Well its 2018 and I am back in the saddle after 2 months of no posts. But in the interim I have been busy travelling and stitching and doll making.
In late October 2017 I went to the ContemporaryCraft Retreat at Canberra and did a workshop with Bobbi Oliver – a doll maker
from the Central Coast NSW. I highly
recommend her – she is generous in her skill sharing. After two days I came away with “Mago” – a fixed
doll with wired, padded and wrapped armature and sculpted polymer clay head and
hands. I was chuffed.
I also did a class with Lex Sorrentino using Makins Clay. Lex always seems to comes up with techniques I want to try. In Lex's workshop we made a hollow fish form - the wire armature was covered with Makin's and partially covered- a bit zombie like.
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| Zombie Fish WIP |
November was a busy month.
I made the plunge and exhibited a selection
of works at the Albury Horicultural Show. And was staggered to be awarded Best of Show. I entered a painting, a paverpol Llama, some stitchery and a cloth doll and a small mixed media doll.
I travelled to Swan Hill Vic and lead a Paverpol weekend with 9 ladies at a CWA craft retreat. We made bandaged birds, a small person form and a larger lady. It was bags of fun. They were a great bunch of women to spend a weekend with 😊
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| Circque de Soliel inspired girl - yet to be named |
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| Pietro - my medieval inspired boy |
At the end of November and early December
I had a catch up with some girlfriends at the Gold Coast and we had a crafty
few days with doll maker Susie McMahon.
We sculpted faces with Creative Paperclay and after three intense days had
completed a cloth doll with a paperclay face mask and sculpted a full
head with a shoulder plate. Susie's technique included covering the sculpted face with cloth. As a textile junkie I really like this look. Susie was
generous in sharing her moulds and I also came home with a baby face mask and a
child face mask.
Lots of learning and lots
of fun. I am in love with the other worldliness of these two dolls and will make more in the format. Susie will travel to conduct classes and I highly recommend her to you.
Add to this mix a workshop with textile artist and tutor Sue Senewiratne (and
sequin lady extraordinaire) where we sampled and sewed sequins in a Bollywood Bling
style. Sue loaded her car up and
travelled 4 hours up the highway from Melbourne to Albury with an amazing selection
of sequins, braids and beads. Her workshop
instructions included a number of Indian style motifs. I was so enthused I did another two motifs
and a sampler in the next few weeks. Sue has a lovey easy
teaching style and coped with my dive into the deep end approach!
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| Two of Sue's examples |
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| My sampler |
Last year was a great learning year. The challenge is to incorporate what I learnt
into my projects this year 😊.
