Art Doll - Original

Well, I finally finished one of the original art dolls I started over a year ago. It was trial and error and quite the learning experience.
I did learn that I liked creating my dolls on a smaller scale!!! I was pleased with the way my prints worked with the figure. The hair is done in leather.

Bobbin Paper dolls

These paper dolls were very much inspired by the very talented Judith Thibaut
She created her fabulous dancing Madonnas and I had been searching for a way to create a paper doll using some of my old prints that would look nice. So Judith posted some wonderful dolls and I was inspired.
The dolls are made from old collagraph, mono and etching prints, and fabric. The fabric is sandwiched between two pieces of printed paper and then machine stitched. They are embellished with beads, hardware, leather, wire, feathers, tulle, and silk fabric.

Art Doll "Nailed"

This doll was titled "Nailed" because of the fact that she has a big rusty nail piercing her body that represents her arms.

Doll Assemblage

Just finished this piece yesterday. This assemblage piece is made up of rusty spike nails, old fuse boxes and fuses, various types of hardware. The face is done with polymer clay. It hangs on a wall by a wire loop on the back.

Art Doll - Silver

I finally found time to post some new work. This art doll was made from scratch, meaning I made the basket first. I then papiermache it and embellished. She measures about 12" high.

Art Dollz - Patti

"Salvation"

This assemblage piece took a while to figure out and it was my first to complete!! Yeah!
I really liked the small tin assemblages other artist were doing and decided to give it a try and since I was working with new art dolls, why not combine the two.

Bobbin Lace Art

This lady is Penny Myers and she creates these wonderful pieces of art work which by the photos you can see how involved the process is. I'm used to running over to the fabric store to purchase my lace by the yard but this type of lace work is priceless!! At one time, she raised her own silk worms for threads but has since given up on that.
Bobbin lacing has been around since the 1500's and continues to be passed on by this very talented and dedicated artist!


This fan was created using 137 bobbins laid out at one time, however, Penny mentioned she is working on anywhere from 4-6 bobbins at a time. She then rotates to the next batch. It took about a year to complete this fan.


These are an old set of Bobbins made out of bone with spangles on the end which helps stabilize the bobbins.






It can take up to 1 hour to produce 1/2" of lace.

Starry Night Print

This is a linoleum print created earlier in the Summer and I just now got around to matting it. I need a lot of work in my matt cutting skills!

RUSTY ORNIE

I was too impatient for mother nature to do her thing with rusting my altered porcelain doll, so I hurried up the process myself. According to directions, you only needed to do a few application, but I landed up doing ten to twelve. You're also to wait 24 hrs between application and I waited a few hours. I still liked the results I came up with. I'm debating on whether to add a sealer or not?

Johnny Appleseed Festival 2007

Johnny Appleseed Festival this past weekend and it was a lot of work and fun. I had never done this festival before and it went well. You couldn't ask for better weather. The place was packed with people. They average between 200,000-400,000 people in that weekend alone. Our day officially didn't start until 10:00 am, however, people were at the park as early as 7:30am.
My neighbor sold ceramics and he had a line of people waiting for him to open up.
I had a lot of postive reactions to my dolls and buyers. Feedback was great and very welcomed.
This is a photo of me and my sister Barb. She is such a great sister!!! She flew in from San Francisco to help me run my booth. Festivals are new to her and she seemed to really enjoy herself. She is a ceramicist and brought some bowls to display with my dolls and they were fantastic. We've been batting around some ideas to do some collabrative pieces.

Applique Beaded Shawl

I finally finished my Indian doll with the applique beaded shawl. It is my first applique beading and it took some time. I guess practice makes perfect. I love the whole process of beading but I wish I had more time to devote to it. The leather I used to bead on is imitation brain tan leather and is a lot lighter in color than the real thing. Plus it cost half the price. I purchased a hide of real brain tan over a year ago and I just now used it for the first time. When your paying over $100 for a hide, you want to make sure before you cut it!!!! Real brain tan leather is processed by hand and the actual brains of the animal is used. I don't know all that is involved but I do know that it is very labor intensive to do and that's the reason for the prices. When you bead or sew with real brain tan, the needle just slides right in like a butter knife into warm stick of butter. It's pretty amazing stuff to work with!!

Collage paper dolls

I borrowed a book from a friend titled Secrets of Rusty Things by Michael deMeng. He does some really exciting and amazing things with junk! I'm not halfway through the book and I am very inspired. I had been working with some collage paper dolls and decided to push it a little further with embellishments. The books is a nice treat to get the creative juices flowing.

Paper Doll Challenge with the Printmaking Club

We had a paper doll challenge for our print club and all that was a must was that the doll had to have some type of print incorporated into it. I had been working with some mixed media paper dolls earlier and so I continued my experimenting with the paper doll using alot more hardware, wire and beads. Of course there are pieces of my collagraph prints in there as well.

Native Dress

This dress is made from a very stiff thick leather. I originally wanted to make it out of bark, and I was only successful in covering myself with sap. Not that I really minded the smell of pine tree!
To work with bark you need to let it soak and then it becomes very soft and pliable. But once it dries it pretty much does it's own thing no matter how hard you think you have it bound together well enough.
The fringes are made from raffia and the whole piece is sewn with imitation sinew.

Ornie - Uncanny

This is the edited version from the ornie pictured below. I did away with the leg warmers and the face needed detail and I hope I've accomplished that.


My fascination with altered dolls continues! I covered the doll in aluminum tape and then glued on purple micro glass beads randomly. Then followed with inking and scratching the doll. Combination of black and silver wire used to create the legs and arms.
She is topped off with a pleated aluminum mesh skirt! The colors were not thought out and turned to be a little dark. I may go back and work over the eyes. I just couldn't seem to pull them off very well.

Contemporary Native American Indian Dolls

Just a few samples of dolls I have created for a show coming up in few weeks. Each one created is one of a kind. This style of doll is a far cry from the ones I have been creating. Creating the art dolls really challenge me to explore and go beyond my comfort zone. The learning process with the Indian dolls is very slow at evolving and can become stagnant from time to time.
I work on both types of dolls at the same time because when I become frustrated or bored with one style, I move on over to the other for a nice change of pace.

COLLAGE

Right at this moment I am too burned out to want to do anything. I've been working on stuff for shows and I'm tapped out!!! I guess when you start feeling like this, you should walk away for a while to regroup, and I didn't.
This piece I had to force myself to get started and then just blindly went with what evercame and with whatever was within arms length. Just creating art without thought or heart into it. Or at least it felt like that.
I've pieced together collagraph pieces, collaged pieces and fabric. Machine stitched and stamped. I'll look at it again another time to really see where I've gone!

Bird Perching

ACEO - mixed media art card which is made from paper collaged fabric. Some pieces from my collagraphs have been added to the mix of papers used to collage. Bird and tree are handmade stamps. Machine stitching throughout the piece.

This card has a cloud stamp that I carved several months back and is adorned with stitching. The foundation for the card is paper collaged fabric. It has been colored with inks, and markers.




The crow bird stamps were originally carved for a tip-in exchange. I has pleased with how they came out that I decided they needed to be used on a ACEO piece.
I usually don't pre-plan art work. I just go with my instincts. Whatever happens happens. Most things can be fixed if it ever happens to get to that point.

ORNIE - PANTOMIME

Well, this is my last Ornie for the doll challenge. It's an altered porcelain doll where I created the basket beneath her. It is then collaged with pieces from one of my collagraph prints. Painted with acrylics and adorned with wire throughout. I had originally planned on not having any arms, but it evolved and sprouted a pair.

ORNIE - PUNK'D

This is another Ornie created for a doll challenge. Ornie is an altered porcelain doll with paper collage. The head is adorned with colored porcupine quills. Measures 3"x3/4".

Ornie - Mixed Media Art Doll

This mixed media art doll is for a doll challenge. It's amazing how you can from one form to creating something total different. Ornie is for ornament and is an altered doll. It's a porcelain doll that has been collaged and then waxed. It is wrapped with a leather black wrap. It measures 3"x3/4"(not including the wire for hanging.

Art Dolls - Girlz

These are more art dolls made from the same technique as Abe & Mabel. Three of the four dolls has burlap hair and Red has red mohair. Bought the red mohair at the last doll club meeting and I'm glad to be using it. I hate when I buy things and it sits around for a long time because that special moment for it's use has not presented it self.

Mixed Media Art Doll - Abe & Mabel

This is a dual sided art doll. Abe occupies one side and Mabel is on the other. The doll is made from collaged covered muslin. Arms and legs are leather. Facial features are machine sewn. Hair is a piece of burlap unraveled.

ART DOLL

Experimenting in creating a new doll. The materials used are muslin with collage of papers adhered. The material had become warped after it dried, but I was able to play with it. Face is machine sewn and the arms are leather chord, which makes them moveable.

New Work

I finally had a chance to experiment with creating ACEO's with a different approach.
The base of the work is felt with collaged papers adhered on top. I've used pieces from old collagraph prints and they seem too work really well. Things don't seem to be coming together until you start cutting out your 2.5"x3.5" card. Each card cut is totally different. Both pieces have been inked, stamped and sewn on. I really like the effects of the sewing! I like both the free motion and regular stitching.

Rock Art Doll Series

The Rock Art Doll Series continues. These set of dolls are made from old prints(collagraphs)and metal tape. Adorned with hardware, metal beads, and wire.