HERDS OF CRITTERS!

Happy to say the Dragonflies & Butterflies are very popular, so while I had my "mess" for them still out, figured I'd make a few more. Also made a couple in silver. My best friend here wants a couple of each, so told her she could have the pick of the litter, then will put the others up for sale. Although am tempted to just hang them in a group over the bed...but might cause Hubby to have nightmares. LOL
Also been busy sending patterns out.woohooo. Several requests for Pistol Pete, so he's next on the agenda. Planned to get more garden planted, but winds have been ferocious, so guess I'll just have to keep on working on this stuff....sigh!

STEAMPUNK PATTERNS

Web site still in limbo. Have several patterns done, so am offering them as follows, and you can get them by sending payment through Paypal. I've done this with a "friend" in Australia & it seems to be working ok.
Wendy:doll pattern, costuming, aviator hat,and kite
Amelia: doll pattern, costuming, aviator hat/goggles, gloves
Tallulah dragonfly fairy: doll pattern, costuming, Dragonfly/Butterfly pattern
Or you can get indiviual pattern parts:
Basic doll pattern-no costume, 2 Hats - as seen on Pistol Pete & Maggie,
Aviator Hat & Goggles, Gloves, Paper metal kite, Dragonfly&Butterfly
Email me for details, etc. : dollmakerlaura@yahoo.com

STEAMPUNK BUTTERFLY

After a week of company I've fallen a bit behind. I did however manage to make a Steampunk Butterfly. Buzz was so popular when I took him to my Art Thing meeting, I was inspired to do more. Decided to hang from one corner of the wing, so she would look like she's in flight. Now I must get busy on those patterns to put up in my Etsy shop...and it's finally warm enough to start planting in the garden. Have bunches of stuff started indoors since we have such a short growing season. Retirement is such fun!

TALLULAH DRAGON FLY FAIRY

I made a body to use as illustration for my Steampunk Doll pattern. I also had a head sitting in the "head basket", with her eye's looking upward. So I thought I could quickly put the two together and make a Steampunk Fairy, with a dragon fly. Not so fast! There were a couple of problems I had not anticipated. For ease of making, I had just used broadcloth for boots. So I took some of the fabric and experimented with it to find a way to improve their look, and discovered if I painted the fabric with clear acrylic sealer, then brushed on metallic powders, the cloth looks like metal! After costuming her, I wanted dragon fly style wings. That was done using wire frame with metal looking ribbon sewn on with gold thread. My first plan was to have her holding the Dragon Fly. Then, since she is looking up, I thought it best to have the dragon fly in flight preparing to land on her hand. Oops! That turned out to be a problem. After several attempts at adding a wire to the doll's base to hang Buzz from, I finally wound up using a nice piece of brass, attached to a nice piece of wood, large enough for Tallulah and her base to stand on also. Of course if I had known what I was doing, I would have just built her on the wood base to begin with, but she was already permanently attached to her disc base. Live & learn! Hopefully!
PS: Just got word from SD&A, my article on Steampunk will be published in the November issue, along with pictures of the dolls! Happy dances!

BUZZ THE DRAGON FLY

Was so much fun to make! Original plan was to make him in polymer clay, but since I wanted him a bit lighter so he could fly, I decided he needed cloth wings. I had made a piece of fabric to look like metal, while trying to find the "formula" for Tallulah's boots. So I put together a couple of pieces of for the body, then cut wings out of the fabric. I then ran fine wire all around the edges, and sewed on with gold thread. By making both wing sets in one piece I was able to just fold them over the top of the body, glue, then cover with fancy metal piece. Amongst other things I added a couple of little door hinges to look like they were what attached his wings to his body. My most favorite thing though was his eyes.
The head is a nice shiny ball so the problem was how to attach something to it. I found a little chain, from which I removed 2 sections; cut tiny pieces of fabric, with thin wire between the layers and glued to the back of the chain. GOGGLES! Since I used a light silver fabric I then put a couple of eyeballs with a black marker...so Buzz can now see where he's going!

AMBER WAS PEOPLE'S CHOICE AT AFIC

In the immortal words of Judy Skeel, "by a landslide". So this has been quite a week for me. First cover of SD&A and now this. Ironically, Edwina Sutherland won first place, for her fantastic needle felted doll, Doctor Contraption & His Personal People Transporter. Ironic because Edwina's doll The Piper Comes A-Calling (also needle felted) is the featured "Last Peek" doll in the issue of SD&A with Tillie on the cover. As Edwina said: " We're like bookends!"
Still waiting for further reports, but the ones that came in so far sound like it was a fabulous convention. Next one isn't until 2013, so maybe I can save my pennies and make it then. Ohio is just a bit far from here. sigh