Barbie redux WIP

Won't show the finished doll until I know whether or not I'm picked for the exhibit, but here are some WIP's.

Jayn's Smile Factory Etsy Store Opened

Jayn, 9 year old entrepeneur, has opened her Etsy store to sell the beaded earrings and jewelry she makes entirely by herself. She has sold some at craft fairs and flea markets, and also given earrings to some of her friends as gifts. But this just seems like a milestone.

The biggest excitement was to look at the public store for the first time after listing 10 items to find she already had a sale! Buy early - don't miss out.

New Dream Stars on Etsy

Four beautiful new Dream Star dolls, just listed for sale. I'm happy with these sweet ladies. Please visit the store for more pictures.

Mark Your Calendars

I will be a guest designer at the upcoming Swap-o-rama-rama focussing entirely on t-shirts, May 31st. Unfortunately the venue, The Santa Monica Museum of Art located in uber-cool arts center Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, can't support a major tie-bleaching effort, so I have spent a bit of time doing some lab work and experimenting at home for some other design ideas.

I plan on leading some Stitch Witchery based remaking. The fusible hemming web has two functions in tee/interlock knit work - it makes a usefully sturdy join, preventing the fabric from shifting without the need for pins, and it prevents stretch induced puckering of the joined seams.

I have now discovered the easiest ever way to make a kid's outgrown t-shirt last a few more seasons. Jayn is very pleased. This concept will definitely be going in my book.
She was less enthused about the center stripe experiment, although other people might like the look.

I have an idea to use the "join two" method to create some nice dress up costumes - like space ship uniforms in contrasting colors. I used machine top stitching to join these two shirts after ironing the Stitch Witchery, but I can see some hand embroidery decorating the seam of some other combos. Totally using some t-shirts I happened to have on hand - I'm looking forward to better raw materials at the three hour Swap event.

Stay tuned for more previews, and please come by the event. You can sign up for newletter updates at the website. (Oh what the heck, here's the link again.)

New WIP's

Jayn and I are enthralled by the Sisters Grimm series, a combination of two of our favorite genres - fractured fairy tales and mysteries. Inspired by the recent Doll Street Dreamers challenge to create Discworld characters, the gallery of which is now posted here, we have decided to embark on a long term project to create dolls for all the characters.

These will be for our own play and enjoyment. The first ones are going to be the sisters themselves, almost 12 year old Sabrina and 7 year old Daphne. Their just begun polymer clay heads still look very odd without irises or eyelids, but they are going to be fun. This is a project that will conceivably take years. There are hundreds of fairytale characters and creatures representing folklore, myth, and literature from Shakespeare to Dickens to Baum. And a few humans. Jayn wants to make dioramas also.

As well as the Grimm project, I have been busily beading a batch of Dream Star dolls and a Dream Doll, mostly made from vintage cottons. These happy ladies should be finished in another couple of weeks and will be available on Etsy at that time.