Alice ..

With a bit more clay here and there and some sanding done... that scratty mohair is not the actual hair ...but a bit of it....to see if she is getting there.  Just getting a feel for her "look"...   who knows what she will end up wearing on her head.

Added some more clay to the hands and they are actually beginning to look more like hands ...but, not quite there yet.  Wish I could make myself add a bit more clay than I do each time...but, that's me I guess.  Must make them before I get tempted to paint her face.

Good thing Maggi mentioned about not painting her face till we have the hands done so that we get the same colour for flesh... 'specially if we, you know,   ....    ....  mix colours to get "that perfect shade"  hahahah.... been there before.  I think she knows me.

Alice in Steampunkland

The new dolly I am making.

Not much new happening with her ... she will be a long time in the making.

However, I did add some tiny bits of clay to her face and head and got her sort of how I like her ...and, I began the hands.  We'll see if I use the hands or not.  I might have wanted to give a bit more thought to the position of the hands and fingers.  Like, if I want her to be holding something or not.  They won't hold much in this position.

The pattern shows perfect skinny sausages for fingers.... whereas mine definitely look more skeletal.  Nobody mentioned having to put on alternate fingers...but, I found I was having great difficulty doing one wet piece of clay that close to a second piece of clay.  So, finally did alternate fingers and let them dry and then did the rest.

I was thinking how the fingers looked weird and sort of pinched together where they joined each other finger.  But, once I got the little bit of clay onto the back of the hand, I discovered I could lay it up further on the fingers a bit more to give them slight space or a bit of a web between each finger. That'll be more like it.

It looks like a bit (or, a lot) more work is needed on them yet.  I'm so slow and tentative with clay.  I have no idea why.....it is easy to sand it off..it's just paper clay.  But there you have it... working with clay tells you something about you.  Hahahaha,,,, as if I didn't already know that I am cautious and a bit tentative with a lot of things.

Coming along, albeit very slowly.

Click on the pics to see them bigger.

still putzing on her....

....at my usual slow and deliberate pace...
she is proud of her legs and takes any opportunity to show them off.

I made her top from strips of a beatuful ribbon that has water coloured flowers on it...lots of fiddling... but, I love that ribbon and this was a perfect chance to use some of it. I've had it years....

Then, found some pretty fabric that went so well with the ribbon...but, it is ...well, let me just say I was describing it to my sister and called it ...creepy.... hahhaha.... when I had meant to say crepe-y....but, then I laughed and said it must be a Freudian slip...or skirt...ahahha...and we were off on a laughing tangent....we're a couple of nuts, but happy in the knowledge. Our Mom used to say all the time...if you aren't worth a laugh, you aren't worth much at all. So, some days we feel pretty darn rich...... lol....

So, for the hem of a skirt that is slippery, slide-y ... and frays like nobody's business.... what to do. I keep mentioning that I don't really know much about sewing...and I don't...but, every so often, I do something that is kinda cool and actually took a while on the machine.... long enough to put me in spasm today... my back hurts! Of course, I really put everything into it when I sew... I have to.

I cut some long, half inch wide slivers of sparkly tulle. Laid them over the bottom of her circle skirt so that 1/4 of an inch was visible on either side.... pinned them carefully so they didn't pucker or bunch... then stitched a nice line of straight stitching all around the skirt. Then,... laid a piece of blue nubbly yarn over the line of stitching...and carefully stitched it on....it gave the bottom of the skirt a bit of visual interest and turned out much better than if I had attempted to hem that stuff. She keeps showing me both sides of the skirt...pretending she is Marilyn in a breeze.... I think she likes it too....














My flowers are still perfect after almost two full weeks... who knew that type of flower lasted so long when the petals look so dainty and fragile... Alstromeria ..I think...

the bag on her head is to help keep her hair out of the way of glue and stitching...

Onward to sleeves and shoe trim.... but, for now... bread to bake. I ran out... ackkk! And, I refuse to eat store bought anymore...now that I know how to bake my own. I love my own bread!

It's a beautiful sunny, bright, blue sky day... even if they are calling for more snow flakes later. Who cares...it is mild; the windows are open...the birdies are singing at the top of their little lungs...a perfect day in my mind.

Where did Tuesday and Wednesday go?

Look at this.... Thursday already. Again, the same old question.......what the heck happens to my time? Of course, I do have to listen to my own advice that I often give to others and remind myself... I do keep a tidy house, bake bread and muffins weekly, work out, go for groceries, run errands, cook meals each night and do the cleanup... it all takes time...but, somewhere I must be missing some play time hours. The computer does take up some hours, but, my carpal syndrome has been causing me some grief lately ... so I have been spending less time on it. The typing is not a problem...but, honestly, using the mouse for even half an hour... my hand gets numb. The scary thing is...I already had surgery on it a few years back..but, now, it is getting noticeably bad again, so I am trying to limit my time on here for a few weeks to give it a rest.

I was so sure that I would be back into the swing of things after Christmas but woke up groggy each day with a total lack of enthusiasm for pretty much everything. It seemed I was just going through the motions during my days. Lack of sleep was making me grumpy... like most women... the best gift I could receive would be 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It's been so long I forget what that actually feels like. A big rubber hammer could be the answer.

When Linda started the photo a day challenge, it seemed the perfect idea to force me to at least post daily and thus have to think of what to say..what to photograph, etc.. and it worked to at least keep me moving forward for the month. At the same time I figured .. why not link my workouts to a daily routine...and I did that too. I was so hoping I would get a better sleep by working out...and eventually working out pretty hard.... but, so far.. no luck in the sleeping department and I have ramped up the workout pretty good. My limbs are weary...my eyes are more than tired, but at the risk of sounding like a whiner...they have some problems too... ...and, yet, as soon as my head touches the damn pillow.... a million thoughts are racing around in my brain. Mostly thoughts that are not connected to each other at all, but, which somehow spring one from the other like sheep, but not one looks like the other if you know what I mean. I can't seem to find a comfortable position... and ... after thrashing around for two hours or so..I finally fall asleep. I have even been trying Melatonin...it doesn't help me to get to sleep any sooner..but, I do seem to stay asleep for longer at a time. Usually I am awake about every half hour or so.... but, last night actually only woke up twice.... and, this morning I got up and walked out of the bedroom without pulling a Wall-E..... not staggering around and bouncing off doorways.... woohoooo....

If I could get a better sleep pattern going, I feel sure I could be more productive in each day... which I am sure would relate to doing more fun stuff...

I want to get on with making a doll. Want to sculpt a face to be covered with fabric...then colour on the facial features. I actually took a sculpting class from Jack Johnston in June of last year but, for some reason haven't even touched a piece of clay since then. I think perhaps it was info overload or something. Anyway, then I hid my DVD on myself, and couldn't find it. So, yesterday I just gave a face a try on my own... it takes waaaaay too much time and effort when you have no clue what to do... and if you do things bass ackwards you are leaning on completed parts while still struggling with other bits..... sigh.........

Hours later...I had this... but, it is too tiny for my plan... and too much detail really. However, I did something... that's a good start. Then, I found my DVD...so today, I plan to do another.. with instruction. That'll be fun.











A few years ago I made this one...


































My Clownesse... made for a local doll club challenge in which we chose an artist, and made a doll to represent his style... I found a painting by Toulouse Lautrec that I liked... called La Clownesse... and here she is.

I had to resort to quite a soft, stretchy fabric for gluing into all the nooks and crannies. For the new one, I'd prefer a tighter weave fabric to work with ...so will need a somewhat flatter face or at least softly rounded features... with less detail...