Christmas Pixie Elves

Wow it's been over a month since I last wrote a blog post and it's gone pretty fast. I have been very busy making new items for Christmas including a few dolls as well as posting a few dolls out to their new forever homes. The Cornish Pixie Elves have insisted I show you them first.

I had some larger cone shaped ones left so I decided to go for a Scandi / Nordic style with the decoration on their red painted bodies. I finished them off with a red felt hat and trimmed with red gingham ribbon bows on their hats and back.

The next Cornish Pixie Elf has been in my Sketch book for a few years and I've finally painted it. The night city skyline looks great with the moon and stars and of course the silhouette of a certain sleigh and reindeer.

The next is a family of elves and I went back to an old idea of a single metallic colour and I had some new copper paint I could use. They turned out well and I love the soft shine on them.

Now to dolls, I decided I would make four dolls and I would use what I had in my fabric stash rather than buying any more. So the first one I thought would be nice was a winter witch, I had some ivory material that was printed with deer and gold snowflakes which I teamed with gold organza. She looked great with her white boots, witches hat and hair, the only trouble was a name and I finally decided on Wanda.

Next were two angels one was a pretty pink and the other in blue and they ended up being called Candy and Felicity. I had bought some new merino wool that had glitzy threads through the wool and I used them on the angels and it look really good. 

The last one I wanted her to be a bit christmassy but not too much so you she can be displayed all year round. 

The next few weeks are going to be busy as I have some things to make for gifts, I am hoping to make a large doll and maybe more but I think it may have to wait until the christmas rush is over. 

Until next time

Vic xxx

New Witches and Christmas Decorations

Its been a busy few weeks as I have been making a few more of the Wicked Sister Witch Dolls and painting / making Christmas Decorations.

You might know I tend not to repeat designs and dolls, well the Witch Dolls I enjoyed making so much and I was asked if they were more available I thought why not and made these two Violet and Skye.

They are great fun to make and it got me thinking of the different variations I could make. So in the future you may see Winter, Spring Witches or Earth and Fire Witches and certainly a few more of the Wicked Sister Witches. 

Also I revisited an old make and got the polymer clay out to make some new Christmas Elf decorations. 

I'm tempted to make more of these with pretty coloured hats for all year round but I will see how these go this year before I decide to buy new colours of clay. 

Also I've been busy painting wooden decorations like these Copper Keys, I have also painted silver, gold and platinum keys too. 

Also I had some slivers of wood that I wasn't sure what to do with I thought I would paint on a heart on them and then I sort of made them into a  Nordic / Scandinavian style decoration. 

All of the decorations I've mentioned above and a few more will be available in the Christmas Shop section in my Esty Shop

I have a few busy weeks coming up and hope to have some Christmas Art Dolls and Cornish Pixie Elves ready soon but first I'm working on something special.  

Until next time 

Vic xx

A Challenge Doll and A Beheading

The past couple of weeks have been really busy and but I have managed to make a few things. Fist I was busy making a doll for a Challenge on the Jan Horrox Doll Maker's Facebook group. And I revamped a couple of mini art dolls by beheading them but more of them later, first the Challenge Doll.

Jan Horrox generously let the group use one of her patterns called Fairy Delight for the challenge. The pattern was great fun I learnt how to make pointed sleeves ends with facings. I used a burgundy organza and a spotted cotton for the body and skirt and painted her nails to match.

After finishing the doll I started on the wings, I wanted to play about with using the zigzag stitch on the sewing machine to give some colour to the cream wings. I used a raspberry, peach and light pink cotton on the bottom of each wing and used the light pink for the edges and veining. 

When they were sewed onto the back of the doll they looked really good, though I admit making wings really aren't my favourite thing to do. 

Now to the beheading well two of my mini Art Dolls I felt I could do a lot better and they needed new heads to give them a bit of a lift. Below are photos of Silva and Emerald as they were before.

And here are Silva and Emerald with their new heads, I think they look more glamorous.

In the next the coming weeks I will be busy preparing and making some Christmas stock including Cornish Pixie Elves and maybe a doll. And after that I will be doing a bit of research and more planning for something in the New Year. 

Until next time.

Vic xx

More New Pixie Elves

Last week I managed to find sometime and painted two new Pixie Elves, one was a bit more of a challenge than the other but I really like how they turned out.
First is one decorated with a heart, I always seem to fall back on decorating the bodies with a heart but with this one I wanted to something a little bit different. I thought a winged heart would look good and the tattoo heart idea I may do another time.

The next one as I said was a bit more of a challenge, but it is completely fun and pink.

Yes I just had to paint a pink flamingo on an elf and I really love it, though at one point it was a bit too fuchsia pink, so I added a few other colour washes to calm it down and added a bit of white and yeah we had a flamingo. Of course I had to add a matching pink hat which clashes nicely with the periwinkle blue body, which seemed very Kitsch. 

This week is the last week of the school holidays and I'm not sure if I will get a chance to make anything but I know I will be starting a doll next week so I will be sharing that in a couple of weeks. 

Until next time

Vic xx

Halloween Dolls

It's taken a couple of weeks but I have finally finished my dolls for this years Halloween. I had already decided they would be my own mini dolls and I would make two. 

The Wicked Sisters

I had some black and grey cotton left in my stash and I also found the spider web net while I was routing around. I was going to use some black chiffon underneath the net but I felt organza was a bit better and would give a bit of shape to the underskirt. 

Esme Wicked Sister

I was originally just going to have the organza and net as the main skirt but they needed a bit more so I used what was left of the bodice fabric for an over skirt that was open at the front to show the under skirt / petticoat. Esme did start off with a peplum rather than a skirt but I sadly had my mini iron too hot and melted the taffeta lining. 

Tabitha Wicked Sister

With Tabitha I decided not to add a lining to her skirt and just doubled up the fabric and also meant I wouldn't accidently melt anymore fabric. I found a couple of bows and some fine ribbons for the bodice, waist and wrists. 

The hair was a difficult decision and Girlie was a great help with choosing them so we went for a burgundy red for Esme and a dark teal for Tabitha. 

Both dolls are available in my Etsy shop and now I'm beginning to think of some special dolls for christmas. 

Until next time 

Vic xx

New Spooky Elves

It's the summer holidays so its time for me to start thinking about seasonal dolls and Pixie elves. I admit I was struggling for ideas for the Pixie elves but I grabbed my ideas sketchbook and had a quick flip through. It certainly helped as I made two new Halloween Cornish Pixie Elves this week.

First I painted a small elf in bright pumpkin orange and added a spider motif in black and added a black hat.

The next Pixie Elf is my favourite and reminds me of old spooky horror films, I could have made a zombie but I like the idea of a Mummy more.

I painted the body with a parchment coloured paint which gives the Mummy and aged look and nicer than a stark bright white. Both will be available to buy in my Etsy shop next week.


Not only did I paint the Halloween elves I also made a couple of prototype fabric elves.

The pattern isn't quite right yet so I will have to adjust the pattern until I'm happy with them. These two were elf napped and I later found one in the lads room and the girlie had the other.

Next I will be hopefully making some Halloween art dolls and then I will be thinking about the C word, yes Christmas.

Until next time
Vic xx

New Pixie Elves and Retiring Elves

This week I admit I was struggling with what to make so I got the box of paints and elves out just to see what I had. Well before I knew it I had painted a small family set of elves that I called the Blues.
As you can see I used three different shades of blue for each elf and I also added a paper cream rose to the necks which give them a pretty vintage or wedding party look.

Also I have looked through the Cornish Pixie Elves that are still for sale and I will be retiring Lotus, The Ninjas, Smudge, Blue and Acorn. All are still available along with the Blues in my Etsy shop

Lotus

I thought I would share with you what happens when I retire the pixie elves, they sadly don't go to a pixie retirement home. The pixie elves are placed in a box with all the paints and other old and new blank elf bodies. 

The Ninjas

The hats and any decorations are removed and I then use some sandpaper and sand off the facial features, excess glue and any painted decorations and some of the body paint. 

Smudge

Naturally not all of the paint can be removed with the sandpaper, I don't use any paint strippers so to cover the left over old paint I repaint the whole body with white gesso. This then gives a nice base for any new paint I add to the bodies. 

Blue

The heads are then given a coat of flesh coloured paint and then I pack them away until I want to make some new Pixie elves. 

Acorn

Not all of the retired Pixie Elves are Reincarnated some end up as gifts or I end up keeping the odd one, I fact I know if Acorn doesn't sell before retirement I will be keeping her. 

Until next time.

Vic xx

Cakes and Tropical Fish

Last week was a bit of an odd week I was busy socially and with family, but the making and creating took a bit of a back seat. Well apart from baking as I baked and decorated two dozen cupcakes. The cupcakes were for a special book club, one of our members had a very special birthday and we all chipped in. So I decided I would bake lemon cupcakes and top them with lemon frosting. They smelt delicious when they were baking. I wish I had some lemon curd in the larder as I could have filled the centre with lemon curd before decorating them with the frosting. I finished them of with gold sugar, a sugar flower and a floral wrapper. 

Lemon cupcakes

 I also made a dozen plain vanilla cupcakes and topped them with a rose flavoured frosting as I thought they would compliment the lemon cakes. The frosting went a more peachy pink rather than the pale pink I wanted. I used some beautiful edible butterflies and white sugar pearls, with laser cut wrappers and they looked very pretty.

Rose vanilla Cupcakes

Also last week we had a few new additions to the household, it was the lads birthday and he spent his money on a fish tank for tropical fish. He had to wait a few days after setting up the tank but he now has three guppies called Flash, Specs and Jaws!!! 

The picture below was taken by the lad on his ipod  but you can just see Flash and Jaws, I think Specs was hiding.  

Until next time

Vic xx

Showgirl Art Doll

Last week I started a new doll which I have completely fallen in love with as she was a joy to make. The pattern was designed by Barbara Schoenoff and I purchased it from Jan Horrox website a few weeks back when I ordered some fabric and hair. The Pattern is easy to follow, I did change a few of the techniques to how I prefer to construct a doll but the end result was exactly the same.

Following the pattern I made the legs, hands, body and the head last, I usually start with the head. Each part was stuffed after the sewing which was good for me as I do all the stuffing in one go so my arm didn't ache to much afterwards. As always I button jointed her shoulders and hips mainly because I like to have some movement to the dolls. Her clothes did give me some problems with the joint movement so I sewed them on while she was in a seated position. 

The head was great fun as she has a more pointy nose that my usual dolls and there was and extra step in the needle sculpting which gave her so much character even before I had painted in her features. As she is a showgirl she needed to have a strong look so I gave her long thick lashes. 

The worst part was adding all the bows and trims as they were all hand sewed on but I still enjoyed all of it, even though that did end up making my arm ache. 

The hardest part of this doll was actually finding a suitable name and in the end I decided on Lottie as I think it suited her the best. She's just been made available in my Etsy shop along with my other dolls and the Cornish Pixie Elves. 

Until next time

Vic x

Elves in Space!!

I've not been making much lately as I've been resting a poorly arm but last week I just needed to make something and decided that it would be a good idea to paint some Pixie Elves.

First I painted two special elves, these are for two of my friends who both have birthdays this month.

 I also wanted to make some space themed pixie elves, so I got my ideas book out and had a quick look at my notes and sketches. First I knew I had to paint a spaceman or astronaut, it was fun painting it all white and then adding the details. 

"I want to be a Spaceman"

Next I painted a ringed planet pixie elf, I wasn't sure on the background colour and decided that black would be best. I also added some dots and specks of varying sizes to give the impression of stars and planets and maybe the odd comet. 

"The final frontier"

The last elf I painted a rocket ship on his body and I really love the retro look of him, I had fun with this ones description on it's Etsy listing. 

"Helston we have a problem!!"

The Rocket ship pixie elf also disappeared mysteriously, I was beginning to think perhaps there may have been an alien elf abduction but no girlie had him. 

All of the Space pixie Elves will be beaming into my Etsy shop during the week. 

Until next time

Vic xx