Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Featuring eco prints by my grandson....  eucalypt leaves, grevillea leaves and Rooibos tea bags on watercolour paper. PostScript .... There was a request to explain how this was done. Watercolour paper folded over, leaves and tea bags placed inside the folded paper. The folded paper was then sandwiched between two pieces of ply board and clamped together with strong paper clip ( we call them 'bulldog' clips) and the whole sandwich was boiled in a pot of water  for about an hour. I learnt this technique from Elizabeth Bunsen who is the master artist of this technique- we have just been playing.

Fabric_-Animotion 1994  Further adventures in Australia of the Traveling Art Doll.( please see the previous posts for more information - Australian Inspired Traveling Art Doll  and  Art Dolls Only Traveling Art Doll )  Today is Anzac Day, so it was a quiet afternoon and  I set to completing Lulu's doll. Here is what she looked like early this morning. As Lulu lives in USA, I wanted to give this doll an Australian touch ,too.  Lulu's doll as she arrived.  I had intended to use the"Yalke" design fabric which I used on Martha's doll but once I held it against her body, with the fringed yarn already in place, it just didn't seem to work. This doll has a "spirit" look and I first thought of the Australian classic children's novel, "Playing Beatie Bow"  about the ghost girl who couldn't find her way back to 1873....  No....calico pinafore - a bit boring!  Then I remembered a vintage looking piece of Australiana fabric with...

Gum leaves (Eucalypt)  - dried leaves and some encased in fused organza   Last week I posted about Art Dolls Only "Traveling Art Doll" project. Our team , Tiny Team  is Martha (Ayala Art ) and Lulu ( Lulus Apples ) both from USA and me. When Martha's doll arrived, I was very worried ... Such a beautiful face -  I didn't want to do anything, not in character. And I had not made a doll with a polymer clay breast plate before, so I wasn't sure how to proceed. Martha had named her Linda but I nicknamed her "Dimi" - a kind of  tiny sprite! And then it came to me as I was walking in the bush near our place - an Australian bush sprite, inspired by a pile of dried gum leaves on a path! Traveling Art Doll 1 - on arrival  Sketches 1 Sketch - close up The fabric I chose is a design called "Yalke" ( Aboriginal word for Australian bush onion) by indigenous artist, June Smith. The skirt is made from fabric leaves, and natural leav...