I Made A Fun Photo Prop.

When I was making the Unicorn fairy from a few posts ago I made a stump for her to sit on but the size and coloring weren't right, so I made another one for her. Meanwhile the original one was perfect for a photo prop. It has just the right size and cartoony look.

 Loving this so much!

Tuesday Worktable

Moss isn't growing on me this year! I've already moved on to my next project. Sketches, which I never usually show and a beginning wip. It's super cloudy and dark here today so this is the best my tablet could do so I hope you can see these ok.

Can you guess the theme? This 2 piece soft sculpture will be up for sale once completed. I wanted to make them for my friend Patrick Gill's EWWL selling site but I'm not sure I'll meet the deadline but I LOVE the theme so am doing the piece anyway.

Worktable Friday

I made a bunch of body blanks to practice new hair styles on. I used to sew each strand one by one by hand but what a time-consuming task that was, I also wasn't super happy with the result either. The first one has crazy, multi - textured hair like mine and is my favorite.

 

I have one more tomboy type hair to do then I'll start making dolls. The dolls won't be orange, I'm just using orange bodies for pattern making etc. I hope these dolls I'm going to make will find happy homes.

I've Been Sick...

I've had a really nasty head cold that then settled into my chest. I thought maybe I was getting walking pneumonia and went to Urgent Care, just to find out it's only a cold. I felt like an idiot but I was glad I had medical insurance so I could go. I've been struggling with high blood pressure for the last 6 months (that I knew about, but probably for much longer that I didn't know) so I was feeling worse cause the cold meds I was taking were raising up my already high blood pressure. Now I have to suffer through the rest of this cold without meds...yay. Sigh, so just another thing slowing me down.

Anyway before all this happened I was working on a bunch of new stuff. I'm taking Sassy Pack Rat Studios into a slightly different direction. I've always wanted to make dolls for the children's market, so am adding some dolls specifically for children in addition to my other art dolls.

This is one of the doll designs I'm working on. She will be printed on cloth and then sewn. I have a whole fairy tale set I'm working on. They will be made from my own illustrations and based on my small felt dolls from last year. If they prove to be successful then I plan to offer custom dolls too.

There are other things I'm working on that are geared toward children. I am still working on soft sculpture dolls for adult collectors but I hope that the children's dolls do well. 

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Maleficent is Finished!

Because of time constraints I couldn't add the dragon element that I really wanted but I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out. Here she is in all her glory.

 

This piece is so large (30" x 25") that I had to take it out to the patio to take photos. The background was supposed to be more detailed but again time was a factor.

I did some simple details on the sides and the top of the shadowbox.

 

This entire piece was hand sewn from felt except for the crystal on her staff, that is a wooden ball I painted. 

Here's the detail of the throne.

I ended up working on this folding table in the dining room cause I didn't have enough space in my really small studio.

Selfie with Maleficent. I hope you all enjoyed seeing the progress and final of this piece.

PART 1 of this project can be found here. PART 2 can be found here and PART 3 here.

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More Wips On The Maleficent Piece

Well it's been slow going. Both my dogs got sick and one need surgery so it was a stressful time here in Sassyland. Lita had butt trouble again and we got her to the vet just in time before her butt ruptured again. Antibiotics and a few check ups and she's fine. Olive had abscesses in her mouth and had 2 teeth pulled and complicated gum surgery. She looks like an old lady without her dentures in but at least she is no longer in any pain and the vet said she healed remarkably well. I spent a lot of time holding and comforting 2 unhappy, stressed out and in pain dogs.

 Olive

Lita

I also broke my tablet (damn it)! Anyway here are more Maleficent wips.

 

Each scale is hand sewn, lightly stuffed and then sewn onto the chair back. I did them in light gray and med gray for contrast.

 

 I realized that the piece needed a structure underneath of it would look like a plush toy, which wasn't what I was going for, so I built a throne base.

 The beginning of the face. It's always scary at this point because the faces always look very cartoony but she came together nicely.

 

Once I had the basic doll figure done I realized I should have made the doll first and then the throne because I wasn't happy with the height of the throne. I could have left it but it would have drove me nuts so I then added height to achieve the look I wanted.

I added 3 or 4 inches to the back. I would have re cut out the wings to match the new back proportion but I didn't have enough felt and decided to let it go. I can be too picky about things. I have the arm rests done but don't have a pic on this computer.

I had to make 2 cloaks to get the right look. I still need to add detail to the cloak and of course the iconic headdress.

The whole piece will sit inside a shadowbox. I'm having some issues building it but hope to work it out. The deadline for the challenge was moved to June 7, thank goodness, so I have more time to finish. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been doing.

PART 1 and PART 2 and PART 4 to this project can be found at these links.

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More Progress on Maleficent

I have set Red aside right now until I finish the Maleficent piece. I have only 2 and a half weeks till the deadline and I'm panicking a bit. So I've been sewing like crazy. Here are some wips.

Checking the fit of the wings before iron them.

Working on some of the details.

All the "stone scales" sewed by hand and lightly stuffed for dimension.

Checking the fit again. The throne has a bat head on it but dragon scales too so not sure what Disney was going for and if I have time I might change the bat head to a dragon, which makes much more sense to me. Don't hold me to it though as time is running out and I have to create a patten by the seat of my pants. If I do the bat head to make the deadline, I'll remove it and add the dragon's head later.

Realized the seat might not be sturdy enough to hold the doll so I made a cardboard under frame to scale. I may or may not use it but this also helps me see the piece in 3D so I can fix issues and firm details before committing to cut the felt.

PART 1 and PART 3 and PART 4 can be found at these links.

Weekend Worktable

Busy. busy trying to get some progress on a couple of projects. I've been working on a Red Riding Hood doll in the same style as Hansel and Gretel. People on Facebook have seen it but I haven't yet shared it here.

Since she's wearing a hood I took the opportunity to embroider it. 

 Love aqua and red together so Red's skirt is aqua.

A little more detail than Gretel's skirt.

I decided to put a wolf on the skirt. Here he just looks too much like a bear to me so I ripped his face off and started again.

Here is the final. I added the tongue to make him more friendly looking since these dolls are pretty cutsie. He's not exactly what I was going for but at least he looks like a wolf or maybe a dog so I'm going to deal with it and not make myself crazy about it.

Still have her blouse and underwear and cape, which will all have some embroidery on it. I also have a wolf doll to do so they are a set. Once she's done what other fairytale would you like to see?

It's My 500th Blog Post Today and I'm Starting A New Project

Wheeeee! Normally I'd have a giveaway but I just did that so I'll probably wait until my 525th post for a super duper giveaway. Any ideas on what I should do?

Anyhoo this post is about a special project I'm doing. I know, I know, I'm ALWAYS doing a special project. This one is a challenge project that I think I mentioned previously. Patrick Gill is hosting a fun Dark Villains of Fairy Tales challenge. I got Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and have spent a long time deciding how I'm going to do her. This isn't a typical doll challenge this is a scene in a diorama or shadowbox. Most of the participants are sculptors of clay and while I have sculpted, it's not really my medium so I decided I would do this whole thing in felt. We are supposed to push ourselves beyond our comfort zone and do something really spectacular. That's exactly what I'm doing and can tell I'm out of my comfort zone by the amount of anxiety I'm feeling about this.

I finally figured out the scene and started working out the process which I'll share wips of here. It's going to be a shadowbox and will be a soft sculpture piece. I'm not going to share all the details yet because I'm under a time crunch and may not be able to do one part of it in order to meet the deadline, but you'll see what I'm confident I can complete in time. I have until May 31st but hand sewing takes a long time and I have another project going at the same time so I may not sleep much this month. Hey who needs sleep when your creative mojo is on high?

 This is the basic scene I'm doing. It would be fun to sculpt this in clay but the real challenge for me is soft sculpting this.

This cardboard frame came in a box that our new grill was in and is a perfect size to make a shadowbox. Until I found this I was unclear on the size this piece should be, then it was a eureka moment and everything melded together in my head.

I did a really rough sketch to get the proportion and size correct and will built the throne first then Maleficent.

I started a smaller prototype at about a 1/3 of the size to work out the details and some problems that I foresee. I had to wait 2 weeks to start this because my mom had surgery and needed care and I was too tense to work on this. But I am starting and I'm still nervous about it so and positive thoughts would be appreciated.

PART 2 and PART 3 and PART 4 can be found by clicking these links.

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Sneak Peek of Gretel

I forgot to show this here on my blog. She's done but I want to wait to show her completely until I have the rest of the series done and I put them up for sale. I will show wips of the others as I go along. I'm currently working on Red Riding-hood.

Winner....

of the giveaway picked by a random number generator is Mary Ann!

Easter/Spring Giveaway

Spring has finally sprung somewhat here in Chicagoland so I thought I'd have a quick giveaway. I was supposed to do this last week, but well better late than never.

This bunny is handmade from my own pattern from premium eco felt. It is hand embroidered and appliqued. The arms and legs are attached with colorful buttons. He holds a little embroidered egg and has a white fleece tail. Including the ribbon hanger it measures 7 inches.

He's happy to hop to his new home so just leave a comment with a way to contact you and I'll enter you in the drawing. The deadline is Easter Sunday. I'll pick a winner and send him out on Monday.

This is a really easy project to make. Want FREE access to my newest patterns? Join my newsletter to get your member benefits!

Running Late For Easter

I'm done with the giveaway ornie but am late in getting everything set because my new pup Olive has been very sick. I will have pics of the ornie and the giveaway details ready and posted tomorrow.

I did finish Gretel but need to go back and change a few things on Hansel. Below is a sneak peek of Gretel.

Hansel is done

Finally finished Hansel. It took a while to decide on the embroidery pattern for the lederhosen.  I was going to set Gretel aside and start on a big project, but realized while going through my supplies, that I needed to order some things. So as I wait for my felt to arrive I'm going to finish Gretel.  I know this will make Bettina happy. ; 0)

It's starting to feel like Spring

Made this little bunny for a swap at Art Doll Artists. Really liked how out it came out so I decided to make another one for a blog giveaway. I should be finished in a day or so and I'll anounce the details.

More Wips

Back to work on these fairytale dolls. I haven't made a ton of progress but I'm trying. The green things with the embroidery are the top part of the lederhosen.

Wednesday Worktable

2 new dolls finally in the works. Can you guess who they are?