Doll eyes

I personally like to buy my eyes, but I have done some myself in the past. Hard to guess the right size for me! It is still fun to experiment but in my case I end up making the doll's face according to the eyes I already made, not the other way around :oB

Anyway, here is a fun tutorial on how to make art doll eyes, by Granet. You need to click again in the image so it blows up to a large readable size.

Here is another different way, using clay and paint. very cute, click HERE

And a more simpler style by "the drunk gnome", also with clay, HERE

And last but not least, Misty Moon Creations shows how to make dolls eyes HERE

Hope you have fun experimenting with clay!

He is a lucky man

My Gypsy Guy is in London having the time of his life... he is quite the ladies man, just look at him. Here he is with Xanthi's doll, don't they look cute?

And here, he is with Tracey's big boudoir doll, and his other traveling little friend. They look so tiny in comparison! :o)

In a few more days I will publish their transformation, and their fun trip to Spain!

Thank you Tracey-anne for letting me use your images!

Video Tutorial

This is a very nice tutorial video AlouaisA aka LoveLingZ


Includes the beginning of armature, eyes and hands sculpting.

Adorable letter and paper doll!

OMG, I want to share with you the most adorable letter! This is a thank-you note from the granddaughter of my friend Rhonda. She is a doll, and so smart! I love her handwriting! Xo) ♥

And since we are talking super cute things, this next link is a little paper doll, the most adorable ever! Made and generously given by the awesome painter and illustrator Manon: click HERE
Isn't it sweet?

Extra photos

While I wait for the next dolls to visit me, I will post these other photos of Lulu and Xanthi's dolls:
Something distracted my model and the photo-bomber hehehe:

 

And the little shoes I painted on Xanthi's doll:

Lulu's doll went to Australia

I worked on Lulu's doll and had so much fun!
We tried different hair color of mohair, unfortunately I didn't think of taking pictures. But we settled in a mix of blond and honey.

 

I love the way this next picture turned out! Reminds me of Les Miserables:

 

This is what I made for Lulu's doll: hair!

 ......Lots of it!

It is like 7 or 8 inches long :o)

I had this particular long honey color for along time but never really seemed to find the right doll for it... till now.

So we were taking more pictures and getting ready for her trip to Australia, when we noticed a feline visitor...

photo-bomb! lol  ٩(◠◡◠)۶ ....My crazy cat.

Thanks for visiting and come back again to see what doll visits me next!

Xanthi's doll new face

After a nice brake, Xanthi's doll finally had some work done, first with pencil....

and then paint added to her, and this is her new look, what do you think?

She was all happy, smelling the roses :o)

 

and a last close up:

Lulu's doll visiting me

Traveling in that box was extenuating! Lulu's dolly needed to relax a bit before starting any make overs! :o)

Oh, more comfortable on a chair, by the flowers...

The day was so warm, she was quite content to be by the shade in the garden:

And how nice it is to visit with friends (Xhanti's doll) while enjoying the afternoon!

Maybe now we will be ready to start thinking of colors, outfits and fun stuff... visit again to see the progress!

Two guests!

Wow, my 2 teams' dolls arrived at the same time! yaaay!
From Xhanti in Greece comes this sweet doll ready to have a face.

The dolly told me she wants to have green eyes :o)

Relaxing in the garden after such long trip:

She is thinking what clothes should she wear:

Visiting with Lulu's doll:

Check back again this blog for more pictures!

Talking about photos

When I paint, I scan my art most of the time, or tape a direct and even picture of the canvas with nothing else in the image.
But when it comes to dolls, it is much better to find fun angles, props, good light, and almost like a painting, you have to find the right position in "thirds", meaning, divide in thirds with imaginary horizontal and vertical lines:

 ...And place your doll (or main object in the photo!) on the two thirds to left or right. For a composition, it is more pleasing to the eye and gives you more space to play with if you .
Just practice a lot, if you are like me that wants everything pictured right in the center :oD

And a different photo with props, and placing the doll on the third side, but I think there's too many things to distract the eye:

Cropping the image a little, makes the eye go to the doll easier:

Have fun practicing!

More photos!

For my traveling doll's mini team, I was thinking on how to add the hair, and how much to add to her....

I thought of giving her some tails but then I decided to just let it fall, and added tons of mohair! The above image is before I cured the clay torso.
I glued the mohair on the doll hair the same way I made the tutorial HERE

Linda is on her way to Australia now... we are starting Spring here, and She will be going to an end of summer weather, she will have fun!

Well, some news!

I had already sent my doll from my team, I was settling down for my other artsy activities when I learned some people had to cancel their traveling team and left 2 doll makers pretty much team-less, and I had been thinking already I would love to be part of 2 teams, like last time.... so I offered to be part of their mini team, and here I am! yaay!
My mini team's members are Lulu's apple in California and Wilma in Australia!

Since things were already rolling I went to my box of unfinished projects and I found the perfect beginning for a cute little doll. You probably have seen her in the eye tutorial.
She has been sitting pretty with only half a head of hair and no body. So, to begin with, she needed a way to attach the head to a body and polymer (or paper clay!) is the solution for crazy problems like this one.

I made this funky looking body part aka torso, out of polymer clay this morning. Making sure the size was right and there was a way for the head to sit safely on it and that it had a way to attach to a cloth body, so it has 2 little holes front and back.

I named her Linda. Keep checking for updates to see her progress!

Here he goes! Traveling Art Doll 2013

This is my Gipsy Fairy Guy... he has no name yet! I will leave that to my next team member in the Traveling doll :oD
So far he is only a barely covered armature, a face with pointy ears and a 5 o'clock shadow.
He is starting his great adventure going to England, then moves to Spain for a while, then to Greece and when he comes back to California, he will be so transformed and different, with so many stories to tell me!
Hhhmmm I wish I could hide in the box with him as well and go places! lol

 

 

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the ride along with my team of wonderful doll makers!

My Traveling team

These are the awesome ladies that are in my Traveling Art Doll team:

1. Tracey-anne McCartney in the UK
2. Leandra Blackvelvet  in Spain
3. Xanthi Argiridi in Greece
4.... and myself in the US
So exciting!!

Will post more images later ♥

Face tutorial

This is a larger head made of polymer. Really cool video:

Hello March!

I'm not sure why it feels like the weeks are going so fast. I must be having fun? Not sure at times :oP but that's how the saying goes, right?
I am thrilled to announce that the traveling doll is back!
There are three teams this year. I will be posting more about it as we go. There are people from Greece, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, US...

I am sending a guy ... He's been waiting to be finished and this will be his great adventure!

It will be so much fun!

Cute little angel paper doll

I hope everyone had a nice valentine's day. I am late posting this video, but then again it can be for a very early Christmas angel lol

 

Click next image to print this little angel:

And here's the how-to video:



Thanks for visiting!

Verification words

I think the blog's number one enemy, is the "security words" which make a joke of security to the point of having the readers avoid commenting in any blog.
Yes, I despise the captcha! Xo]
It is blurry, fuzzy, sometimes hidden behind a box, and frankly, I have given up on trying...
It takes typically 2 times (if I'm lucky) to post my comment. Most of the time it is a bunch of times and by then the happy feeling is gone lol
I have turned mine OFF. If you want to make your readers a favor, and perhaps get more comments, click in THIS POST for instructions how to get rid of in blogspot. Other blogs have very similar setups.

Comic written by Larry Lambert, illustrated by Jerry King

Doll parts

November, December and January went on a blur...
I always feel that as long as I survive January I'm ok, because it is such a blah month for me. Cold, gray, and I don't feel like doing anything.
But here we are in February! I am actually running a painting challenge in my other blog, but I am planning to come and work on dolls in March. I certanly have many dolls waiting for me to be finished!

 

 

Do you also have doll parts waiting for you? Do you want to finish them? :o)

peekaboo! Tiny elf

I was gardening the other day, and I heard some noise by the flower bed and what do you know... I saw a tiny little elf hiding in a little gourd!
Isn't he cute?

His name is Wendell, and he is OOAK polymer baby.
You can see the listing and more photos by clicking on the picture