Sunday, March 27, 2011

Will I actually have a finished doll?

Well I put enough parts in the kiln for three mermaids and when they came out I had parts enough for just one really good doll. I am very excited that I may have a doll, my first, on ebay this week! It is so hard to work this small in porcelain without breakage. It's breakage while being cleaned and smoothed before firing that is the real problem. I think I may do too much cleaning before soft firing, I don't know, I have to find out the balance that I need for the best results.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Mermaids!

Well I have been working on a mermaid. Granted, I have been, well, all over the place when it comes to what exactly kind of doll I want to be making. I think fairies are great and I love elves but what I most wanted to be as a little girl (besides a horse) is a mermaid. I wanted to be able to swim under water without having to breath air! My Mom worked when I was a kid and she would drop me off at a community pool and I would spend all day there quite happily pretending to be a mermaid in a imaginary world. I would clench my legs together like they were a tail and I would pump my legs to swim. If only "Splash" was a movie back then I would have been enthralled!
Anyway. I am trying to make a doll that can sit as a mermaid, easily. I have so many mermaid stories to portray with my dolls! It's very exciting! But where do I start? One mermaid at a time! Hopefully very soon I will put one on ebay. :)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Working like the wind!

Wow I worked like the wind today! I m getting better at making hands! Hands are VERY important. It's one of the major points people seem to focus on with any doll. And why would they not? The implements of humanity and objects of beauty if made elegantly! Left the molds out in the Sun to dry, won't be long now! Can't wait to pour the porcelain!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

A New Beginning

Well I'm pretty excited about the new molds I have made for the new doll. This time I pretty much tested a lot of the joints to make sure they worked BEFORE I made the molds! But some things working out will only be known when the doll is porcelain, such is the nature of this type of doll.I have taken much care in the design and mold making, I pray that it pays off! I don't want a bunch of parts that I worked so hard on to just not fit properly, UGH! I also really want to make another pair of hands just to have alternative hands. I hope to keep improving them. Everything seems so pains-taking long in this process and while I love to post pictures of each step, I think I will be a little more selective and keep some things to myself until everything is complete.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Playing with paint

Well I spent the day painting the new porcelain heads that I have made and adding to the older ones. I am a true believer in trying everything, meaning color combos. I believe that to truely learn you cannot be afraid to ruin your work, to push the envelope. I've been using black eyeliner and lashes, deep red lip color all in an effort to see what works and does not for my purposes. I now think I will go more subtle, browns, pastels just to experience it. I have been experimenting with bisque tone china paint no.2 and no.7. They are the colors used to blush the face and body. No.2 is (peaches and cream) and no.7 is (raspberry). I have set up little tiles with numbers and have a list on paper of which no. tiles are what color. There are also different mediums to use whether you are going to use the color for blush (area medium) or for eye liner (line and ultra line medium). That's it for today!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Today I am waiting for my new kiln to arrive. I needed a smaller model so that I can do small jobs without having to fire up my larger kiln. I have to complete my china painting on my doll parts before I can put them together. That should be interesting! I am also working on learning to make wigs for my dolls and that's been kind of fun. The heads look so much better with hair!

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I have studied painting and sculpture and still enjoy doing both though sculpting seems to have the dominant spot in my life right now. I have won Doll magazine's "Award of excellence" two years in a row 2013-2014, in the artist ball jointed doll category. I have also won "best of show" this past year at the Orlando Museum of Art.