Special Doll Club Meeting Yesterday

Yesterday's doll club meeting (luncheon) was held at Roxanne's home in the Scholls/Newberg area. Roxanne is a supremely wonderful hostess, and her home and property absolutely gorgeous. She and her husband Ed have a non-commercial winery. Ed gave us a tour and explained the process of making white and red wines.

We had our wine/grape themed challenge dolls on display in the dining area, as well as other dolls we've been working on.

I just started a flickr account so everyone can see photos of the challenge dolls (there's also a link to the left under "websites to visit" - Reigning Dolls and Bears: http://www.flickr.com/photos/reigningdollsandbears/

Because we've been meeting quarterly instead of monthly (many of us travel considerable distances to get to club), we started a private Yahoo group to stay in touch, upload patterns, photos and minutes.

Meditrina

Today I've been working on my wine-themed doll for our doll club meeting this Saturday. I've named her "Meditrina," for the Roman goddess of health and wine.

I used some suede knit fabric I had on hand for her body as she's just a prototype (I didn't want to waste my good skin tone fabric while was working out the proportions of the doll, so I used this alabaster colored fabric - really too light for an appropriate skin tone).

Her face is polymer clay with a knit cloth-over, painted to match her skin tone. Her hair is Tibetan lambswool on the hide. Her fingers are wired. She has needle-sculpted breasts.

She's dressed in a very dark navy blue (almost black) silk georgette drapy gown.

I thought she should hold a carafe, bottle, goblet or something fitting with the theme, but had nothing suitable on hand. So I made a polymer clay wine goblet and used fine mica-like powder brushed directly onto the uncooked clay to give it a metallic look. After baking and cooling, I mixed the same metallic powder into a clear varnish and coated the goblet with the mixture.

This photo is a temporary placeholder, because her grapes are not in scale. I've got smaller grapes coming, and hopefully they'll be better.

Whew! My Friday

I'm just home from work, and while today is Sunday, it's my Friday. Now I've got three glorious days off, and plan to screen all calls. It's been SO busy at the hospital. Today en route to work we saw a big cruise ship docked and expected the worst. Cruise ship days can be particularly heinous.

Friday was unseasonably hot here - in the 90s, so we took the boat out on the river where it had to have been 10 degrees cooler. It was lovely. And relaxing. The perfect way to unwind after a very stressful shift. Do I look relaxed?

The next few days must be spent working on the centerpiece dolls for the ODACA Day Luncheon (end of July, Las Vegas). Also on my plate is the Hoffman Challenge, the fabric for which hasn't yet inspired me. At all.

I've also got to finish a wine-themed doll for doll club on June 7th, to be held Roxanne's ( http://fermentingfriends.org/). I'm going to call this doll "Meditrina," the Roman goddess of wine, health and longevity. The doll is sewn, stuffed and assembled, but totally naked. Obviously, the costuming and embellishment is what will make her "wine themed." I'd not heard the name "Meditrina" before, but found it on a bottle of wine. Here's the back story: One of my favorite white wines is "Evolution" by Sokol Blosser. It's a blend of nine types of grapes. I discovered Evolution by accident, and loved it so much, turned several friends onto it. The same winery also produces a red medley, called "Meditrina." http://www.meditrinawine.com/ One of my new converts discovered this one, and I had to try it. I'd highly recommend both.