This new doll is 9 inches tall while the other two are 6 1/2 inched tall. If the other two get legs they'll all end up the same height. I did research the Sculpy composition and found it is PVC, a plastic with known health risks, so I don't intend to use it once I'm no longer snowbound. I'm baking it in an old canner with a lid that was out in the barn. I won't use it for food. So thank you for the suggestions about the health concerns.
I don't have a pasta press but I do have an etch press so that is what I used to roll out quarter inch slabs. It worked great.
I formed the skirt over a paper cup with half a plastic Pom juice bottle taped to the top for the billowing skirt shape. Then I pinched the slabs together around the sides.
This is the skirt being attached to the bodice which I'd already baked. The second trip through the cooking process worked; the whole thing of course was an experiment as I'm a Sculpy virgin.
The cup came right out of the baked skirt but the Pom bottle collapsed in the oven. That was alright though, its job was done.
I spent two days on Maybelle and we're still housebound. No Christmas photographs of the family, no leftovers from the feast. John and I determined at 10 am on Christmas day that the roads were still too hazardous to venture forth; even the taxi service declined to try to get us to our celebration. So John and I had a modest repast with each other, clasping hands and saying a prayer of gratitude for our loving family and for having each other.
I love the way projects like these dolls have a way of taking over mid-stream and becoming who they are instead of who you planned them to be. Maybelle was going to have a soft body and fabric dress in my imagination but she put her little non-existent foot down and insisted on a skirt to match those of her sisters. I just got out of her way.
She has a determined little chin. And looks kind of snooty from this angle.
No iridescence or gold twinkles for this girl. She's the quiet type.
Very prim and stiff she is and not as talkative as her sisters.
I discovered a bruise from kneading the clay; what a fragile puss I've become. I knew I could depend on my friends for sympathy so here it is - my little boo boo. I think I've earned my glass of wine!
This new doll is 9 inches tall while the other two are 6 1/2 inched tall. If the other two get legs they'll all end up the same height. I did research the Sculpy composition and found it is PVC, a plastic with known health risks, so I don't intend to use it once I'm no longer snowbound. I'm baking it in an old canner with a lid that was out in the barn. I won't use it for food. So thank you for the suggestions about the health concerns.
I don't have a pasta press but I do have an etch press so that is what I used to roll out quarter inch slabs. It worked great.
I formed the skirt over a paper cup with half a plastic Pom juice bottle taped to the top for the billowing skirt shape. Then I pinched the slabs together around the sides.
This is the skirt being attached to the bodice which I'd already baked. The second trip through the cooking process worked; the whole thing of course was an experiment as I'm a Sculpy virgin.
The cup came right out of the baked skirt but the Pom bottle collapsed in the oven. That was alright though, its job was done.
I spent two days on Maybelle and we're still housebound. No Christmas photographs of the family, no leftovers from the feast. John and I determined at 10 am on Christmas day that the roads were still too hazardous to venture forth; even the taxi service declined to try to get us to our celebration. So John and I had a modest repast with each other, clasping hands and saying a prayer of gratitude for our loving family and for having each other.
I love the way projects like these dolls have a way of taking over mid-stream and becoming who they are instead of who you planned them to be. Maybelle was going to have a soft body and fabric dress in my imagination but she put her little non-existent foot down and insisted on a skirt to match those of her sisters. I just got out of her way.
She has a determined little chin. And looks kind of snooty from this angle.
No iridescence or gold twinkles for this girl. She's the quiet type.
Very prim and stiff she is and not as talkative as her sisters.
I discovered a bruise from kneading the clay; what a fragile puss I've become. I knew I could depend on my friends for sympathy so here it is - my little boo boo. I think I've earned my glass of wine!
26 comments:
I'm across the bridge in Vancouver - snow bound as you are. Oddly enough I broke out the Sculpty as well and have created a little basset hound for my brother's b-day. I have yet to paint him which is when I expect his sad little personality to come out, but considering my brother's b-day is in April, I figure I have time! Hey - I've got to keep busy in all this snow or I'll go crazy!
Love your women & thanks for sharing a technique for making skirts. We'll be out and about soon.....
Hi Judy: Sooo good to hear from you. Sorry you missed your Christmas festivities "but" loook at your wonderful little ladies - they are just that, wonderful and your sweet hubby to hold on to and say prayers of gratefulnessesss - life is gooood. Ohhh, sorry bout your booobooo, I too get those if I squeeeeze anything tooo much but ohhh what fun, ha : ) Thanks as always for sharing. Happy Merrry New Year to you both : )
Blessings, Sandra in AZ
Commiserations on your bruised fingers. I bruise easily too and know your finger could use a kiss. So X SMAK X - there you go! I love Maybelle and her determined chin. I don't think she looks snooty. She just got a different sort of a nose, that's all! Love to you and John. Stay safe and warm. We're almost out of the woods - and snow. - jeanne
Here's a kiss for your boo-boo: mmmwah!
Isn't it funny how you envision one thing and then a piece becomes what it wants to? I've got a series of paintings quite literally in mind (waiting for a shipment of gesso and gouache that's hung up in Portland in the snow and ice) but whether they'll look anything like my vision of them is a big question mark. Sometimes it seems as if they paint themselves when I'm not looking.
you are just way too clever! these girls are scrumptious! i love hearing their stories and seeing their determined sweet faces. no more bruises (and no more snow!). happy merry day after christmas!!
The dolls are beautiful! Did you use Goldens to color them? What gives them that warm satiny glow?
I went through a Sculpey obsession several years ago, but just made mountains of strange beads and an army of tiny dogs.
About a month ago I cancelled my plans to go to Seattle for Christmas and I guess it was a good thing. I probably would have been stranded in some airport!
Stay warm and have a wonderful 2009.
I love love love love these dolls, Judy!! You are amazing!!!!!!!!
Oh Judy, this blonde doll looks a bit like you. 8-)
And I can relate to the contusions! It hurts! But what a beautiful job.
Lovely lovely job, Judy! Yes, it's tough to work that Sculpey. Fimo, not much better. Thanks so much for the information and show and tell.
Go have that wine. Nurse that bruise!
Take care of each other.
welcome into the world maybelle (don't you feel a bit like Gepetto, judy dear?)she is wonderful and i love how birdee and sophie are watching your every move creating her. your dolls are so uniquely yours. walter tried to get the car out this afternoon, after shoveling and chaining...his car is now stuck way down the drive. maybe tomorrow for both of us! xox
Well the hussy! knowing what clothes to wear even before they were made, wouldn't you know it? That girl is going to demand some very expensive shoes and I don't want to talk about makeup. 'ello Madame Judee, la couturière pour les poupées. I can see where this is going and loving every minute of it!
Time to play, now where is that tea set I saved for the I never know if I am going to have a grandbaby? Hmmm, how about if we give her tequila and she stops demanding new clothes? Good try, if she doesn't want any, we take it.
Oh we do hope to see you Sunday, I am lighting candles not because I think it warms up the space enough to melt but because I want it to melt between now and then. Keep your fingers crossed, hers too.
Great work Judy, I was so impressed with your earlier lady that I went and bought some Sculptamould, I think it's our equivalent of paper clay. All I need now is for snow to keep me indoors to make something with it. We're expecting some very hot weather shortly, so maybe the heat will keep me inside. So sorry you missed Christmas with your family, I hope New Year thaws the snow for you.
Hey Judy, I tried to reply to your email but it bounced back. So here's the message...
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it when paintings paint themselves. It's always amused me that, especially in my digital collages, spirit images just show up and make themselves at home. Often I can't see them on the screen, but when I print the image on watercolor paper. . . well, there they are. Sometimes when I'm painting, it's almost as if I step outside myself and my soul or guides grab hold of the brush. So I've learned to welcome those little guides, soul
murmurs and meta-fairies. The result is always far superior to what I could have done without soul help.
Beginning artists who fret over not being able to replicate the visions in their minds need to understand that they're not
people working, they're souls with constant access to soul wisdom, soul images, soul magic. Make room for the mystery!
And woops, here comes a poem. I need to go catch it.
Oh Judy- I am so in love with your dolls- they are magical!!!
It cracks me up that you have an etching press- a dream of mine, and you are using it roll sculpty!!
Stay warm!!!
Big hugs!!
Judy, Your art dolls are wonderful-full of character, color & whimsy- thanks for sharing how you made her. Paula
OMG yet again - she is amazing beyond compare. Judy really you are so so so talented and inpiring. That press is the biggest thing I have seen! can i come and live with you for a month or so just to soak up your everything - really.
Happy New Year to you may it be as successful as the last full of only good and great things.
xoxoxox
I love your dolls. I have been a doll maker for years. I have some that are kind of similar. I do not have them posted. I get bruises too. Sculpey should be easier to work with than that. Come on over to my blog and see my new dolls. I'm loving working with air dried clay. there will be a new fairy doll born soon. Have a Happy New Year.
nancye
maybelle is wonderful. i'm wondering how you got the lettering on her bodice?
so sorry to hear you were snowbound but it looks like you made the best of it!!
belated merry christmas and happy new year!
so wonderfull!Have never seen sculpty befor .Like it !!!!
I think spending the day with your husband counting your blessings and being snowbound creating amazing sculpture, are blessings in themselves. you are a lucky woman, Judy. So many talents and most importantly, people in your life with whom you can share it all.
Happy new year to you and your family.
Hope you get out of the snow soon! Maybelle looks good-I love her text dress. I like the photo with her sisters looking on as you make her.
Hope your finger recovers soon. Happy New Year to you!
Beautiful as always Judy. Triple love them all!
Your Sculpy Sisters are wonderful! I hope you can get out soon (but only if you want to). Happy end of the old year! :-)
So magical and romantic being snowed in at Christmas and having a loving husband to pray with, sounds so dreamy!! Judy your dolls are lovely and so full of character!!! Thanks so much for sharing your dangerous technique (hope you're boo boo is better). I haven't made any more dolls since my Marie but hope to attempt some more dolls this week and I'm going to give the pasta press a try. Happy New Year and God bless, Laura
your art no long surprises
but still amazes me
so eclectic
so veritile
so wonderful
and again
maybelle
may be HER name
but she looks like her creator!
sorry you have an owuie
let dh kiss it and make it all better
snowed in still?
Your doll!!! -- she's AMAZING!! Is there anything you can't do Judy?!
I'm sorry to hear about your contusion -- poor dear.
Happy New Year my friend! I wish I could sit down and have some tea with you -- it would be such a delight!
Susan
xo
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