Art Doll classes & the 2014 UFDC Cloth & Clay Seminar.

An update:

I'm making dolls like crazy.  This is not new, but right now I have ten or fifteen of them going at the same time, in different levels of progress.  Lady dolls, gentlemen, elves, children; little people all over the place.  They are all cloth and clay, because my goal is to have enough dolls to make a decent showing at the UFDC convention's "Artist Showcase" and for my seminar presentation.  Which is now only FIVE WEEKS AWAY!  I'm a little freaked out.  

Heads!  So many dolls, so little time.

The other thing I've been working on dovetails with this: an art doll class.  I have taught one version of it to doll restorer friend who has working knowledge of doll details, painting and refinishing with apoxy clay and bondo.  But she'd never used paperclay or done any sculpting.

For her (we'll call her "DM") I combined two classes into one: she made a mask face doll AND an original sculpt, so it was fairly intensive teaching for the two days and she didn't get to finish either one.  But her experience in restoring takes care of the painting and finishing, and her doll wig supply is to be envied.  She did say she looks at faces differently now--the restore dolls, news anchor's, cashiers, etc.  Yes!  One side effect of sculpting!

DM's mask-face doll before her mask is on.  Not sure how that goofy face happened...

DM's sculpted doll, before the second layer of sculpting and sanding, but already looking wonderful!

Teaching a sculpting class is exhausting, and a lot more intensive than I'd realized.  So it will be an "advanced" level class to follow a beginner cloth and clay class if there is enough interest.

For now, I'll offer a two-day class of three or four studii (the first run at half price to compensate for it being a first run, with all the stops and starts that a first-run tends to have). The first one this summer is for local folks only, because San Antonio hotel prices skyrocket over the summer.  Future scheduling will take place the rest of the year, and frequency will depend on enrollment.  THIS is what I will offer during the cloth and clay seminar at UFDC.  See how it dovetails?

In the ten years since I left my job as an Air Force instructor, I had forgotten how much I loved to teach.  I can already see evidence of one forgotten truth: you never learn something better than when you teach it.  As I sculpt, I find myself thinking about the how and why of each step.

The UFDC seminar is knowledge-only.  Limited to three hours, it can only introduce the topic.  The hands-on class is exactly that: a two day "Make an Art Doll" class.  The student will make an art doll using paperclay over a pre-stuffed cloth form, with a presculpted mask face.  There will be good, messy lessons in the best techniques for working with paper clay, studies of head and face anatomy, an intro to sculpting with hair, and finally painting.  They'll have the fabric and pattern for the arms and legs to finish their doll at home, along with with a dress pattern and list of materials, tools, and further references if they like.

In the meantime, I've got to get this UFDC presentation from the planning stage to the presentation stage--AND FINISH THESE DOLLS!  I can do this.  I'm sure I can. 

Seedlings!

I confess that I cannot pass up a chance to try growing plants from seed.  Knowing the logistics--the wasted time, money and effort when something doesn't sprout--just doesn't seem to phase me.  Not all my attempts have been failures.  I have a couple of rose bushes I grew from seeds--they are the Romer's Hip Happy, a rose that makes big rose hips with easy to sprout seeds.  But still!

So when I came down with the Iris Virus this year, of course it would not do but I had to grow iris from seed.  In trying to identify so many of my No I.D. ("noids") iris, I learned that there are a seemingly infinite variety of them!  My favorite is and always will be the tall bearded, but I have a few of the different kinds now.  And most of these are in part to my little trays of seedlings.

Here are few photos of the "lab" where I have tended the trays and fussed over the little green sprouts.  They will need potting up and careful nursing through a blistering summer.  But by fall, they should be strong enough to plant in the beds out front. 

The nursery!  (a.k.a. the labORatory.  hwaahahaha...)

Red flag iris, blue flag, and some Siberians. 

A tiny rose, black sage shrubs, senna corymbosa, and a squirrel planted palm tree I dug up.

Tropical milkweed, for the monarchs.

Aren't they sweet?

I think this has been a lesson in patience.  It's usually two to three years from seed to bloom with these babies!  Here's hoping I will see blooms in a couple of years.

Ten cool things about Joyce Elaine Graham Brown

I posted this on Facebook, so my apologies to those friends who have seen it already.

Ten cool things about Joyce Elaine Graham Brown.

1. She knew to bang on the battery cable connection with a wrench when the car wouldn't start. 

2. She once made a doll house television--that worked.

3. She could not tell a joke to save her life, but she loved to hear them.

4. She was a great fisherman and camper, and taught me how to build a fire. 

5. When she was five, her dad let her drive the car. She hit the garage.

6. She loved the song Silver Bells at Christmas.

7. She unknowingly named one of the French Poodle puppies Renee, at the same time I was naming my daughter Renee.

8. In general she couldn't cook, but she did make great snickerdoodles.

9. She was a sweet Gran to my kids, but took no crap from them.

10. She was the best mom ever.


Happy Mother's Day to you all, whether your mother is with you or has gone on.  Let's remember good stuff all day, and make good memories for our own kids to remember.