Have you ever worked in a style so long that you looked up and found that you no longer felt inspired by your own work? During the spring I felt that I was sliding into a funky rut in my work. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work. It’s just that I knew that I could not continue to do the same thing. The next few posts will cover some of the new directions my work is taking. The Afro Puff rag dolls won’t go away. They are just taking a break for a bit while mama develops a few new friends for them to play with. Here are a few of the rag dolls I made earlier this summer.

Greetings doll lovers. For those of you who will be attending the bi-monthly meeting of the Atlanta Doll Guild we have a fun meeting planned. We will be focused on sculpting and painting heads. Here are the supplies you need:

SUPPLY LIST

stuffing,stuffing tool,scissors, hand quilting thread, long 2 1/4″ - 3″ needle, a mechanical or regular pencil. gel pen (white and any additional colors), Berol colored pencils, pigment fabric pens, pencil

Mickey will bring a head for everyone to work on.

A big thanks to Martha and Mickey for their willingness to share their skills with the group. Please bring your challenge dolls for show and tell!!

Peace and dollmaking, Deborah

Here we are (well some of us) during show and tell at out first doll meeting. We meet *every other month* at Intown Quilters in Decatur. We had a blast talking about our work, what our hopes were for the group and what are projects will be. Click on the Atlanta Doll Guild tab above for a description of our challenge for April.

Our next meeting: Saturday April 19th. Hope to see you there. PEACE and Dollmaking.

A BIG THANK YOU to Cookie for taking the pictures last month and for taking the time to send them to me. THANKS Cookie!

Greetings all.  The first meeting of the Atlanta Doll Guild took place last Saturday at Intown Quilters in Decatur, GA. I believe it is fair to say that a good time was had by all.  Jocelyn, Mickey, Angela, Martha, Jeanette, Cookie and Carol are a dynamic and multi-talented.  For now we have chosen to keep things pretty informal.  We will participate in group challenges, teach each other special tips and tricks as they pertain to our doll art and just regularly come together to fulfill our love of everything related to art and dolls. 

We have even agreed to our first group challenge: creative pancake dolls (see challenge section for more details).  Focus for April meeting: face sculpting and painting

See you in April!

Saturday February 16, 2008

4:00 pm @ Intown Quilters

See you there!  Please bring dolls for Show and Tell.

PEACE

Greetings from cold Atlanta! Yes, we are wimps when it comes to snow in the south. I lived in Michigan and Upstate New York and learned not to blink when it came to snow and cold. Now that I am in Atlanta I don’t want to go outside. Go figure. Well, at least this weekend gave me plenty of time to stay in and work on dolls and quilts.

If you look above at my tabs you will notice that I have added two page tabs. One describes the new doll guild I have started in Atlanta and the other will be a running list of challenges and projects that the group is working on. I have already thrown in a few to get us started. Several doll buddies have written to me from other states asking if they can play along with us. My answer is most definitely YES. I just ask that you send me photos of what you are working on so that I can post it for everyone to see. Below is a list of basic supplies for your a basic doll kit. Please jump in and tell share what you love to use in your doll making and why. Especially if you think I missed something

A Doll maker’s Kit (remember that there will be variations in these kits depending on the types of dolls you make)

• scissors for both paper and fabric
• sketchbook or loose sheets of drawing paper
• colored pencils, watercolor pencils
• sharpened pencils
• ruler or dressmaker’s tape
• freezer paper
• micron (or your favorite brand) pens in brown and black
• ultra fine point sharpie
• Fabric brush pens (like Y&C Fabricmate)
• Crayons (like Crayola, Caran d’Arche)
• Glue stick
• Dollmaker’s needles, #3 and #5
• Sharps or other hand-sewing needles
• Size 7 darner
• Quilting an/or button and craft thread
• old (or new) panty hose
• paperclay, polymer clay, found objects
• Stuffing. I use three type: Polyfil, Mountain Mist and Airtex

Often people write to me to ask about doll making tips, favorite supplies and my favorite doll making books. Over the next several months I will share lots about doll making tips and favorite supplies. Today I would like to share a bit about books. As with most artists I have multiple passions. Books, and if I am honest, magazines too, are big interests of mine. In fact, books probably run neck and neck with my passion for art and art supplies. When I am not working on making art I am reading about art and artists. So, without further delay here are the titles of books on my doll shelf:

[Every book I mention here I have read and continue to use.]

Susanna Oroyon

• Fantastic Figures: Ideas and Techniques Using the New Clays
  This is her first doll making book as far as I am aware. It is out of print and a bit expensive now but it is worth the hunt. This was the first doll making book I ever bought. I still reference it. It contains info about moldmaking, armatures and how to shape patterns with darts.

Anatomy of a Doll: The Fabric Sculptor’s Handbook
I believe this is the second book in the series. It is full of fantastic images of completed dolls and sketches of dolls in progress. Lists of supplies and sculpting how-tos are found in this book also.

I also have:

Designing the Doll: From Concept to Construction and

Finishing the Figure: Doll Costuming, Embellishments, Accessories I use these books over and over again.

Next to Ms. Oroyan the doll maker that most influenced my early style is Elinor Peace Bailey (no relation). Her dolls are fun, funny and FULL of personality. Her book The Rag Doll: From Plain to Fancy is one of my early doll books. She explores the pancake pattern in this book and gives basic information for making doll clothes and accessories. I could not find this book online so I am afraid it is probably out of print.

I make several lines of dolls. Marisol is from my spirit doll line. For me spirit dolls hold a special type of energy. I usually make these when I have a need to work something out for myself or I make them to bless someone else. Most times my spirit dolls are abstract representations of the human form. The other type of spirit doll I make is more representational like Marisol. I loved making her skirts and hand stitching the baubles and charms to her clothing. Every time I look at her I hear the sea.

Every year during the last week of December I begin to contemplate what I want to accomplish for the coming year. I have split my list a bit. Half of my goals for the year can be found here. That list is related to my studio art quilts and my painting in general. The goal list you will find here has everything to do with dolls, DOlls, DOLLS!

Expand and Explore. I love to work in fabric. I also love clay and found objects. This year I want to dedicate more time to playing in other media in addition to fabric.

• Get a membership at the local clay studio to rebuild skills in handbuilding
• Develop new patterns from sketchbook drawings
• Play with shapes, sizes and textures for dolls. Create the unexpected.
• Create prototypes for new lines.
• Teach new doll classes at the store and at local quilt shops.
• Draw every day.
• Attend more openings.

The Business of Art.

• Print new mailing labels
• Develop promotional packet using new logo
• Launch the new and improved website with shopping cart
• Host launch party for site
• Plan show schedule for the year.

I have been in the zone today. It rained most of the day in drought striken North Georgia (thank you Jesus for the rain) which gave me the perfect excuse to put on a fresh pair of sweats (okay, I really put on another pair of pajamas) and play. I drew, painted, stitched and sewed to my heart was full and content. This is the first time I have been able to work without a heavy deadline looming over my head. Today I was able to begin new work for the coming year. Yeah!

So, I was prompted to write the looking back part of this post after reading Alyson Stansfield’s blog . Her blog has been a wonderful resource for me. Anyway, she wrote an entry on her blog called Plan Your Wins. Basically she is talking about art goal setting for the coming year. Now goal setting is something I have always done. What made me pause after reading Alyson’s take on this is that she first suggests that we acknowledge, dare I say CELEBRATE, the completion of these — our wins (apologies to Alyson for reducing her concepts here). Selected wins for 2007:

1. Taking UrbanWildflower Dolls to the next level by giving her a new look and opening a small boutique (THANK YOU to everyone who have made the last six months such a success for us!).
2. Was the subject of two newspaper articles and one online magazine.
3. Debuted a holiday collection that SOLD OUT.
4. Taught 5 quilt and/or doll workshops.
5. Organized studio office and studio to improve creativity and production.

I thank God for life, love and ART. Here are a few more dolls from my holiday collection. Wishing everyone Peace and Prosperity in the New Year. the urbanwildflower