What Ive been doing lately...making dolls of course,the latest being more Nuggies and some wooden play doll.

Ive been photographing them for Etsy and Flickr and realize that I need a separate space for this part of my doll making,so Ive decided to dedicate a part of my studio just to photographing art works and dolls,I get so sick of setting up and packing up,I also need a space just for props etc,so next weekend will be dedicated to that.

I will be uploading my latest dolls to Etsy by next week end!

The latest blog Ive been visiting for dolls things is...Dolls and things,this is a very very cool doll artist so please pay her a visit,I love her work soooo much!

http://mirianata.blogspot.com/

Latest vid Ive been into is The Doll Makers Waltz,its so neat,if you love dolls and animation you will love it!

Nizzy and Ploo

My latest doll is little Nizzy,she is in this pic with Ploo her good pal,they are chilling during a photo shoot and gossiping about the cranky photographer who happens to be me.
I have designed a whole range of little dolls similar to Nizzy and will soon be promoting them on my Etsy store.

For some doll sculpting tips check out the following video,there are more on you tube.

Melvin has arrived...

New dolls and monsters....

Whats been happening....I've been making monsters lately,I made one called Melvin out of mohair and he is so cute and dopey,I don't think I will offer him up for adoption,he will live with me but more will follow and go to Etsy for a new home.

In Progress..... working like mad on my book characters and have made some progress,I'm so undisciplined,dang it!
Right now I'm trying to figure out the scale and if I go all cloth or cloth and recycled stuff or maybe clay,its so hard....
Ive added a pic of one of the main characters in progress,She still needs clothing and hair and I still need to make about four perhaps five more for the different expressions etc,she looks kind of startled,mmm dont know if I like that..

Coming soon...... a lovely little series of box cuties happening at the moment,they are called Nuggies and they are just so sweet,I will post them here when they go up for sale on Etsy.

Bloggers and Dolly girls.....I been visiting all the usual haunts of doll people and this week I've been caught up enjoying the work of two delightfull doll people,Cathy Cullis who makes the most beautiful paper dolls,they are a wonder to behold,they are so light and beautiful,they remind me of soft summer mornings,they have such a airy frail look about them,they are well worth viewing as is her art work,you will find Cathy's blog in my blog list.
Also I have been enjoying the work of Micheal over at Crow Haven Farm,I will have more on Micheal in the next couple of weeks and her blog link is in my blog list,her dolls have a personality all their very own,they are fun and naughty,I just love them.

Its time for bed...night night all,more to add next week! xox

Some of my little stars...


Molly is up for adoption


Talula is also up for adoption..

Etsy dolls......

Well I have just added Megins to my Etsy shop,a hard thing to do as I adore her but I am a doll maker and I must sell in order to grow so Megins is now up for adoption as well as Molly and Talula.

Next week will be Itchy and Bunny Blue and that will be hard to do,I love these two so much,I find it so hard not to hoard my dolls,I wonder does anyone else have that problem?

The dolls for my book are finally coming to life,I think I have about 13 kitties now just another thirty to go,and also have drawn up the proto type for their owner,my little lady will soon come to life as well as her house,its getting exciting,its only taken 18 months to get this far,from the first words to the first real life characters in cloth....whoohooo!

Ive been drooling over elzelsworlds dolls you have to check out these dolls and art, http://elzesworld.blogspot.com/ ..I love the clean simlicity of this artists work,Im a fan.

Little dolls

Its been so long since I last blogged,I cant believe how fast time has gone !
I have been working like crazy on dolls and paintings for my Etsy shop and hope to get serious about it by the end of the year all going well.

I haven't finished the tutorials yet as I just haven't been able to find the time but hope to have them up by the end of October when the kids sports season is over,I will finally have some free weekends,,,yay!

The dolls Ive been working on are little minis and some itties for the dolls that will be up on Etsy,I have quite a few things in the works for my store and I should have it revamped and ready by late November,cant wait to get it up and running in a serious way.

I have reorganised my studio so it will function in a more productive way,it now has four work areas,one for the kiln,dremel and soldering iron,one for sewing,one for painting and one for designing,yay my studio is working well at long last!

Coming soon...Pretty dollie bag tutorial!!!!!

Well I have my doll finished for the traveling art doll at Nancys Art Dolls Group!
After near disaster I managed to make and complete a new doll in a very short time,I am amazed at how quickly she came together.
My first doll was attacked by a dog,my dog so she has been put into intensive care for now along with a teddy,another swap doll and some other poor little beings,I actually had two attacks in a matter of days.
my cat Cecil has become a terrible menace and keeps stealing my things,dolls included,he doesn't hurt them but leaves them where my dog Gemma can find and destroy then.
My cat also steals hair brushes,thongs,hair bands,torches and spectackles,I dont know why he is doing this now,we have had him for 5 years and now he starts this,go figure!

I am almost finished my UnderThe Sea Swap doll,who was another casualty,so a new one was done,darn that dog and cat!

I will be posting another tutorial soon abot presenting dolls on the web,but that will be a while in coming as I will be off line for about 8 days or so!

I will also be doing a small tutorial on making a bag for your dollie,its too cute and I cant wait to share it with you all!

Well its getting late and I have much to do,I hear my dollies calling so untill im back online be happy and creative...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Print and fabric doll tutorial..

What you will need..Computer...computer paper...printer...image...sewing machine...calico...sewing needle...cotton and thread...organza ribbon...beads...sequins...fabric flowers..color pencils... hot glue gun and glue.

I use photshop cs to design my dolls,but if you don't have photshop or are not to familar with it,you can do it by saving images from the net,there are lots of free vintage image sites on the net for you to down load from,just type in free vintage images into your search engine and see where it takes you.

You could scan an image into your pc to use if you wanted to do it that way.

Be sure to wash and iron your calico to remove the glue sizing!

Print out your design onto paper first,so that you will have a guide line for taping your calico.
Make sure that you leave definite caps to the top,bottom and sides of your image to allow for placement of the sticky tape,remember if you dont do this the tape will take the ink and not your fabric!

Sticky tape the calico to your printed paper,make sure there is a good gap between your sticky tape and the image area,you don't want the tape to overlap your image and leave a straight blank line on the image.
Also make sure you sticky tape all sides of the calico as it may pull free in the printer and that is no fun!

Print out the image onto your calico!

Draw a sewing line and a trimming line around your doll on the back side of the image ,if your have trouble seeing your image to draw lines,hold it against a window or your computer screen,you should get a good image of her to draw around by doing this.

Once you have drawn your lines around the back of the image put the image face down against your other piece of calico and sew around the sewing line and dont forget to leave an opening of about one inch for turning,next trim the edges of your doll using the trimming line.

Turn your your doll, stuff her with fiber fill and sew the opening up using ladder stitch.

I like to take some color pencils and color in her cheeks,lips and eyelids to make her look even prettier,I use Faber Castelle color pencils but Im sure other people use any brand of pencils.
You could try using pastels,watercolor pencils,ink,acrylic or even real make up,its all worth trying!

Now your doll is ready to embellish,I sewed organza ribbon to her base to make her look floaty and whimsical,I sewed sequins and beads to add sparkle and hot glued fabric flowers to make her kind of romantic.
I recommend that you first pin embellishments on to get a feel for what you want to do,just take the pins out when you are ready to glue.
I left the pins in until I was ready to glue and then took only the one out that I wanted to glue then move to the next one,so unpin one at a time!

Your doll is now finished and looking just wonderful,sit her on your bed or shelf to show her off!
You can make her a few friends to display and keep her company,its fun and rewarding,so give it a go!

How to photograph and edit your doll for the web.

Hi you all,I have added this little tutorial to help my fellow doll makers show their dolls off in the best possible way,so here we go...

What you will need...Computer..photoshop...digital camera...doll...props such as flowers,pretty scrap book papers and what ever suits you or takes your fancy.

First...set up your doll and pretty things,I put some pretty paper for the back ground,white computer paper for the bottom,flowers for under the Tadmer,string to hang her from so she seems to be floating,then I start to take photos from different angles,I only used a couple but its best to take a few,you can always delete what you don't need.

Second...once you are happy with the shots,take them to your computer and down load then to the pc,pick the one you want to work with and head over to the photoshop to play!

Third...open photoshop,open your photo file and pick the image that you want to tweek....
When you have your image there crop it to get rid of parts that dont need to be there.

Forth..I used some vine brushes to add a nice whimsical feel to the pic,I also blured the edges of the photo by using two layers.
I went to Layers...duplicate layer..named it tadmer...and then disabled the original layer so I could work on the duplicate..I then went to the erraser tool and picked some long edgey brushes and softened the outer edges of the photo,then I went to Layers..flatten image.

Next I went to Filters..Distort..disfuse glow and tweeked it until I was happy with the softness of the image.

I then added some text to give a brief hint as to who and what Tadmer was, your will see some photos under this post showing the stages of the doll photo set up and edit.

If you need brushes to down load onto you pc in photoshop just browse the net for free brushes or pop in and join Deviant art and you will find a heap there but ask the makers if you can use then,though are heaps to use for free any way in the resources section at DA,in fact you will find a great many resourses for your on line art over at DA and lots of tutorials to use!

Well I hope this has helped or at least inspired you to make pretty pics of your dolls,I will be starting tutorial blog in the next week or so so pop in for the link.

Hugs to you all!

Set up your doll with some props and click away until you have the shot you want.

Take the image to photoshop and crop to the size you like.

Add brushes and diffuse glow.

add text.

New dolls and fabric's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well its been a wonderful couple of weeks,Ive joined Art Dolls Only and Nancyes Art Doll,and the encouragement and warmth of the doll makers has been awesome,I encourage any doll maker to join them,you wont look back,these women are so inspiring!

I have been working on Bunny Blue,I decided to go back to the way I made dolls when I made my first ever dolls,I just sew up a doll in calico and paint it with acrylic paint,when its done I will put coat or two of matt varnish for its protection and viola a new doll!

I also found some great fabrics at the local craft store,they will be great for clothing on the dolls and for back ground props,love the glittery type of fabrics for the back grounds.

Thought I would share a tips here about presenting your dolls,I take a few pics of my doll with back ground props of contrasting fabrics and glittery flower and odds and ends and then I click away until I'm happy,them I take it to Photoshop and tweak it with distort-disfuse glow untill it is soft,then I crop it,use some brushes to soften the edges,then its ready to be veiwed.

I keep a large number of phot props handy and make a good deal of them,I purchase bonches of fake flowers,pull them apart,glitter the edges,join them back to gether with button,paper clips, whatever is handy,alo9s make boxes of different styles,jewelery,boahs,feathers,paintings,lace,anything pretty,funky and fun!

Tool of the week is my stylus,its great for dotting patterns on my dolls.

On the shelves and everywhere!

Its about 1am my time,Im sitting in my in house studio office and looking around and all I can see is dolls and art and paper work,but the dolls are on the shelves and everywhere,and I love it,I find it so hard to part with them but they overrun my home and life so they must leave and start their own lives with new mums to care for them.

My nieces adore them and I find that they become rather mad at me if they don't get first pick,but hey family don't pay the bills,its nice to know that the girls are so fond of my little darlings,at least I know that they treasure them.

Anyway on with it the blog thing,life has been nothing but hectic lately,my illness has been a major hindrance,my arms are so painful its hard to even put a jacket on without nearly passing out but hey I manage, but its hard to feel inspired when I'm having a pain peak,I just hope it ebbs soon,still Ive managed to get creative and do some cute little dollies and I have reached the half way mark with one that has been in the process of evolving for more than six months,it now has paint on its face and now I'm thinking how to find the next stage with it,I don't even know its gender yet,I have posted it in this entry,any suggestions?

The bandits are coming along as is my purple fairy,I have a least 12 dolls in different stages of creation,probably more actually,I know that the big studio has quite a few in it as well as the inside studio and here I am planning to make about 20 more dolls,what the heck the more the merrier!

I have some paper clay heads waiting for bodies and some paint,I also am inspired to make some more paper clay heads and some sculpy heads and bodies as well,I just love to make these dolls,to explore and develop as a doll maker.

I also joined two great group this week,Art Dolls Only and Nancys Art Dolls,they are fantastic groups that encourage,inspire and welcome every who comes to play,i recommend that you look them up,they belong to ning,so go and see them!

I also purchased the book Creative Cloth Doll Couture by Patti Medaris Culea,its brilliant for those that want to advance into this area of doll making,I recommend it highly!

Well of to catch up on my other blog so until next time..Happy Doll making!