Marie Antoinette

I’m on the home stretch now with my submissions for the Gallery show next month. This is the start of Marie Antoinette and being that my theme for the show is “The Royal Court”, a loosely based display of her court, I guess I better get busy and finish her and her King Louis. A lot has been written about her life and much of it not very nice, but I prefer to keep her in a positive light. She was very young when she became Queen of France, still a teenager and with that came the rebellious young woman who couldn’t settle in to her role and just wanted to have fun. Of course, in the end it cost her, her life at the guillotine. And just for the record, she did not say “let them eat cake”. I researched that to, and that was actually a quote by someone many years earlier, but because of that time in history, poor Marie was labelled as being the one who made that statement.

This is an adaption of Barbarba Schoenhoff’s “Pas de Deux”. You can see more of that class, just click here.  If you like details and costuming, Barbara’s dolls are all about that. This one, like her Henrietta, are big. The costuming just billows out all around.

When I was putting the body together I was getting concerned because the legs look so long compared to the rest of the body. However when the dress started coming together, I realized why that is. Without those lovely long legs, the effect of the doll isn’t the same. She measures at least 18” tall and probably close to that sideways.

Originally the doll and her partner are meant to be clown like, but I’ve made the face differently. I kept the details very soft and pale as was the real Marie, and instead of painted eyes, I gave her glass eyes. Her pictures show a very pale skinned, not much makeup kind of face. In the 2006 movie with Kirsten Dunst, the makeup is the same, very porcelain doll like. Marie and her King Louis will be dancing in “The Royal Court” display….

More to follow soon…The hair will be the biggest challenge, stay tuned….

Classes

New class offerings are now posted at Adele Scortino’s blog and website. You can guess which one my name and money got put on and spent on and there will be one other for sure… You will love them…

 

Between that and Joggles new line up, I’m well set up for the cold weather that’s just around the corner… Barb has over 40 classes to choose from from bare bones beginner to advanced, so something for everyone.

My Dolly Art Cards

In between working on the doll for Colleen, I’ve also been working on art cards for our doll show and sale next month. I do not claim to be any kind of expert using Paint Shop Pro X3, but I do know how to play around and see things that I like.

My friend Karen from the doll club kept asking if I was going to do art cards, so I finally relented. I really thought they would take longer than they did, and was pleasantly surprized at how fast they came together. A couple of afternoons and they were finished. I used pictures I had taken of my dolls, played around with the settings in PSP X3, printed them off on glossy photo paper and created these.

All the cards and envelopes have black roughed up paper edges.Two of the pictures are as they were taken, the only thing I did was add shiny copper coloured corners the Jesters and to Raven’s picture, I used black photo corners.

 

With Orlando, I just found a tiling feature and played with that until I thought it looked balanced. The colours are the same as how the picture was taken.

With Beatrice, I created a collage from pictures I took, and just added a little turn down on the corner.

For these next two cards, I did the same collage type effect, then  made the pictures black and white. The one with the turn downed corner also has a border to make it look like an old photograph. The picture below that, has roughed up looking edges.

What set of cards would be complete without a Santa. This one I made into a Vintage looking Santa. This is the doll I made last year and sent him off to live in Australia. I just changed it to black and white and added what I think looks like a vintage type border.

This last card is my favourite. And they are dolls designed by the same designer, Barbara Schoenhoff. In this example I used a sepia setting, and found a border that makes it look like the picture is taped to a separate piece of paper, and to finish it, I used copper photo corners. I plan to make more cards with pictures of my other dolls, but these are the first ones out of the blocks. If you have a graphics program, just play and have fun with it and see what you can create. If I can fumble my way around so can you..

Christmas Sprite is done…

Well it’s been yet another long stretch since I posted, but I have accomplished a lot during the time. I finished testing Colleen’s Snowflake Sprite for her, except that mine is a Christmas Sprite. I so enjoyed working on this darling doll. She is just so cute. Always hard to tell in a picture I know, but she really is sweet.

I have her hanging in the guest room, and yes, she is supposed to be for Christmas, but I think she’ll just have to stay in the room until after the New Year. It would not be nice to make her and then stuff her away in the crawl space with all the other Christmas dolls when she’s just arrived. That just wouldn’t be right. So she’s going to visit for a long while before I move her downstairs to be on display for the holidays…

Her name is going to be Scarlett, from Old French origins, meaning simply, Red. I think that would nice..

Snowflake Sprite or Spider-What’s It To Be!!

Colleen Babcock has entrusted her newest design to me again to test for her. I’m so flattered, truly. It’s the total compliment to be asked to do this.  Colleen’s newest design is the most adorable Snowflake Sprite or Spider, but mine is going to be a Christmas Sprite. I don’t think this one will be going to the tea shop for anyone else to enjoy, she’s going to stay here with me. I am so enjoying this project.

I picked out a Christmas print that isn’t immediately obvious to be Christmassy, but it’s working out so well. Because I chose such a different colour scheme, it didn’t occur to me to consider trims. I decided on black lace. Then after I had totally confirmed in my mind that it was going to be black I stood looking like a deer caught in the headlights trying to remember if I had any other black lace because this design calls for lace in several places. Not a lot, but you need two or three choices to keep it interesting.

Off to the store and pick up some dye. I came home with ebony black and proceeded to go through my laces and picked out a few pieces, set about dying them and presto, I now have the most amazing shade of patina. It’s like a cross between charcoal and teal. It went that way because I used off white lace, it’s a wonderful happy accident. I knew it wouldn’t go black because the lace would have had to be white to start with.

Here is a picture of where I’m at and a couple of close ups of the colour of the lace I created. So pleased with it, it’s a gorgeous colour when you see it up close and personal. I hope to have the little Christmas Sprite done in the next couple of days. If you can’t wait, head over to Colleen’s blog and see what the finished piece is like. I swear she has a warehouse full of creativity to go through, each design is so unique.

Snake Charmer is done!

He’s done and looking so good, as far as Snake Charmers go. I have quite a few pictures to show you, so it’s going to be a long post, I’ll apologize now for keeping you here to long.

Here are his shoes. Red leather uppers, brown leather bottoms, gold soutache trim around the edge, a gold cabochon on the heel. I couldn’t find small buckles for his straps, so I was trying to think what could I use. I decided that carpet tacks would work. And why not, they have a great design on them that works, the tack is fairly long and with glue will hold well. Of course the toe got a little pedi while I was at it.

 

The embellishment on his wrists is from a bracelet I got at a thrift store that I repurposed. They worked very well, so don’t forget to check those thrift stores for these kinds of gems. Excuse the glue, it wasn’t quite dry when I took the picture.  I sewed the embellishment on, but I like to add some glue on edges for extra strength.

Then of course he needed a pillow to sit on. He can’t charm snakes all day and have to sit on the hard ground. The fabric is from an upholstery sample and enough was left to make a mat for the Cobra’s in their baskets. The small cobra was supposed to sit on the Snake Charmers head, but I thought he would look cute in a little basket following the older Cobra’s lead. The eyes were meant to be painted or penciled on, but I used plastic eyes and added eyelids and I think it gives them a more realistic look.  The gold trim on the mat is an eBay find from my favourite eBay seller.

He also needs a satchel to keep his coins in that he will definitely be getting from onlookers. This is also made from an upholstery sample. I made the cord on the satchel using the Diva Cord Maker. That is one addictive thing…. I decided to give him a moustache and goatee and I think it makes him look very distinguished.

And finally he is all together with his Cobra’s. They are totally mesmerized by him and his music. I hope you enjoyed watching how he came together, he is really quite amazing to see up close and personal. With thanks to Shirley Shaw for her imagination in creating this pattern. At some point I will make the companion to him, The Charmed Cobra.  If I ever find this elusive designer, I will be able to thank her.