he was suppose to be a pirate

but he turned out to be more of a biker dude. That happens sometimes. Well, actually a lot. I start out making one thing and it turns into something else. I’m not one to have it all planned out before I start.

I made him a vest- red paisley from a Liberty shirt that had belonged to my Dad. I made his head tie out of it too. The vest just wasn’t working so I ended up using the fancy paisley side for the inside. Now there is a surprise inside.

I like his blue hair.

the guy thing

I’ve always thought of myself as an artist with girl appeal. When I used to do pottery, my work was painted with images of women and children, mostly mirroring what was going on in my life. There would be open studios at the building I worked in and when couples came in, I would see the man’s eyes glaze over. When I started making dolls, it was pretty much the same. Probably even more so. After all, what is more girly then dolls? Then I started noticing a change. It started out with the robots… then the tikis, and now the tattooed men. When I started showing them in my booth, I would notice that men would come over to get a closer look. Even if they weren’t with a woman. Wow! Big changes!

Now that I am in my show season- pretty minimal by most artists’ schedule- 3 during the fall months, I’m thinking about making dolls especially to encourage a wider audience to look at my work. So, I finally finished up 2 tattooed guys for the market last weekend.

I had them hanging on my folding screen. The funniest thing- I saw a number of kids walk up to look at them, stare for a minute and then pose- mimicing the tattooed men. I loved it!

Anyway, I will be making a few more of these but they will probably be reserved for the shows I’ll be doing- October 12 and Dec. 13 and 14.