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!

Treasures of the gypsy 2009

Treasures of the gypsy challenge 2009Can you believe the shock I got when I openened my gypsy treasure package and found the exact same fabric as I had for last years challenge???
I had a really hard time then trying to somehow make orange, red and a hint of purple work in one doll, I felt like screaming NO....NOT AGAIN.....ah, well....
This time I took a different approach and pulled out every bit of red and orange fabric I could find and laid them out from dark to light.....it just screamed firebird to me and that's how the idea for the Phoenix was born....

Btw...in the pictures here she's not quite finished, still some finishing touches to do, but I thought I better make use of the light and take the pictures already....
As always...click on the pictures for more details...
I decided I had to sculpt a full body, because she had to be a very pretty and elegant girl. So I made a wire frame over which I needle felted the body in wool batting, this wool batting then got needle sculpted and covered with two separate layers of nylon pantyhose which got individually needle sculpted as well.
I really hoped that I could create the curves and humps and bumps a body has got without it looking unnatural, after all she wouldn't be covered up by much....
I spent forever trying to recreate the ankles, knees, breasts and collarbone in woolbatting and nylon.And then there where feathers.........
Oh, dear the feathers........I started of with the largest layer of tail feathers......easy peasy....6 different fabrics, gold thread and lots and lots of tiddly tiny size 15 Miyuki seedbeads. Did I think for one minute that even my tiniest feather would have to made up out of 6 different fabrics, gold thread, etc. as well? Of course not........sigh, but we got there in the end.

To cover up or not to cover up, that's the question....
Then I came to my final problem, could I sent a bare breasted doll to a challenge?
Not much of a problem here in Holland, but in the States??? I thought the subject could be a bit more sensitive there..... So I tried various "coverings" and one after they other got rejected, whatever I did to cover up the possible offending area, it made it much worse...she started to look like a very exotic dancer. So yep....the Phoenix stamped her feet (or should I say flapped her wings) and I gave in. She'll stay "au naturelle".

So here she is my Phoenix, I think it's my first attempt at real pretty, pretty doll.
My hands where itching to add a few flabby bits here and there, to give certain areas a bit of droopyness and add a few wrinkles to the face.
Who wants to look at there doll's body and be jealous???
Hmm.....I might have to make an old lady next, just to make me feel better.........

Hoffman challenge 2009

Hmmm......this years Hoffman challenge fabric didn't get me very excited.
I know there are many people who love it, but it just didn't do much for me....
So I had some serious doubts about entering........but decided to start playing with the fabric to see if I could use it in a different way.

So I ended up making beads and those beads reminded me of a picture I had seen on our recent trip to the United States in the Navajo reserve.
And that's how "Tatanka" came to life.
On our trip we learned that tatanka means buffalo, so the name seemed fitting seeing as his shirt has got a buffalo applique on the back and he's wearing buffalo horns on his head.

Besides the fabric beads I've used 15/0 miyuki seed beads, it takes about 350 beads to cover a square inch! I don't think I've ever spent this much time on a shirt in my life. Will you believe there is almost a fat quarter of challenge fabric in this outfit? There's only a few snippets left.
However I'm not quite sure if they will accept this as a recognizable amount.
But I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I have to apologize for the pictures. I couldn't get all the detail in his sculptered face to show up properly. I would have tried again in daylight if I wasn't in a hugh hurry to get him posted.

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.

My missing doll

This was my entry for the Hoffman 2007 challenge. After travelling with the exhibition for a year she disapeared on her return journey to me.
I surprised myself how upset I was by this.
When I sold my miniature teddy bears I couldn't wait for them to leave the house, I could always only see what I could have done better.....I guess I got a bit older and wiser since then.

Anyway I thought Bekabhantu deserves a place on my blog. So here she is....with her little baby boy.

The broken column

It's been a while since my last post. Besides working full time, I'm following a study at the moment, so not much time to play. But when I heard about Sherry Goshon's challenge I couldn't resist.

The challenge was to either make a day-of-the-dead doll or a doll inspired by Frida Kahlo.
I started of making a d.o.d. doll.......honest, he is laying here half made his bones are rattling in anger......but I guess Frida was stamping her feet just a little louder.

And it all started with this painting.

This is a doll of new experiences for me.......

Most people start their dollmaking career with a flat faced doll, I've never done a flat faced doll before. Being severely paint-brush-challenged I found it much easier to work on 3dimensional faces.
So I cheated....I printed Frida's face on fabric and then worked over it with both pastel- and watercolour pencils.

And here is the result..... a bit strange maybe?
(Just click on the pictures for a larger view.)

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Hoffman 2008........the most demanding doll ever!

And then there was the Hoffman Challenge......talk about feet-stamping-dolls. Don't they say lightning never strikes twice....well I can tell you it does! Please be aware that this story is not suitable for people with a weak stomach or those who are reading while munching on something yummy. Tissues might be needed as it has brought people to tears before.

Attempt 1 This taught me an important lesson: Don't start working on your doll before you've got all your fabrics.
For this years Hoffman challenge I decided to make a very elegant dancing flapper girl. So I ordered the fabric and started making the doll. She was all ready to be dressed when the fabric arrived. Disaster, all my peacocks were cut in half not a single whole one and they couldn't be matched up either. There was no way that this girl was going to be covered by the peacocks I had. Solution: start again and make a smaller doll.

Attempt 2 This also taught me an important lesson: Never forget that I can't paint.
I was working on the second doll and was doing a full body paint. I put on coat after coat and sanded and sanded when I realized that I forgot one vital thing I can't paint to save my life.

Attempt 3 Another very important lesson: Always, always be kind to your dog.
(It might be a good idea to put the cookies away now)
My dog had been moaning and whining all day and nothing seemed to keep him quiet. He didn't want to go for a walk, eat or drink. He just kept whining all day long. I was working on doll number three when the phone went. I left my doll on the sofa and answered the phone. During the whole conversation the dog was sitting in front of me crying. When I put the phone down I was so fed up with him, I sternly told him off. Now I should tell you he is very sensitive to any form of raised voices....... So he took a run and a jump onto the sofa and then the nature of his problem became apparant....the poor thing was severely constipated and the run and jump (or was it the sound of my voice) relieved him of the problem right on top of doll number 3.

Attempt 4 Another important lesson: Don't listen to your dolls demands!
Whilst working on doll number four I realized that my elegant flapper girl had turned into a somewhat flabby lady. So it was time to let go of my ideas and believe me she told me what she wanted. Lots of beading, appliques and gold thread for starters and when I dared to think about almost done she really started to stamp her feet. A flying carpet, pillows, an Arabian village to fly over this girl really knew what she wanted. And when I was really really done. She demanded palm trees and a camel. I drew the line at the camel otherwise I wouldn't have made the deadline. But I could still hear her scream at me after I put her in the box!

Journey of a lifetime...

For as long as I can remember people have crossed my palm with silver to have their fortunes told. But now, with the end of the path of life in sight I just like to reminisce
- about the little girl full of faith or the teenager forever falling in love -
about the girl I once was.

While I was in Albuquerque we visited Pamela Armas shop -Treasures of the gypsy-.
If you love fabric and trims then it's like, well I suppose, dying and going to heaven.It's definitely a treasure trove of everything I could only dream about!
So I ended up making a doll for this years gypsy challenge.The theme is journey of the gypsy.

This was a hard one to photograph so lots of little pictures, just click on them to enlarge.

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.