New Fabric and Book Club

It's been another busy week especially as it's half term and I finally managed to get to the fabric shop in town. I tried to be sensible and I did really well getting the fabrics I wanted and yes a few extras.

So I got some black taffeta and a beautiful grey shot taffeta, some poly cotton stripped fabric which will be great for the legs of dolls. I also got a couple of cotton fat quarters, white chiffon and the most gorgeous ruby red chiffon which I can't wait to use. 

Friday night was book club night and we had the most gorgeous meal and a really good giggle. Mind you we always have a really good giggle and I really enjoy the evening especially since I don't see some of the ladies as much now. 

Well the book we recently read was The Hypnotists Love Story by Liane Moriarty. 

It was a really good read though to be honest I struggled at the start as the author would switch between the two women's point of view in the chapters. At first this made it hard to differentiate between the two of them but eventually the differences began to show and the story raced on. 

As its my turn to host next I had to choose a book for us to read and I tend to add books I like through the year to a special wish list on Amazon to keep track of them. I eventually decided on a SciFi book called The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

I bought a paperback copy this time as Girlie would like to read it, and of course me being me I finished it pretty quickly. The book is supposed to Space Opera but it seems more like Space Lite which is probably okay for book club as I would hate to give them hard SciFi to read as it can be a bit mind boggling or numbing if you're not into that genre. It is a good read though and its never going to be Ian Bank's Culture series which I loved and I must re read at some point. 

Until next time

Vic xx

Blog Hop and a Doll

I've had a really busy week making some dolls and I'm joining in on a Creative Sunday Blog Hop, I'm a few hours late with it but better late than never.
If you want to join in or just read the other blogger's posts then click on this pic and have a read and follow the instructions to join in.

And now to the creative part, last week I started making the heads for three dolls, two are going to be witches and the other well I'll tell you more about that when its finished. But first here are the three heads all marked out waiting for me to start the sculpting of the head with my needle and thread. 

After they were needle sculpted I then drew in the features and coloured them in and coated them with fixative. This time I put the heads on a bamboo skewer when I sprayed the fixative which was a lot easier and it also meant my hands didn't get covered as well. 

After that I started on the bodies and then I ran into a small problem of skipping stitches on one of the bodies. I dug out my other machine needles but the stitches were still skipping. I packed it all away and left it a day and I've had a look on-line for some blue tipped needles, but then I thought I wonder and out came my ball pointed needles again and I went up a size and then another and hooray no skipped stitches.

After all the stuffing and sewing it was on to painting the boots on the legs, I gave each leg a couple of coats of the black paint and in between each I attached the heads and sewed up any openings. While the legs dry I like to pop them in a glass or cup which does also make me smile. 

So after attaching the arms and legs to the bodies with buttons I finished off one doll, and I've called her Myrtle. Usually I attach the hat to the head but his time as its a gift and I wanted the recipient to use the doll for different holidays I left it loose. 

The other two dolls will now have to wait a bit as I need to make a trip to the fabric shop and also its half term term and Mr Cornish Dragon is having a holiday so I reckon I will get them finished in a week or so. But in the meantime I will leave you with some more photos of Myrtle the Witch.

Until next time

Vic xx

Where did the time go?

Its been a while since I last wrote and the time has rushed past, Christmas and the New Year flashed by in a haze of never ending grey skies and heavy rain. Before that I was busy sending out orders and getting ready for the christmas holidays. But I'm back now and creating again and full of goals and ideas for the coming year. So to what I've been creating so far.

My first doll of the year was a Goblin Queen, I had a Goblin Princess pattern by Patti Medaris Culea that I wanted to try. Also I had just heard of the death of David Bowie on the early morning news, and as I loved him as Jareth the goblin king in Labyrinth, it seemed fitting to make it. I used the pattern for the body and went with a medieval fantasy style of clothing, I added some beaded elements and trimmings and also I used a piece of Tibetan Lambskin for the first time and it was fun to use. I also made her staff from some beads, a bamboo skewer, glue from a hot glue gun and paint to cover the glue. I have to admit I'm quite chuffed with her. 

Farryn Goblin Queen

This week I've been busy painting some new Cornish Pixie Elves, some I've made especially for Valentines but I suppose they will be relevant all the year. 

Rose Blush Cornish Pixie Elves

Moon Gazing Hare Cornish Pixie Elf

I Heart U Cornish Pixie Elves

Lock and Key Cornish Pixie Elves

The doll and the pixie elves photos are now using my new background, well aka the single white sheet. I felt a white background looks better with them  and the sheet is bigger which is handy with the large dolls like Farryn.  That's one of my goals this year to retake some of the photos on the new background along with a few others. 

Until next time

Vic xx

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