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Thursday, December 3, 2009





Saturday, July 25, 2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

Working on Miniatures

Meet Nathalie!!! She is my very first Miniature Doll that I made with a kit and on-line class! I am a proud member of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MSATMiniDolls/ and this was an online class that was offered! I have been busy working away on a lot of different projects and most of them are miniatures.







































Here is another set of pictures for you to see. It is my very first miniature dollhouse. I received these wonderful bricks from a friend and got to work on bricking the front of my dollhouse early this week and have been able to complete the front.














This project has been such a fun learning experience! After trying to sculpt dolls in polymer clay, I have discovered I am much better at making things in miniature so I am working on some miniature dishes, vases and other accessories for my house. I am so excited that I am able to use porcelain and polymer clay in combination to create one finished project. I am learning so much about both miniatures and polymer clay and just wanted to share these fun, new and exciting things with all of you. I will try my best to keep you all updated of my newest WIP!!!!

Thanks for following!!!

Friday, June 19, 2009

ADO Challege




Very exciting is the 4 elements challenge from the ADO.
Everybody is invited to participate you can read all about it here
The open for all challenge starts June 19!
I can't wait to see all the pieces everybody makes.

I have signed up today so I have another project to work on....lol

Friday, June 5, 2009

Busy Beaver!

Hello again all my friends! I have been busy working away on dolls. I am happy to say that I have two almost ready to be put together....unfortunately my camera is resting now in digital camera heaven so I have not been able to take any more pictures. The poor little guy....Luckily my mother is going to let me burrow her camera for a while but I need to find the time to go to her house to pick it up! Once I get it, I will be able to take some pictures for you all to enjoy!

Now that summer has officially arrived for School Students, I may find it harder to find time to work on my dolls. My daughter has her awards assembly today at 9:00 a.m. and then she is home for the Summer! That means vacations, swimming pools, picnics and all other things Summer.

With Summer arriving, I wanted to share with everyone that I have joined in on my very first "doll swap"! I have all summer to create a doll with a summer theme! Oh the ideas I have running through my head!!! Joining in on Yahoo Groups has opened my eyes to so many neat ideas and now I have all kinds of people to go to when I have questions about things! For anyone looking for answers, you should check out some of those groups...you will be amazed!

Hope to have some more to share with everyone soon!!!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Still working away feverishly!!!

Just a couple quick updates to let you all know I am still here!!! I am still working away on the three porcelain dolls and was able to get the 1st coat of paint on them and get them fired!!! Will post pics later.

I have become quite addicted to Yahoo Groups these past few months and discovered one that deals strictly in Miniature Dolls! I joined the group immediately and am already addicted to it! I have some molds coming and am real excited to dive in to this sized porcelain dolls. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned the Polymer Clay and am still planning on getting more work done with it...but I really need to finish those three porcelain dolls done first!

Please keep watching! I will tons more to show soon!!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Another great giveaway!!!




Here is another great giveaway I am pleased to post on my blog! Please visit http://dzfantasy.blogspot.com/2009/04/original-spraypaint-picture-purple-rock.html for all the information on how you can get entered into this great giveaway!!!!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Request from a passing Grandmother....



APRIL 25, 2009

Hello everyone! Once again you may have been wondering where I have been...well, my Husbands Grandmother got very ill and passed away on Sunday April 19, 2009. It has been a very emotional last few weeks. When she was first put in the hospital, she had asked me if I could make her 3 little girl dolls for her to give to these 3 girls who sat with her every Sunday at Church. She said she would like to give them to them for Christmas. Well of course I agreed so I began looking through my molds thinking about which ones to make them. Unfortunatley, her health deteriorated very quickly and as she laid awaiting for the Lord to take her, she looked over at her youngest Daughter and said "Please, make sure Daphne still makes those dolls for those little girls.". Ten minutes later, she was taken. It struck me hard when I was told that was her last request. Now that she had been laid to rest in the Cemetary, I am able to begin on the dolls. Once I get them made, my husband and I are going to go back to Grandma's church and present the dolls to those girls in Grandma's memory.
With this request, I will be once again putting my Polymer Clay on hold. I will be dedicating myself into getting these three dolls made and ready to find themselves in the loving arms are three beautiful little girls whom Grandma loved.

Here is a picture of the greenware for two of the dolls. The greenware has been cleaned and is ready to be fired into bisque. Bisque Firing is a long process to where the kiln heats up very slowly to around 2190 degrees F! I will be waiting until this evening before I fire the kiln since the weather here is finally getting warm. My kiln is located in my dining room and when I am in the process of bisque firing, it heats the house up pretty fast.

I am planning on updating everyone to my progress and of course post some pictures for you all to watch as I create these dolls.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

New Doll in the Works







OK, so I am totally addicted!!! As I was cleaning my porcelain Friday morning, I just couldn't stop looking over at my new clay and my two failures. I kept telling myself to stay focused on the porcelain and work on the polymer another day...but it was an itch I just had to scratch! After cleaning two more pieces of porcelain, I knew I had enough for the kiln to be able to bisque fire (which takes all day) I ran right into my craft room and started working with my polymer clay again. This time I made the wire armature and added a small amount of clay to it to act as a skeleton for some stability. I kept all the joints free and I used my embossing gun to cure the clay. I then mixed two types of clay together: Prosculpt and Cernit. I used a bit more Cernit than the Prosculpt and spent about three hours combining and conditioning the clay. I worked on adding the clay for about four more hours and this is what I have so far. I hope this doll actually makes it to the oven!!! So far my clay is staying very clean and this mix is a lot firmer to work with than just the Prosculpt alone. At this point I feel I am making a lot of progress and am really starting to get a "feel" for working with Polymer Clay.

TUESDAY APRIL 7, 2009




Yeah!!!! She has a head!!!!! After about fifty attempts I finally got a head I am happy with. It may not be perfect but it is the best head I have made so far! As I worked on getting the head attached to the body, the clay started getting soft again so I attached a little extra clay where the ears will be and called it a day. I need to let my clay harden back up. This has been a very fun project so far and things are going so much better for me this time. I have the help of the members of my yahoo group and Fantasy Art Guild plus I now have my book from Aida!!!! I am just so excited at this point and I hope everyone is enjoying watching me as I learn how to sculpt these beautiful dolls! More to come soon!!!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

You May Be Wondering When I Will Have More To Show

Boy I am a bad blogger! I never realized how much I needed to add until I logged in this morning. I have gotten some orders for Five Commissioned Porcelain Dolls so I have been busy working on them. Unfortunatley, my Polymer Clay Time has been put on hold (so to speak) until I get these Commissioned Dolls done. Once I get the Porcelain Dolls in bisque form, I will have more time to devote to my Polymer Clay. Since, at this point, the greenware is behaving itself and the cleaning seems to be going smoothly, I expect to have them all in bisque form by the end of next week. So, please don't think I have given up because there is no way that is going to happen. I just have other obligations to attend to first...then....back to sculpting.
Thanks for watching!!!

Anatomy A Must!

So as I strive to learn how to make these beautiful OOAK Polymer Clay Dolls, it has been said many times that the best beginning point for any doll sculptor is knowlede of the Human Anatomy. I never realized how each individual muscle in the human body plays its own role in how the body looks. For example: If I were to raise one arm over my head, the muscles on that whole side of my torso would react causing just that side of my torso to show more muscle tone and texture (the ribs would show more, that breast would be lifted more and so on). I did a little experiement yesterday. I have a lot of mirrors in my bathroom that are positioned to where I can see my whole body from every angle. I sort of posed in different ways to see just how these muscles work and what the effect of them where as I changed positions. I was simply amazed at how every pose changed the entire shape of my contours and how different bones showed in some positions but not others. I can definetly see why you need to have some really good reference pictures of the Human
Anatomy.
Dollmakers are some of the nicest, most sharing people I have ever met in my entire life. There is an ocean of these people online that are willing to help you any way they can. Most of them have amassed tons of information that they are willing to share and all you have to do is ask! When I posed the question to other dollmakers as to where I might possibly get this kind of information, I got hundreds of responses. The following two websites seemed to be the favorite ones of other dollmakers:

http://www.posemaniacs.com/
http://www.human-anatomy-for-artist.com/

I have been to both sites but Posemaniacs is my perferred favorite. My next stop in this learning process will be my local library. So remember, if you want to learn how to sculpt the human figure in clay, you must first learn about the human anatomy.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

DLynne Artdolls is having a Blog Giveaway!!!


You have got to visit dlynneartdolls.blogspot and check out her OOAK Skeleton Man giveaway! He is totally cute and would make a great addition to anyones OOAK collection. There are two steps to be entered for this giveaway: Step 1 is as easy as following her blog and Step 2 is to add a post on your blog about her giveaway! This is such a great idea and has me thinking about trying this once I get better with working with the clay. So what are you waiting for...hop on over to her site today to get registered for this awesome giveaway!!!!

Photo is a copy from DLynne's Blog. This is a picture of the doll she made and is giving away.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

My Porcelain Dolls are for Sale

Hello again everyone! It has been a struggle to come to terms with the fact that my dolls are taking over the house. Due to this fact, it is time I part with some of them. I have decided to sell some of my dolls not only to give me more room for new dolls, but to finance my new hobby...Polymer Clay Fairy Dollmaking!!!! It takes a lot of time and patience to make a Porcelain Doll. From start to completion, it takes me up to three months to make just one doll. My dolls range from 10" to 24" tall. To make it as easy as possible I will price the dolls by size:

10" $100.00
12" $125.00
14" $150.00
18" $175.00
24" $300.00

*Prices can be negotiable but please understand that I have not put a big price on these dolls and I will not be making any money on them. Anyone who has any experience in Porcelain Dollmaking knows that it is a very expensive hobby.

Anyone interested in my dolls can contact me and I will give a more detailed description on the doll you are interested in. If you see a doll you like but like an outfit shown on another doll, just ask me because most of my dolls outfits are interchangeable. All my dolls outfits and props (like the little dollys they hold)are also handmade by me.
Please help to clear out some of these dolls!!!!

Thank you for your interest!!!!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Learning What "Not" To Do, The Hard Way

Have you ever done something to realize, way to late, that it was the worst thing you could have done? Well, I realize this morning that I made a pretty big mistake last night. I decided to take the day off from Sculpting to work in some of the other aspects of making a Fairy...The Wings!!! I found two really good tutorials on making them using two different mediums...Fantasy Film and Liquid Sculpy...but I seemed to be drawn to making them using Fantasy Film. The different colors and textures you get when you add heat to the film really adds to the realizm of the wings. There is a really good step by step tutorial on how to make them at... www.cdhm.org/tutorials/making-fairy-wings.html
OK, so I really took my time spending at least 3 hours laying out my wires and gluing them to the Fantasy Film. I let them sit to dry the rest of the afternoon and finally got to heat them for the fun effects! They looked so good and I was very pleased at my first set. I used the Lacquer to seal them and before I went to bed, I noticed one wing was not laying flat anymore so I checked to see if they were dry, and they felt really dry to me so I layered them between two pieces of paper and put a heavy book on top of them hoping it would help flatten them back out. There was my mistake. The Lacquer had not completely dried and this morning when I went to look at them, the paper was sticking to them. I tried to very easily pull the paper away but I it still stuck in spots and I have absolutely no idea if they can be saved....so it looks like I need the advice from my fellow Polymer Clay Artists. I will keep everyone posted as to what I find out.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Finally, I get to try some polymer clay ooak dollmaking!

After years of making porcelain dolls, I have always been interested in those beautifully sculped ooak dolls. The fine detail they use to really bring the dolls to life are simply amazing! There are some very talented people out there!! I have really done some research on this aspect of dollmaking and find myself with a huge desire to try it myself. The only thing that kept me from trying it years ago was the fact that there really wasn't a whole lot of information to be found on the subject but with the internet and so many artists that are willing to share what they know, it has given me the courage to finally try it. Just today I ordered a wonderful kit from Patricia Rose Studios that will help me along the way to learning how to sculpt! I am so excited to get it and hopefully within the next couple of months, I will be able to learn this skill and share it with everyone. I guess that is why I decided to start this blog so I can share this wonderful journey I am about to take with anyone who is interested. I would really like to build on this blog and take my learning with you step by step. I should have my supplies hopefully by early next week so keep checking back often for updates!


Monday March 9, 2009

The excitement of receiving my kit has really grown over the weekend but as my research has taught me, Patience is the key. I spent most of my weekend setting up a little area to work at and doing a lot more research. I found an ebay store, The Morzemore Estate, that offeres a lot of supplies for the polymer clay doll artist and they have a blog where they show some of their Works In Progress. I am so impressed by what they have been able to accomplish. Here is the link for anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to visit their store...
http://blogs.ebay.com/morzemore I have found a lot of other sites that offer their Works In Progress also but I really like the Morzemore site. The artist even shows when things go wrong how she fixes them and they have a really cool tutorial on making a beautiful base out of Manzanita wood burls. Another site that offers a lot of tutorials is Patricia Roses' site. From start to finish she shows how to make a beautiful lady fairy and a lot of other really good tutorials. Here is a link to those tutorials... http://patriciarosestudio/com/html/tutorial.html
During my research, I came across another very neat website. They show the human figure (the figures are shown in the muscle stage) in different poses. The site is very neat in the aspect that you can grid the photos and do a full turn on the figure so you can see it from all angles! This would help any polymer clay artist and it is a site that I saved in my favorites for futher use. The link is http://www.posemaniacs.com These three sites are a great source for anyone who wants to learn how to make polymer clay dolls or even artists looking for some inspiration. I hope I am allowed to put these links on my blog...I am really no good at blogging and am just learning so if anyone finds out or knows it is illegal or not allowed, please let me know and I will delete them. I just wanted to share them with you because I know that they are sites I will visit very frequently.
OK, well for now, I will try to patiently wait for my kit to arrive and keep up the research. If anyone knows of any other good sites to visit, please let me know. I really want to get as much information as I can.

Tuesday March 17, 2009

YEAH!!! My kit finally arrived and boy was I excited. I rushed the stuff in the house and immediately started opening all the little boxes and unwrapping all the supplies. I popped in the first DVD and sat in awe as I watched Patricia Rose turn a big lump of clay into a very beautiful fairy doll. I hit the repeat button and had everything laid out in front of me and began to follow her and here is what I have so far. As you can see, I have one leg that is starting to look like a leg. My main concern at this point is the amount of dirt I have in my clay. I have been given a lot of advice on this subject: First, wear a white cotton t-shirt while you are sculpting. Polymer clay is a lint magnet and if you wear dark colored clothes, your sculpture will get dark lint. Second, keep some baby wipes handy and use them to wipe your hands and tools off frequently. Of course, even with these precautions, you will still get dirt or lint in your sculpture which you will have to scrape off after your first fire. I ordered a Manazinta Burl to use as a base for my doll and it should arrive today or tomorrow. I am going to try to get the other leg to match the one I have, build up the torso some and work on the arms and feet (yikes!!!). Once my base arrives, I will pose her and put her in for her very first firing. Now that I know a lot more, I should have had the base before I started sculpting to make sure the scale is right.


Thursday March 19, 2009

I knew I should have ordered the base first! So my burl arrived today and guess what...it is way to small. I will have to remember that in the future. One hump in the road will not stop me though. If the weather permits, I am going on a hunting expedition this weekend in the woods to see what I can find. My husband just cut up a whole bunch of firewood so I will start there. Hopefully I can find something suitable.


Saturday March 21, 2009

I stayed up very late last night working and smoothing to try to get the two sides of the body to match up. I added some addtitional clay to the hips, lower abdomen and chest area. Another problem occurs when you are working with Polymer Clay. The more you work with it, the softer and more pliable it becomes. Being new, I have a terrible time working with the clay when it gets to soft so what is recommended is for you to hang your piece from the loop in the armature and leave it alone for a while (most artists agree on letting it sit for at least an hour). As it sits, the clay will harden back up making it a lot easier to work with.

Tuesday March 24, 2009

Well, the weather was absolutely georgeous this weekend so I went on a hunting expedition in the woods to see if I could find a new base but came out empty handed. I have decided to check out a couple of the local hobby shops today to see what I can find. I am currently involved in three different contests and challenges...

Bunny Contest http://www.fantasyartguild.com/Default.aspx?pageId=289510
UFO and WIP Contest http://spritebites-brokenplanet.blogspot.com/2009/03/and-so-it-begins-ufo-wip-challenge.html
Keep Dancing Contest http://www.fairystudio.net/

so I need to find something fast!!! Unfortunately I have tons to do this week so my sculpting will be limited to only about an hour a day. With that said, I really need to get my day started. I have to go Birthday Shopping for my Daugher who will turn 12 next month and try to find a suitable base.

NOTE: My fairy wings could not be saved :( I will also be looking for some more fantasy film while I am out today to try again.


TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2009




OK, so my search still has not turned up a base but I decided to work on her pose anyway....while I was posing her, I noticed her arms seemed pretty fat so I am starting to perform liposuction on them by carving off a lot of the clay. I also decided to try the head again and I am happy with the way this one is beginning to take shape. More pics soon to come!!!!

Friday March 27, 2009





After years of making porcelain dolls, I have always been interested
I knew even before I posted the last pictures of my first head that I really wasn't happy with it. The eyelids were way to heavy and the nose was a little bit big for her facial structure. I knew I was really going to need a good tutorial to follow to be able to make a head that I would be happy with. I ran across a very good e-book that I purchased and used to tweak my dolls head and you can see the amazing results already! The book is currently on sale at:

http://www.goddess-dreams.com/index.html

This is a awesome book with lots and lots of information!!!! Aidamaris Roman is one of my favorite sculptors! You really need to check out her website and see some of the beautiful dolls she has made. Her website has a free tutorial on making a fairy but the book she has is a lot more detailed!


Sunday March 29, 2009

I was hoping to have more to show everyone but I ran into a couple of pretty big snags the other day. First, when I went to take the head off the stick....all that work I put into it got ruined when I did this step. As I slowly rotated and pulled the head off the ball on the end of the stick, the bottom portion of her face got pushed outward and split. I tried and tried to fix it but the more I played with it, the worse it got. Another mistake learned! I got the sticks I have when I ordered a kit of supplies but there was no good instructions on how to get the head off of it when you were ready to take it off. The stick has a small ball on the tip of it that you put the head on. Since this happened, I am going to just use the other end of the stick next time and I will defienty finish the head completely first so that I can use my embossing gun to cure the clay before I even attemp to remove it! Second, the longer the doll has sat and the more I work on the body, the dirtier the clay is getting. I tried covering her up with some plastic wrap but we have a fireplace that we use constantly during the winter. Since it has been cold here lately, I fire has been going and it burns real wood...hence....a lot and lot of dust!!! Of course my little studio is in the den where the fireplace is....grrrrrrr!!!! Last but not least, I ran out of clay. I have some ordered so I should get it by mid-week.

With these problems I feel that I should scrap this doll and start over! The weather is finally changing so we shouldn't have to burn every day now. I will have to save my sculpting for days we don't have a fire, or, move into another room while I am sculpting! I told everyone about the e-book I purchased and I am going to make that doll instead (or at least attempt to make that doll). I already made the armature and have the base clay fired so I will start adding the clay as soon as it arrives.


FRIDAY APRIL 3, 2009

Just a note to add about the problem I had with removing the head from the sculpting stick: Judy from "The Beginners Polymer Clay Art Guild" :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Beginners_Polymer_Clay_Art_Guild/

explained to me what I had done wrong. Remember, the stick I used had a small wooden ball on the tip that you attach the clay to. The stick is not pulled back out of the head through the neck but pushed up out of the top of the head. It leaves a hole in the dolls head that some artist use to put a "plug" of hair in. There is a good tutorial on how this is accomplished at:

http://www.patriciarosestudio.com/html/tutorial.html

There are a lot of other tutorials on this page also.
Happy Sculpting :)
 
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