One Woman's Creative Eye

EJ Taylor class

2011-11-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, how lucky was I? Five day workshop with EJ Taylor. I learned so much about paper clay and oil paint and full body sculpting. The Flying Phoebes hosted EJ to teach in Northern California and I was lucky enough to host him at my house. Of course he might not say that, because I'm a terrible cook, so I took him out to dinner every night. Ha ha! He is wonderful.

The start of our day at Marcella's beautiful house as we drink our coffee and find out what we will be doing.

We got right to work, sculpting heads out of paper clay and learning that we knew nothing. But we all concentrated and worked hard. Of course we broke for food, candy and lots of coffee, laughter and good fun.

EJ was fabulous and gave us all indivdual attention and no one left the workshop disappointed. Everyone's dolls stood on their own and were developing personalities.

Sally's doll practically walked off the table with all her attitude, of course

EJ Taylor

2011-10-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that I'm taking a class from the world renowned doll artist EJ Taylor. It is an amazing experience. Not only learning his techniques, but also listening to his life stories and his philosophies on art. I'm so thrilled to have him staying at my house while he teaches the 5 day class to the Flying Phoebe doll club in Hayward, CA. He is showing us how to sculpt the head and hands and build the bodies on our dolls. To see his amazing work, you must check out his website, http://www.ejtaylor.com/ . He has always been my favorite doll artist. Who knew that the stars would align and I could not only meet him, but host him in my house. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class, do everything you can to make it happen!

Trade Shows and Selling

2011-04-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally going to put my toe in the water and see whether I like the idea of selling my dolls. It isn't something that comes easy, the letting go of a little piece of your creative spirit....but I know my dolls will enjoy the adventure of going to other people's houses. But there are some dolls, like my Gnome Nanny and child that I just cannot bear to have leave the house. They are both to dear to me to let go.

I create the Bird for my little creature

2010-07-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

So I fiddled all afternoon trying to get fluffy feathers to stick to this little bird. Ugh! They are up my nose and glued to my feet, but looking good. Need to paint his feet so they aren't copper wire....but that will be after the glue dries on the feathers. What a mess feathers are and I've never created a bird, so what do I know about what they look like. You will never find this one in a backyard at your house, but if you follow a certain path in a hidden cave with a small stream ..... and then find the magic door unlocked...then you too may find him sitting on a branch....looking for the Birdman...

Sometimes he comes into the house and sits under my living room lamp...but that is only when their are lighting storms and his feather's get wet, then the Birdman knocks on my door and I feed them honey and seeds and they tell me all their adventures....

Another Fabulous Froud Weekend

2010-07-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

I got to Petaluma on Friday morning around 7am and waited for the class to begin at 10. Stayed in a funny old Victorian Hotel (Metro Cafe and Hotel) where the had make your own coffee and quiet signs all over so that you did wake anyone. But it was very relaxing and artsy and seemed to fit the whole mood of the weekend.

Three days of creative fun, exhaustion and birthing of new ideas and creatures. Once again Wendy and Toby Froud generously shared their creative process with 15 lucky artists.

Here is the fruit of our labor. Fifteen little creatures all made under the watchful eye of our mentors who gave us tips and tricks throughout our time there. Even the fur we used on our dolls was magical. We were using left over fur that was used on the movie "Where The Wild Things Are". On Friday we started the class with a meditation to find our creative energy and if we were lucky, to meet the creature we would sculpt. All day Friday we worked on the head, getting the sculpt just right. Saturday was heads and feet and wrapping the armature, then Sunday was painting and dressing.

And to top it off we had the class at the Petaluma Art Center and at the same time they had an incredible doll show. The show runs until the middle of September. If you have the chance to go, you will be rewarded with the opportunities to see dolls as diverse as E.J Taylor, Wendy Froud, Christine Shivley, Leslie Molen, and Kat Soto just to name a few.

Because Wendy and Brian were promoting their latest collaboration "The Heart of Faerie Oracle, Brian also came to play on Sunday.

My little creature just told me that he was a bird man, so now I need to make some birds to be around him. I will publish a picture, once he is finished.

Secretive Merfolk refuses to talk

2010-05-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

She refuses to speak. In fact I think she is not happy that I found her hiding behind the seaweed in Half Moon Bay off the Pacific Coast. She peaks at me out of the side of her eyes as if to say, shhh! hiding here. Maybe she isn't talking because I have not finished beading her skirt. hmmm.....

This doll was truly a challenge and I learned so much working on her. I have to thank all the hardware guys who helped me figure out the nuts and bolts I would need to support her heavy upper body. Plus duck tape is a wonderful invention. It really made a huge difference. I drilled holes in the Fimo, painted her gills, sculpted an upper body, all things I had not attempted before. And I'm so pleased with her. I was inspired by the drawings of Tony DiTerlizzi from the Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide.

Working on a new doll

2010-04-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this sculpt for two weekends. I'm such a terrible picture taker, that the pictures never look very good. This creature will become a mermaid, once gills, hair, tail, etc are added. I enjoyed trying to do a full sculpt, but it really shows off all your mistakes. No hiding it with clothing. But even though it is not that great, I am enjoying the process of doing something a little different.

Finally got a decent picture of my Dark Fairy

2010-03-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here is something else I struggled with. I made him in a class with Wendy Froud. I tried every wing you could imagine and put him in every position I could think of, finally I put crow feathered wings on him and he came alive. Well at least he settled down and started acting nice.

New Doll Finished this weekend

2010-03-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

I went to Tami's house and sat around with my creative friends and played dolls. There are four of us that get together once a month and gossip, eat and create. It is a lot of fun. I finished a doll that I have struggled with for a couple of months. The face didn't work and I didn't like the horns, so I tried redoing the whole thing. It was a big learning experience. Don't know if I really like him, but he is growing on me. At first he seemed to want to be fierce, but that he became 'the messager'. At least that is all he has told me so far.

I've been gone too long

2010-03-12T17:32:00.000-08:00

It has been for ever since I last blogged. Lots has happened in my life. My son got married and the holidays were wild with all the extra family every where. I was thrilled to be asked to join the Flying Phoebe doll club located in Hayward, California. What an incredible creative group of folks to mingle with and trade ideas with. Winter is coming to an end and I'm starting to feel the juices flowing into playing with dolls again.

I just finished baking a new head and then burnt the heck out of my finger pulling it out of the oven. Note to self: do not touch the hot wire no matter how excited you are about the looks of the head. Then I saw a huge crack in the face. Fingers crossed, super glue will do it's job. I will post pictures if I can rescue him from the trash can. Otherwise I guess I will have to hold a funeral.

Sometimes life is just too strange and powerful

2009-09-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday my ex mom in law called me (she is 93) and just wanted to chat and tell me she loved me. There was such sweetness and sadness in the phone call that it felt like she was saying goodbye. I thought, I must get to her house on Saturday. Yesterday my son called me to say that he heard from his Auntie that Fanny was on life support in the hospital. There were no clues from her normal health issues (growing old) that this was going to happen.

I spent the day yesterday at her bedside wishing I had made more time to visit. Isn't that always the way? So we all pray that she can start to breath on her own and we get to see again the little devlish glint in her eyes. I know I need to recognize that she has lived a long and full life, but I selfishly don't want her out of my life.

Selected as a Froud Website Wahoo

2009-08-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

I just got word that my blog has been accepted as September 2009 Froudian Artist of the Month. What a tremendous honor and such fun. Now I need to figure out how to link it to my website.

I'm so excited

2009-08-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

I just found out that my grey doll will be featured in "Soft Dolls and Animals" magazine. She will be in the November issue. What a kick. I went to a cloth doll convention in Ohio this spring and the sponsor of the convention sent in 25 pictures of dolls to the magazine. I was one of the lucky ones that was picked. Wahoo! This is a first for me to actually be published. Can hardly wait to see it.

Bought a new computer

2009-06-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here I am playing around with my new computer, realizing that all my wonderful links are now on my old computer and I will have to log into it to get all the info. Love getting new toys, but hate having to figure this all out. Bought a lovely HP Firebird VoodooDNA gaming system, because I love gaming so much and the visual graphics are so intense on this machine.

AFIC and back to reality

2009-05-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

I had such fun, meeting new people and learning new techniques. I was completely flabbergasted when several people wanted to buy my doll 'a study in grey'. It was so flattering that my peers found my work interesting. It is a little sad to look around the room and not see the grey doll sitting in her corner, but I know she has a new home with Peggy. After talking to a lot of people, I so want to go to NIADA this year. Got to try and save some money and see if I can make it happen.

On another note, my friend Daisy is in the new Art Doll magazine. I was so excited to see her published. I guess I'm going to have to get her autograph when she comes over. Please check it out under the Gypsy Challenge.

Nanny Gilly finally has her little girl

2009-04-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

I was so anxious about making the baby/little girl that was going to be in Nanny's arms, but sculpting small is not something I was confident I could do. I started thinking I would just do a small baby with closed eyes - I figured I could manage that. But all of a sudden this little face started to emerge and I was in love with her. Then I got little hands and feet to look OK. It was a miracle. Here I was procrastinating for about 2 weeks because I was positive that the child sculpt would not make me happy.

So now that I have two new people to live with and all my other little dolls seemed happy to have the company. I can now relax that this figure is completed and now I have to start sewing on my Cloth doll homework for the Cloth Doll Convention in Ohio. Only two weeks left to get it all done. Better sew everynight.

I'm busy but not had much to say here

2009-03-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Quiet time for me, but I have been productive. My son had an emergency appendectomy and it threw me off a little. You would think when they are almost 31, that they don't need you, but in emergency nothing works but having mom available to help out. It happened the night of doll club and I anxiously called the vice president to make sure she could fill in for me. I will be glad when I'm no longer the club president. It is a long drive at night and I don't get home until around 11p.m. I have to turn around and get up again at 4:45 so it wears me out. It is also a cloth doll club, and since I have started sculpting, I'm not as interested in cloth dolls. I still love them, but I can get so much more expression in the sculpted doll. I'm going to a cloth doll convention in April, so I'm hoping it will ping me again with cloth doll interests.

I've been working on 2 of my dolls and neither one is completed, but will add the pictures of their progress. One is a dark fallen fairy and one will be a nanny gnome. I need to make little baby for her to hold and one to sit on her back. That will be a challenge because I have a hard time making little things.

Fabulous, incredible class

2009-03-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

I had a fall on your face blast at Wendy Froud's advanced class in Reno. First of all she is so gracious and generous with her ideas and techniques and her son, Toby, is funny and talented. And second, I met the greatest group of people at the class. Some I knew from the first class I took from her and some I just met. The creative energy in the classroom made me float around all week afterwards. I wish I could bottle up that creative energy and put it in a glass jar and when I'm feeling not inspired or tired and discouraged, I could unscrew the lid and be bathed and renewed in it.

Thank goodness i have memories of it and hopefully, fingers crossed, I will get to meet again with all those lovely folks and laugh and play.

Back to Sculpting

2009-02-01T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well I can hardly believe that it has almost been a year since I took Wendy Froud's first class. It opened up a completely different way of thinking. I would have done so much more this last year, except for one thing and one thing only. World of Warcraft. So on the same weekend that I got introduced to sculpting with fimo, I also got introduced with WoW. Who would have thought that I would have become so hooked on that game. I thought it was a teenage boy game, but here I am 56 years old and playing that stupid game every night.

But, Wendy Froud is back and teaching in Reno at the end of February. I'm taking an advanced course from her, so we bring already sculpted head, hands and feet and then build the doll with a more advanced body and paint techniques. So long story short I have been sculpting the last two weekends. Miracle of miracles, I have two doll heads that don't look like aliens from outer space.

I received Wendy's 2nd DVD on creating older characters and so began my new adventure. I did start to paint the 2nd head, shame shame on me. But she so wanted to come alive and I also used taxidermy eyes instead of sculpting them. I like it. So now I have an old woman head and a old man's head.

Next to this post are the little pictures.

It has been too long since I posted

2008-12-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is just two days before Christmas, I don't know where the fall went. I've had a lot of fun playing cloth dolls with my doll club. Deanna Hogan came and taught two classes. Her new Verity doll and her Averill doll. She is a delight and I learned so much. I need to get my camera out and take some pictures. Averill doesn't have any shoes yet so she will wait.

Working again

2008-08-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

I took today off for vacation and I've been working on my dolls. Here are some pictures of her latest look. Hair and costuming is going well. She still needs a headdress of some kind, wings and shoes.

I need to work on my demo's for the Oakland Museum on Sunday. The museum holds a demo on textile artists from the bay area. I've been invited to demo cloth dolls again this year, so need to put aside this doll and sew some doll parts to demo.

Hope you enjoy these pictures

I'm back and finally started working on a doll

2008-07-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

I have been playing far too much World of Warcraft and hardly touched dolls. But, I finally got a figure finished and put together. She doesn't have any hair or clothes, I wrapped some fabric around her just for the picture. She will be a fairy with wings and then she will be looking down on another little figure (to be created).

Too tired to work on doll

2008-05-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

I got too pooped out doing all the driving this weekend. Here is a glimpse of the rod puppet I created. She was inspired by the art work of Wayne Anderson and the book "Ratsmagic". She is Witch Dole. I need to finish her clothes and put snakes on her hat.

Toby Froud's Rod Puppet Class

2008-05-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

I managed to make it to Toby's class this memorial weekend. I could not believe that it snowed on Donner Pass and I almost didn't make it over the mountain. I did not bring chains and so I followed closely behind a truck. The truck cut through the slush, but it was hard to see with the wind blowing the snow and slush onto my wind shield. My heart was pounding and I was gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles for 20 miles while we went through the mountains. Another person was coming from the Bay Area about a half an hour behind me and had to turn back because, by then, Highway Patrol was requiring chains. I am sure she is so disappointed to have missed it.

Even so, it was so worth it. I learned so much more because we really concentrated on sculpting. I posted a picture of one of Toby's dolls that I fell in love with. Tomorrow I will complete my puppet and hopefully post it then. I am exhausted and going to bed.

2008-05-11T15:46:00.001-07:00

Happy mother's day. I was able to get to my Little Faun doll and put hair and clothes on her. I used an old beaver fur collar for her legs. She isn't finished yet, but this gives you an idea of how she is turning out. Her hair needs to be tamed down a little and I noticed in the pictures it looks like the fur on one leg is higher than the other, so I will need to fix that. But I'm done for the day. My son is coming over and going to wash and wax my car for mother's day. Hurray, it is a mess. Next week I will start my duties as the president of Gals and Dolls in San Jose, CA. I'm a little nervous because I don't really know how it will turn out. I was also lucky to met some great people when I went to Portola earlier this month. In fact, one of the woman, Kate, is coming down with her daughter next weekend. I forget how lucky I am to live in the Bay Area where there is such great fabric shopping. She is making the 250+ mile trip just to buy fabric. I can't say much, because I would do the same thing if the only place to buy fabric near me was Wal*mart. I put a larger picture of Faun down below if you want to scroll down.

Baking a Fimo Pan Figure

2008-04-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

I sculpted a little Pan girl figure today and it is in the oven baking. Fingers crossed that when I look at it tomorrow, I will still love it. It is a far cry from the ugly stepsister I made in class, but I used all the techniques I learned and it really made a huge difference in the time it took to do. It still was about 6 hours for the head and torso, but I had to condition the clay as well as sculpt. Two big differences from taking Wendy Froud's class: 1. I was able to spend a lot more time to get it right and 2. we used Fimo soft in class and I used Puppen and translucent Fimo classic chopped together with Fimo conditioner. The classic is much better than soft. Fimo classic has a wax consistentency and does not melt in your hands so that when you are working on one side of the head, you are smashing the other side. I do have hot hands when I work, especially today. I cannot believe how hot it is, I finally turned on the air conditioner. It was over 84 in the house. Ouch. Water rationing here we come.

2008-04-20T17:15:00.001-07:00

I decided to finish the doll I began in Wendy's class. She is certainly not pretty so do not use this output to judge whether to take a class from the Froud's. The techniques I learned and the experience was well worth the money and the time. I highly recommend buying her DVD because it is 240 minutes long and she goes over in detail her techniques. I posted the 'ugly stepsister' below. Enjoy and hopefully the next time I use Fimo, it will come out much prettier. I created a new wire armature, chopped up the Fimo and will start the new doll over the next couple of days. Too tired today.

Recovered from last weekend

2008-04-19T07:45:00.001-07:00

It took me several good nights sleep before I felt recovered from last weekend's class. So today I will start a new doll. I am going to attempt a Pan figure but it takes me forever to finish anything, so who knows when it will be posted. I do know that using Fimo instead of Darwi clay will speed up the process. Darwi takes a good week to dry, so you can't sculpt and then keep working because of all the waiting in between. I believe that Darwi is stronger though because as soon as my last doll was finished, I dropped it on its face on the hard desk and nothing happened. I almost cried before I picked it up and saw that it had survived my clumsy self.

Back from Wendy's class

2008-04-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Valerie and I came back from Wendy's class on Monday afternoon, exhausted but happy. I learned so much in the class and it was fabulous. Wendy Froud's son Toby was also at the workshop and he is an incredible artist. Both Wendy and Toby created Pan figures and I really don't have the words to describe how fantastic they were. While I struggled to make a doll that had two eyes, a nose and a mouth in somewhat the correct area, they sat and worked on these dolls as demonstrations for the rest of us. I kept trying to coax Wendy's figure into my purse but he completely ignored me. Posted below is the figure Wendy started and pretty much completed during the 3 day seminar. Wendy said she had more details to button down, but to my eyes it was perfect.

Traveling to Wendy Froud Class

2008-04-10T07:02:00.001-07:00

Today Valerie is picking me up and we are going up into the mountains above Reno to enjoy a beautiful spa and being inspired by a gathering of creative doll makers. I have not sculpted in Fimo before, so I know that my brain will explode with all the new information that I will try and remember. I'm bringing my camera so will share the pictures and experience when I get back.

Too many dolls not enough time

2008-03-31T18:58:00.001-07:00

I have decided that work is getting in the way of my play. If I could only discover hidden wealth that would sustain me enough that I could just sit and play with my dolls, it would be pure happiness. Only nine more years before retirement, but some days, it feels like that is forever and other days, like it is just around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful to have employment in these uncertain times, but lately the call to create is overwhelming. I worked on Bartholomew some more, but had to put him aside because in the doll club I belong to we are exchanging secret pal dolls and I must complete mine before April 8th. I also need to get prepared for Wendy Froud’s class on April 11th. It seems like it was weeks away and now it is next week. It is one of those strange time anomalies, where some parts of time are slow and others push you faster than you can blink. I guess I should stop writing and sew and a couple of hands.

My Doll has developed a personality

2008-03-23T19:08:00.001-07:00

Easter and I have been able to work on my doll between phone calls and my son and his girlfriend coming over. They ate Easter dinner and Sandra's mom's, so I didn't need to cook and was able to enjoy the day in my sewing room. Bartholomew has been named and I have the beginnings of his clothes created, but no embellishments. It is quite exciting.

Creating a new doll

2008-03-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I have finished the sculpting and put him together. So far he has remained silent, so I really don't know how he wants to be dressed. Everytime I bring it up, he just stands there with this little secretative smile on his face. Maybe tommorrow he will tell me. He gave me permission to show his picture, obviously he feels no embarrassment that he is undressed. Hopefully tomorrow he will let me know who he is. If he does, I wil let you all know.

Anticipating a Wendy Froud Class

2008-03-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

I am getting very excited because I am going to the Wendy Froud workshop in Portola, CA. Her husband will also be joining the class. I received her "Creating A Faery Figure' DVD this week and I have been watching it a lot. It is 240 minutes long and Wendy demonstrates all aspects of scupting a doll using Fimo clay. I am just blown away by how fantastic it is. The class is in April, so I will add more to my blog while I get ready for the class and show pictures of the class on this blog. I have been sculpting all day today (using paperclay) and watching her DVD. Not all the techniques will translate to paperclay, but many of the techniques do and I have been looking at my dolls with a new eye.

I am currently working on a figure that I have struggled with for about 3 weeks. The head was just not working for me. But I am so pleased with how it came out that I have begun the figure. It will be a while before I can show the finished doll, but as I progress with it, I will add pictures.

I cannot believe that it is 6:15 already. It will take me a while to get used to daylight savings time. The weather is so beautiful today: around 73 and the trees are just beginning to push out their leaves. You can tell how much I enjoyed the DVD because although the weather called to me from the window, I choose to stay in my studio and play with dolls.

March 8, 2008

2008-03-08T19:14:00.002-08:00

The first night to change to daylight savings. Part of me is happy for more light after I get off from work, but the tradeoff of arriving at work when it is still dark does not appeal to me. At the best my little yorkie, Phoebe will not wake me up tommorrow at 4:30 by licking me in my nose. Maybe I can fool her and can sleep in until 5:30 for a few days. This time next week she will have figured out my new schedule and again will wake me up on the weekends.

So why did I decide to create a blog. Although being creative is a very internal private process, the need to share what you create with others who may understand why you spend so much time coped up in your second bedroom drives my creation of the blog. I am always searching for new doll images and pictures on the web, so decided that others might enjoy what I do.

So here I am sending into space my thoughts and creative images. I hope that if you have stumbled upon my little space you will enjoy my dolls as much as I enjoy making them.