Again, Thanks for stopping by, and being on this blogging adventure with me! I thought I would put up the actual rubber stamp image I created for Stampington & Company that sparked the doll in the first place!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
La Cage *Bird Cage Couture
A quick note to say, sorry about the image viewing problem! I believe it has been corrected, but in the process all of your beautiful comments have been lost! :( Thank you to everyone who stopped by, your kind words mean so much!
Again, Thanks for stopping by, and being on this blogging adventure with me! I thought I would put up the actual rubber stamp image I created for Stampington & Company that sparked the doll in the first place!
Again, Thanks for stopping by, and being on this blogging adventure with me! I thought I would put up the actual rubber stamp image I created for Stampington & Company that sparked the doll in the first place!
Bird Cage Couture
This is the first doll I've made for sale in almost 10 years! When I got the idea for my first book I was pretty much totally consumed with getting it in print. As a result the only dolls I made was the occasional one for myself. Sharon over at American Harvest will be carrying these one of a kind dolls and I'm just thrilled to be working with her!
A few details on this doll, sometimes when I create certain pieces I do a sketch and then built on that, but this particular design was a rubber stamp image to begin with! I loved the bird cage idea so much I searched out an antique cage and made the very first one for myself. This doll was cast in papier mache from a reproduction mold of an antique doll, I've mentioned before that these molds tend to be very expensive because you run the risk of damaging the actual antique doll you are creating the mold from. She is 23" tall and about 16" wide quite a substantial piece!
I then paint her delicate features on, and style her hair which is made from curly lambs wool. No detail is overlooked. Practically all the materials used to create her are at least 100 years old. The pale pink ostrich plume came off of an enormous victorian hat, bits of vintage paste jewels and millinery flowers adorn the rim of her barely visible antique tart tin crown.
She even wears the softest smokey grey eye shadow and ruby red lips that give her a come hither look. And the teensyest of crystal earrings dangle from her lobes.
The bodice of her dress is a fantastic bit of passementerie that actually came from what was once a gorgeous French ball gown circa 1870's! I purchased less than a 1/2 yard of it (that's all there was) and have resisted the urge to use even a bit of it until now.
The first flounce of her grand skirt is a vintage bread pudding mold, dusted with touches of baby blue.
Her layered tulle skirt was hand dyed from a very large white wedding gown petty coat.
Tiny little blue velvet flowers are sprinkled all over the entire gown.
The bustle over her ruffles is a small scrap of blue silk. And the vintage bird cage that is her "dress" most probably held lovely little song birds in the 1920's! These cages are getting harder and harder to find!
I used some old curtain trim with the smallest silk tassels to embellish the freshwater pearl ropes that grace the front of her skirt.
And residing beneath her skirt, perched on its very own swing a baby blue bird!
Silk bows with gold trim run up and down the ruffles.
And pasted into the bottom of the cage, to create a delicate little collage, copies of vintage floral wallpaper and a simply stunning print that came from a very rare book circa 1779 "Gallerie Des Modes et Costumes Francais" depicting hair and hat styles of the "haute bourgeoisie"! I have one of a very few engravings still left in existence!
Her "fainting fan", if you look closely you can see it is made from a vintage easter egg dying "spoon", the little copper wire one that came with the kits! It is trimmed out with rouge rose pink, perfectly curled feathers a bit of antique lace and two very small blown glass pearls. Here you can see the detail work of her delicate hands down to the very last nail.
I think I feel a swoon coming on!
Whew! Well I guess thats about it! I was kind of sorry to see her go but I know she will find a good home with someone that will love her.
I like to use my doll like this as a sort of revolving display piece, one week I fill it with beautiful glass perfume bottles and the next week she will have a whole bunch of little porcelain dolls dressed in crepe paper party dresses! There are a few more of these ladies in the works, a rosey pink version and the mellowest of warm yellow, to see them in person just take a little trip on over to American Harvest!
A few details on this doll, sometimes when I create certain pieces I do a sketch and then built on that, but this particular design was a rubber stamp image to begin with! I loved the bird cage idea so much I searched out an antique cage and made the very first one for myself. This doll was cast in papier mache from a reproduction mold of an antique doll, I've mentioned before that these molds tend to be very expensive because you run the risk of damaging the actual antique doll you are creating the mold from. She is 23" tall and about 16" wide quite a substantial piece!
I then paint her delicate features on, and style her hair which is made from curly lambs wool. No detail is overlooked. Practically all the materials used to create her are at least 100 years old. The pale pink ostrich plume came off of an enormous victorian hat, bits of vintage paste jewels and millinery flowers adorn the rim of her barely visible antique tart tin crown.
She even wears the softest smokey grey eye shadow and ruby red lips that give her a come hither look. And the teensyest of crystal earrings dangle from her lobes.
The bodice of her dress is a fantastic bit of passementerie that actually came from what was once a gorgeous French ball gown circa 1870's! I purchased less than a 1/2 yard of it (that's all there was) and have resisted the urge to use even a bit of it until now.
The first flounce of her grand skirt is a vintage bread pudding mold, dusted with touches of baby blue.
Her layered tulle skirt was hand dyed from a very large white wedding gown petty coat.
Tiny little blue velvet flowers are sprinkled all over the entire gown.
The bustle over her ruffles is a small scrap of blue silk. And the vintage bird cage that is her "dress" most probably held lovely little song birds in the 1920's! These cages are getting harder and harder to find!
I used some old curtain trim with the smallest silk tassels to embellish the freshwater pearl ropes that grace the front of her skirt.
And residing beneath her skirt, perched on its very own swing a baby blue bird!
Silk bows with gold trim run up and down the ruffles.
And pasted into the bottom of the cage, to create a delicate little collage, copies of vintage floral wallpaper and a simply stunning print that came from a very rare book circa 1779 "Gallerie Des Modes et Costumes Francais" depicting hair and hat styles of the "haute bourgeoisie"! I have one of a very few engravings still left in existence!
Her "fainting fan", if you look closely you can see it is made from a vintage easter egg dying "spoon", the little copper wire one that came with the kits! It is trimmed out with rouge rose pink, perfectly curled feathers a bit of antique lace and two very small blown glass pearls. Here you can see the detail work of her delicate hands down to the very last nail.
I think I feel a swoon coming on!
Whew! Well I guess thats about it! I was kind of sorry to see her go but I know she will find a good home with someone that will love her.
I like to use my doll like this as a sort of revolving display piece, one week I fill it with beautiful glass perfume bottles and the next week she will have a whole bunch of little porcelain dolls dressed in crepe paper party dresses! There are a few more of these ladies in the works, a rosey pink version and the mellowest of warm yellow, to see them in person just take a little trip on over to American Harvest!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
What A Grand Old Soiree it Was!
What a great party is was!
I don't know about you, but I ate way too many sweets, and drank way to much punch!
And my FEET are killing me! I guess it was about 4:00 o'clock in the morning before I left the last party!
And when I got home, what a mess! I think Wanda must have had a little celebration of her own!
Just a note to say, I Had So Much Fun coming around to visit you all!
Let's do it again next year!
I don't know about you, but I ate way too many sweets, and drank way to much punch!
And my FEET are killing me! I guess it was about 4:00 o'clock in the morning before I left the last party!
And when I got home, what a mess! I think Wanda must have had a little celebration of her own!
Just a note to say, I Had So Much Fun coming around to visit you all!
Let's do it again next year!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wicked Witch Wanda of the West Vitrine
Once upon a wee wicked time there lived a most beautiful witch, she made her home sweet home on the bottom shelf of a very old French vitrine. Wicked Wanda did live amongst riches and luxury, she had very fine tastes indeed! There were frilly lace carpets beneath her feets and a colossal gold lamp in the kitchen! She even had a portrait of her favorite familiar, "Noodles" the bat framed and hung upon the wall.
A green eyed lady with flame red hair she was, who wore a necklace of diamonds and eyeballs no less! Her costume of rags and tags and bags hastily stitched together, two jack o lanterns abreast, one happy, one sad!
At night when the giant people slept, she would with her magic, turn the skeleton key that held her locked captive within that vitrine and climb down the long leg of the cabinet, where she would run rampant and steal all their glittery golden goods! One by one things would go missing, bits and snipets and parts she needed to concoct her devilish brews!
And stewing and brewing in her pearly bubbling caldron, a poor pale stolen porcelain lass, add a pinch of newts eye and a peck of that knarled up mandrake couple and last but not least to bring out her delicate flavor, a few of those Fanciful Twist mushrooms!
Yum, Yum she says aloud to her self, Me thinks this potion will works just fine this time! And when youz are all cooked up nice and well done my pretty, I will conjure up three more batches of brew, a bottle of German Maiden Heinz 57, a pint of Old English Lass No. 2 and specially for me, to lure that good man, a spritzer filled to the brim with Coquettish French Love No. 9! So take heed all you lovelies on this ALL HALLOWS EVE, keep one eye wide open
and stay one step ahead, lest you wind up in my next lumpy loaf of bread!
***************************************Happy Halloween my Bloglandia Friends!*********************************************
A green eyed lady with flame red hair she was, who wore a necklace of diamonds and eyeballs no less! Her costume of rags and tags and bags hastily stitched together, two jack o lanterns abreast, one happy, one sad!
At night when the giant people slept, she would with her magic, turn the skeleton key that held her locked captive within that vitrine and climb down the long leg of the cabinet, where she would run rampant and steal all their glittery golden goods! One by one things would go missing, bits and snipets and parts she needed to concoct her devilish brews!
And stewing and brewing in her pearly bubbling caldron, a poor pale stolen porcelain lass, add a pinch of newts eye and a peck of that knarled up mandrake couple and last but not least to bring out her delicate flavor, a few of those Fanciful Twist mushrooms!
Yum, Yum she says aloud to her self, Me thinks this potion will works just fine this time! And when youz are all cooked up nice and well done my pretty, I will conjure up three more batches of brew, a bottle of German Maiden Heinz 57, a pint of Old English Lass No. 2 and specially for me, to lure that good man, a spritzer filled to the brim with Coquettish French Love No. 9! So take heed all you lovelies on this ALL HALLOWS EVE, keep one eye wide open
and stay one step ahead, lest you wind up in my next lumpy loaf of bread!
***************************************Happy Halloween my Bloglandia Friends!*********************************************
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Believe it or What?!
This was our Jack-O-Lantern in 1999, pretty ordinary guy as pumpkins go.
We carved him up, saved the seeds to make toasty treats! Yum! Yum! My favorite!
There was a small disaster because I threw all of the pumpkin pulp in the garbage disposal! Who knew it would BURN the motor to a crisp! (probably shouldn't remind my husband of this)
Any who, I put a little glass votive inside to awaken and give him some life.
It was a very stange and particularly dry fall season aound these parts that year.
You've heard of the Great Pumpkin haven't you?
Well, here's our Jack-O-Mummy! I didn't have the heart to throw him out 8 years ago and he is still with us and every year he just keeps shrinking and becoming more wrinkled. Once in a while I'll see a bird perched on the fence with a puzzled look, probably thinking What the heck....?!
We carved him up, saved the seeds to make toasty treats! Yum! Yum! My favorite!
There was a small disaster because I threw all of the pumpkin pulp in the garbage disposal! Who knew it would BURN the motor to a crisp! (probably shouldn't remind my husband of this)
Any who, I put a little glass votive inside to awaken and give him some life.
It was a very stange and particularly dry fall season aound these parts that year.
You've heard of the Great Pumpkin haven't you?
Well, here's our Jack-O-Mummy! I didn't have the heart to throw him out 8 years ago and he is still with us and every year he just keeps shrinking and becoming more wrinkled. Once in a while I'll see a bird perched on the fence with a puzzled look, probably thinking What the heck....?!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Ever Get the Feeling Somebody is Watching You?!
Slowly she turned, step by step, inch by inch....A cold shiver ran down her spine!
She definitely had the feeling she was being watched! Oooh, Whats this? A handsome stranger!
Why, Hello tall, dark and cutie! Did you bring me Tricks or Treats!
Check out Somerset Holidays & Celebrations Vol. 1 2007 for complete details and instructions on how to create some vintage style paddle masks of your own. All you will need are some old photographs ,black cardstock, a variety of crepe paper, popcicle sticks, pipe cleaners and glue.
What better way the prevent yourself from being recognized by the ghosts and goblins lurking about on All Hallows Eve than by wearing a mask upon a mask!
Who Goes There!
Trick or Treat!
Smell my Feet!
Give me Something
Good to Eat!
She definitely had the feeling she was being watched! Oooh, Whats this? A handsome stranger!
Why, Hello tall, dark and cutie! Did you bring me Tricks or Treats!
Check out Somerset Holidays & Celebrations Vol. 1 2007 for complete details and instructions on how to create some vintage style paddle masks of your own. All you will need are some old photographs ,black cardstock, a variety of crepe paper, popcicle sticks, pipe cleaners and glue.
What better way the prevent yourself from being recognized by the ghosts and goblins lurking about on All Hallows Eve than by wearing a mask upon a mask!
Who Goes There!
Trick or Treat!
Smell my Feet!
Give me Something
Good to Eat!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Rumble in the Pumpkin Patch!
These pictures are several years old, but every time I look at them they make me smile! The beautiful black cat was my kitty Rudy, I found her when she was just a teeny kitten, back in 1990. Last year she had to leave us for that big pumpkin patch in the sky, she was with us for 17 years and was such a wonderful girl, a real girly girl, when she walked it was on her dainty little tippy toes. She was a very petite little thing, with big round yellow eyes and fur so sleek and shiny it felt like velvet!
When she was 5 years old, as I mentioned before we found (is there any other way to get a cat?) her baby brother Romeo (the painter) in the engine of my car! And let me tell you he was a terror! Once, in the middle of the night he pulled down ALL the Christmas lights that had been strung on the door, the verticle blinds they were hung from got tangled around him SOME HOW as he ran through the livingroom past the hallway and into the bedroom. On his way he pulled a siver basket full of fruit off the coffee table, and that got tangled up too, then a tall flower arrangement off a small console table! I woke up, ran to the living room, which looked like a wrecking ball had been there, Rudy was sitting in a chair, eyes the size of saucers! I followed the still lit light trail which led through the house and directly under my bed! And there I found one little ring tailed kitten, who was so scared when he opened his mouth to say "MEOW" nothing came out! I laughed so hard, how could anyone be mad?!
Just look at her there, so sweet and innocent, so unsuspecting! And there he is, King of the Jungle, quietly sneaking up about to POUNCE!
And It's On! I love this series of pictures, those two rough housed all the time, but surely loved each other too! Funny, as now its Romeo's turn, because Juliette our chihuahua is a little spit fire!
When she was 5 years old, as I mentioned before we found (is there any other way to get a cat?) her baby brother Romeo (the painter) in the engine of my car! And let me tell you he was a terror! Once, in the middle of the night he pulled down ALL the Christmas lights that had been strung on the door, the verticle blinds they were hung from got tangled around him SOME HOW as he ran through the livingroom past the hallway and into the bedroom. On his way he pulled a siver basket full of fruit off the coffee table, and that got tangled up too, then a tall flower arrangement off a small console table! I woke up, ran to the living room, which looked like a wrecking ball had been there, Rudy was sitting in a chair, eyes the size of saucers! I followed the still lit light trail which led through the house and directly under my bed! And there I found one little ring tailed kitten, who was so scared when he opened his mouth to say "MEOW" nothing came out! I laughed so hard, how could anyone be mad?!
Just look at her there, so sweet and innocent, so unsuspecting! And there he is, King of the Jungle, quietly sneaking up about to POUNCE!
And It's On! I love this series of pictures, those two rough housed all the time, but surely loved each other too! Funny, as now its Romeo's turn, because Juliette our chihuahua is a little spit fire!
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