Elusive Butterfly, continued

 I have my lesson loaded on my Ipad, my sewing machine, a pair of sissors, a box of pins, and the Runt (my cat). Ready to sew!




Arms, Legs, and Dress


I chose some fabric for her stockings and her dress making sure the fabric harmonizes with the base. I was a little concerned that the print was too large on the dress, but it seemed to work.




Rather than tracing around the pattern pieces, I again used freezer paper. I feel it works better than tracing on darker fabric.




The legs were easy to assemble, despite having to stuff around the dowels.  






I referred to my notes from Handling Hands with Judy Skeel .  It includes tips and techniques that help me with making hands right the first time, rather than remaking hands from scratch (scraps?), when I run into a problem.  Of course, I ran into a problem....turning tiny fingers are a problem. With patience and persistence the fingers were turned.



I attached arms and legs to the body.

 I drilled 2 holes in the base to pose the doll. After auditioning the first pose, I drilled another to adjust the stance...the dress will cover the extra hole.


Once I got the dress finished, I realized the print was not too large and looks great with the sleeves and legs. 




I still haven't glued the doll to the base.  It's easier to work this way. 








It's time to start working on extras!

The Elusive Butterfly

Week 1 continued: Constructing the head and body

I did not photograph a number of the steps.

 Step 1:  I traced the head and body on freezer paper, using my black fine-line Pilot pen, then pressed the freezer paper patterns to pieces of Dolskin knit and muslin.

Step 2.  I sewed the head and body following the lines on the freezer paper, then trimmed 1/16 inch from the seam line, and removed the freezer paper. Time to turn the head and body right side out and stuff firmly.

Step 3.  I drew facial features lightly with a mechanical pencil. Taking quilting thread and a 4 inch needle, I sculptured the face. I attached the sculptured head to the muslin body,  then I applied Aleen's  Fabric Stiffener to the sculptured head.

Step 4.  After tea-dying a quarter yard of cotton crinkle gauze, I cut a 6 inch square of fabric.  After applying Sobo Premium Craft and Fabric Glue in a thin layer over the face and under the chin, and covered the face with the crinkle gauze, stretching and molding the gauze to the face.  The covered face was  allowed to dry.

Step 5.  Using pencils, pens, colored chalks,  and acrylic paint, I added the features.  The face was too dark compared to the muslin neck and body, so I took a remnant of tea-dyed crinkle gauze and stretched it over the neck and upper body.

Ready for Week 2!

The Elusive Butterfly

After several months of being preoccupied of other things, I'm back. I promise to try do do better.

This summer, I wanted to go return to doll-making, so I signed up for Cindee Moyer's Elusive Butterfly Class, listed at Joggles.  I've done several of Cindee's Doll Classes before and I really enjoy them.  I'll be including some of the steps in progress.

The first week of class involves preparing the base and constructing the doll head. 

 Step one: Painting the wooden base a light color. (I used Golden Titan Buff.)

 Step 2: Sponge paint base with combination of a light and a dark color. I used Golden Titan Buff and Lumiere 448 Old Brass.

Step 3. Glue on assorted butterfly pictures.  (I thought about using stencils or stamps, but decided to try those techniques another time.)

Step 4: Seal finished base with acrylic medium. (I used Golden Matt Gel Medium.)

Next time: constructing the head.

Mockingbird in a Rose Bush

 I'm still working with the Sketchbook Challenge February theme: Close-up.

There is a large wild rose bush growing at the corner of the dilapidated garage. In the past several years, a family of mockingbirds has established a nest in the center of the rosebush. This year the birds have wintered in the bush and tolerate close approaches by the humans.  It was an ideal time to take some pictures, without the fear of being attacked by nesting parents.

Friday (Feb. 2) was bitterly cold, with temperatures in the 20's and a wicked wind coming from the north. My subject was not totally co-operative, retreating into the rose canes several times before I could take some shots. I managed to get within 5 ft. and took several shots before I lost the feeling in my fingers.  Seven pictures were acceptable.

After saving the best shots,  picked one photo zoomed in and cropped the background.

I sketched the bird using pencil, ink and watercolor in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Today I added some final touches.

African Trade Beads - More February Close-ups

I'm still working with the Sketchbook Challenge February theme of Close-ups. 

This time,  I searched through my "Stash o' Stuff and found a string of African trade beads. I purchased a number of these in the '70's and used most of them in various craft projects.  However, my sister collected some of beads she liked best, strung them on a  cord and saved them in a chest of drawers in our parents house. I found them when I was closing the house after my father died. 


My first sketch was done in ink in a Moleskin Pocket Watercolor Book (3.5"x5.5").  Next, I watercolored some of the beads, but the details were too small to do a satisfactory job.  For the next version, I did an extreme close-up of individual beads and tried filling in the colored areas with Prismacolor pencils.  I can see several other ways of using  trade beads in projects.


Carol Sloan suggested sketching every day, even if it is only five minutes as a way to "flex your creative muscles" and improve your sketching and observation skills.  
It's a reminder I need, since I often get overly involved in other projects and let my sketching fall to the wayside.

Taking a Really Close Look.

 I haven't posted much lately, because I've been involve with my beading project. 
I've done very little drawing and painting, but The Sketchbook Challenge blog 
has given me motivation to pick up my paper, pencil, pen and paints again.

The Sketchbook Challenge theme for February 2012 is CLOSE-UP.  
I searched through my photos and found one that has always grabbed my attention: 
the praying mantis I encountered while I was clearing brush last fall.

Isn't that face worth a close-up?

Maybe I Should Change this to My Crime Adventures?

I don't live in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

The police have stopped an armed robber two doors from my house.

The police diverted traffic around the corner to my street when a local storage unit found a suspicious device. It turned out to be harmless.

My pharmacy has been held up so many times,  I have to be let in to pick up my medicine.

However, this is not the what you want to see when you walk out the door.

 Apparently this was part of a robbery, kidnapping,  hostage situation.