CIFI 2010 dessert dolls

It's been a long time since my last post.
Not that I didn't have much to say, I just didn't have anything to show.

I've been working on my CIFI 2010 dolls and they had to be kept secret.

So now I am back from the States and I can finally write about my dolls.

I made 2 challenge dolls the theme was desserts and I've been having sugary sweet and above all pink nightmares about this theme.

So in the end I decided to go for one true dessert doll and for one variation on the theme. This meant that one doll had to be an orignal and one had to be made from an excisting pattern. 

So I started with "Fruity Sorbet" I used Arley Berryhill's fabulous La femme pattern for the top half of the dessert. Now this was a worry....knowing that Arley would be at CIFI, he would see straight away how I butchered his pattern.

Every bit of fruit, icecream, biscuit and whatever else you see is sewn. The glass is sewn by hand from a double layer of table plastic.

But although I put a lot of time and effort into making this doll, it never really became "my doll". It's not really the kind of doll I normally make and I didn't feel like it was "mine" because I used someone else design.

Boy was I in for a surprise!

Fruity Sorbet won a blue ribbon, a perfect score, judges choice and best in show.

I really could not believe it! And to top it all of Arley said he was impressed with the work, so what more could a girl ask for?

My second CIFI doll was my little Thai street vendor.

We met this lady on our holiday to Thailand, she was selling sticky black rice with mango wrapped in banana leaves.

This lady is the kind of doll I love to make. It's all about the expression. And aged hands and feet are so much more fun to make, they tell a story all by them self!

I must admit she looked a little demure in between all those fabulous dessert dolls. But never the less she won a blue ribbon!

Creations in Fiber 2009

What can I say about the Creations in Fiber conference in Albuquerque?
It was the most fun I've had since.........well since Cifi 2008 I guess.
The people where fantastic, the teachers where the best and to top it all off this happened:

This years theme for the challenge dolls was musical.......
So somehow my, admittedly strangely wired, brain came up with a street musician.
Will you believe that this doll won judges choice and had a 100% score..........it left me totally gobsmacked.

 

Below is a slideshow of some of the pictures I took. You'll see Arley Berryhill's dolls, he gave a fantastic presentation and brought in so many of his fabulous dolls. Challenge and Show-and-Tell dolls and ofcourse our class dolls.

About balloons............

I was one of the very lucky people who won a scholarship on Mary Tressler's site. That made that I could attend Creations in Fiber in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Mary is a fantastic dollmaker and a marvelous teacher.
I can't thank her and the great people of CIFI enough for the wonderful time I had.

I took several dolls with me. That in itself was enough to make customs very curious. But when I was making them I never thought for one second what stir three dolls wired with christmas lights might cause when they go through an X-ray machine!

Here are some pictures of my challenge doll.
She was travelling to the party in her very own balloon.
This lucky girl never made it back home. She is living at Sherry Goshon's house. Just to think of all the fantastic dolls that surround her now!

As you can see this was one of my feet stamping dolls.
She demanded a leather, matching boots and cap. She also needed two pieces of luggage, one for all her fabric and trims that she would need at the convention. And one for her clothes (not visible in the picture). Just click on the pics for a larger view.