Mishell ma belle

After a trip to the post office who then sent me to UPS, 45 mins of checking prices and delivery dates and I finally took a deep breath and said goodbye to my girl Mishell. I was a little sad as I wrapped her in the bubble wrap and stuffed her in the box. I thought I had another week to get her in the mail but Monday night I doubled checked the deadline and realized I had 3 more nights to complete her and get her in the mail. With my schedule, this was going to be a challenge indeed.

I don't know why I am entering this challenge, I am way out of my league, but as I explored the world of doll making I got more and more interested. I only discovered this wonderful form of art last July, while on a trip to NFLD. I bought whatever books I could and googled for hours. One day, I stumbled acrossed a website detailing the Hoffman Challenge. How interesting, I thought. So I sourced out a supplier of the fabric. Turns out there is one right here in Rothesay, NB.

Staring at the fabric for a few days, I had no idea how to make a doll worthy of this challenge. The ones I had made up to this point were pretty amateur. I cut and made two bodies and began designing the faces for and then I focused more on one expecting it would be a good practice doll and then I would do the 2nd one as my entry. Turns out, that she became my entry afterall. I named my entry Mishell - a mermaid. I didn't have a pattern for a mermaid - I made it up. As I worked on her, I kept thinking there has got to be an easier way to do this. I am certain there is, but I didn't find it. Her hair is made of Angora that I got from my favorite yarn shop Cricket Cove. It sells exotic yarns and fibres that are perfect for hair. 1000  of beads were hand sewn to her body and the shell chair she sits in. Yes, it is a shell, in case you can't tell. Her face is a little more fantasy like than my other dolls. I wanted lots of colour on her eyes. My friends say they see me in the eyes of my dolls.  Hmmmm? Not sure what that means. Ha.

So what now? Well, when I am not working or at the lake I plan on finishing my other doll. I am having difficulty figuring out her legs. In the past, my dolls have all been sitting. I want this one to stand and I am not exactly sure how to do that. Looks like I need to study a bit more. I have a few favorites that I like to follow and learn from. Extremely talented artists like Deanna Hogan, Patti Culea, Lisa Lichtenfels, Rivkah Mizrahi all inspire me. If you have a moment, I recommend you check them out.

Deep Freeze

It is -20C here in Quispamsis. I am sitting by the fire this cold frigid morning, working on a couple marketing projects for the shop. It is early and I am not quite awake yet so my mind is wondering a bit. 
Across the room perched on my stack of books and supplies is my latest doll.  I sewed her body and put the first layer on her face last night.  She is different from the others in that I deviated a lot from the pattern. When I laid the fabric out to cut, it looked a lot like the scale of a fish and my first thought was to make a mermaid with it.  But I didn't have such a pattern. I figured that shouldn't stop me. So I tried to imagine how a mermaids tail would look and how to translate that into a pattern.  With a bit of readusting here and there, I had an end result that pleased me. I also had time yesterday to stop by Cricket Cove and check out the wool selections.  I found beautiful mohairs, buffalo, alpaca and more. The mohair I chose for this doll with beautiful and sparkly. The colours are a bold version of iridesence, which will lend themselves perfectly for my aquatic creation. I think once her face is done and all the beading is applied she will be very charming.