some crafts

Creativity has been more an ebb than a flow these days, but here are some simple earrings I made, and a work-in-progress piece.

dream of the salmon maiden

I am working on a Salmon Maiden art-doll. (The idea of the Salmon Maiden comes from the music of Ruth MacKenzie - "Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden")

So far I finished her head (pics soon)... she looks regal to me, with salmon colored confetti trim for her hair, and her high cheekbones (but of course, all the faces I sculpt have high cheekbones). I've put some beadwork aound her neck, taken from a fancy pair of flip flop shoes that I never wore, but always knew I'd employ in some way.
Her body, now, is a different story.. it isn't a body, per se, but a box that will be filled with ocean type articles. So far I've got a couple of starfish in there. I need shells, and maybe a treasure chest. I am wondering how to embellish this box/body (a long rectangle) some more. The outside of it seems to need something... a lovely drape of material, if I had any. When I have pics of the doll-in-progress I'll post them, so maybe some of you mixed media folk out there (you know who you are) can help me out with some ideas.


I ordered my digital camera today! It's a simple one, but 10MP, so that's pretty nice. I can't wait to get it. No more relying on anyone else for photos, and no taking a walk and just wishing I could take a picture of something I see. This is one of the things I put on my vision board (this camera, and a DSLR, too). What do the Wiccan's say? So mote it be? So it is. .. and ain't it so, say I!

mother earth

The Icon Doll Challenge has now been posted on the WildArtDolls yahoo group site, so I'm able to show it here. I did this a couple of months ago; it's my depiction of "Mother Earth". She is 16" tall. The materials I used are:Yarrow sticks Hawk, Pheasant, and Cardinal feathers,Cave egg (white stone),semi precious,gemstones,buffalo hair,chamois leather,half of a seed pod, and a stone bead.

 

 

 

prosperity

 

2009 Prosperity doll, in progress.

change in the weather

It has been a strange couple of days... a feeling in the air; the density rising and falling, freezing and thawing. The sky says snow, but not just yet... a cluster of rain storms, even thunderstorms expected throughout the day tomorrow.

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of my father's death. Anniversary is a silly word for a death day. 28 years since John Lennon's death on the same day. A day that has been remembered for a long time.

It's a melancholy time.

I eat pastina, and contemplate my life.

I think about times of my life. The good moments stand out like gems; hard like diamonds that can sustain their shape and clarity throughout the ages. Dark times sink into the earth, and are recomposed into something less ominous.

In my life I have had two great loves, separated by time and distances of thousands of miles and many years. Estranged now, from both of them, I reflect upon what the Brujo said to me....
Que hicieron con sus manos es deshacerse de sus pies ... What you put together with your hands you take apart with your feet. It was about me leaving... gathering things and people into my life, and eventually leaving... sometimes emotionally, and oftimes physically. Sometimes, I have just stood still, and pushed.

But, you see, I wasn't always like that. I'm not like that today. The day after tomorrow is a whole 'nother story. ;-)

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Today I made translucent chrysanthemum canes, and covered a tin with them. It looks nice, just needs sanding, buffing, and a glaze.

I came across several items I want to use for my another art doll. An old turtle shell, a small moth shaped card, from my friend, Two Crows, when we were still connected, crystals, for sure...which will probably replace arms/legs These things are precious to me, but sometimes another life calls. Perhaps they will become part of an art doll that someone else will treasure for its parts, and as a whole. I need some representation of fire, because I believe it is an Elements doll, overall.

This doll must stand on her own.. that is a thread I'd like to work with. It is figurative, of course, but it is quite literal, too... I want to construct if so it stands without need of support.

Hunter's Moon

I woke at 5am to the light of the moon shining in my bedroom. It's a full Hunter's moon today, and as glorious as ever, lighting the sky before dawn.

My 2 currents dolls are taking the backseat today, as my creative juices are wanting to flow in another direction. It's good to have half a dozen things going at the same time, I figure. That way, there's always something to pick up when the attention span starts waning on one particular piece.

I expect my photo card reader to arrive in the mail today. Found myself waiting for it yesterday, until I realized it was Columbus day, and there was no mail delivery.

I took a couple of pictures of the gourds that I'll be working on next, and will edit this post to include that as soon as I can get the pics up. They are miniature gourds, and some are the shape and size of a chicken egg. Let's see where they take me. I may try a bit of pyrography on them, but I'm not so versed in that, really. I'll probably cover the egg gourds completely (with clay), and use them as an armature shape for some Ladies of Abundance, which I haven't made since I first started claying 8 or 9 years ago.

The sky is lightening up now, and it looks to be a very gray overcast day, so far. I don't much mind that.

threads and gems

The doll is progressing nicely. I don't know what her name is yet. I've painted her whole body, and wrapped her arms in embroidery floss. Today, her "hands" were incrusted with lots of semi-precious gems (little flakes of various gemstones). She is really gaining power.

I had a head sculpted for another doll, but not yet cured, the piece kept losing the head, getting dry and falling off. So, I cut the face off of that head, and I'm using it on this healing spirit doll.... I used gold pearl-ex to enhance the face. I think I want to hang things from her arms... not sure what, though. Beads? Charms of some sort?

dolls at dawn

Today I'm up early; not so unusual. I started working on my doll again. She's a wild art doll, and one of my first real diversions away from all polymer clay. I've been working on her bit by bit, trying to get an idea of who she is, and what she needs to portray her self. She appears to be a healing doll, and the one I made before her seemed to be a healing doll, as well. Both are very different. The first, smaller one, is primarily black and gold (on a filled muslin body form w/paint, beads, polymer clay face). The one I'm working on now is copper and blue and gold and pink and lavender and purple and red ... well you get the picture; a much more diverse play of color. The various beads down her center are a mix of representations... chakra, tan tien, energy centers. She is very light and very female in nature. She is fun and healing.

There is always a long way to go with any art form. A never-ending process of learning. If I'm not seeing something with new eyes each time I look at it, then I'm not seeing it at all.

There are faces, and faux stones, and sculpted bodies curing in the oven.