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.

Debut of a Finished Piece

It's been a long time coming but here's the debut of Monsieur Renard Lapin. (just quick studio shots, it's gloomy today). He's a gentleman carrot and lettuce farmer. Renard is a great lover of silks and lace. He believes a gentleman should present himself a certain way. One to attract the ladies and two to earn respect from those below him. Renard thinks of himself as an educated and tolerant Rabbit. He would be surprised to know that others think him a dandy and a fool.

Monsieur Renard Lapin

Renard is a plush soft sculpture art doll. He's approx 24.5" tall. He's the first doll I've made that can stand up entirely on his own. I was so excited about this! I love animals dressed as people, it excites my sense of whimsy. I thought the idea would work really well with my creative style too.

 Renard is made from eco felt and bits of high end home decor fabric I scored at my mom's church rummage sale. He's completely sewn by hand and is NOT a toy. He's the first in a series of 4. Once all 4 are completed and their stories told they will be up for sale in my etsy shop. I hope you enjoyed seeing him as much as I enjoyed showing him off!

Worktable Thursday

 Sewing and wiring rabbit ears.

Anatomy Of A Doll - Part 4 Finished

It's been a long time coming! This post is super photo heavy so I should have done 2 posts but I hope you will bear with me.

We last left the Elf with clothes but no hair. Here's what I did.

I started with a base of hair sewn on to cover a good portion of the scalp and add fullness underneath.

UPDATE: I added links to the bottom of this post for the rest of this series so you can follow along from the beginning.
 

I am going for a intricate braided look without braiding and making myself crazy. I worked late into the night to get this done. It took forever. I used Homespun Yarn by Lion. It's awesome.

Here she is almost done. You can see some gaps still. I added another thicker layer and was pretty happy with how her hair turned out.

I would have shown the finished doll much sooner but her cloak design was making me crazy. I tend to over think and analyze everything way too much before I just let go and do.

Her cloak is made of the same felt as her corset and is lined with a dark green fabric. I embroidered similar designs on the front and back of the cloak as on her corset.

There is a ribbon that ties the cloak shut.

Now you can see her with her arms on. I made her a beaded sort of crown.

I did embroidery detail on her arm bands too.

 Here's her hair completely done. 

Thanks so much to everyone who followed this doll making journey. For those of you who left comments, you are awesome and I appreciate that you took the time to do so. For those of you who lurked or dropped by I also appreciate you for being interested enough to take a peek.

PART 1 CAN BE FOUND HERE, PART 2 HERE and PART 3 HERE.

I have two more projects I'm working on but will only show bits and pieces here and there so I don't stress myself out over having to post progress.

A Peek At A Custom Order

A team member of mine saw a plush Tardis I did for a swap in my blog banner and wanted me to make one for him. You've seen it in bits and pieces and in the background of various other posts. I finally listed it today and he snapped it right up. I'm considering doing a listing to take custom orders for the holidays, cause it is very time consuming to make but fun.

Couldn't resist getting the toys out! LOL!

This is so much better than the one I did for the swap! Still want to make one for me but probably never will. Random Fact: I hummed the Doctor Who theme song when making this. Annoyed everyone around me! Wee Oooooo.....

Giveaway!

O.k. it's been a while since I had a giveaway so you lovely patient and loyal readers are due for one I think! I had some very good yet slightly puzzling news at the Doctor yesterday. Apparently I'm not dying yet so I can finally turn my attention to more important things like plush and felt and giveaways.

I've made a very special OOAK Owl in a similar tulip design to the large blue one in my shop. You know you want to be the only one to have this...right?

She is approximately 7 inches tall (19 cm) and completely  hand sewn and designed by me.

She's smaller than my original tulip owl but just as sweet.

O.k. here are the info and rules:

The Giveaway starts today May 20th and ends Friday May 28th.

It is an International Giveaway, so no matter where you live you can enter.

How to enter: Number 1 is mandatory the others are optional but will get you additional entries.

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment that you either already follow me or you've just  signed  up to follow.
2. Go to my etsy shop and pick a favorite item, come back and comment about it.
3. Become a Fan/Like of my Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sassy-Pack-Rat-Studios/268296580337?
4. For an additional entry comment on what you'd like to see me make next, more birds, dolls, other animals, etc.
5. If you are on Twitter and you'd like to tweet about the Giveaway, comment that you did that and you get an additional entry.

One more thing, FYI every couple of days I may add something to the giveaway and will update this post about it. Good luck!

ADDITIONS TO THE GIVEAWAY! 

 I thought it would be fun to add some additional items to the giveaway especially since I've gotten such a wonderful response. So I'm adding 6 A2 size (5.5" x 4.25") flat cards and stickers of the digital drawings I use when creating the plush and 12 fun stickers too.

 Also thought I'd throw in the a 5" x 7" digital print.

Hurry Giveaway ends Friday night May 28th!

Garden Owls Are in My Shop!

Finally am finishing up the Garden Owls. So time consuming but so worth it I think. I have 3 finished and in my etsy shop now with one more in the works. Thought I'd do a quick post so show them off.

This is Groovy The Flower Power Owl.

Tallulah The Tulip Owl

Sunny The Sunflower Owl

Still in the works Feathers

I'll also be finishing up the Mermaid dolls and listing them today too. So do you like the owls?