Zero Percent Blonde

Fresh from last weekend's workshop in Corvallis, I had to dive into something right away. I wanted to make something fun, quick and easy... and knew that I wanted to try something similar to Pamela's pieced bodies. I drew my own pattern for this doll, but based it on some of her simple two-piece designs with button-jointed arms. I used some new batik fabric, and some vintage velvet, and a lovely vintage rose, machine-appliqued to her bum. Don't ask why, I was working intuitively!


I decided early on that this one would be a gift for a friend's upcoming birthday. Of course, that automatically meant I had put pressure on myself! The body was really free-form, fun and easy... but the head. OH, the head! Let's just say it went through several incarnations. This is the fourth one! I learned a lot about what I won't do next time.

The face is stuffed muslin, painted with thinned acrylic paint. The features were drawn on with Prismacolor pencils and Pigma Micron pens. I then sprayed the face with a clear acrylic sealer.

Her name is Zero Percent Blonde... which is sort of a private joke between the doll's new owner and I, based on a silly time-wasting quiz we both took on Facebook.

Weekend worshop with the "Reel Dolls"

What an amazing weekend! Imagine fourteen doll makers huddled around tables and sewing machines for two days, all being patiently instructed by the amazing Pamela Hastings. It was a rare and wonderful event!

I'm currently far too exhausted to go into great detail, and must go bake an anniversary cake for my husband, but you can see the rest of the photos I took here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattikate

Pamela Hastings workshop

Getting very excited here... as I'll be heading down to Corvallis, Oregon next week for a weekend workshop with Pamela Hastings, a master doll maker I've admired for years. This photo is of her famous "Hot Flash" doll. Oh, how she speaks to me!

I was so lucky Pamela was teaching somewhere so close to where I live... just a two hour drive away. This will be a first for me... hanging out for a whole weekend with a group of doll makers! This workshop is sponsored by the Reel Dolls club in Corvallis. I can't wait to meet everyone. I don't quite know what to expect, but I'm up for anything. Just getting away for a weekend will be heaven... and I know I'll learn a lot.

Getting Un-Stuck

I've been digging around in old photographs, looking for the very beginnings of my artist soul. This seems to have been an old toy of mine... although, frankly, I have no memory of it. I do have vivid memories of several other dolls I had, though there is unfortunately no photographic record of them. Since it's the Easter season, I thought this bunny ought to make the scene here, as one of my earliest playthings, regardless of my faded recollections.

I spent the day re-organizing my kitchen and moving large cabinets and shelving. Just had an unquenchable desire to get some energy un-stuck around here. Also got a fair amount of "spring cleaning" done in the kitchen, while re-listening to the audio book version of Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth on my kitchen CD player. It felt great! I will take more photos tomorrow. Am just too bone tired tonight. A really GOOD kind of tired.
Here's the ledge above my kitchen sink... crowded with pottery and "stuff". It's so much fun to move things around and lovingly wipe the dust from some of the things I love to look at!

I have been working on tapping into more intuitive creativity lately. Reading some great things about art journaling, which is giving me jumping off points, as well as techniques to just get past what seems to be a period of "creative block" I am going through at the moment. It doesn't help that my daughter has not been able to attend school for the past three weeks (school snafu, not due to illness), but I've also just been stalling, avoiding, stumbling, losing momentum, getting discouraged, getting tangled up in problems that I can't fix... then just chucking my work and starting over.

I figured it would be much better to stop and work in some other mediums for a while, do some introspection and play a lot. So, I've been drawing, making jewelry, painting, etc. Am trying to do open-ended practice, rather than be so project-oriented and worried about the results. Finding a great deal of anxiety lurking under the surface. Funny what you find when you start peeling back the layers, isn't it?

Anna's Harlequin

Isn't she exquisite? This is a porcelain doll/clothing brush that belonged to my paternal grandmother, Anna, who died before I was born. I don't know anything else about it, and I think it may be the only thing I own that was hers.

She is 6.5 inches tall, and in rather rough condition. Obviously, the head has been broken off, and glued back on.









I look at her every day, as she resides in a glass vase on top of my dresser, along with a little group of other small dolls. The vase belonged to my other grandmother, Lela. It was always on the middle of her kitchen table, filled with spoons!