A Doctor Who Wedding Gift.

In March I was approached by someone who was going to attend a wedding of a family member in the UK. The Bride and Groom are huge Doctor Who fans as am I. The client originally wanted a Tardis that she could open and put money into for the couple's honeymoon in London. After talking a bit we decided to put a couple representing the Bride and Groom who would fit inside the Tardis and would travel with the Dr. for their honeymoon.

The Tardis plush I already make is squishy but this one had to have a compartment so some modifying had to be done. I had to put structure inside the walls. But I left the top part plushie.

The bride is a red head like the Doctor's current companion! The dolls are about 3 inches (7.5 cm) tall. They are the smallest dolls I've ever made!

See they fit right in!

The wedding was this weekend so I can finally show these photos. I was afraid they might show up on the internet somewhere and spoil the surprise. I had a lot of fun making this but it was a one time thing and I won't do it again cause it was hard! I hope the happy couple liked it!

Vintage 4th of July Swap WIP.

I'm taking part in a creative swap in The Hive a great creative site I belong to. We had to pick a vintage image in the 4th of July theme and recreate it in whatever medium we use. Showing WIPs always helps keep me committed and some other folks are showing theirs too, so here I go.

O.k. this is the image I choose. She's a Victorian Lady Liberty. I make soft sculpture dolls so I'm making her into a doll. Should be interesting right?

I'm starting with my standard body and trying something new with a 3D sculptured face instead of my usual flat face. It's a bit terrifying really but I'm charging through! The pins show facial feature placement.

The drawing shows large low set bosoms so that's what I'm doing here.

She also has a bit of junk in her trunk (probably a bustle of some kind) so I added that too. This might be a little too big but until I do her dress I won't really know for sure.

So here is the face that I lightly needle sculpted around the nose (a huge first for me!). I haven't sewn her eyes on yet so she's pretty scary looking but I hope she'll pretty up as I go along. Well here's where I am so far. She'll come together very quickly so I know I'll make the deadline. Hope you enjoyed seeing my progress.

Missing A Great Opportunity.

I was contacted thru etsy about having my plush specifically my Tardis plush at a Tech Expo. They have a great Virtual Vendor program so I wouldn't have to physically be there which is great cause of my chronic illness. I was so excited about it and worked hard to design other techy type plush to send also. Then I started to have some of the worse pain I've had in a while and I realized I just couldn't consistently produce in the time frame so I had to bow out.

I'm pretty sad about it cause it was a great opportunity to get my plush out in public. I'm hoping I'll be able to do it next year. Anyway I thought I'd show some of the designs I did before they get packed away.

Was going to have Blue and Pink Tardis'

Retro Geek Guy.

Also still on paper I have a Modern Geek Guy and Modern Geek Girl.

Robot.

Was going to do Girl robots too. I was also going to do stickers of all the characters and possibly magnets too.

Anyway now working on a doll for a 4th of July swap and I'll show a WIP soon!

My First Paper Clay Doll Is Finished.

I FINALLY finished my paper clay doll last night. It took a while as it does when I'm doing something new. I'm like a kid whose afraid of the water and sits on the edge of the pool watching everyone else splashing away and having fun. In case you forgot what I was doing I'll show WIP then the finished doll. Some of you may remember me not being happy with how this doll was coming out. Well no worries there, I'm totally in love with her now! Here we go!

Head on a stick!

Finally added the torso. Made limbs.

Painted and drying.

Really starting to like her now!

Attaching the limbs. Love stripes!

Gluing the hair on.

And she's done!

Craft Store Finds.

Whoo Hoo! Kunin has new patterned felt available at Joann's! 
I'm going to have a lot of fun with these! I've seen them online for a while but now I can walk into my store and get them! Also picked up some small pattered fabric and a lovely blue fabric for a swap I'm in. Buttons, embroidery thread, acrylic paint and polyfil too.

Here's a peek at the drying station I rigged for my

paper clay stuff.

My creative mojo has been absent lately but I hoping it'll return soon while I feel up to making things.

Only A Little Going On In The Studio Right Now.

Not much is happening in the studio lately. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I did cut out a new design that I'm not entirely sure will work yet and also cut out more elves or fairies. I just haven't been inspired much to work on them.

I did finally add a torso to the paper clay doll head I previously made. Fairly happy with how it turned out. Then I did the arms and legs which I think are a disaster but at this point I just want to finish the darn thing! She was supposed to have super long legs that have a knee joint but this morning I realized I forgot to put holes in the knees before they dried so I had to scrap that idea.

 My perfectionism went wacko overtime on this silly thing and I just hated her! It took me a while to calm down and realize that it's o.k. that she's not perfect and what I imagined she'd be. I think once she's painted and dressed I'll be o.k. with her. I haven't sculpted since high school and I wasn't great then so it's o.k. that I'm not great now. I'm always way too hard on myself! I admire greatly the pretty clay doll makers but perhaps that's just not what I was meant to be. I know this is my first try but pretty doesn't feel right. Maybe in clay I can be an odd or weird doll maker. That title certainly feels much more comfortable to me, so I plan to explore that side and see what happens. My secret side enjoys with great abandon zombies, creepy & crawlies and crazy freaks. I also admire certain odd doll makers too.

So along those lines I've started a new head that I like very much and am excited to see where it goes. Oh and I plan to have lots to add to my etsy shop by the end of the month. "Plan" being the operative word here. ;0)

Doll for My Mom is Done.

I was going to hold off until Sunday to do this post but I got too excited. So since is WAS sunny earlier I took some pics.

I decided to go all out and make a bow and a quiver with arrows for the doll. I'm severely allergic to feathers so there was a lot of sneezing going on but I like the way they came out. I'm not fond of the bow. I was going to look for a stick to use instead but the dog kept thinking they were for her and ran off with the ones I thought might work! I'm leaving the one I originally did cause it's not like the doll will actually use it or anything so it's fine for the idea of a bow. (See how I shoved my perfectionism into a deep dark hole and just said o.k. it's good enough? Major growth for me!)

 Bow, quiver and arrows

 I beaded around her collar and she has a sweet little corset with mini green buttons. Her dress has a short skirt so she can run thru the forest and not get tangled in trees. Her legs can be posed several ways and her arms are joined too so can move.

Size comparison to my previous elf doll.

I think my mom will love her.

Changed My Mind and Started Something New

O.k. so I know I said I'd was going to do a paper clay sculpture for my mom for Mother's Day. Well......I think I started off too large and it has a mean expression on it's face and I got freaked out! I really took on more than I could chew with that project. He/it still sits on my worktable glaring at me but I need time to think about what to do with that one.

I really hate when I get overconfident! Anyhoo, by the time I figured out I wasn't going to do this it was 6 days until Mother's Day. OMG!!!!! So I remembered that my mom wanted a little elf doll to represent her character when she plays Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, my 70 year old mom is a forest elf in D&D! We are a quirky bunch here.

I had an idea how the elf body should be but I don't have a pattern of my own for the legs to do want I wanted. I remembered I saw a free pattern in "Soft Dolls and Animals" September 2010 magazine by Roberta Schechter. Here's the original pattern.

I know what does a clown have to do with an elf? I wanted the doll to be able to cross it's legs Indian style. Of course I modified the pattern to my own style. I completely re drew the hands, shortened the neck, added one of my heads on the body and all the facial details are mine. I thank Roberta very much for offering this great pattern. It was a perfect jumping off point for me.

Here's where I left off last night. I need to attach her arms, give her clothes and do her hair but I know I'll have her done in time now. I think my mom is going to love her!

Goodbye Seahorses!

My last 3 seahorse plushies have been sold and are shipping out today to France. How exciting for them! They will be international travelers going places I'd love to be able to go but know I never will. This is the next best thing! The seahorses design is now retired, I won't be making more unless there is a special request.

 These were one of my favorite designs. Maybe I'll make a larger one just for me.