Art Dolls Only "A Dark Christmas"

This weekend I participated in the inaugural Art Dolls Only online show and sale "A Dark Christmas".

The dolls I submitted show a diversity of doll making techniques.

Party Girl - Empress Wu Designs

Party Girl ... This is Lulu's story - she is in a dilemma . The office Christmas party this year has a theme " A Dark Christmas" - what should she wear? She loves pants suits to show off her long legs, but how can she make a pants suit more glamourous and fit the theme? Perhaps a version of the little black dress? Maybe a few sparkles? And with new hair dye - yes! She is happy with this - looking festive and sophisticated!

Party Girl

Party Girl is a cloth art doll , with jointed arms and legs and hand beaded accessories. Her face and hands are needle sculpted. and hand coloured with pen and pencil.
Size : length 51cm (20inches): width 12cm (5inches)

Party Girl

Quite a different approach was taken with Dark Angel ...

Dark Angel - Empress Wu Designs

Dark Angel is a creation inspired by statues I have seen in old churches in England and in Europe - many of these statues have either been damaged or show signs of their medieval beginnings. I also like the challenge of working with found objects, and letting the shape determine the outcome, so this dark angel just seemed to create itself from a piece of driftwood found on Stockton Beach, NSW, Australia. For the Art Dolls Only theme, "A Dark Christmas", this angel is a little melancholy but still serene with aged green-blue tones. This art doll is a hanging doll.

Dark Angel - Empress Wu Designs

From the past to the future.... Home for Christmas is an art doll with a definite futuristic look.

Home for Christmas - Empress Wu Designs

After many dark holiday seasons, searching for the home galaxy, the Intergalactic Traveller , now on the right course, looks forward to being home for Christmas.

Home for Christmas - Empress Wu Designs

Intergalactic Traveller is a sculpted art doll, with leather and felt clothing.Size , including stand: length 33cm ( 13 inches) , width 10cm ( 4 inches)

Confused fairy - Empress Wu Designs

The fourth doll in my section of the show as a bit of a mistake.... I started off with the wings, intending this doll to depict "A Dark Christmas" but somehow turned out pink, so here is her confused story.

Confused Fairy - Empress Wu Designs

She so wanted to be a a Christmas sugar plum fairy, but she was confused about this seasonal theme and became a sugar 'gum" fairy. Her holiday outfit features a eucalypt flower print bodice, but she was successful in keeping everything else 'pink". It might have been a dark Christmas except for this!

Confused fairy - Empress Wu Designs

Confused Fairy is a cloth doll with a simple 'pancake' face, hand coloured with pen and pencil. She has a dyed mohair hairstyle and a pair of digitally printed vilene wings with a touch of sparkle magic.

Size: length 34cm ( 13 inches) width - wingspan- 15cm ( 6 inches)

Please check out all the artists in this show ...

Art Dolls Only

A November project

A few years ago, I began scheduling into my day, the routine of a daily art practice.... seven years later, I still love #the100dayproject and am a strong advocate of "create something, anything, every day" . In more recent years, I haven't been content with a mere 100 days and have often pursued shorter /or longer projects requiring some daily attention. For example, I completed 145 days of slow stitching my garden and then another 60 day random cross stitch garden.... but that's a digression.... This month, I am being far more practical... I still like to send and give Christmas cards, but am always getting them in the post very late, and trying to make some special unique cards for the family the night before.... so all this month, I am making Christmas cards - just one a day. By 30 November, I should have some to choose from for posting within Australia and for giving in December. Here are my first 4 days .... If you're wondering why bother ...

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...

Christmas Countdown 15 : Christmas Tree #11 - Disposable

Plastic cups https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/christmas-stem-ideas-kids/ Advent Blog : Day 11 - Disposable We are all so much more conscious about ridding our landfills and oceans of plastic waste. For Christmas, here is a way to use up some of those disposable items which seem to multiply at holiday parties and celebrations, or perhaps you have just been saving them up for a creative use.... Who would have thought coffee pods would make such stylish Christmas trees ? ... Add caption If you don't have one of those machines, then perhaps you have coffee on the run - Starbucks or Nescafe ? from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/369858188126737920/ Nescafe cups https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/72761350208620530/ The disposable cups don' t have to be brand names to work well as materials for Christmas trees. Taking an engineering approach to plastic cup trees seems to be the answer for a more ornate result. from https:...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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