ART DOLL Quarterly - Tulah

Some time after creating Tulah, I decided to be brave and send off photos to the magazine ART DOLL Quarterly. 

It has always been one of those magazines I loved to look through while in the bookstore, wanting to see all the inspirational artwork and stories from artist I admired. "These are the people who are doing what I want to do" I always thought.

For once, as I held a copy of the magazine, I looked for their submission policies and got to work with putting together what was needed. I had to be quick because it was literally the last week to send in work for consideration. I rush to the post office and realized I needed to do a rush delivery, having to spend $20+. I hesitated for a moment when I was standing to pay for it - but my mind kept going "But what if it does get in?" Don't stop!

Many months went by and I started to believe that it may not have been received in time. "At least I went for it!" I decided. So I pushed it in the back of my mind.

Today, as I was working from home, I heard the mail drop in and went to go see what came in. My heart stopped because it was a copy of ART DOLL with a note attached that said I was published.

I held that magazine and I did one serious Happy Dance.

It went from being the one who only browsed the artist magazines to finally being a part of it. It makes me want to shout to all artist that you shouldn't just keep "looking", decide and then go for it!

Look for Tulah in ART DOLL Quarterly
in the May/June/July issue!

Tulah

  Have you heard about the Elf daughter and the Fae prince?  They meet one night by chance, playing in a flower field.

Graceful and charming was he,
Clumsy and fair was Tulah.

You see, Tulah was always in
constant disagreement with her feet. 

They seemed to prefer tripping over each other while she would rather be able to just walk forward. Even worse while in the presence of a Prince. Much to his amusement.

“I know,  you are friends with me only to laugh at me.”

“Yes!” he agreed and laughed some more. “Meet me again tomorrow.”
Begrudgingly she showed up that tomorrow, and the evening afterwards.
For a full Summer. She started  to realize she rather liked him too.

One night he appeared later then usual.
“My prince, I must go. It is late and my sisters will worry--”

“I have a present for you.”

She smiled and forgave him immediately. Never had she received presents like her three fair younger sisters who had such agreeable feet. “Oh?”

“This gift I give to you only if you attend the Fae Fall dance tomorrow night.”

Her heart stopped, “An Elf among the Fae? I'll be laughed out! Please, ask something else of me.” She glanced at her feet. If only I could dance...

Prince smiled, “Tomorrow, I shall see you tomorrow and the gift will be yours.”

That very evening, Tulah confessed to her sisters. Surely they will stop this foolish elf. To her surprise they cheered and danced. Her youngest sister hugged her, “You must go, we insist!”

“Yes, yes! Wear this dress” said another and they swarmed her like bees to a flower.

When she was done up from head to toe they ushered her out the door with a farewell and a wave. She was half tempted to turn back but she thought of Prince and sighed “I suppose I should at least tell him myself, that I am unable to go.”

In the flower field Tulah found him there, waiting in in his formal ware. She could not meet his eyes and so she said to his perfect toes, “I'm sorry prince, my feet, they seem unable to cooperate. How can I attend?”

He smiled down at her, “but my lady, your feet and I are in agreeance.”

She looked up at last, confused.

Prince then pulled out the most loveliest pair of feathers shaped similar to fairy wings.

“Feathers from a dove who heard my plight of an earthbound Elf with two left feet. If you are not meant to walk, surely you are meant to fly. And if you are not able to fly then I suppose you will just have to keep hold of my hand.”

For once, Tulah and her feet agreed.

~End~

It's been quite the journey with this little elf. She came to life right before me! When I sat down to write her story,
it came upon me like a rush
(the pen could hardly keep up). 

I hope you enjoyed her progress and her super cheesy romantic story.

-Cheers-

Elf Sculpture - part 4

I like to get excited over really little things, such as how cute pattern pieces are when they fit in the palm of your hand (big smile)... Look! The collar can fit around my finger.

Sometimes I do more work then necessary, such as line the inside of the pieces but little details like that seem important. At one point, I believed I remade a pattern piece 5 TIMES just because it didn't look right, or there was a slight blemish, or because I am clearly nuts like that.

Feeling slightly sad that in the end, no one will see the inside of the collar. Except for here in this photograph. The lining pleasure will come from her sleeves, a nice playful detail of strips peeping through if anyone was curious to lift one.

 The creation of the jacket felt important because with the light color pallet used in her costume so far, a dark contrast is needed to balance the outfit to the eye.

I am still toying with adding flower or pearl details to her jacket but my next area of focus will be her wings. Depending on how the wings come out, simplicity may be better so as to not overwhelm (or clutter) the overall feel of the sculpture.

Or maybe no wings? Hmmm...

I've been contemplating the use of the term Doll Sculpture. After reading an interview with Marina Bychkova (who I adore artistically!), she made a valid point about if it doesn't move it isn't a doll. Sort of makes me feel silly. Even misplaced a bit about labeling this art piece. However, when I was a little girl I played with dolls to do the following: Dress them up or make outfits, style their hair, and the most fun part of all - give them stories and names.

Then it hit me: Yes, my doll sculpture cannot move. But in every other sense, she is my doll frozen in time forever in exactly the way I played with her. Dressing her, playing with her hair, and finding her story to share with you.

And so, this is where she is at now. On hold for now as I am working on an album cover for the talented RedSkunk Jipzee Swing Band. Totally in love with their song Premonitions.

Doll To Do List:

• Fairy Wings

• Detail on jacket (?)

• Bloomers

• feet details

• Make ze base beautiful

Elf Sculpture - Part 3

Now that I have gotten sufficient sleep and my roommates are no longer able to distract me, it's time to continue!

Still learning a lot about placing hair on a sculpture. I've looked through many tutorials and I've seen a few different ways artist go about it. The process I've enjoyed so far has been by Natasha Red October. Another artist who shares her process is Patricia Rose.

Material for "MISSION: HAIR!"

Mohair - Has a nice soft texture and my experience with it so far has been positive. (found good deals on ebay!). 

FabricTac - An adhesive found in any local craft store.

Here is the sculpture with the hair placed on. I've made a few choice parts in how it will lay on her forehead and in this picture, I am playing with how I would like her hair to be styled. Eee! This is my favorite part!

All that I have visualized so far is having it as an up hairdo. In the second picture it is shown in a bun, but when I started on actually forming the style my first step was to place her hair in a secure ponytail (in a position slightly above center of where I'd like the bun to be)

From the ponytail I made several braids that would wrap around a small bun created. The two front bang pieces were braided and then wrapped in gold wire.

-This is where I do a
victory dance-

Alas! More to do. After dancing in victory I realized that she needed a head piece of some sort.

Picture to the left is a table set up to get more stuff done!

I find it helpful to have an assortment of items laid out that could have the possibility of being used. Helps in pairing items together or seeing if things work well together.

Wish I had taken better pictures of her hair at the time, but later progress pictures will show more of her hair piece. Also, I added curls to her style afterward to help give it a more full feeling.

Curls were created by wrapping mohair around brass tubing (just like a curling iron!). It is then placed under water to dampen the hair before being placed into an oven of about 150-200 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

This is where I must end for now. Next blog will contain the progress pics of her over jacket.

Hair at last!

Ta-dah! 

She is no longer a baldy - yay-

 Starting to wonder if I am posting to many progress pictures. With all the work I have going on she literally the only major art that I have been devoting time to. Sometimes, I'll be working and my eye will wonder over to what I wish I could spend all my time doing. One day I will! News: I am working part-time for an amazing music artist Dane Drewis. I feel happy that part of my week is spent helping talented and amazing people.

It was about 10:30 p.m. when I took the photos so the colors may be off. Her hair has been clipped back for now as I've been working on her dress. Sketching has really helped in planning out how her outfit will be placed together - like puzzle pieces - and I am working on the idea of layers to achieve a particular look. The top layer of the dress is just pinned in how I hope it will turn out (helpful in visualizing the next step).

A while back I found this pleather jacket at a thrift store and I have evil plans to (er, glorious plans), to create a top jacket as well as a cute hat.

More details.

In other news, it was Charlie Chaplin's birthday! He wrote one of my most favorite songs that always cheers me up. "You’ll find that life is still worthwhile... If you’ll just... Smile"

Etsy Shop & Doll clothes

Sewing and sketching away this March. There are new ideas I want to tackle and projects still in the works. I recently added a new item to my Etsy shop called "Spring's Contessa", a fabric book cover for all the ladies who await spring.  Love combining sewing and illustrations!

Realizing my projects involve monstrous amounts of detail and time (makes life interesting...but complicated. Ha!). The past week I've been sewing undergarments for my doll. It consisted of googling, laying about in yards of fabric thrown all over the place, and staring/willing the cut pieces to magically form together.

Here are a few resources that helped me get started in thinking about how I wanted to construct her clothes:

• Bloomers tutorial
• Chemise
• Hemming sheer fabric?

Bloomers. Can't get enough of this word. Made bloomers for the first time! It was very exciting for me...well, it lost its momentum when the first pair didn't fit over her bum. By the time I made a fresh cup of tea I was ready to try once more. Gave it a good glare for measure before starting (making sure to scare it into submission). Above, are the pair I made along with my *bee bustle*. Naming it so because of its appearance (fitting, eh?)

The background of this picture shows only a faction of the mess found in the path of my creative tornado. The next layer is the first skirt layer. Made ruffles that will probably not even be shown when she is fully dressed. But I'll know it's there! Mwuahaha.

Hopefully in the next photos she will no longer be a baldy! My mohair has arrived.

-Cheers-

Doll - Dress Sketch

Happy Wednesday everyone @-->>----

I want to share an article that has helped me accomplish more in a day. The idea has been rehashed many times by different people, but things never sink in until you put it to good use. LISTS. I'm starting to write them (not type), every morning before turning on the computer or checking email. I make lists of things I want to accomplish, and then rewrite them into a schedule. It helps!! -- link --

Genesis paints are fantastic! They go on light, or I am not being bold enough to go heavy at first, but I find layering on the paint in between bakes create a nice effect.

She is still a baldy. The next step of adding hair make me nervous. If anyone has tips they wouldn't mind sharing let me know.

Started to make a cute ruffle. Details, here I come - this is my favorite part. YAY!

Sketchy, sketch, sketch.

Spent all night sketching out ideas of how I am going to put her dress together (while factoring in the limitations of placing them on her frame). I need to channel into my talented friend Vani's sewing skills.

Doll Project - Arg!

Last week was full of a lot of joy and also many speed bumps. First with the joy! I was surprised last week to find an email from Deviantart telling me that someone has purchased a 3 month premium membership for my account.

What floored me was it was by an artist I had admired from afar for many years. The great Hector Sevilla (aka Elsevilla)! So a shout out for Hector, your whimsical linework I drool over, your character designs I adore, Elsevilla Esvilla so kind you are. Thank you -hug-

Bump bump bump...

I baked my first sculpture! Ahh, to wait was hard. Back tracking, if you notice I added 10mm glass eyes. Looking at the sculpture for about 10 minutes, I ripped out the work done previously and smacked them on (took forever to get them just right). After baking, it allowed me to build on top of the face.

The boots were sculpted as well (the most fun part of all, haha). Ahhhh, now I can't wait to get to the stage of sewing her outfit. So where were the speed bumps? Speed bump #1: Didn't secure her head very well so it kept drooping. Fixing it so many times I finally had the courage to rip it completely off and work on the under-structure to fix the source of the problem. Speed bump #2: Cracks after baking. Nooooooo! Thankfully I had Magic Smooth on hand to repair. That is where I am at currently, adding a second layer of Prosculpt over the repaired areas. Now to look into Genesis Paint and maybe eyelashes.

Phew! So much to learn from. In other news, new website discovery. This place gives a lot of food for thought about art and business: www.thestudiosource.com

Doll Project - Faces oh my!

Progress photos are fun, not just from artist that I admire, but taking them too! So here is my adventure so far:

Started with Magic Sculpt (it's the darker of the two sections) this weekend, MS is pretty neat! The draw back is that you have to have to wait about 12 hours for it cure completely. Worked out a skeletal form in the beginning (had to go back twice! Oi...the wait was cruel). Once I started with Prosculpt (using the Beige - Caucasian), time fleeeeew. Bulking out the form in the 2nd pic. Hope this sculpture turns out well when I bake...

To my left is the face of fail, ha. After the 4th attempt of starting a face I decided to let my frustration out by making myself laugh with an alien face.

I remember someone asking me how I went about creating a ceramic bust. The guy sounded really frustrated so my advice was this: Don't be angry!! Keep calm and make sure that you are enjoying what you are doing. Walk away, drink something delicious, treat yourself to a cookie. Check out a few artist and find out techniques that they use. Youtube is fun! So many artist like to share their love (artsy-lets-create-more-fun stuff love).


So, finally getting the groove on. Working with clay, I went about making faces using different ways (depending on my mood). Here is one way:

 

  

Need to ask someone how the whole premade eye thing goes about. Seen them inserted just not sure about how to pick one.  Well, here is where I am at currently. Just ordered some more prosculpt, now to wait anxiously to continue another day.

Oh, and her boobs looked smooshed. I plan on placing a corset on her so I am trying to achieve the boob/cleavage/corset shape. woooo!!!