Crackle anyone?

Today was my turn to post on Art Dolls Only blog, the not-so-regular Tips and Tricks Friday post.  So, having asked Moriah Betterly of MLB studios if she's up for sharing her two part Crackle Tutorial (and receiving a hearty "Sure!"), I figure I'll share it here too. 

Part One...

and Part Two...

Finally! New listing in the Etsy shop.

I think I posted about Sydney a while back...but I've finally gotten around to adding listings.  The last few months have seen me making dolls, but not putting them in the shop.  The hubs rather dryly mentioned that it's hard to buy something that's not in the store...(he is a smart ass, but I knew this when I married him.)

The new pictures I got of Sydney helped...I've created a backdrop and am considering using white as a backdrop for more listings.  The vintage table/shutters thing for now, but later I'm going to try a trick I learned on Etsy about how to make a "white box" for photographing smaller things.  Guess we'll see.

For now, Sydney is up for adoption.  (She's a very good listener...)

The Traveling Doll Project!

I'm stoked.  Why?  Because it's time to mail Wren, my Traveling Doll...

AND it's time for my team mates to mail their dolls around the circle which means I get Jenna's doll very soon.  Can't wait to meet him/her/it--I have no idea who Jenna has made.  That's part of the silly thrill of this whole thing.

For those unfamiliar with it, the Traveling Doll Project is something that
Art Dolls Only has done for several years...and it goes like this:

We divide up into teams.  We each make a basic doll.  The bigger the team, the more unfinished the doll should be, because you want to leave something for each team member to add!  I'm on a small team, since this is my first year and I'm a big chicken.  We have three members, so my doll is basically finished, but naked.  Or, as we say down here in the south...nekkid.

She has underwear, for the sake of modesty, but my team members will add clothes and shoes and whatever else they deem necessary to complete her.  We each guide the development of our doll by passing along a Travel Journal.  In the journal, the doll muses about her travels, her wishes, dreams, avocations, breakfast menu, whatever.  :~)  In the meantime, while mine is visiting first Ohio and then California (kinda makes me jealous), I will be visited by each of theirs, adding and embellishing and taking pictures with the dog.

The end result is a collaboration between artists, each having blessed the doll with her creative talents and spirit.  Have I mentioned I'm stoked about this project?  It's not about making a doll to sell, it's about making a friend who will always remind me of other friends.

The Traveling Doll Project Blog will actually let you follow all the teams' fun, and I'll be sure to give a shout when new updates will be posted.

I'm on the Eager Eagles team, along with Martha and Jenna
...and this is Wren.

Her arms, legs, and trunk are carved of wood.  I used a Dremel for the detail carving.  In this first picture, her shoulder and hips are wire jointed, knees and elbows are string or ribbon jointed.  She didn't like this, and asked me how I'd like it if my lower extremities flopped around backward half the time.

I had to admit I wouldn't like it, and found the solution with the addition of some lace to stabilize those joints.  Kinda looks like she has lacy Ace bandages.  Her face, bust, and pregnant belly are paper clay, and her hair is curly mohair.  I've never used this stuff--at least not in a long, free-flowing style like this.  Not sure I ever will again--holy cow!  But she seems to like it, and I hope the team members will let her keep it down like this.  (Subtle hints were never my forte...)

As to the rest, Wren left clues in her journal about her favorite style of clothes, the lifestyle she leads at home (she's a hippy chick who lives on a homestead with a lot of like-spirited individuals) and something of what she'd like to accomplish on her travels.

I really hope you'll follow along as the dolls make their rounds.  We're having so much fun...it seems a shame not to share it!





(Click pictures to zoom...)

New Etsy Listings...

Please meet Tina and Dee.  They've joined my Etsy doll collection.

Tina Chihuahua

Dee the too-curious rabbit...

Y'know, when I bump this stupid tray, heads really do roll!

Tame the Ribbons!

I posted a clean-out-the-studio thing the other day and a couple of people wondered about the ribbon holder thing. Sooooo, I figured it'd be a good topic for the ADO blog's "Tips and Tricks Friday" post. Honk if you love ribbons (but hate storing them.)

Sigorny, Guardian of Ribbons.  (Another studio buddy.)

Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer...

I keep hearing that Elton John song, for some reason.  :~)

This Leah.  She came about because a friend of mine from Florida saw the last doll and challenged me to make a "ragged heart girl".  I told her I just might make several, but here is the first one.  I spent the weekend making her, and finished this morning.  Not all of my job is fun...some of the housework and administrivia is tedious.  But THIS part of my job?  Wouldn't trade it for all the 401Ks on Wall Street.

(Click = zoom.)

One World One Heart 2011

Okay, I FINALLY understand what this thing is about, and have signed up to participate.  (Not so difficult, I'm just new to the give-away thing.)  A little blog-surfing on each of seventeen days, a lot of new friends, and some fascinating arts and artists to explore.

The gist of it is that we bloggers sign up for OWOH, visit each others blogs, and--by leaving comments after we've "looked around a bit"--become eligible for each others' giveaway.  I like that she's made it simple and tried to cut out the push-your-own-agenda conditions that so many people apply to their giveaways--none of the "follow me" or "tweet my blog" stuff.  You leave a comment/blog/contact info, I add you to the drawing.  Simple as that.

I've never done a giveaway, and it seems I'm about to start with a whopper!  Also it seems I'm going to be in on the last year of this one...and that's both sad and auspicious as a beginning/ending.  Nevertheless, I'm working on the piece I want to have as my Door Prize...and since who knows who might end up with it, the only thing I know to do is make something I'd enjoy winning.  Yeah, I know...like Dennis the Menace giving Mom a toy firetruck for her birthday, but what else do I give an unknown recipient?

I'm stoked about meeting all those new friends and artists.  And, yes, I'm stoked about my own door prize surprise.   

If you blog (actively and regularly) and want to join in the fun, click on the picture in the sidebar--The Whimsical Bohemian will explain all the whys & wherefores to it. It's not all that hard to understand, but I let the husband have the brain cell for the entire month of December. 

One World, One Heart.  What could be better than that?

Your Suggestions are WELCOME!

I post every Friday on the Art Dolls Only Blog, a feature called Tips and Tricks Friday.  Today's tip seemed to apply not just to art doll makers, but to anyone--writers, artists, performers, anyone who depends on creativity to make their work...well, work.  Today's tip is about getting "unstuck" when you suffer a block in your creativity.  So I decided to re-post it here, and see what all my creative friends have to suggest...

Do you ever find yourself spending your creative time--your precious, jealously guarded, hard-earned studio hours--polishing the underside of the coffee table or re-alphabetizing your appliance warranty booklets?  I do, once in a while.

Paralyzed creativity.  What do you do to relieve this?  

When the problem is in my head--rather than my day-planner--my answer is to move.  Not like with a U-Haul to another zip code...I mean I have to get off my uncreative (and usually self-pitying) tookus and move.  It has to be the kind of movement that requires no concentration.  Just one foot in front of another.  Repeat.  Could be an exercise machine at the gym, but it's best to get outdoors, even if it's cold and windy.  My inner child whines a little if this is the case, but after a block or two I warm up.

The ideas don't come flooding in right away.  I don't stop and yell "EUREKA!" at the neighbor's dog, but somehow, in the course of a nice long walk, whatever's been clogging up the works gets unclogged.  I get home, and may go straight to the studio, or may plop down on the couch with a sketch book.  Either way, the blood's going in my brain, I don't feel guilty about a creativity-enhancing snack, and I've shifted my perspective without really knowing how.  I just know it works for me.

What do you do to get un-stuck?

I got my doll!

This is the first time I've participated in Zan Asha's Doll Swap... and it was fun.

I've posted pictures of Sonny the Studio Elf, the doll I made for my swap-partner, Kim.  Making him was mostly why this was so fun.  Making a doll specifically for someone is a blast, because the energy is directed and channeled somehow.

 

So Sonny went off to his new home with Kim, and this is the doll she made for me:

Hasn't he got great colors?  I named him Jim-Bob, because he looks like the sleepy-faced brother on the Waltons.  He now has a home on the Elf Shelf, and will remind me every year of this Doll Swap adventure.

Tomorrow's ADO blog...

I'm working up tomorrow's blog post for the new ADO blog feature, Tips and Tricks Friday.

Tomorrow's topic: glue.

It's hard to stay calm with the promise of that much glamor and excitement, I know, but please try. 

 

 (Edited to note: it turned out to be quite a lesson! Twenty doll artists weighed in on their favorites, how they use them.)

I'm an ADO member now!

Geek-dweeb-doofus-nerd-dorkfish warning: Squeeeeee!

Okay.  I got to join Art Dolls Only.  Now, I realize this was not the most difficult and elite membership to join, and they are nice enough to extend the invitation to a total of 125 members, and they have recently revamped the membership to freshen things up a bit.  But Squeeeeee! anyway.  I think these people are some of the most talented, imaginative and inspiring artists in the world, and I'm honored to get to pal around with them as an ADO member.

As the hubs and I are currently in the process of buying and (soon) rehabing a rent house, my time is eaten up with lenders, contractors, inspectors, etc.  But I'm stoked about the prospect of adding new artist links and blogs here for you to explore, and having so much inspiration for artwork to investigate...


The best part?  Challenges.  Constant challenges to fire up the imagination, keep us involved and creative.  The first challenge I've joined is "Medium Mayhem".  The goal: make a doll using a medium I've not worked with before.  One thing I've been itching to try is Assemblage Art, (going to have to buy that danged Dada book) and that is where I'm going with this one.

But for now, I have to get off this computer, go get my shower, and head out to our future-rent-house and walk around with general contractors.  Exciting, in its way, but not near as fun as making dolls!
Hope your Thorsday is a blast.
Jan