Jester” in Susanna Oroyan’s Anatomy of a Doll. She will be conducting a Phoebe workshop on all her special techniques. I can’t wait to find out all about them and give it a try. I have been busily gathering up the items on her class supply list, and making a multitude of doll body parts on which the techniques will be applied. I hope to incorporate some of these techniques into the dolls I have to make before the end of the year. Those will include a parasol witch doll for Flying Phoebe window display at The Book Shop on “B” Street in Hayward in October. Incidentally, I have three flower faerie dolls that will be in the Phoebe display for the month of June at The Book Shop.



I have been invited to send a doll to “In Celebration of the Doll 2011” at the Houston Quilt Show in October. This will be my fourth year. And, I have decided to make and submit some items for Somerset Magazine challenges. There is the possibility that I will be involved in two more exhibits before Christmas in San Francisco. Let’s see it I can really get all of this done.

Before I put away my mixed media materials that I used in my crown making and started pulling out the doll materials stash, I made five new crowns. This post features the photos of some of them. The next photos you see should be of dolls!!!

Where Did April Go?

Wow, where does the time go? I have been on a crown-making marathon. I made up my crown pattern and some new samples and demonstrated glue pens, glittering, foiling, and making rubbings with Shiva Paint Sticks at the Rusty Barn Show at Cal Expo in Sacramento on March 24-26 while working in the Embellishment Village booth. The weather was wild! Gale force winds and pounding rain, yet the attendance at the show was amazing, especially on the first day when the weather was the worst. The truly passionate artists and crafters turned out that day and were so enthusiastic and eager to buy. By the end of the three days I had sold out of almost all the items I was demonstrating… and that inventory was supposed to last three shows! It was tiring, but exhilarating! I love playing with those products!

My crown patterns were selling at the show, so Embellishment Village ordered some more to take with them to other shows. They were headed for Ohio and Kentucky in April, Salt Lake City in May, and Long Beach in July. They wanted me to continue demonstrating, but when I looked at my calendar, I realized I had much work to get done for the shows, challenges and exhibits I am participating in between now and the end of the year. And, upon my return from Sacramento, I had to start getting everything ready for the crown workshop I would be teaching to the Flying Phoebes on April 21. Not only did I have the class during the day, but I was also scheduled for an enrichment presentation that evening at the Phoebe quarterly joint member and associate meeting.

What a whirlwind day that was… and so much fun! My class members said over and over how much they enjoyed it… it was more like a play day… no stress… just letting the creative juices flow! They produced fabulous crowns. I don’t have all the photos of their finished crowns yet, but Wanda Fudge outdid herself and has probably produced 10 or more since the class. I, myself, have made five more… three for gifts and two for exhibit. This blog post features the photos of Wanda’s crowns.

At the class and during the enrichment presentation that evening, I demonstrated making rosettes from various types of ribbon, pinwheels and fans from paper, and all the exciting techniques for creating wonderful embellishments from Angelina fibers. I also demonstrated all those fun ways to use the glue pen and large size glue from Embellishment Village to glitter and foil. I was thrilled that everyone enjoyed the demonstration so much that Phoebes have decided to schedule free demonstration workshops for members and associates in the future, with segments that will cover various techniques and materials used in doll-making and mixed media. I’m looking forward to more fun!

The Great Postcard Exchange!

It’s been a long time since I posted something to my blog. I have been SO BUSY—creating, creating, and CREATING! Let’s see—there was the fabulous Women’s Craft Show at Fort Mason in San Francisco in November. So much to make for that! The Flying Phoebe booth did extremely well… we were invited to come back for the second weekend (and did) and I sold more than I had imagined I would, including my little red, white and blue clad French doll. Then there was Christmas and the Phoebe Christmas party and exchange. I made a paperdoll for Zanaib that was embellished with images of butterfly wings.

And, then there were other things that got in the way—the taxes to get done and two Phoebe newsletters to coordinate and get published, and my new adventure as a demonstrator in the Embellishment Village booth at the Road 2 California Quilt Show in Ontario, CA in January.

But, I’m back! My first big project for the year was the Phoebe postcard exchange. Judy Fleck proposed the idea and eleven of us agreed to take on the challenge. It meant completing ten 5 ½ x 8 ½ inch collaged postcards and sending them out before the April Phoebe meeting. It took much more work than I thought it would, but I was totally immersed in the project and had a great time! Now I am finished with the ones I mailed out, and have been receiving the most fabulous surprises in my mailbox from my Phoebe friends! We are all putting together booklets of the cards we have received and will be exhibiting them at the Phoebe meeting in April. I just love them all! Everyone did such a terrific job! I will cherish them forever (and publish them on my blog when the set is complete!)

Today I am sharing with you the ones I made. Although I took the pictures with them standing up, they look a little bent in the middle. Actually, they are on a stiff backing, so I think it had something to do with the angle, or the close-up lens. Anyway, you get the idea!

This is the paperdoll I gave Zanaib for Christmas!




 

Crowns, Crowns and More Crowns

Ever since I started crafting crowns last year, I have been intrigued by the possibilities for embellishing them. Last year’s crowns are shown on the “Queen’s Accessories” page link at the top of my blog. I ended up selling all of my Halloween crowns and creating others for friends and family.

They are so much fun to make! This year the Flying Phoebe’s asked me to teach a workshop in April on how to make crowns . My mind has been filled with crowns ever since. Here are three of the new ones I have made recently. The pink one I made for my granddaughter, Emily, for her fifth birthday.

I have been experimenting with possibilities new to me—creating pinwheels from paper, rosettes from crepe paper and ribbon, and foiling and glittering techniques that I learned recently while working as a demonstrator for Embellishment Village, http://www.embellishmentvillage.com/ in their booth at the Road 2 California Quilt Show in Ontario, CA. I will be demonstrating again in their booth at the Rusty Barn Quilt Show in Sacramento, CA on Mar. 24-26. They sell fabulous supplies and materials that can be used on all types of mixed media projects, not just quilts! I have been having so much fun playing with their glue pen, foils and glitter.

My friend Diane Carter at ttp://www.cowgirlquiltdesigns.com/ introduced me to the technique of making exciting motifs using Angelina fibers and rubber stamps, including her wonderful leaf stamplate! Embellishment Village sells all the materials required. I will be passing along everything I have recently learned at my class in April. I will also be sharing these techniques at the “Enrichment” portion of the Flying Phoebe associate/member meeting in the evening after class. In the meantime, I have several new ideas I want to incorporate into my crowns. I’m working on my pattern instructions, and possibly a kit. It’s time to get back to work!

New Items Debut at the Fort Mason Show

I'm so thrilled to be a part of the "Phoebe 10" at the craft show at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Ten of us, all members of the Flying Phoebe Doll Club, were juried into this prestigious show. We only intended to have a booth the first weekend, but were asked by the promoters to also participate in the second weekend. The booth has been a great success in both sales and in gathering four pages of names of people who would like to either participate in our free doll-making classes or attend our meetings. Go to http://flyingphoebe.blogspot.com/ to read about us and see photos of the exhibit.

I've been busy, busy, busy for several months... ever since we found out we were accepted... making items for the show. They have been very well received. Here are some photos of some of the smaller items that are new.

Three Grandmothers and Emily Rose

On the day before I went to Petaluma to take the Froud 3-day class, I was in San Leandro at the Barbara Willis Memory Box doll class. Barbara Willis is known world-wide for her exquisite dolls, classes and books. She is a long-time member of my Phoebe Doll Club. I had been wanting to take a class from her since I started making dolls and joined the Phoebes five years ago. I was thrilled when she decided to conduct one of our four Phoebe-sponsored classes held each year. The class was on her recently designed Memory Box doll, which hangs on the wall and is designed around a box filled with collected nostalgic items.

At the class Barbara demonstrated the various techniques for needle sculpting the face and assembling the box, but there was little time for other work in the class. The pre-work had included sewing and stuffing the legs and torso.

After I returned from Petaluma and finished Keiran and Valentine, I started working on finishing Barbara's doll. I decided to dedicate it to my adorable granddaughter, Emily Rose (now five years old), and incorporate meaningful items relating me, my mother, Sarah, and my grandmother, Amelia. We are Emily's grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, respectively.

I never realized how labor-intensive this doll would be.



I cannot tell you how many hours and days I have worked on it. I can only say I spent more time on this doll than any I have ever made! I finally finished it yesterday. I scanned photos of all of us and reduced the sizes (Emily's two photos are in the heart-shaped locket hanging on the back right-hand corner of the inside of the box. The three grandmothers are in frames on the left inside door.

All four of us share similar interests in the ultra-feminine and we grandmothers have shared similar skills and interests. We have all three been interested in sewing. My grandmother would take my mother window shopping when she was a girl. They would pick out designs they liked and my grandmother would come home, draft patterns, and create copies. My mother made almost all my clothes until I was in high school—until I started sewing some of them for myself. Her sewing was amazing... she made beautiful garments and many of my prom dresses, often out of silk, and often beautifully and tastefully embellished with beads, etc. I started sewing and never stopped, eventually becoming co-owner of two tailoring, dressmaking and alterations shops. My business partner and I created many one-of-a-kind designs which were featured in the shop and many local fashion shows.

My grandmother and mother were masters at crochet. Between them, they crocheted hundreds of doilies, tablecloths, curtains and clothes from fine crochet thread in the most exquisite lacy patterns, sometimes incorporating tiny seed beads. I was the knitter and I was once really into knitting about anything you could think of, including dresses. We all three loved any type of crafts. The tiny hat hanging in the back of the box was made by my mother as a pin from some sort of natural coiled fiber. She won many awards for her flower arranging. She was constantly making centerpieces and decorations for parties and events she attended and I often helped her.

The buttons are from my grandmother's button box. The heart locket is some "junk jewelry" I had as a kid. The doilies and laces we all three collected. The perfume bottle was my mothers. I made tiny hat boxes by covering an old plastic zipper container (remember those?) and a small cardboard salt container we used to take on picnics. I made the dressform from black wire and stuffed doe suede. I put one of my grandmother's antique buttons on the heart in the doll's hands and scanned and reduced the images of some old postcards I had collected. I added a minature Eiffel Tower I brought back from my recent trip to Paris.

I will keep the doll hanging on my wall until Emily Rose is a little older and can understand the meaning of the items. In the meantime, I will go on sewing clothes for her—my living doll—because she really, really loves clothes and all things "girly." She definitely inherited her three grandmothers' genes!