Finished My Sweet Zombie Girl.

Cute with a dash of creepy?

In my shop now.

New Dolls Finished AND Listed In My Etsy Shop!

April was a crappy month but May is slowly turning out better so far. I completely finished 2 new dolls! 2 more have their bodies done but need clothes.

These 2 cuties are actually listed in my esty shop right now! Will they sell? Who knows? We'll see!

After I made Ann I had to make Andy. He was designed and sewn in the last 3 days. Ann has a vintage Ann face embroidered on her apron. Both dolls have embroidered face, hair and clothing details.

Here Comes The Tin Man!

O.k. I left off showing you a wip pic of 3 characters. I finished one but still have the other two to work on. I tried to photo document the steps mostly in case I ever had need to make one of these again for a custom order or something, and also in case anyone was interested in my process. Warning this post is photo and rambling text heavy.

Here he is at the very beginning on the right. I forgot to take a full body photo of him after he was sewn and stuffed but his body is similar to the dolls in the photo below.

I struggled with this doll because I wasn't sure if it was worth all the time and trouble and effort to do all the details I had in mind for him or really any of the others in this series. I had a crisis of felt! I thought about simplifying him to make my life easier, to get him done quicker and move on faster. I suffer from a chronic painful illness so my good work days can be few and this project was turning into an never ending one (at least that's how it felt to me). I had huge plans for a Wonderland project last year that never got off the ground so I was determined to do this one when things just started to fall apart.

While I was moaning and groaning and flinging things around my studio and pretty much depressing myself my daughter asked what was the problem. So I explained it all and she convinced me that if I simplified the dolls I'd be very unhappy with them at the end and what was wrong with details? Even if they never sell isn't my satisfaction with them the important thing? She is always amazed by what I come up with. So then we watched part of the movie so she could see the costumes and details because she has never seen the movie before and became more adamant that I had to do them properly. So per her suggestion I put all the other dolls away and am concentrating on just one at a time. Working so isolated as I do I don't really have anyone to bounce ideas and suggestions on so she was so helpful. She really saved this project.

Here's the beginning of the collar and barrel body that I'm adding over the basic body. I was stumped at what to use for rivets but have a ton of mini white buttons so I hand dyed them a blueish gray.

What I forgot to show is that the button/rivets go down his back too.

I stuffed his barrel to almost bursting.

Closed up the bottom.

Wired and sewed his hands. I HATE wiring and sewing hands. It's usually one of the last things I do.

Made a mock up/pattern of his funnel hat.

It was at this point I realized I sewed the handle on backwards and set everything aside to cool off before I took the whole thing apart (because of the way it was sewn) to position the handle correctly. AAAGGGHHH!!!

Hat pinned in place and you can now see the rivets/buttons on the sides of his head. He has some on the back of his head too.

Arms attached, bow tie in place, axe in hand, done.

It's a horrible day for photos here but I'm done. Once everyone is done I'll do a good photo-shoot of the whole cast. I'm so very pleased with how he came out that I've been carrying him around the house all day. I hope you like him too.

Frank and Elsa Are Back!

My Topsy Turvy Frank and Elsa doll is back from ADQ. Got a big box yesterday and was pleased at how carefully she/he/it was packed.

I missed them greatly! Now do I keep them or list them for sale?

Art Doll Quarterly Has Arrived...

and my doll is in it!!!!!!!!!! I joined in last year for their Topsy Turvy Doll Challenge. The magazine came last night and I was jumping for joy to see my doll published in this wonderful magazine. I didn't really exactly always  "feel" like an art doll artist until I got word from the publisher that I was in. Now I know it. It's been validated.

I did Frank and his Bride Elsa for my doll. It was a challenging doll to do and one of my most favorite dolls I've created so far. I started in in July and finished it in August of 2012. Here's a link to photos I took of Frank and Elsa.

 Here they are! The first line of text says, Artist Jennifer Tobicoe, that's me! LOL! I lost a lot of sleep waiting to hear if they wanted to publish my work. I'm super glad I put myself out there and grateful for the not so gentle prodding of a friend who told me to just send it in. 

Another Worktable Wednesday

Haven't done much this past week. I threw my back out last Thursday and haven't been motivated to do things. But I do have a progress photo on something.

 Sketches of a new project.

This is my long term project so you'll see wips as I have time to work on it. Here is where I am so far. There will be embroidery and beading etc.

The seated doll I showed previously hasn't been worked on so nothing to show there. Hope you all are working on awesome fun things!

A Finished Project I Can Now Share.

 My blog has been pretty quiet for a while. I haven't had much to show. I had been working on a doll for a couple of months for a dear friend. It was for a doll swap. The swap was for a Fall/Autumn themed doll, whatever Fall means to you. It took a while to complete and I didn't want to show it until she received it but now I can share. Part of the reason it took so long was I designed a completely new pattern for the doll. I also spent tons of time on the accessories to make everything just right. My swap partner Moriah Betterly is such a great friend and has been so supportive of my work. We actually met in an online swap years ago. So it's like we came full circle. She loves the doll and I'm so pleased.

 I borrowed photos that Moriah Betterly, my swap partner, took cause they are so much better than mine.

 I made the doll a little prim doll to carry.

 Messenger bag with appliqued fall leaves.

 Little matching capelet with appliqued fall leaves.

Also a matching Tam hat.

 Especially for Moriah I made a little ADQ magazine that had pages of her dolls that have been published there and tucked it inside the dolls' messenger bag.

 Here's the dress she is wearing under the capelet.

And a close up of the boots. I modeled these after my daughter's Uggs.

Now that Christmas is over I feel the need to get back to work so will hopefully will have more to show soon!

Got Some Great News!

I received an email last night from the publisher of Art Doll Quarterly Magazine. They have accepted one of my dolls for publication! I will have a doll in their Spring 2013 issue!!!!

Major happy dance and much hugging of family members went on last night. I'm still tingling this morning! Now I can check off another goal.

I'll show photos once the issue has arrived about Feb 1st. Meanwhile here's a photo of Lita in her Halloween shirt waiting for the trick or treaters yesterday.

Day of the Dead Doll Finished

Took me longer than I thought it would but she's done. I think she came out pretty good for a last minute project. I really wanted to do her to be active in Art Dolls Only. Introducing Delores.

She's small, about 13 inches tall and made entirely from felt. I embroidered details on her face, arms and legs. Her skellie kitty has embroidered features too.

I'll put her in my shop as soon as I price her. If anyone is interested before then just let me know.

WIP Tuesday

At the last minute I decided to join in the Art Dolls Only Dia de los Muertos challenge. This challenge is open to the public too. I'm not sure if I told you all yet but I was recently accepted into this wonderful Art Doll group that I've been wanting to get into for so long. Well another goal reached!

She still needs a lot of work but I'm loving her so far.

If you are unfamiliar with  Dia de los Muertos, it is Spanish for Day of the Dead and is a Mexican holiday. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. 

I'll share more photos once she is finished.

My Vintage Halloween 2012 Piece Is Finished

I joined in on Patrick Gill's Halloween Challenge again this year. I've done 4 holiday challenge swaps with his group and they are so much fun. The challenge goes like this, we pick a Vintage Halloween card and then base our piece on it using what ever medium we work in. Most people in the group are sculptors and 2 of us work in fabric or in my case, felt and fabric. After we are all finished, swap partners are randomly selected and we send our piece on it's way and receive an awesome piece in return.

 

This was the card I chose. I just love pumpkin headed kids! My original idea was to do the tree in the background and the crow on the branch too but the piece would have been so large and the tree so time consuming that I left them out.

Here's the quick drawing I did to check for proportion. I'll show some WIPs so you can see how I constructed everything. Oh I forgot to mention that the entire piece is hand sewn.

First a little body.

Next a head. The card image has a more squash shaped head but I prefer a rounded head so I changed that.

I made her some little panties with lace even though you'd never see them cause nice girls wear drawers.

All dressed now.

No longer headless.

Working on her companions.

Finished!

I'll do a post when I get my swap partner's piece.