Happy Halloween

Alas for my busy, busy October (my daughter's birthday month) - I have still not completed my ADO Halloween Challenge doll. But here are some Etsy sellers who have managed to complete some beautiful creatures....

UK craftist, RedFlannelElephant has a cool needle felted witch on offer.

Mystical Mara is a jointed cloth witch with paper clay face and hands.

Crone Cottage has a Folk Art witch with distinctive features and green skin, named "Winnie".

Mary Magpie has added a rather gorgeous green skinned Goth Witch to her shop full, which has removeable clothing and a planned wardrobe.

Berry Mice Creations presents Zelda the Witch, who is very cute.

Meanwhile Pamela Junks Minis has a whole collection of teeny tiny miniature witches available.

KaerieFaerie52 has a coven also, including the fun Theater Witch.

No Halloween would be complete without a visit to Mealy Monster Land. Wendy found a cauldron....

Save the date

Creations in Fiber will be held May 20 - 24, 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The teachers so far include: Jean Bernard, Sherry Goshon, Arley Berryhill and Maurine Adrezin. There is also a doll contest divided into cloth dolls and mixed media dolls.

Fairy Godmother

Julie McCullogh makes fantasy themed cloth dolls. I especially enjoy her Broadway show characters, being an old theater person from way back. I worked in the wardrobe on the Australian production of "La Cage Aux Folles" in the early 1980's. Her website has lots of layers, history, pics of studios and dolls made from Julie's patterns. A fun browse.

Tribal spirit

Christopher Malone's remarkable large scale tribal themed sculptural figures are very beautiful and detailed. He seeks to imbue them with a spiritual sensibility. Many have been featured in galleries all over the country, including a current exhibition in Houston, TX and an upcoming one at the Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans.

He has also been featured on another rather lovely doll related blog - The Art of Healing Dolls. On this blog, doll artist Barb Kobe features interviews, links and stories about doll artists working with dolls for spiritual, emotional and even physical healing, growth and comfort for themselves and others.

Susie's Blog Giveaway

Now here's a blog giveaway absolutely worth entering. Prizewinning Australian doll artist of note, Susie McMahon is celebrating her 100th blog post with a giveaway. Go comment on her blog to enter to win one of her dolls (probably be worth a fortune one day, and sure to be absolutely beautiful right now).

Whimsy

Karen Harzigeorgiou of Karen's Whimsy makes these beautiful, and rather wistful seeming, mixed media wall hangings from altered books incorporating dolls as found objects. Elsewhere on her site she has a huge resource of vintage public domain images, and tutes for a bunch of surface alteration techniques.

New NIADA book

Received from Ankie Daanen:

Hello, Dear Dollfriends.
I just returned from the NIADA conference in Gatlinburg, and one of the highlights was the presentation of the new NIADA book with 425 pages of dollpictures from the worlds finest dollartists. A 'must-have' for doll lovers!
Because the book is printed in limited edition, I just wanted to let you know that the book is available for $65,- + $6,- for shipping.
If you might be interrested in this book you can let me know, and I can take care that you will receive the book.
I only need to know your postal adres.
My warm regards, Ankie

Ankie's email addy: ankiedaanen@hotmail.com

Modern Doll Collectors' Convention starting

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Modern Doll Collectors' Convention, this year in Albuquerque, NM. The Dolls Diamond Awards of Excellence will be announced during the event. Here are the nominees. There are also a tremendous number of competition categories within the convention, including the one that I would enter if I were going, Ellowynne Wilde's Enchanted Adventure. Maybe in a couple of years, when my daughter is older we will be able to go together. We'll just keep dreaming right?
Elfdoll are offering some dolls for auction, and holding some workshops too.

Another Russian Doll Artist

Russian doll artist, niknik, maintains a beautiful, eclectic blog filled with fascinating works-in-progress pictures. She works in polymer clay achieving a wonderful lifelike realism on one hand, evocative fantasy on the other. As well as working in cloth, she also makes doll house miniatures. I rather love her dragon climbing over a throne.
Now the words are in Russian which I can't read, and can certainly be easily translated by clicking on the Google toolbar. But there's something very serene in just looking at the pictures, and the Russian lettering has a beauty all its own as well.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama

I'm so sad that I'm not going to be able to make the Hallow'een Swap-O-Rama-Rama this Saturday, October 10, in Venice, CA - especially since I have been one of the guest designers at the last two. It's a super-fun event.
I mention it here because one of the most popular activities every time is soft Monster Making. The photo shows the critters my then 8yo daughter and my (not 8yo) husband made. The Swaps are cropping up all over the place.

October 6th is German-American Day commemorating the arrival of German settlers to Philadelphia in 1683.

There have been a lot of wonderful German doll makers. Here's a link to a travel site specializing in doll tours of Europe, including the International Puppenfestival Tour in May, 2010. Pardon me while I dream for a few minutes.

I'm ready to pack my bags after reading about visiting the ancient buildings that were once doll factories in Waltershausen, Germany. The page contains a fascinating description of doll making as a family based cottage industry in the 18th century and earlier.

In a similar tradition and closer to home, Sowatzka's Dolls is a family of doll makers, collectors and expert restoration artists. Gary has several pages of useful tips for collectors and many restoration techniques. As well, they are collecting personal doll memory stories(and offering prizes!). Many of these moving tales are about love and loss and redemption - the importance a doll can have in a child's life, or an adult's.

I Don't Knit, But...

It looks like fall is finally arriving, in North America at least. You can dress your American Girl warmly in a pretty, and very reasonably priced, hand knit outfit from Etsy seller Knits for Kids.
You can also visit her arts and crafts round up blog, where amongst other terrific makers she has featured...Iggy Jingles (that is to say me).
If you prefer to knit for your dolls yourself, Etsy seller Stylin' Dolls Knitz has some nice looking patterns.

Antique Doll News

News from Skinner Auctions:
Skinner will be presenting the auction of The Richard Wright Collection of Rare and Important Dolls (Session I) on October 10th from 11am. The event is to be held in Marlborough, MA, but it is possible to attend virtually and bid online. Previews of the dolls will be held in the two days before the auction, and the pictorial catalog looks beautiful also.
In conjunction with this auction is another event of intense interest to antique doll collectors, The Rare Doll Gallery Walk (scroll down the page) on the evening of October 9th, discussing dolls from the Richard Wright Collection.

Wild at Heart

Self described "dreamer and hopeless idealist", Zan Asha is excited that it is October. I am too, because I also love Hallow'een.
Wild At Heart Art Dolls are mostly cloth dolls with sweet eerie faces. Many are anthro fantasy critters. They share soft colors and blended edges that make them accessible instead of scary. I like them a lot.

Paula Nerhus emotive dolls

ADO member and artist Paula Nerhus's painted polymer clay dolls are otherworldly. Some make me think of organic baby aliens, others have a steam punk influence. But their eyes are haunting, and the aged surface treatments very interesting.
On her website, under the "studio" tab, are interesting pictures of works in progress. Here's her Etsy store.

Photo Tute in Newsletter

Once again I am utterly blown away by Adele Sciortino's FREE newsletter - yes, yes I've featured it before, but this time it is even better than usual. There are several articles about Santas and Christmas doll costuming which are very cool.

But the truly priceless content is Marianne Reitsma's extraordinarily detailed doll photo tutorial, with side by side good/bad photo examples from her own collection. She has tips about everything from backgrounds and angles,even to the best weather for outdoor photography. This may well be all you ever need to know about creating fantastic product shots of your dolls for portfolios, submission to magazines and in your online stores.

If you haven't subscribed yet, now is the time.