January 30, 2012

I am learning new skills :-)

I was late for the ADO MMC "Exaggeration", so I have been working nonstop yesterday and today to have it finished by the deadline.

I also tried to learn how to "antique" a doll. I prefer bright colors and a simple look, so I have never made something that was supposed to look old. A new internet friend, Birthe, helped me along the way, and I am so gratefull, that the web is full of people who is willing to share the knowledge with others!
Here is my work in progress:


Here is a MDF plate 20 cm x 14 cm 


I painted it black with acrylic paint


When the paint was dried i applied 2mm crack medium and let that dry for 25 minutes


Then I tried to apply white acrylic color in a nonchalant way with both brush and knife


The day after it looked like this... Where was my BIG wide cracks??
Well, I tried it again with a smaller frame, and I realized that I had to apply a thicker layer of crack medium. 
I glued a fabric onto the background of the frame, and made a little witch in Prosculpt polymer clay. 
I then made a little sign with the text "Welcome". Finally I finished the wich with som ribbons and woll. 
Haven´t really decided wether or not I will varnish the piece. 
What do you think?


PS: I made her eyes and mouth very large for the exaggeration challenge!

January 25, 2012

Cloth doll pattern and designs Part 3

Ok, I had to find a new pattern for my cloth doll. Here is what I have come up with.

I am finally finished with the basic construction of a cloth doll that I actually like. I am so happy, because the birth of this baby was long and hard :-)
Please welcome my very first ball jointed cloth doll! There is still a lot of details to work out, but now that I have det basics, the rest is just adjustments.


She is a tall girl: 29" ( 73 cm), and made of cotton canvas facric. Most of her pattern I found here: 


I had severe problems with figuring out the scale in the pattern. I think it has someting to do with the proces of printing the pattern directly from the homepage and selecting the function in the printer setup "fit to page". Hands and legs came out way too small, almost half the correct size. 
I had to make this doll 3 times and continue to adjust the scale before I was content. In the end I gave up trying to figure it out and just went along with my intuition. 
Here are more pics of her wonderful poses: 





I need to remember several thing next time I am making her:

  • Gather her upper body front (breasts) more tightly at the center and not so much at the side seams. This will give her better shaped breasts. 
  • Put a wooden bead inside her head to help the shape of the nose through the cloth.
  • Stuff her really tight on top of her head to avoid wrinkles in the cloth,
  • Find a way to avoid the wrinkles in the cloth around her fingers, and make a complete handarmature from pipecleaner that fits the hand. Hide the sharp edges so that they don´t show on the surface. 
  • Find something that is working better than those big knee joints :-) I used a big 1 3/4" wooden bead, and it is really nice for animation because of the weight, but it is not very aesthetic and beautiful. Another shape of both the upper and lower joint will fit the rounded bead better. Also I must think of a better method of stringing the bead. The white thread is not nice. 

Tomorrow I will paint her face and make her hair, and go to the craft store to find better joints.
If you have any ideas for me, please don´t hesitate on commenting. I would love to hear from you!

January 22, 2012

Fabric labels for free

I found this tutorial on You Tube, and it is really smart!
In the tutorial you use regular printerpaper and freezing paper and just print your own labels!
We don´t have freezing paper here in Denmark, but maybe we have something similar.
I got to try my printer and see if it works and if my printerink is waterproof.

January 18, 2012

Cloth doll pattern and designs Part 2

I am still working on my cloth doll design and I´m trying to figure out the necessary pattern for the model that are inside my head.  Sewing is NOT the same thing as sculpting!! :-) I find it difficult to fully understand how to sew in 3D... Sculpting is soo much easier! As you might remember, I am trying to make a pattern for a doll that looks a bit like this:

I want my torso more like a womans, so here is what I have for now: 

In this picture you can see that she is getting a nice woman figure, but the breasts are too smal. I will make them bigger on the final pattern. 


In this picture you can see the start of a soft butt :-) This one I am keeping! That was not in my planning, but came as a nice surprice.


Here is her waist too fat! She will have a more narrow waist. Her neck is also too wide. I like a long and slim neck. Follow me tomorrow for my progress :-)

Waiting for the light

It is slowly getting lighter. The day is getting a bit longer every day. I feel so unpatient. This winther has been so different from usual. It has felt like fall ever since September... I usually love the fall, but this winther has not had the magic feeling of my beloved "normal" fall... I guess I miss snow and the sense of "death" in Nature. I feel more like this long wait. One might ask; wait for what? I wait for spring! Spring with it's light, growth, and life.!
Do you also feel unpatient?

January 16, 2012

Cloth doll pattern and designs

I love cloth dolls, don´t you?
It is such a pleasure to sew fabrics together and enjoy different textiles, patterns and colors. In my head I have so many different dolls that I want to make, but I am struggeling with some decisions that I need to make first:
The cloth dolls head! How do I sew it in shape? How do I make the eggshaped rounded head? I found several free patterns on the web but somehow they don´t work. The head simply doesn´t turn out the way I want... Let me illustrate:



See the head? It is kinda flat, wide and not eggshaped at all. 
I want my doll to look like this: 

Then I found a similar cloth doll on the web: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/malphi/2193525908/

I like this design. I want mine to look a little like this one, as you see from my sketch, but I still find it hard to decide on the head. It should also be quite big, because I am a little inspired by the big-eyed anime style. 

Well, I also thought about modelling her head in paperclay or polymer clay and simply put that head on the cloth dolls body, but I think that it will look too funny. Why don´t just sculpt the entire body in clay then, right? There is a third possabiliy though: I could make a cloth doll head, and put a face on made from paperclay, just like a mask. I did the same thing in the past, and it is quite nice: 



I could work on with this idea... 





January 12, 2012

"How it feels to have a stroke"


I like TED-talks on YouTube. This one moved me a lot, so I thought I would share it with you :-)


January 02, 2012

Fantastic blog

http://bibliocolors.blogspot.com/

I just need to spread the word about this fantastic blog. They promote so many talented illustrators! Check it out!



I just love this painting...


Who will love the Rubber Duck?

and after I made a doll of the Rubber Duck:



Both pieces was a gift for my little brother, because I allways thought he was like a Rubber Duck in disguise...

January 01, 2012


I am attending this 1 st quartely challenge :BIRDS!
I love dolls that are a mix between human and birds. 
I have done it before: 

This is Tom-Birdy :-)