Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

To herald the beginning of Winter, the weather has been cold, rainy and stormy this week, so like most people who live in Newcastle ( NSW, Australia), I have been thinking of that memorable June weekend in 2007, now known as the Pasha Bulker weekend when this huge ship ran aground on the beach during a winter storm ... but I have bigger challenges related to Seasons to contend with. My doll makers' group, Hello Dollies, has a challenge to create a cloth doll, using the theme " Seasons" as inspiration and with only one rule that the fabric used must be of our own creation. As usual, I have left it to the last few weeks and although I have been thinking about the project for months, it is only in the last week or so that I have been propelled into action. I chose the stump doll pattern from the choice of two patterns provided. Idea No.1 was to paint fabric and then machine embroider it and use it as the body for the doll and I was going to use the tree template to create t...

I wonder if three is sufficient a number to call a series? In my Owl Sisters post, I said I was creating a series of ‘Birdstick Women”. Here are three completed in the last week – all inspired by Australian birds commonly found in the Eastern States – a grass owl, an Australian raven (crow), and a Rose Robin ( although here the nesting female is rather a plain looking bird!). And the fourth just didn’t want a bird as a companion - These art dolls are in preparation for my workshop at the Contemporary Craft Retreat in Canberra in October.  For more information about my workshops and many others led by talented artists from all over Australia, please check out the Contemporary Craft Retreat website