Santos Cage Doll Repair

 I finished the ebook, "Where Lost Girls Go" by B.R. Spangler, which was good, but not as much of a page turner as some of the others I've read the last few weeks. Have now started "Seven Sisters, Book One", by M.L. Bullock, but I've only read the prologue so far, which was pretty good. I got sidetracked onto making pictures of the snow and other stuff and posting to various places online.

So, I used a hot glue gun to glue the wooden strips onto the clay cage doll I made, and it didn't hold. The strips started coming loose, so I took them off weeks ago and re-painted her dress (was blue), got the dried hot glue off the strips and sanded the places where glue is needed, and ordered some glue that's supposed to hold anything. I tried to glue a strip a couple of days ago, but it takes the glue up to an hour to dry and I couldn't hold it that long. I got frustrated trying and put her back in the cookie tine until I can figure out a way hold the strips on until they set.

This is the shape of my main work space right now. Stuff in progress plus lots of torn papers and images that I plan on collaging with. Yep, I'm a pack rat! I can't work in a neat orderly space anyway. It's all good though! :)

Some of the snow melted today, but it's already freezing back on the roads, so it's still hazardous out there. I have only been on the porch, but hubby has gotten out every day to feed the cats and birds and check the mailbox. Praying he doesn't fall and break something. He's almost seventy-seven and has diabetes, so I worry.

Anyway, I'm signing off for today. Have a good night! Let's go make something! :)

Yard Photos Fall 2023

 It was such a beautiful day today, one of those "magic light" days, that I had to get out and walk around the yard a little. My legs and feet wouldn't let me go very long, but I so enjoyed getting to snap a few pictures. It did me a world of good!

So I got in a bit of creativity by trying different filters on a few of the photos before labeling them. They are not necessarily in the order I took them as I walked because of the way I labeled them afterwards. I am a bit rusty with everything, I'm afraid.

Daddy's Shop and Toys

Old Fountain with Children

Old Garden Spot Overgrown

Same Garden in black and white

Kibbles old grave markers-The back one has her name, BD, and DD 1997

Old metal lawn chair by the hickory tree

Same chair close up

Same chair in black and white

Same chair

Same chair different angle

Maple tree in yard

Concrete Rabbit bench back close up

Concrete Rabbit Bench

Red Rocks

Same rocks

Same rocks

Kibbles Monument-Note the mourning dove feather

Kibbles monument

Split tree trunk by front porch

Old yard decor by stump

Same yard decor in black and white

Old stump fountain/planter with moss

I wanted to ride out to the old homeplace of my grandparents, but by the time I walked around the house I was done in. Maybe tomorrow! I haven't been out there since back in the spring, and I so miss getting to walk out there every few days. I can see and find many more treasures on foot than in the side by side with hubby driving, but I'm thankful he will drive me and wait for me to explore.

Before I went walking, I started repairing the first sculptured paper clay cage doll I made a couple of years ago. I used a hot glue gun on her cage skirt, which was a big mistake, because it didn't hold, and the skirt strips turned loose, so a while back I took them all off, repainted her blue dress white, and she's been resting. Today I cleaned all the glue I could off the wooden base and was going to try to start gluing the strips back with better glue, but hubby came in for coffee, and he's a talker, so I layed her down again for now. He's more important anyhow! :) 

I made two cage dolls, and I will have to do the same with the other doll. I'm also going to re-paint her mauve dress a soft green. (If you want to see them, click on the Santos Cage Dolls label on the sidebar.) 

Thankful to have gotten in a smidgeon of creativity in today! Hope you did too! It does a body and mind good! :)

Thank you for visiting!

On My Work Table Right Now

 Works in progress on my work table right now. All new paper clay sculptured beings inspired by the Come Clay with Me course plus a re-do of the first cage doll I made!

All are in the process of drying except the painted one in front. The three across the back are not part of any class, but in a previous post I shared three heads, which I have now added busts to, making them stand alone. The taller one I used a paper mache body form left over from another project. She is giving herself a hug. 

The little bell shape with the ears I made previously will be a bunny mask/hat to fit the hugging figure. The little being, inspired by lesson 4, with her knees drawn up and her bunny ears is waiting on her arms and hands, and the two shells will become little containers for a figure, yet to be sculpted, to be holding for lesson five. I used mussel shells, which are shallow, so I set them in paper clay. 

This is the first cage doll I made (see previous posts), which I haven't added the crown and accessories to yet. Anyway, I never liked the blue she was painted, so when the hot glue I used to glue the cage sticks to her turned loose I took the opportunity to pull them all off and re-paint her dress. I like her much better. Now to use some better glue to put her skirt strips back on and add her accessories!

It's going to take these a while to dry, so it may be after Christmas before they get painted. In the meantime I'll keep sketching and practicing, or maybe I'll make journals for a couple of other courses I'm taking, or I've been wanting to stitch more meditations. We'll see!

Paper Clay Project-Part 2-"Lami" Coming to Life!

I've been working on "Lami" for a few weeks now, in between the clay drying sessions, and I'm calling her done. The first photo is the finished version, followed by the process, then another finished one. She is 9" tall, much bigger than I meant for her to be, made of paper clay, acrylic paint, and collage. I didn't create her from any particular class or reference. I had an idea in mind, but she kind of created herself as I tried to manipulate the clay. 

She has character and a place in my heart! Now to find just the right place in my house for her...

Lami started out as wadded up newspaper wrapped in masking tape, then tin foil. The head and bust are reinforced with a wooden dowel piece inserted into the neck.

I inserted shaped armature wire into the head, cupped them, and covered them with painters tape and began adding clay, marking the facial features as I went.

She is all covered in clay here and I've worked on her ears, eyes, and nose some. I also built her forhead and the top of her head up more. The clay dried over the next few days. Somehow the ears lost their cupping when I added the clay and wound up flat. :(

Here I've worked wet clay over dry trying to bring out her features more. It took multiple trys, but she has a mouth now!

A few more days of drying before I work up the nerve to give her some hair/wool, but she's got some now!

A couple more days before I start painting her, but here she is with some base colors. My husband and my friend wanted me to leave her like this. They liked it and were afraid I was going to mess her up if I painted her like I intended to.

Hubby informed me that the blue eye shadow messed her up, but I liked it and kept it! Trying to decide what I want to do to her dress here. Whether to add wide white stripes, white dots, or paint a scene similar to some I have seen on Pinterest.

I added another layer of paint all over, toning down some of the intensity. I also painted her ears from the faun color back to her wool color and warmed up the pink inside. Her eyelids are actually a bit more red oxide than they appear here, more like her lips. I decided I wanted a scene on her dress, but was too lazy to paint one, so I collaged a napkin scene onto it and gave her black choker necklace, which should be a bit wider, but will suffice until I can find one. The verdict is still out as to whether I add some tiny pearls or white dots to her eyelids.

Lami from the back. I know her ears look a bit like airplane wings, but that's ok. She seems happy with her mis-shapen lamb ears and I can live with them. Some people stain/antique these kinds of sculptures, and that looks great, but, at least for now, I'm opting not to use a stain. 

Lami is very flawed, like me, and I'm in no way a pro sculptor. I'm sure I made many mistakes during my process and I know I didn't get her face just right, but I guess she turned out how she was supposed to, and I love her. Hubby and my friend also love her now! Now on to the next project!

I'm thinking about taking Jeanne Marie Webb's class on paper clay characters, because I love her work and I know I could learn a lot from her! I've already taken her Painting on Teabags course, which I loved.

Anyway, until I have something else to share, stay well and keep creating! The world needs all the good stuff it can get!

Paper Clay Project-Part 1-Sketches and Studies for "Lami"

 These are some sketches/studies for a paper clay project that I have been working on for several days. All but the last one are sketched from my imagination and Pinterest ideas before I actually made an armature to start "Lami". The last one was sketched from the actual bust while it's drying. I'm trying to decide how I want to paint her in acrylics, and she'll probably look nothing like either of the sketches. 

Her name comes from her lamb ears and wool hair and was originally Lamby, but by the time I got her made it was shortened to Lami, which has stuck.

Lami should be good and dry now, ready to sand, seal, and start painting! Can't wait to see how she turns out once the paint is applied! Stay tuned!

See ya in the next post! Try something new! It'll boost your creativity and invite your muse back in!

Both Santos Cage Dolls Together

So, this is kind of a bad photo of the two Santos cage dolls that I made recently our of air dry doll clay (see previous posts). The curtain stripes blend in a bit too much with their skirts, but you get the idea. They are patiently waiting for their jewelry and accessories, because I haven't yet found exactly what I think will suit them among my supply hoard. 😊

I think the blue one will have wings, which I do have, but haven't glued on yet, and I think I'm going to make both of them crowns of some sort. I've already tried a couple out of air dry clay, which weren't right, and I've tried several round ring type objects, also not right, but I found some crowns made out of lace on Pinterest, so I'm going to give them a try, and I have some other ideas for accessories also. It's just a matter of finding, putting together, and getting them actually on the dolls! 

I'll post another picture as soon as they have all of their baubles attached! Fun stuff!

On My Desk Today

 On my desk: Mixed media and sketches in sketchbooks, collage ephemera

and I'm trying to find just the right jewelry and accessories, and make crowns, for these two cage dolls. The bottom doll also has her cage skirt on, but I haven't made her picture yet.

Anyway, I have these projects going, along with my Wandering Muse journal and a couple of new classes. I'm gathering brown paper bags to use to make a journal for the Storytellers and Mavericks class, and I just signed up for Time Traveler on Ivy Newport's site, which is a course on 1920s fashion illustration, which starts Nov. 4. Oh, and I'm working on a large oil painted portrait of my little Pekingese dog again. Too many irons in the fire at once, I know, but it keeps me from getting bored, and it makes me happy!  And the holidays are fast approaching, and I haven't come up with an idea for calendars, cards, or gifts yet. Yikes!

Life moves very fast! Stay creative! :) 

Second Santos Cage Doll Attempt

I got the wooden strips in to make the skirt for the first doll (see previous posts), but haven't come up with a way to attach them to her yet, one that will be sturdy enough, so in the meantime I've started working on a second doll, also inspired by Jennifer Rizzo's class (see sidebar for link), also in air dry doll clay. 

This time I'm using papier mache ready made forms (egg and torso) as a core. After deciding how I wanted the head to be positioned, I punched holes in the neck of the torso and the bottom of the egg and glued a flat wooden stick into each and let dry 

The following doll and the following pictures were made over several days.

The torso was too long for what I wanted, so I cut the bottom off, stuffed some paper into the torso, and filled the bottom with a layer of air dry doll clay, making the bottom flat and giving it a bit of weight. I then covered the rest of the outside with clay and let it dry.

I also didn't want her breasts to be so obvious, so I filled in a little extra between them and punched holes in the shoulders for the wire that will hold her arms on to go through.

It's better to work with all damp clay, because it's hard to get damp clay blended over dry clay, even if you work with damp fingers and dampened clay, but I can only work so long at a time, and I forget to cover what I've done with a damp cloth and put it in a zip lock bag between sessions, so on these two dolls, I've worked damp over dry. If I ever make one for someone besides myself, I will do better. I'm not use to working with clay, but I'm learning! Next, the face, hair, and arms!

Working on the face, and I inserted wire to attach arms. I had made two holes (one on the shoulders and one in the upper arm) to loop the wire through, but never could get it through both holes, so wound up just inserting it straight through. Then this wire turned out to be too stiff, so I had to switch to a thinner wire, but it's all good...hopefully! Still have the eyes and hair to do, which I did the next day, but didn't get a photo of.

I didn't paint a layer of white gesso over the clay on this one before I painted her, and I had to re-adjust her face some before painting too. Unfortunately, I got twisted around and somehow got her face turned different than I had intended, and I got her forehead too narrow, the nose too big, and her chin too long (faces are HARD), so she isn't pretty, but she does have character, I think. She reminds me of one of my great-aunts! :)

Ready to assemble! 

I don't really like the head made from the papier mache egg with the torso I got. It's a little too big for the body, but, hey, I'm learning! And I'm still afraid to attempt fingers!

I didn't like the pink dress and lips, so I re-painted them and painted the hair a bit redder. Not sure I improved her any! Now to get her arms attached with wire and add the skirt, if I can find my hot glue gun...

I found my big hot glue gun, after wiring her arms on, and glued the flat sticks for her skirt on her body and I thought they were holding (she looked sooo good!), but the next day I picked her up to glue them to the base, almost dropped her, and accidentally hit two of the sticks trying to catch her, causing them to pop right off. I'm going to go ahead and publish this post, and when I get the skirts to stay on, I'll post a picture of both dolls completed. OK?

    

UPDATE! After much trying, I finally got her skirt on! Now, just praying the glue holds! 

Working on the first doll's skirt now, and will post a picture of both dolls, with a better background, when I have their accessories found and on!

Stay safe, well, and creative out there! Thanks for visiting my blog!