A Visitor Comes Calling

Now what do you suppose he's up to? Looking for the cat food? Surely not - he knows exactly where the cat food is. Raccoons are so darned cute, but such pests around here. Bold as brass. I spied him from my studio window, while working on Verity's arms today. To make her hands, I traced around my own, then reduced it to 30%. Here's a photo of my progress so far. Her shoes have been painted, and I added paperclay heels. The laces are painted. She has a flat bottom so she'll be able to sit. Her knees have buried bead joints.

I should have left it alone

I should have left well enough alone. Last night I painted Verity's face in acrylics and applied my usual shading and highlights with colored pencil,, pastels, and blush. Next I sprayed the face with fixative - to hold those things in place. I WAS HAPPY WITH THE FACE AND SHOULD HAVE LET IT BE.

But I wanted to try to age the doll (I'm really new to this technique), so I applied Jo Sonja's crackle medium - which appeared to crackle very nicely. When the crackle was completely dry (as per the instructions on the bottle) I painted a wash of thinned dark brown acrylic paint. When I wiped off the excess, much of the crackle wiped off too, leaving a blotchy dirty-looking mess.

I spent the last part of the evening sanding off as much of the disaster as I could - but it's still a little bumpy in places. I repainted the flesh color today after work. I have decided to NOT put any more crackle on this doll.
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS (hear that a lot at work)... I think the fixative I sprayed on the face to seal it before applying the crackle may not have been acrylic based. Remember the Rule of Thumb - you can paint oil based over acrylic, but not acrylic over oil. I think the crackle medium is acrylic. The fixative spray is Dick Blick brand matte fixative. It doesn't say "acrylic" on it, and it smells like it would make you pretty high and kill off brain cells if used in an enclosed area (which I didn't - I need to retain as many brain cells as possible) - it contains acetone and toluene. So IF I try this crackle thing again, I will try it without applying the fixative first.

New Doll, in Progress (Verity)

This new doll will be called "Verity," which means Truth. I'm making her for the vintageclothdoll Yahoo group challenge (she'll be a Patriotic doll). I'll be selling her on eBay for the Rags to Riches Dolls (R2RD) group launch on April 27.

She's made of muslin, from an original design (the first and only doll I made using this unofficial pattern was in 2006 for my Hoffman Challenge entry, made of craft velour - see the doll below). Switching fabrics makes such a difference in the proportions of the doll. I'm changing the design of the legs and arms for this vintage-look doll. The legs are completed, hanging to dry (I painted her old-fashioned boots).

I used Helen Pringle's recipe for "Messy Mix" to cover Verity's head and upper chest. This eliminates the face's center seam and prevents the painted face from caving in if the doll is dropped.

The next step will be to paint a couple coats of gesso, then fleshtone acrylic paint. I haven't decided on a hairstyle yet, but it will probably be natural locks of some sort or wefted mohair.

This is a doll from the same pattern I'm using for Verity. Craft velour is wonderful to work with, but a little harder to paint on. I have not used anything to cover the fabric of the face as with Verity - just did a little needle sculpting and painted the features. Colored pencils provide some of the shading.

This doll has bead joints at the knees, hips and elbows; button joints at the shoulders.

Tagged

I've been tagged again, this time by Mithua of craftswithcare (http://www.craftswithcare.blogspot.com/). This one's a little different. You come up with six words that sum up your life. On Mithua's blog, she wrote that Ernest Hemingway was bet $10 that he couldn't sum up his life in six words. He won that bet when he wrote, "For sale, baby shoes, never worn."

The Rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir...
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like...
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible, so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere...
4. Tag Four more blogs with links ...
5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

So, here's mine:
Life is short, eat dessert first.
Having just been tagged (see April 2 entry) I don't think I can hit up anyone else so soon. So I'm just going to sit on this one awhile. Of course, I'm always open to volunteers. This dessert ad is by Thomas Wood.

"Going to the Movies" - Joint Meeting/Luncheon

Patti LaValley and I spent the last two days with friend and artist Jean Peeters and her wonderful husband Fred. One of the doll clubs to which she belongs hosted the annual joint meeting and luncheon near Eugene, Oregon.

The theme of the luncheon was "Going to the Movies" and each table centerpiece (and gifts for those seated at each table) featured a different movie. The table decorations were wonderful and elaborate and detailed and perfect and imaginative.
Our nametags were movie "tickets" with the name of one the of the classic movies featured.

The program speaker was Jonna Hayden, a professional costumer for plays and operas in the Eugene area. What a fun and stessful job that must be. She had examples of her work with her and had us all drooling (see the example above).

Lila, Waiting for the Phone to Ring

I've been working on a new doll design, and Lila is the first of four prototypes. I hate to let a failed doll go to waste, so turned her into a finished doll. She is in a fixed seated position, and her arms and legs are sewn in place (i.e., not jointed).

Her hair is curly crepe wool, glued and needle-felted in place. Her face is needle-sculpted. Her fingers are wired. Her shoes were made to fit, and are not removable.

Grace

I've finally finished some clothing for my new doll, Grace. I will need to make some adjustments to her dress , so it's a little fuller. I also need to tweak the length of the shoulder section -
I ended up having to make a sort of pleat and sew a button there to hold it. Actually, I kind of like the way it looks, but will still probably change the design.

Grace was inspired by dolls made by Izannah Walker, Helen Pringle and Anne Adams. She has a few proportion issues, but I hope to work those out when I make prototype number two - and make the doll a little smaller (although with a doll this size, she CAN wear those little Victorian shoes...hmmm).

Last week, I was tagged by Lone Pierette. Now I have to write five things about myself and tag 5 more bloggers. I'm new to this tagging business, and don't have a lot of blog links. So while tagging should perhaps be a surprise, I put out a query to FOCD members, asking for tag volunteers in exchange for a link to their blogs.

So here's the skinny on me:
1. I'm going to be a grandma (that sounds really scary to me).
2. I've been an Emergency Nurse for 21 years (that's scary, too!).
3. I love to sing, but am pretty shy about it.
4. I'm scared to swim in the ocean (kelp brushing against my leg makes me scream).
5. I have a bad habit of pulling out my gray/white hairs. Thank goodness there's not too many of them...yet.

A Big Thanks to these bloggers, who will need to write five things about themselves:
Fran Parrigan-Meehan
Carolyn in Australia
Sharon in New Zealand
Darlene Wilkinson
Donna Sims

Here are the rules ...
1 ... Link to the person that tagged you ...
2 ... Post the rules on your blog ...
3 ... Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself ...
4 ... Tag 5 or 6 random bloggers at the end of your post by linking to their blogs ...
5 ... Let each random blogger know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog ...

Photographing Dolls

Recently I've had a few people ask about photographing dolls, which can be challenging because a doll's skin reflects light differently than a human's. I've been taking digital photos of my dolls for several years, but before that used my 35mm SLR. I love the instant gratification of digital photography, because it has enabled me to take step-by-step photos to include in my patterns or post on the web.

I use one of two digital cameras. The most expensive is a Nikon 5700 (about $750). It's fairly big, bulky and currently isn't working. So I'm using my little Fuji Finepix (under $200). It's small and takes great photos. It's the one I take on my bike trips, vacations, and keep in my purse at all times.

On weekends, I have a friend who stays with us and sleeps in my photo room during the day - so I can't take a photo of my setup right now. Having a "photo room" may sound excessive, but I got tired of repeatedly setting up and taking down photo lights and background in my sewing room (they just take too much room). Now that my kids have moved out, I have two spare bedrooms - one for my main studio, and one for taking photos.*

There are three issues on which I focus when photographing dolls:
Lighting
Shadow avoidance
Background

LIGHTING:
1. Never use a flash. It just washes out the doll.
2. Don't direct your lights directly toward the doll - this will wash out the doll, too. Aim the lights away from the doll and reflect the light off the ceiling or walls.
3. I used to take my dolls outside on overcast days in order to photograph them. Sunny days were just too bright, and washed out the dolls. If you do this, remember to keep the background plain.
4. Now I use 2-3 photo lights (very bright, hot, short lifespan), with one fluorescent light above and behind the doll for a backlight.

SHADOW AVOIDANCE:
1. Shining your lights directly toward your doll will increase shadows. Use reflected light.
2. Position your doll away from the back wall. Placing it close to the background increases shadows.
3. Move your lights around until shadows are minimized.

BACKGROUND:
1. I invested in a "seamless paper" photo background several years ago. I found the photo store on the Web and called the number to order it. I bought a "vinyl varitone graduated background." It was $45 in 2001. They come in a variety of colors and sizes. My taupe background is 42 X 62 inches. Using a seamless background eliminates the line where the back wall and surface on which your doll stands meet.
2. If you use a sheet or similar for your background, IRON it. You can see every little wrinkle in the photo, and it looks less than professional and is distracting.
3. Avoid clutter and unnecessary props. These just take the focus away from the doll.

Also, take LOTS of photos at different angles. Then you can weed out the bad ones. Use your macro setting if getting close to the doll.

Hope this helps. I'm sure real photographers out there have many more pearls of wisdom for you.

Too Many New Projects

I've had a bit of a rough spell, jumping from one project to another. I just can't seem to settle on one and finish it. I think it's because I've got all these ideas in my head, and want them ALL done NOW. So I work a little on one, then move to the next. You know, sometimes you just need a little break from a particular project.

One of my latest projects is a "Helen Pringle-Izannah Walker-Anne Adams" inspired doll. I'm really interested in the old-school dolls right now. She's a big girl, much bigger than my usual - about 26 inches tall. She still needs her arms.

In this photo, I've painted her head and upper chest in "Messy Mix," one-half modeling paste & one-half acrylic gel medium. This was followed by a couple coats of gesso, and then acrylic paint. Then (for the first time ever), I applied a crackle product. That was one of the hardest things for me to do. What if it doesn't work? What if it ruins the doll? Oh well, it's just fabric. When this coat is dry, I need to figure out what type of wash to apply - dilute acrylic paint (dark brown), or walnut ink, perhaps.

My first mistake was making her from Osnaburg fabric. This stuff was just too loosely woven, and tended to fray. It was also too nubbly for the smoother look that I wanted. The crackle stuff went on a little bubbly, too.

On the positive side, I found some Victorian/Edwardian button-up boots on eBay, and I'm building this doll to fit into them. I still need to finish her arms (and paint & crackle them) and design her bloomers and old-fashioned dress. I have an old worn-out Victorian blouse that I'll use for parts of her dress. It's not really good for anything else, as so much of the fabric is damaged or stained.

Lydia

Lydia's vintage style dress and pantaloons are finished (no pattern yet for them, but the doll is made from Aletha "Ike" Putney's pattern in the January issue of Soft Dolls & Animals).
The skirt-overlay is an old hankie, cut in half and gathered. While Lydia's clothing is not removable, if I make another, I will make all the clothes removable.

I'm pleased with her face. This was a direct sculpt over cloth, and I'm still very much a novice. The first three or four layers of paperclay were applied with a paintbrush, thinned down to the consistence of baby food. Then I built up the nose, cheeks, lips and chin.

One of these days (soon, I hope), I will develop a pattern for an all-cloth Izannah Walker inspired doll. I've always loved the IW dolls. I recently got a videotape on eBay, documenting some of the early American dollmakers. Very inspiring, and I can't wait to get started!