Miss Wu Is Ready For The Christmas Ball

Last month, I signed up to the Holiday Doll Ball Swap hosted by Zan Asha of Vagabond Creations. http://vagabondcreations.blogspot.com/

What a wonderful surprise this week, well before the deadline, I received the wonderful Miss Wu, created by a well known artist and art doll maker, Deirdra Doan. Many doll makers worldwide will already be familiar with Deirdra’s work which has been featured often in Art Doll Quarterly, and you can see more of her amazing art on her blog http://deirdradoan.blogspot.com/and in her Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/deirdradoan

Here is Deridra’s description of this beautiful doll:
Miss Wu.(I tried to make her look like Wilma...)is all excited and patiently waiting for the "Christmas Ball/ Sock Hop" to begin. She thought her berry crown, candy cane, and snowman necklace would look so to chic and bring lots of beaux to fill her dance card. She also wore her icicle leggings.to finish off her ball attire. Since it is very hot on Christmas in Aussie land her arms are bare of course...
PS...She has ivy on her belt..as "The Holly and the Ivy" is one of her favorite songs for Christmas. She first heard it as a little girl in England so she was sure that they sang it in Australia as it was a English Colony.
And here is Miss Wu patiently waiting in our garden for the Christmas Ball…

Thank you Deirdra. Unfortunately, I can’t show you what I am creating for Deridra as 1) it’s not yet finished and 2) I want Deridra to be the first to see it ... another week or so....

It’s been a lovely quiet and creative week – I had my second last life drawing class in this series of lessons. I also spent a couple of days (nights) doing some beading and some sculpting. Last night, we went to see the preview performance of Henri Szep’s one man show “Wish I’d Said That”. I really enjoyed his performance based on speeches of leading characters in various plays. I loved the “Marlon Brando” excerpts from “Tea House of the August Moon”. ( That play was the first theatrical performance I had ever been in – my sister was about 5 years old and I was 10 – we had very small "walk on" parts. Actually we didn’t "walk on" much – we had to climb on the bonnet of a vehicle and it was driven off the stage.) However, last night, my favourite speech in Henri Szep’s show was the one from the musical, “South Pacific” … - a great reminder that people are not born prejudiced.

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught. by Oscar Hammerstein

Bilby Infatuation

Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016 Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Non-Committal Collage Anything Goes

Have you heard of non-committal collage? I hadn't until one of the other participants of the 100 Day Project started doing this each day and showing the results.... Here are Peggy's rules : 1. S elect 9 scraps of paper from collage box/stash 2. Make three different compositions using each scrap at least once. (some pieces can be used more than once) 3. Do not alter the scraps of paper in any way. 4.Do not use glue. 5.Take photo, disassemble and return scraps to box. I thought this would be a fun and quick exercise to do for Tag Tuesday's theme , Anything Goes... so here are my "non-committal collage" tags.... Did you spot the nine pieces? Would you like to suggest some titles? And I repeated the exercise before putting back the 9 scraps of paper, so these are different items. Hope you will try this exercise - it is lots of...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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