Closer to Christmas.

To state the obvious, Christmas is closer than you think! Each day, the diary and the "to do" list must be consulted to make sure we don't miss a Christmas party, a Rotary event, a grandchild's school presentation or concert, a family gathering and all the "jobs" which need to be done before Christmas.
However, this last week, I have been making dolls. I would love to show you the photo of the art doll I finished during the week for the Doll Holiday Ball Swap, but I would like my swap partner, Deirdra to see it before I post it here. I have also made dolls to be donated to a local charity, Centacare. Each Year, Hello Dollies members make and donate dolls to Centacare to be given as gifts at Christmas. I made a few sock dolls, and little hand stitched felt dolls tucked into a sock ( photo above). The other sock is inside the toe, so the gift is a little doll and a pair of new socks! The original pattern for the felt dolls, Pocket Petunias by Simone Gooding, had these dolls in a knitted pocket, but I thought this sock idea was a neat little arrangement?

This Christmas ornament (above) is inspired by a Sherry Goshon internet pattern Lil Christmas Ornament . I made quite a few modifications. I used larger polystyrene eggs rather than papier mache, and made polymer clay heads, and instead of fabric wrapped around the shape, I used one layer of a paper serviette and gel medium to apply it. I have many polystrene shapes prepared, just waiting for heads ... I'll make those tomorrow from polymer clay as it will be the second in the Crafternoon Tea Series - Clay Play. We'll play with PMC (Precious Metal Clay - Silver) and polymer clay .
Next Saturday is my annual Handmade Treasures Christmas Sale. This year, profits will be donated to Jenny's Place , Children's and Women's Refuge and Domesitc Violence Resource Centre. Already, some wonderful handmade treasures are materialising ready for the sale. Hope you wil come along and not only enjoy stress free Christmas shopping and support local "hand made" artists, but also help alleviate the dreadful impact of domestic violence in our community.

The Sea - for Tag Tuesday

For the current challenge "The Sea" at Tag Tuesday, I made a couple of painted/ hand drawn tags . These were created from a piece of watercolour paper which had been sprayed with acrylic paint - blue, yellow and quinacridone gold. I then sketched over the top , trying to follow some pattern created by the splatter and then add some felt tip pen lines watercolour pencil to highlight the shapes. The tags represent the fantasies of the hidden city of Atlantis and a mermaid. With this theme in mind, I also add a free motion stitched tag I made earlier this year for 29 Faces -

In the Pink

At Tag Tuesday . Pinky O' Hagan is hosting a tag challenge which asks for 'a bit of pink".... not so difficult if you like pink. I don't use a lot of pink in my work, so it was quite a bit of a challenge when I thought only of pink - my thoughts went to pink roses, pink hearts, pink confectionery !!! Then I referred to this week's colour prompts, #coloricombo by artists Este MacLeod.... pink with sap green, dark tea, and sea green. I'm not sure I got the colours in this palette exactly, but here is my tag, a stylised landscape - The collaged background of the tag has torn pieces of watercolour art rejects, painted magazine pages and a little bit of gift paper. The tree silhouette is decorated with paper dots, cut with a hole puncher.

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...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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