Pantomime Joy

I made this doll probably about 4 months ago. Her name "came" to me immediately! But her "story" is a whole different....er....story. I had been playing a board game with my children and one of the parts of the game was to act out being "happy". Well, we didn't quite get it....as we watched my youngest child "act" out happy, words that began to be shouted out were "crazy", "strange" and "luny"!!! LOL



At the end of the charade we were all laughing hysterically! That's when the idea of the doll came to me.

Pantomime Joy is 15" tall. She is sculpted from paper clay and covered with fabric. Her facial features are done in pastels and colored pencils.

I don't know if she is as successful in her pantomime as my daughter was in conveying "happy"...but I do wish you joy and contentment and the hope that in your life joy will become real....and not just a pantomime.

Ophelia, Her Older Sister and the Fish

These dolls are sort of a tribute to sisterly boredom! I have 3 girls and for the most part they get along in a grand fashion. But every now and then they get really, really tired of playing together.

Especially the oldest one.

I can always tell when she's had enough of her younger sisters. She gets this incredibly bored looked that is seasoned with just enough "do-I-have-to" and "surely-as-the-mother-of-those-two-crazy-kids-you-should-see-that-what-you-ask-is-unreasonable" to pretty much convey to me that play time is over. And when the oldest gets "that" look....my middle girl gets a stoic, but desperate look on her face. The silent plea that she, though she is a reasonable being, should not have to play with her youngest sister all by herself. (In case it hasn't hit you....my youngest daughter is quite lively! She can whistle and sing louder than....anyone.....and when she's happy, she's usually singing or whistling. Trouble is....well...there's only so much loud whistling and singing most sane people can take!)

These dolls, OPHELIA and her older SISTER capture the look. I want to do a third doll that will represent my youngest daughter. I just have to figure out how to make a doll look like it is talking non-stop!

A little mermaid....

This is Arisa. She is a companion child mermaid to a mermaid I made a while ago. She is about 12" tall and the pattern for her will be included in my online class Enkai Nou .



She is a cloth doll with a softly needle sculpted face. Her features are pastel, and watercolor pencils. Arisa is a wall doll and I'm rather fond of her as she looks like my daughters....minus the tail!

Titania...the Younger

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;"

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer's Night Dream
Ahh, what a position to hold!...Titania Queen of the Fairies....sure, it sounds like a glamorous job, but can you imagine the day to day grind of it? Holding court with a bunch of ill-mannered pixies, dancing till all hours of the night...how's a girl to keep her looks? Falling in love with a guy that has the head of ...well...you know! Not to mention keeping gremlins and goblins at bay...while your constituents thought that perhaps you could be doing a bit more. Doing loads of laundry, cooking dinner every night....no wait, that's my life!

Suddenly "queen" just doesn't seem so wonderful a position!

This doll is Titania....before she was queen...back in her carefree days of wandering hill and dale. I think I may have caught her a bit off guard...I can't tell by her expression if she is glad for the company or would rather pursue her travels alone.
Titania is a paper clay doll that has been made inside a frame. The background is painted in acrylic paints and the foliage that surrounds Titania is wired and "posed". The entire piece is 13" x 13". It was a bit daunting to do a 3 dimensional piece that would be seen as a 2 dimensional work, but it was fun...in hindsight!
This doll is dedicated to all the women that I know who deserve the title of Queen and may feel that their better days are behind them....may you find that this is not so! Your best days are still to come!

Joyous Noel!

Merry Christmas to all! One of my favorite songs by Michael W. Smith, set to Christmas lights....how cool is that! See you next year!

Hugs!

Latest Dolls

This is one of two dolls I made for the Houston Quilt Show. This first doll is my rendition of WENDY from PETER PAN.
She is part of a series that my doll club, TAODA does every year, called Storybook Dolls. This group of dolls travels to local libraries in the Houston area. Each set of dolls travels for 2 years. So the next time I see WENDY in person, I'll vaguely remember her!

PETER PAN was my favorite story as a child. I have a threadbare copy that my mother read to me over and over again, till I learned to read it to myself!
WENDY is approximately 9" tall, with her treehouse being about 12" tall altogether. She is sculpted from PAPER CLAY over a wire armature, and then covered with cotton cloth.
FOREST MAGE is the second doll that I made for the quilt show. She is part of a fabric challenge from one of the show sponsors.
FOREST would be about 19" if she were standing. She is also sculpted from PAPER CLAY and covered with cloth.

Proud mom!

This is a video I recorded of my 14 year-old son from a few months back. His music teacher wanted him to play a few selections at her church, and this is part of his audition. He played 5 songs, all about 4-5 minutes long and this was his last selection. I chose this one, because it was the only one that I didn't hear my 5 year-old whispering to me over top of the video! The woman that he auditioned for was floored, because he played all the songs from memory! It was at that moment that I realized, "yeah, he doesn't have his books with him!" I was a bit surprised too, because he always tells me he doesn't have a very good memory. I wish my memory were so poor!

So far behind....

Blogs are amazing! Sort of like email....what did we do before we had them?

I personally, was a less guilt-ridden individual.

I look at my blog...I think about my blog....can I keep up with a blog? Well, that's another story. Bloggers I admire
put something new up weekly. The blogs I love add content at a daily pace. The blogs I can identify with usually add something about once-a-month.

So without further ado....or belly-aching, here is what I have been late adding to my blog!

These first two are pod babies. They are polymer clay and about 7" long. Their little pods are quilted and embellished. I had a lot of fun making them!



These two are dolls that I took to ODACA with me. Both are paper clay with cloth. This first one is named RELUCTANCE.


This next one is called THE DANCE. I had Stephen Curtis Chapman's song "Lord of the Dance" traveling through my head when I made her.

I am the heart, He is the heartbeat
I am the eyes, He is the sight
And I see clearly, I am just a body
He is the life
I move my feet, I go through the motions
But He gives purpose to chance
I am the dancer
He is the Lord of the dance....