Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the USA, so I thought I’d give you a selection of holiday-themed morsels from Etsy.
An excellent use of the soft texture and colors available to needle felters by WonderwulAnnette in her piece, Fall Forest Maiden.
Good seasonal cheer by SunshineCupcake in this piece, Kevin Jr. Pumpkin.
Fall Pumpkin Doll by Beansandrice is all about amazing colors and prints. You have to click on this picture or the link to see what I mean. This is a good example of how you can get away with a variety of patterns as long as you limit your color palette.
Little Gobbler and Giblet by Marcie Hart of Aworkofhart just makes me crack up, for some reason. I think this piece goes beyond “whimsical” and approaches the realm of “surreal.”
I hope all my readers have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Seeya next week!
I usually don’t include bears or plushies on this blog, because SoftiesCentral does a much better job of that than I ever could, but today I have found a bear maker who absolutely deserves your attention.
I think the appeal of bears is often their simplicity. They have simple, impressionistic features, allowing an artist to evoke basic emotions with only a few strokes. The downside of that is that it requires subtlety to make a bear stand out from the crowd. Today’s artist, Shelli Heinemann, has that subtlety.
Her bears just ooze with personality, expressing a wide range of emotions, from happy to sad to cute to innocent to wistful. I’ll confess I haven’t been keeping up with the teddy bear market, but the eyes and eyelids of her bears seem innovative to me, combining with the high-quality materials and extremely high level of skill on display, they make these bears unforgettable.
I hope those of you who are dollmakers will take a moment to look at these bears and try to analyze what makes them “speak.” The tender pose, the perfect prop, the geometry of the faces, these are all things that could improve your own work if you take a moment to think about them. Another thing I’d like to point out are the fabulous photos of Heinemann’s bears. She takes the time to create environments in which to photograph them. It’s worth exploring that for your own work.
And, finally, Heinemann’s imps are a great example of an artist branching out to challenge herself. She wanted to create something a little simpler than her bears that she could sell for a lower price, so she photographed the face of a sculpture she made, then learned how to print the photograph onto fabric (there are a couple of ways to do that) and created her imp plushies. Maybe you should think about incorporating your work into a new medium.
You can see more bears at Heinemann’s blog, her Flickr set, and, theoretically at least, on her web site, which has a really elegant interface but is currently under construction. Have a great weekend!
I recently discussed the art of writing stories to go wih one’s dolls with Kamila Mlynarczyk. Recently, Mimi Kirchner expressed the opposite opinion: she prefers not to write stories. She writes:
“I want to make characters that will inspire peoples imaginations- viewers will come up with their own stories. The dolls will be a catalyst for the imagination. No static story lines. I absolutely LOVE when people tell me who they think my dolls are- it always makes me feel successful when my work creates a spark.”
See the rest of the article on her blog. And I think the picture above is my favorite doll that she’s made so far. Love the dreadlocks, which she says are made by putting ropes of wool roving through the washing machine.
I’m pleased to announce that Anita Collins of Sleetwealth Studios, whom I have previously featured, is now producing a cast-resin ball-jointed doll! Sleetwealth Briar is 14 inches (36 cm) tall and extremely poseable. You can get her as a basic, unpainted model for you to dress, paint and wig yourself, or you can get her fully finished or even customized. She’s being made in association with Enchanted Doll and Atelier Nouveau.
I really believe we’re looking at the future of collectible art dolls. Go take a look and then drop Anita a congratulations on DeviantArt!
I’ve had enough creepy for a while, so I’m going back to sweet, and Krista Robertson’s work really fits the bill. I wish I could show her work to all those people who are in love with the tiny variety of Asian ball-jointed dolls, because Robertson’s work is just as adorable and much more unique.
Robertson fits into a category with other artists I’ve featured before, such as Maddy Nupp McDonald and Amber Matthies, somewhere in between your eBay pin-up fairies and those realistic baby sculpts you see. Robertson’s 3″ to 5″ fairies have faces that are stylized and adorably detailed. Some of them are almost lifelike. Their bodies are chubby and adorable, and they wear simple costumes and various types of wings. Her pixies are smaller and slightly more stylized, but just as adorable.
Robertson works in in Puppen Fimo and sells on eBay, though you can see pictures on her personal site. She doesn’t have enough pictures on her website to satisfy me, but then she has a very small son, so maybe she’s busy. 
Hope you’re having a great Halloween! See you next week.
Deb Wood is one of the most talented eBay fairy artists around. Her work has personality as well as realism and elegance. She’s also generous enough to have made some very good tutorials about aspects of her process that few people share in tutorials, like how to pack a fairy for shipping, how to test different brands of clay, and how to create a realistic miniature forest to use as a backdrop for photographing your fairies. Take a peek. She also has tutes on the usual stuff: how to make fairy wings, how to sculpt hands and feet, etc. They’re all worth a look.
These aren’t dolls, but they could sure inspire some great ones. London-based artist Slinkachu makes a big statement with tiny railroad model people in his urban art installations. Take a look at his blog; you have to see it to believe it. Then be sure to check out his books, below.
Hanger-on is a polymer clay sculpt by Debbie Williams.
It’s time for the first ever Needle and Clay Halloween Party! My friend Debbie Williams and I got together to join the Blog party over at A Fanciful Twist. Take a look at what happened and then go see the other partygoers by clicking on the picture at the bottom!
While they were over, the Steins had us take their annual Halloween card photo for them. Here you see Mr. and Mrs. Stein, and their kids, Frankie and Frankie. They’re big crusaders for Gothic American civil rights, so we were glad to help them out.
Mr. and Mrs. Stein are two of Debbie’s earliest dolls! The kids are plastic toys from her collection. The pumpkins and gargoyle are props from my collection.
Dr. Bones had just gotten up the courage to talk to Ooma when Godzilla Jr. and Miss Esmerelda came over to show them their Halloween costumes. When will Dr. Bones stop carrying the torch for Ooma?
Ooma the Trollwife is by me, and she won Best in Show at Costumecon last year. Dr. Bones is a purchased toy with a hat and collar by me. Godzilla Jr. and Miss Esmerelda were made by Deb.
The party was so much fun. Even the Fury got into the spirit with that silly hat. And it was good to see Godzilla Sr. really cut loose. It’s been hard on him, being a single dad.
The Fury is a plaster sculpture from my college days. Godzilla Sr. is a toy from Deb’s collection. Godzilla Jr. was sculpted by Deb.
Nosferatu: Thot’s a nice casket. Is it a ‘67?
Dead Groom: Thanks! But no, it’s an 1869. I know it has less leg room, but it’s all original and only had one owner, so I just couldn’t pass it up.
Nos: Sveet. Did you get the leather interior?
Bitty Bones: ::rolls eyes:: They’ll be at this all night.
Nosferatu and the Dead Groom are by Deb. Bitty Bones is a plastic toy from her collection.
Here’s a shot of the kids before they went out trick-or-treating. Miss Esmerelda’s parents were thrilled that she wanted to wear a traditional Gothic American outfit for her costume. Godzilla Jr. wanted to go as a frightened Japanese person, but his dad didn’t think that would be politically correct. The Stein kids are in their “serial-killers-look-just-like-the-rest-of-us” stage. Ozzie the Toad is not wearing a costume; he always dresses like that.
Dr. Bones: I don’t know, I just don’t think a girl like her would go for a skinny guy like me.
Sock Monster: Not all chicks are all about the looks, man. You’ve got a lot going for you — your career, your sense of humor –
Sock Monster and the Bust of a Woman are by Deb.
Unfortunately, after the kids left, Godzilla Sr. got a little drunk. The Steins ended up taking him and Junior home in their minivan. No one wanted a repeat of the Tokyo incident.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures from our party! Click on the poster above to see who else was partying last night!
Programming note: This is a big week for Needle and Clay, which must explain why it’s been so hectic. Today I bring you the first ever Needle and Clay artist interview, with Kamila Mlynarczyk, who very kindly responded to a few e-mail questions I sent her last week. Then, on Saturday, swing by for the first ever Needle and Clay blog party! There’ll be lots of pictures of Halloween dolls and decorations, and a link to the blog party host, Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist, who has a list of dozens and dozens of other bloggers and artists who will participate in the party. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so don’t miss out!
I’m not really an expert on the Addams Family tv show, or the original comics by Charles Addams, but in the movies it was implied that there was a larger Addams clan, made up of individuals that were just as morbid and freakish as the familiar Morticia and Gomez. The dolls of Wooded Woods seem to represent the rest of the clan, in the style I like to call, “Victorian gone horribly wrong.”
Kamila Mlynarczyk, who goes by Alimaky on eBay, should be the poster child for Mrs. Blathersby’s Orphanage for the Unattractive and Mentally Unsound, an artist group I’ve mentioned before. Her work perfectly encompasses that group’s theme of creepy or strange characters rendered with careful attention to detail and engrossing background stories. Mlynarczyk says she thinks her work would have developed into this form anyway, but MRSBO sped things along. “It’s a really supportive environment to showcase fringe dolls that normal groups tend to sweep under the rug,” she writes. “What MRSBO did do was encourage me to write for my dolls. I had never really done that before and when I starte, wow… it was hard to stop and felt very right. And now, if one of my dolls doesn’t have a story, it just doesn’t feel finished to me.”
Their stories are often morbid little tales of mysterious births and abuse, always ending with a tragedy that explains how the child ended up at Mrs. Blathersbys. There’s something very sensuous about her sculpts. They have red noses and wide lips, but at the same time they are often pale and bear signs of their unfortunate histories. This is probably what makes them so fascinating; they remind us — sometimes humorously — of the fine lines between life and death, and between “normal” and “freakish.”
Most of my questions for her were practical ones about her artistic process. She says she usually starts with a vague idea for a doll and then starts sculpting. “Afterwards I match fabric and hair together and the story is always pieced together as I’m finishing her/him. Whatever I do, whatever plans I do make, it always gets better.” When she works without a plan, which she calls “indulging herself,” she finds that even stranger ideas occur to her: “I take more risks and that means that I’m more open to drastic changes in my style, which usually means great success or great failure.” She also notes that her husband plays a role in her creative process as a springboard (mine does too, I wonder if that’s true of most creative people).
Many of her pieces come with beds, coffins or other pieces of furniture. She says that although her dad is an amateur carpenter, she never learned to work with wood until she started making dolls. Now she learns as she goes along, often using reference pictures, and cleaning up her mistakes with a belt sander. She has recently started experimenting with paperclay for the fine details.
I really admire her pictures of her work, although she insists she isn’t a gifted photographer: “Ever since my husband made me a lightbox out of pvc pipes and some white fabric, it’s been easy to take good pics. You can definitely find do-it-yourself instructions on the web [like this one, at Strobist] … I also have four $9-dollar office lamps aimed at the light box.”
Check out Mlynarczyk’s work at her website, WoodedWoods, and her blog. She also sells a pasteboard book with all her stories and characters from 2007-2008, which is a great way to contribute to the artist and get pictures of her work for inspiration.
Have a great week, and don’t forget to come back on Saturday for the Halloween blog party!
Hoffman quilting fabrics has an annual contest that includes a category for cloth dolls. The challenge is to use their selected fabric and theme to best advantage, which can be especially challenging since they choose the fabric with quilters in mind, not dollmakers. This year’s fabric had a peacock feather motif that, although a gorgeous fabric, was way too big to be realistic in doll scale. (I know this because I contemplated entering the challenge myself this year.) This apparently didn’t faze any of the entrants, though, as you will see by the lovely results.
The winners are posted here, and you can read a blog post about the show that includes all the entries here. I may be going to see this show in a couple of weeks, if they have it at the Sewing Expo like they did last year. If so, I’ll take my camera and snap some more pictures for you.
The winning entries are fantastic, but I have to say my favorite is still Melisa Matkin’s entry, Eleanor, seen here on her blog.
