At last!

I have found some inspiration (it was lurking under my bed...).

Life has gotten in the way for far to long but now I am determinde to make some dolls again.

This is the prototype for a new body.
Lots of stuffing, not liking, unstuffing, tweaking the seams, stuffing, still not liking, unstuffing and so on.
Getting there though and I think this will be good enough to finish.
Thinking of doing steampunk this time.
Love whimsical steampunk stuff and have been itching to make something myself along those lines.

Let's see how she turns out and if she will tell me her name...

Not dolls ...

...but at least I am doing something!!

Knitting to be precise.
Winter has come with avengance (-12 C outside right now) and something warm was needed for the feet.
So, I got a fun pattern from my friend Helén's mum and off I went.
Basically it's knitting massivly oversized socks and then putting them in the washing machine to get nice felted socks.
Lovely and warm the are too.
And a bit addictive to make...
Must stop now...
Can't keep going...
Must... stop...

And moving on...

Meet the new gals!
Well, their heads anyway... :O)
So far I haven't got bodies, arms and legs done but I am thinking they are going to be a cross between punk and bats. Keep you all posted. Just got to go and figure out how to do batwings for them now......

Progress...

First head done!
Quite pleased with the look. Now I just have to decide what colour her hair should be... I think black... And what colour her clothes should be... Maybe black and purple...

This evening I shall start drawing a face on one of the other blank heads. I've allready decided this one is to have red (and I mean VERY red) hair so green eyes for this next one. :O)

Heads up!

Ok...

Trying to get my mojo back.

I have made 4 heads. Going to paint some faces and see where they take me. Not to dark and creepy I hope!

Super slump...

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!!!!

Well there just does not seem to be anything creative going on at all in my world right now. Having a big personal OPS! time right now and need to get out of that before I can start anything new. I have gotten round to quilting an UFO. The quilt top was allready done so I just had to layer it and start quilting. This hasn't required to much "brain power" so that is what I'm doing right now. It's looking good too.

Finally!

After an age and a half... well, not quite... I have got round to taking some decent photos of Vala's sister Raena. I am pleased with the way she turned out. Raena looks a lot spookier than Vala but I think it's the orange eyes that do it.





And here they are, the two sisters, together. Vala and Raena.

You can see more photos of them on my web page http://www.alteredworlddolls.com/

Not sewing...

...but still creating!!!

I have lots of hobbies. Too many actually!

One of them is knitting. Several years ago I was given a spinning wheel for Xmas. It stood as decoration for a few years untill I decided to teach myself to spin. I don't know anyone who spins so I read a lot of aritcles, googled spinning and had a lot of trail and error. Mostley error!!

Then I went to a local crafts fair and there was a lady there spinning wool mixed with dogs hair! I asked her how she did it, spinning, because I could not for my life get the hang of it. Being very kind, she plonked me down in front of her wheel, told me to not bother about treadling (she did that) and just made me concentrate on my hands and the wool. And guess what??

It all clicked!! All the bits fell in to place and I was off. I managed to get a sack of sheeps wool that a sheep farmer in the neighbourhood was going to throw out (!!) and I used that to practice on. It was white so I also had a play around with dying. I used plants, I used synthetic dyes and I had a wonderful time experimenting.

I LOVE spinning! It is so relaxing. This is my latest yarn. This roving was bought at a craft fair and has spun in to a lovely mottled yarn. I prefer Navaho plying which is a single yarn that is looped while spinning to become a 3-ply yarn. Love this technique. Much better than 2-ply. I havent got the patience to spin 2 spools of single yarn to ply. I want to ply straight away!!

Not sure what to knit from this yarn yet. Only 200 grams .... Hmmmm, I'll have to think.

Creating again!

It has been another beautiful day here in Sweden. It should only be spring but at the moment we are having summer! So, to nice to sit indoors and play with dolls. But that doesn't mean that I can't be creative. So swapping my scissors, needles and thread for a power saw, hammer and nails I have today built two large-ish flower boxes.

Or so I thought!! Turns out that they weren't boxes at all. The were children hutches!!!

I turned my back on my work for two minutes and came back to find both my children each installed in a new box. Now I don't plan to keep the girls in there. Once I evict them I shall plant some climbing plants I have that desperatly need new homes. Honeysuckle and a very pretty pink clematis.

Almost done...

Well, my Dark Fae, Raena is almost done. This is Vala's sister. Older sister I think?

I still have a little to do on her, like adding fingernails and attaching a clear nylon fishingline to her back so she can hang suspended from the cealing. I'm quite pleased with her. But not the photo! I must rig up a nice setting for her and take some really good photos. This one doesn't do her justice at all but I did so want to show her off!

Raena, like Vala, is pretty gothic looking but slightly more colourful with her striped dress and her dark red wings. I was watching Tim Burtons Sweeny Todd at the time I was dressing her and was inspired by Mrs Lovett's dresses. Raena is made from the same pattern as Vala but the legs have been altered and she is wearing a proper tailored dress. Valas dress was just strips of dyed cheese cloth. And I just had to give her pony tails. My daughters said; Oooo look! She's got punk pony tails!! I like that. Punk pony tails..... :O)

Dottees!

Dollstreet Dreamers are doing a Dottee swap and I thought seeing as I haven't participated in any swaps for yonks I'd join in the fun.
I had no idea what to do with them at first so I did faces first. I tried to go outside what I usually do and did big exagerated features. BIG eyes and BIG lips. Then I had some fun doing free motion embroidery making lacy fabric. I have been itching to try that for ages but not had a good project to do it on. A bit of white fluffy yarn and suddenly my Dottees were looking like little Eskimos. So they became Snow Spirits. Seems a bit daft making Snow Spirits when it's +19 C outside, brilliant sunshine and the daffodils are flowering but to my defens, it WAS snowing when I started them a week or two ago! :O)

Sock Faeries galore...

I'd held my first dollmaking class at a quilt fair this autumn just past and even though a few of the die hard quilters that organized the fair had initially turned their noses up at having a class that had nothing to do with quilting it was a succes. I was soooooo nervous never having held a dollmaking class before but it went fine and both I and my students had a great time. To cut a long story short I got invited to do another class a few moths ago in a small Swedish village called Smålandsstenar (try to say that quickly if you can!!!).

Still a few preclass nervs but once I got going all was fine. As usual my faithful companion (mum) came with me. She is needlesculpting a foot in this photo. Mum is getting pretty good at needlesculpting. She has made a Sock Farie too but mostly she quilts, LOTS!

The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how 9 people, all using the same pattern, can get dolls that have som much character bet yet look so totally different from each other.

Here are all the little Sock Faeries that my students made that day. I had a really great time and I think my students did to. Aren't they all great?!

More clay figures...

Well, my little clay modellers have been busy again. Both Megan AND little sister Gwen!
Gwen got a brand new clay book for her birthday present from Grandma. She's just turned 8! It was Christie Friesens Jungle book.
I love all her books because the projects have lots of good photos and she writes in a very amusing way that appeals to me! The books are great for kids too. My kids are usually in to much of a hurry to actually read what it says + that they don't read as well in English yet as they do in Swedish (the pro's and con's of being bilingual...). But the photos are so easy to follow that they have no problem creating the projects without having to read a single word!
So the 3 of us sat down one Saturday afternoon and got cracking. Gwen made the cutest little frog before she decided she'd had enough and went off to bounce up and down on the trampoline outside. Hasn't the frog got a lovely little expression on it's face?
Megan and I sat creating for nearly 4 hours!!!
Megan made a JUNGLE FRAME. She never ceases to amaze me at how good she has got at making things out of clay and she seemes to have a thing about making frames at the moment. I think her frame turned out brilliant and equally as good as mine... if not better!!!
And guess what Megan want's for her 10th birthday that is coming up in a few weeks time??? Well, the other clay book called "Under the sea" of course!! Poor Grandma gets reminded every time Megan see's her at the moment. :O)

Vala's sister in the making...

So, I finally got cracking and have made a start on Vala's sister. Vala said she was missing her.... :O)

I decided to do her a bit differently from Vala. I have used the same pattern (changed the legs) but given her different clothes and a different colour scheme. I went for red and black in this doll as opposed to the greys I used for Vala. This new doll has a tidier look than Vala but is still quite gothic. I found this lovely stripy fabric in my quilting stash and instantly knew that this would be the "over dress". Distressed black cheese cloth for the under skirt together with soft tulle netting. Same black knee high boots as Vala and same make up on the face. I gave this doll orange eyes and red lips to go with the red in her dress. Her hair isn't done yet. I've just stacked some loose yarn on top of her head. I'm thinking that I will use the same white yarn as i did for Vala as it seemes to give the dolls a quite other worldly look. I did try putting black yarn on this doll but didn't like it.

Wings are in the making too (you can just spot them at the bottom in one of the photos). They are going to be dark red with bits of black. I'm busy making them at the moment. They take FOREVER as there is sooooo much sewing but it is worth it in the end!

Dragons compleated!

Well, she did it!

Megan finsihed her dragon frame. And being the very proud mum that I am, I have to show off her work. I think she's been really clever. Those dragons are very good. I like the little swirls and squiggles she has done too on the top corner of the frame. They were all her own idea!

Next I will have to post something Gwen (the youngest) has made as she's a bit miffed at not having her photo on my blog! :O)

Here there be DRAGONS!

Me thinks I have a budding polymer clay artist at home!! This is our Megan making a dragon frame. This isn't the first time she has made dragons mind you. For Xmas she got Christie Friesen's book on making polymer clay dragons from her Grandma and has since gone a bit dragon mad! She has made about 10 dragons so far.
Today, when keeping me company in my dollying, she decided to make a dragon frame. So off she went, gathered up her and her sister Gwen's supply of fimo clay, pinched a couple of unpainted frames from me, painted them a silver grey-black (she was very specific about the colour she wanted!) and then set about designing her dragon.
I don't think I'm just being a proud mum when I say that I do actually think that her dragons are very good. Specially considering she's not quite 10 yet!
When she is finsihed I will post a photo of her compleated dragon frame.

YES!!!

I got her finished!! Meet Vala, the Darkling Fariy. I am sooooooooo pleased with the way she turned out. I posted lots of photos to my web page... well, actualy it's not my web page.... I haven't got round to doing anything to it so it's just linked to my picturetrail. One day I will get a proper webpage up and running. Instead of me whittling on, heres the addy; http://www.alteredworlddolls.com/

Now I'm all fired up to make a sister for Vala. :O)

Facing faces...

I think that sometimes the hardest thing to do is paint a face. Specially when you have got so far in the process of the doll that you could mess it up big time. I always get paralysed for a few days before I pick up the courage to face the face.
This doll was extra hard for some reason.
I had such a vivid picture in my mind that I was worried that it just wouldn't turn out the way I wanted it to. A lot of the time what is in my head isn't what comes out of my hand. Does that make sense?
Thankfully she did turn out the way I wanted her to. Actually she turned out better! I always have the intention to write down exactly what colours I use and where I use them. And I do start to write but then I get temporarily moved of in to a different world where drawing is all that matters and I end up having no idea what colours I have or haven't used in the pile of pencils that have accumulated infront of me. And so yet again, the chances of ever creating something similar with the same colours is out of the window and half way down the field....

I guess that is why they call these dolls "one of a kind" as even the artists that create them in the first place can't duplicate them!!!

W.I.P

Work in progress or should I say "wings in progress"??!!

After much tweaking of Protea's pattern I am now reasonably happy and have started a new doll. As yet she has no face (and no name) but I am really happy with her pose. I took ages of me sitting infront of a big mirror trying out the poses my self to see if the looked natural or not. I probably looked a right charlie!

I think I will deviate from my use of mohair for hair and use this rather fun yarn that I found instead. It's quite "slinky" and has a nice fall to it. I also wanted to do BIG dragon wings for her. I have spent ages thinking about how to make light weight dragon-ish wings. Can't make them to heavy as it will topple the doll backwards and if you want BIG wings they have to be very light. So a bit of wire, some grey organza, some imagination and a bit of FME and I'm starting to get a look that I like. I think I'll be adding some paint too. And maybe melt the edges to give them a crinkly look.

Oh and I knitted a stripy sock..... Love stripy socks! Still got the other one to do. :O)

Gone skiing...

No dollmaking or quilting today. Instead we spent a good 5 hours chasing each other down a ski slope! We are quite lucky in that we have a small ski slope only 20 minutes drive away from where we live so we have been spending a day every weekend there for quite a few weeks now. I love to ski and so do the rest of the family. Today turned out to be a gorgeous winters day with only a couple of degrees C minus, blue sky, sunshine and a perfect slope. On the photo are Megan and Gwen both looking very relaxed. I'm jiggered now though! :O)