Dream Star dolls and a couple of Dream Dolls thrown in. I have some with beading begun, some stuffed and ready to be beaded, some awaiting stuffing, and some waiting for their faces. I am planning a couple of Dream Dolls in Asian quilting fabrics, with Kabuki faces. I am really looking forward to making the witches with their little felt hats. Next week I will be attending the Live and Learn Conference , leaving home Tuesday September 2nd. Any purchases made on Etsy on that week won't be mailed until I get home Monday September 8th. I hope that's OK.

I'm working on a bunch of commissions and some seasonal dolls. Here are a whole lot of painted faces - acrylic on muslin sealed with acrylic sealer. I had fun! The faces really come to life once the shine dot is put in the eye. Lots of different ethnicities and makeups. Yes, I am planning some green faced witches for Halloween! The two faces on the left were painted by my nearly 9yo daughter as her contribution. Such personality.

This doll head is using the lampwork glass eyes I bought at the bead show made by Ralph McCaskey. This doll will be a dryad whose robe will be made of handmade and a few manufactured leaves. You will notice the ridge running over the head between the ears. I have noticed a tendency for the headdress to want to slide backwards and I am expecting that this ridge will stop that from happening. It will not be visible in the final doll. Stay tuned....

My mother-in-law sent me a box of bits and pieces of vintage fabrics including a vintage silk kimono that had been cut down. Now it has been cut apart and washed and I am looking forward to making dolls from it. The lining is a lovely flesh tone silk, which is also good.

Aren't they cute? I'm tired of losing needles when I put them down, or having to push them into my clothes or the tablecloth because my regular pretty pincushion is too big to carry around when I am sewing or beading on the go. I also seem to go through a lot of thread, especially since much of it is inherited from my mother's store and the reels are partly used. I just hate tossing so many empty reels. Here's my really fast solution. A piece of felt, a circle of colorful fabric and a small wad of polyfil. I have a feeling all my friends who sew are going to get one.

As promised a bunch of new stuff is now at my Etsy shop for sale. Check out the Etsy mini to the right of the page for a preview. Have fun shopping, and don't forget to check out some of my favorite Etsy shops if you are looking for other art dolls. There are some wonderful artists doing different stuff from mine there...

Well, I finished my first artisan fair, and I would say that it was reasonably successful. I want to thank the organizers for getting it happening, and I hope New Directions was pleased with the results. Statistically, I did well with somewhere close to one quarter of the people who stopped and really looked at the stuff on my stall buying something - many of them being other vendors. My big seller was Wish Dolls, which are a nicely packaged, moderately priced item suitable for gifting. The turning point seemed to be when people had the chance to smell the wonderful Indian Musk essential oil in the pillows. I sold a Dream Star Doll and a Pin Doll, and received a lot of positive feedback both about my two bead head dolls and the crochet plastic bags which everyone seemed agree were clever and cool. BUT no one wanted to spend the money to buy them. My biggest disappointment of the day was the low turnout and the absence of affluent art lovers I had hoped would come by. Sadly it seemed t...

I had some fun making standers for my bead head dolls from dowels and pieces of driftwood.

With a felt cover embellished with paper beads.

The day and evening's progress....

.....I should have my White Maiden bead head doll ready by Saturday . It's going to be a few days of take out too, I'm suspecting. At the moment she looks something like a mummy, but that will change (I hope!). More...er..shape to her body than the elderly Granny. Same 16 guage wire armature; this time I used a clamp to help hold the wire while I twisted and that saved a lot of ache in my hands. Polyfil batting and washed unbleached muslin. In Australia we call this unbleached calico. Note the hands already prepared. I made a quick jig out of toothpicks and some styrofoam packaging material. Not the most sturdy jig, but it got the job done. The beads around her face are a reclaimed wooden necklace. (Well the background is in focus, but you get the idea.) This is roughly where we are headed with her: Back to work...or I should say back to super Fun!! More later.

Well, other than her stander. I'm so very pleased with her. We will be taking some pro quality photos of her with her stander in the next few days.

I have added the obi made from some asian print quilting fabric and some found fabric, and put on some hanging charms. Her hair is made from combined yarns. Her headress is of cottons and ribbon. Her necklace includes a piece of turquoise. All that is left now are her accessories and more painting on her hands.