My ATC trades are trickling in- this is so much fun! Much better then chain letters, which I sometimes tried when I was a kid and was always disappointed. I’ve gotten 3 so far-
2 cloth collages from Hanna in Sweden and a minature painting from Emily in Pennsylvania. Aren’t they wonderful! I am trying to figure out a good way to display them. I think this album by Fiona at leap-of-faith is a great idea.
I made this one today as a “sketch” for a larger piece I’m working on-
lads-
and lasses-
I got tagged by Hilda at Planeta Hilda. I have to admit that I was pleased to be tagged, but it’s not really something I want to participate in. Suffice it to say, as a middle-aged, ADD artist, I have plenty of idiosyncracies!
Great news for me- I am going to have some dolls in a fiber arts show at the Handworks Gallery in Acton, MA. The show is opening on October 8. Also, I will have some of my dolls there after the show. Because I will have the dolls in the gallery, I will be taking the prices off my website or repost them to match the gallery price.
Art Doll Quarterly has a great article/interview with Scott Radke, one of my favorite artists. It is the Autumn 2005 issue.
A new sketch book and some topiary emroideries-
this one is another atc-
a pile of dolls- now they have faces.
Favorite tool of the day-
I’ve never used these before- they’re great for sanding little doll parts!
and, I have a very good friend who knows how to make me so happy on my birthday!
I thought this bride and groom project was going to be easy. I used one of my patterns that had worked before, shrunk it in the copy machine and did just a few adjustments… I am now on my fourth prototype, trying to get things right. I’ll have a whole wedding party at this rate!
When I get frustrated or my hands start to really hurt, I play with the applique. Emboldened by the ATC’s, I tried something a little bigger-
Some ATC tutorials- from Judi at Art Dolls.
And Hil at Spirits Dancing pointed me toward this one.
I have more if you are interested in trading. The ones that aren’t available have a name in the description area.
I used some of my little drawings to make some artists trading cards. Email me (mimikatpoboxdotcom) if you’d like to trade. I posted them here on FlickR.
I have put several in progress dolls aside to work on a wedding present for my niece- a bride and groom doll. I am trying a smaller and modified version of these ladies. I can’t quite figure out why they come out so differently after shrinking the pattern on the Xerox machine.
I’ve been trying to impove her figure- make her slimmer and with more of a neck. The one with legs can be the middle-aged doll-maker aunt, in a china doll form…
and now I’ve gotten even more distracted! I got my patch from Craftlog and am inspired! I have had thoughts of ATC’s and mini- appliques in the back of my mind for some time now. Today I played with inks and paint on fabric- voila!
– Mimi patches!
Now I need to figure out what’s next with them.
Some more of the artists I met at NIADA-
Floyd Bell is an artist who works in wood… that impresses me right there. There is something about a wooden doll- I can so easily imagine all the slips of a blade that might ruin a piece and so I am amazed at the finished artwork! He did a wonderful slide presentation about his progress in dollmaking.
Tomoko Fukuda is a doll maker from Japan. She works in cloth so I was immediately interested in her work. Pictures of her work are in my NIADA gallery here, here and this is from her display at the showroom. Her work is able to get across complex emotions so clearly- jealousy, sibling rivalry, pride, family relationships.
I bought her book-
and she signed it for me-
Sandra Thomas Oglesby had a piece in the “One Heart, One World” show that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind- I love this guy! Hopefully in this picture you can see the crossed fingers! And the shoes! Okay, I’m gushing….
It was really fun to meet Chomick and Meder and see their work. They were incredibly positive and willing to answer any question for us visiting artists- about suppliers, techniques and were especially great at the critique. I really appreciated the thoughtful comments on my work.
Lastly, for today, Here is some of the stuff I bought for myself!
patches-
and totally cool glass buttons-
I finally made some new photo galleries. Ione, East, and the Workshop doll. I got a bit carried away when I was photographing East. The wind started blowing his hair, and I really liked how it looked.
And in real life news, our car got smacked today- parked out in front of the house. The kind of smack that puts the car in the body shop for an indefinite period of time. ouch.