May I Present Mrs Chalumeau...

Finally Mrs Chalumeau takes a bow …She is a Pearly Queen …
695 buttons on the doll and 10 on the journal.(I think – could be more). I would like to thank Paula from Antiques and Collectables here in Hamilton, Newcastle and Raku Buttons ETSY seller for supplying me with about 500 of the vintage mother of pearl buttons, and the rest I had in my stash. I think they look great on my pearly queen, but I am truly tired of sewing on buttons. It made me think however, how many buttons must be on the elaborate clothes of the real pearly Kings and Queens! I drew my inspiration from the lovely lady pictured here, and the following description from Wikipedia. ... A Pearly King ( feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's wealth. ....

This doll is all cloth – a little different from most of my other dolls which generally have clay heads. Her face is needle sculpted – a skill which I have yet to master – and I usually try to avoid, but I was quite happy with this outcome. Mrs C is not beauty queen material. It is an interpretation of Mrs Chalumeau, a Heather Cooper pattern. – I straightened her legs, posed her arms so she is lifting her skirt to step out on the footpath as well as holding her hat on. I also adapted the suggested clothing of course. Her shoes are leather, with polymer clay heels. She stands well, as I have a metal tube inside her left leg, and the stand is a textured clay covered piece of timber, with a dowel, which is inserted into the tube. I find that this method of attaching a doll to a stand is very stable. I tried to replicate the roughness of a well-worn English footpath /alleyway by texturing the clay with a “brick” print and other designs in sections to create the “patched’ look.

This is the first “big” doll I’ve made for awhile so I was happy to finish well in time for the Craft and Quilt Fair. And I was fairly happy with the result. This doll was quite a challenge, but it was wonderful to declare her finished, take photos and deliver her to Craft and Quilt fair for the Hello Dollies Goes Crazy exhibition.

PS There were 18 other Mrs Chalmeau and one Mr Chalumeau dolls entered in the challenge ... I will feature those photos in the Hello Dollies blog tomorrow, after the judging. http://www.agbhellodollies.blogspot.com/

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Countdown to Christmas 15 - Diamonds Forever!

How much would you pay for a Christmas fruitcake? The world's most expensive fruit cake has been estimated at $1.65 million. Yesterday, I wrote about the less than positive term "Christmas cake as it is applied to unmarried women, so again it amazed me that in Tokyo, this most exquisite and expensive Christmas cake was created. It took six months to design and another full month to construct. The beautiful cake is fully edible ... that is except for the 223 real diamonds used as decoration. This cake was part of an exhibition called Diamonds: Nature's Miracle and was one of 16 exhibits showcasing creative ways with diamonds . Apparently, the cake was auctioned, fetching $1.65 million US. While there have been other very expensive diamond encrusted cakes since this one in 2005 with estimated values of up to $75 million, this Japanese designed cake was the forerunner of the extravagant diamond studded wedding cakes in the higher price r...

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

#The100DayProject is a *free* global art project that takes place online 🎨 E very year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating. Anyone can participate . The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and document and share the process online. 2026 is my 8th year of participating. I have stitched daily observations, painted my egg cup collection, collaged postcards and envelopes, written poems, explored colour palettes .... this year I am researching, sketching and stitching 100 inspiring women. Fortunately I purchased a piece of beautiful linen, with preprinted outlines of 100 women ... just one issue - the figures are tiny (height 6cm /2.5 ins) My first week started tentatively ... I thought I would start with Empress Wu, after whom I named my creative activity. This is when I discovered how difficult it is to applique and stitch on these very small figures - I used tweezers to put pieces of fabric down, tried t...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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