A studio doll, bees and flowers.

A friend of mine, Judi of Olde Time Dolls, posted something today about a favorite apron that she's retiring.  I know how that goes, having retired a couple pairs of favorite paint jeans that could no longer cover my aspect.  The last pair of these, I made into this silly giant rag doll, who hangs out with me as inspiration and reminds me not to take myself too seriously.  I bring her to doll shows, and have had to put a NFS tag on her.  It temps me sometimes to make dolls like her FOR sale, but deep down, I know the love of silliness, the creation of art for art's sake is what people respond to.  Any attempt to fake it would just not succeed.

I might make some silly rag dolls, for the fun of it, but this girl is mine, and makes me smile.  (Click on the photos for closeup view.)

The girl has attitude.

But a big heart, and a love of art.  Seems like we should make another rhyme there, doesn't it?

This weekend we spent two whole days just being lazy.  Reading, lounging about, with a minimum of laundry and dishes done, putzing around with a few minor chores, but essentially recharging the ol' copper-tops.  I did find the motivation to take a few photos of the Instant Fence and some other bits of landscaping that are thriving, so I figured to share those.  The bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are seriously happy with me right now. Once the sunflower seed heads dry, the doves and squirrels will be too! 

The Instant Fence, from the inside.  The tall grass looking stuff is lemongrass.

Instant Fence, fromthe outside.

These are my favorites--I love that deep rusty red.  So do the bees.

These seed heads weigh a lb apiece, and before they started drooping, the plants stood seven feet tall!

Sunflowers and palm trees.  My happy place.

This bed started out so sadly bare, but has almost filled in within the last three months.

I'm covering the mailbox with morning glories.  Because I can.  The pink flowers on the far trellis are Queen's Wreath, or Coral Vine...a native of Mexico.  That whole trellis will be covered by the end of the summer.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer, whether that means playing outdoors, or hiding under the AC. 

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes!

I started an experiment...well over a year ago.  Figured I'd try my hand at a separate head shoulder for the dolls, the way the old maches, chinas and later compositions were made.  So I set about with toilette paper rolls, styrofoam, glue, tape, mache paste, and later, paperclay.

Can't say it was an unqualified success, but I'm happy (all this time later) with the result.  Having only the vaguest ideas of what I wanted to end up with is sometimes a blessing, because it allows you to follow what turns up, and in this case, two very different ladies appeared.

The one with her aquiline nose and blue eyes is destined for auction in Castroville, TX, to raise money for a large Catholic church.  I feel she's a sort of cross between a mache head doll and a Santos cage doll, but she'll have a cloth body and sculpted hands, and a heavy, Raphealite figure.

The dark one is Molly, and she'll wear plaid homespun and white linen.  They are a departure from the Izzanah Walker dolls, but I am enjoying the novelty.  I intend to make more, learning as I have what to do.  (And what not to do: DON'T dry the clay in the oven when you use styrofoam as the armature!)

Photos once they're dressed (well, bodied, then dressed).  Hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday.

It's PFATT DAY!

I just have so much fun with that acronym.  Pronounce it Fat.  See?  Isn't that fun?  Okay, I'm easily entertained.  PFATT, as lots of you might know, is Primitive Folk Art Trinkets and Treasures, and the PFATT Marketplace is a fun place to shop if you love folk art.

I chose this month to have wee Becky represent my "market debut" on PFATT, because down here we've had summer since April and are ready for FALL.  Becky is an autumn harvest themed Googly Izzy, with fall colors and teeny veggies on her dress.  A hybrid of the old Googly dolls, but with a cloth and clay body, made the way I make Izannah Walker dolls.

I like this idea of hybrid dolls...combining aspects of several types of old dolls into something new but still reminiscent of each.  Becky has a mix of "effort levels" as I call it...some of her clothing is antique, some is reproduction, some is just fun.

If you feel like browsing and love primitive folk art, the 10th of every month brings new and beautiful things to be found on PFATT.   And you can shop in your bunny slippers, if you want.    

Bless This Mess!

It is a mess, and that won't likely change soon.  My tidy neighbors with their manicured hedges and green lawn are lovely people, and cheerfully tolerant of the new messy gardener who has moved in next to them.  Good thing, too, because it's a long process.

Here are some "Before" photos for comparison.  But when you get to the "Afters", bear in mind that the plantings are small--mostly made up of starts from our last place and cast-offs from the clearance shelf at Lowe's--and the dirt removed from the walk way and the various beds has been strewn over the grass.  The grass will grow through, but right now it's a mud fight waiting to happen.


So here goes.  :~)
These first six are Before--the very first one being the Listing Photo from MLS.  Tidy enough, but you can't see the house for all those overgrown shrubs, and there's nothing but drought-damaged lawn anywhere else. 

If you click on the photos, they enlarge for better viewing.

I killed the grass in places where I wanted to start.  Also started taking down shrubs.

We live at a 4-way stop...people feel compelled to roll down their windows and shout encouragement!  And three or four men have actually stopped to ask me what I used to kill the grass.  Must be a guy thing.

I'd started an iris bed, but it got...bigger.  Wee Schultzie out there, guarding.

Our back yard is very exposed, so we decided to grow a "green" privacy fence.  Some was fast, in the form of morning glory vines and sunflowers.  The rest will be slow--climbing roses, pyracanthas, and other perennials.

Our messy back porch.  Plants in pots, mulch, pavers, and general chaos.  The chaos is a permanent feature.

And now, the afters.  I didn't get quite the same angles, but I tried to capture the main idea of what all has been done.

I spent a week hauling 3 cubic yards of dirt. and spreading it around the low spots on the lawn.  Also used a lot of it from flower beds to terrace the yard, using large rock as a retaining curb.  That's Phil out there, helping me with the edging and weedblock fabric before we put down the walkway rock.

And the rock is in. I colored outside the lines a little, and will have to tidy up, but we're glad to have THAT done.  Serious work for 100 degree days.

You can see the house!  The large shrubs on the end of the house will come down this fall...can't even tell there's a window behind them, can you?  Cardinals nesting there right now though, and they don't like me trimming.

It's hard to be patient, waiting for those tiny plants to do their thing.

Double swirlies on the rock curb...a Texas Mountain Laurel on the far end (small tree, will get 15 to 20 feet), and a Texas Sage on this one (6 ft shrub with lovely purple blooms).

You can see my neighbors fine green lawn past our yard...glad they're so patient.

A baby Texas Redbud, and a rose, there on the right.  I'm trying to use as much drought tolerant material as I can, given that the climate here seems to be trending toward dryer...and this is not likely to change.

This corner bed was the first to get planted.  So many people have stopped to ask me about it.

The back (side?) fence.  Got the first morning glory yesterday, and the sunflowers have fat flower buds.  The tiny pyracantha bushes will get 8 ft tall, but they've clearly got a long way to go!

The iris beds, view from our front door.  Who left that hose there???

The porch, with cannas in bloom.  They are thirsty, but we must have cannas...it's our wedding flower, and I've dragged these plants around for 16 moves in almost 20 years! 

The giant pile of mulch to the left is the third we've put there.  And we'll likely need another couple this fall.

Roses!  This one is called "Double Take" because the inside of the petals are white.  It seems happy to be here.

I hope everybody enjoyed the garden tour.
I've really enjoyed the work, but now it's time to come inside and make dolls.  :~)