Summer News from Ankie Dannen

Dear Dollfriends.

I like to give you an update about my ´dolly´ life!

April 11 I will teach a one-day class in Orlando, FL. ´How to make an innocent dollface´.
For info: www.idexshows.com / ankiedaanen@hotmail.com
And from April 12 until April 14 you can visit the show and see my brand new dolls!

From April 17 through 20 I will teach in the wonderful studio from
Adele Sciortino in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
´How to make a Big Belly Babe´.
We only have ONE opening!
For info:  adele@adelesciortino.com / ankiedaanen@hotmail.com

From April 25 through 28 I will teach in Mount Vernon, NY. in the great studio
from Gwen Jackson ´How to make a Flat Brat´.
We only have ONE opening!
For info: mamagdolls@msn.com / ankiedaanen@hotmail.com

From May 2 until May 5 you can find me teaching a one-day class
´How to make the perfect doll body´ on May 5 and see my new dolls during the
ARTISTS DOLL AND TEDDY BEAR CONVENTION
in Philladelpia, NY. on May 3 and 4.
For info: terry@quinlanmuseum.com

If you like to see what´s going on in the Bay Area from San Francisco, CA. from
June 24 until June 30, please go to:
www.niada.org or ask me for more info!
and you might like to sign up for my two day class
´How to make an art Heartbreaker face´ or ´How to make the perfect doll body´.

2014
From September 15 through September 21 I will teach my 

Dollmaking holiday in Spain!

The costs for this class are Euro 975,- ALL inclusive,

except airfare to and from

 Alicante airport EL ALTET in Spain.

More info: ankiedaanen@hotmail.com.

Miniature Artists' Call

Linus Gallery in Pasadena, CA has published a Call for Artists with the theme of Miniatures.

The maximum size of the art piece is 8 x 10 inches. Work must be wall hung to be considered, but they are interested in wall sculptures, and mixed media, so I'm thinking shadow boxes with tiny worlds could work well.

The deadline for application is .June 03, 2013.

All Dolled Up

The All Dolled Up Beaded Art Doll competition run by Land of Odds is open. The deadline for submissions is August 13, 2013. The site has links to images of the gorgeous work from past years.

Colliii Awards Registration Date Announced

I just received my Colliii.com newsletter which includes the announcement that registration for the 2013 Colliii Awards will open July 1st and run for the month of July. Time to peruse the categories and start making! To learn how your business can sponsor the awards contact them via e-mail j.carlsson@colliii.com .

The winners and images from last year's awards are on the website. This is a truly international competition for every category and type of doll. The site is full of news and interviews. I recommend signing up for the newsletter.

Iggy Jingles store

I know it's a bit cheeky....
... but my Etsy store, Iggy Jingles is filled with a bunch of brand new hand made dolls - Dream Stars, Wish Dolls, and my kid's toy Either Way Dolls, many in bright Spring and Summer colors.

Please visit, Pin and Tweet about them!

Annie at Madame Alexander

Madame Alexander dolls is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year with new collections and some beautiful dolls, including her signature big eyed baby faces Cissy and Cissette.

According to info I received, Madame Beatrice Alexander, "always felt that dolls should be played with and not kept on a shelf. She had an unwavering belief that dolls should engage the imagination and contribute to a child's happiness and understanding of the world."

One of the new dolls coming out soon is a 14 inch rag doll play version of Little Orphan Annie, using the white eye visual style of the original comic strip on which the musical, "Annie", was based. She is available for pre-order now, shipping later in March.

I like the clarity and simplicity of the Madame Alexander website. It's easy to navigate, and the images of dolls for sale have an automatic zoom feature to allow you to examine the doll closely before purchase. The History page is fun too.

Make It & Love It Buddies

Ashley at Make It & Love It has posted a free pattern and tutorial for an utterly adorable long legged soft doll for kids that is customizable as a boy or girl, and has sweet clothing.

The tutorial is very nicely detailed and comprehensive, with plenty of nice tips for stitching cloth dolls, and the pictures of the finished dolls with their young owners are lovely. The pattern would be very adaptable with different fabrics.

I'm going to Pin it. Please Pin or Repin from my boards.

Art Doll Juried Exhibit call

Denise Bledsoe - The Word is ART co-op member.

From Renee Troy:

OPEN CALL FOR ART DOLL ENTHUSIASTS.....

The Word is Art Gallery located in Culver City is having a juried Art Doll Exhibit starting March
25th running through April 14th. The three week exhibition will give artists the opportunity to show
and sell their creations. We encourage ALL artists interested to submit.

During the three week show, dolls will be on display in the front window of the gallery as well as
throughout the gallery. On March 30th, we will be hosting a "Meet the Artists" event from 4-8pm
where you will get the chance to introduce yourself and mingle with new and old followers, fellow
artists and collectors. There will also be doll centered art classes taught by local artists in the
gallery during the run of show. If you are interested in teaching a class please contact us!

The fine print:
Entries must be submitted by March 5th
All artists will be notified by March 10th of acceptance
The first entry is $15 and $5 for each additional doll accepted
Entry fees are due upon acceptance
Limit 4 dolls per artist

All accepted work needs to be delivered to the gallery between March15-20. Late entries may
not be displayed.

If you are mailing your dolls to the gallery please include return postage including insurance and
tracking fees to:
The Word is ART Gallery
9349 Venice Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

All remaining dolls must be picked up on April 16 - 20th. Any unclaimed dolls will become
property of the gallery as of April 25th. Dolls being shipped back to their makers.

*The gallery will take 40% of the sale price for each doll sold with 60% going to the artist.

When submitting your work please include on each piece: If there is no price, it will not be sold.

Name
Mailing address
email address
Phone number
Price of Doll

Please submit your work via email with subject line Art Doll Submission to
Renee - thewordisart@gmail.com
Shari - oldsouldollco@yahoo.com

Or, you are welcome to bring them in to the gallery on
Thursdays between 11-2 or
Fridays between 4-7

The Word Is Art
9349 Bagley St.
Culver City, CA
(310) 558-0856

Colliii Online

Colliii.com is an online resource for lovers of dolls of all kinds, with a strong focus on reborning. They hold a prestigious international baby doll/reborn competition annually, and also collect doll related news and blog posts from all over. This link is for the English website, from where international readers may find the site in German, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

Prosculpt Winners

The Johnston Original Art Doll ProSculpt Awardees for Summer/Fall 2012 have been announced. Images of the beautiful art dolls are on the site.

Robin Sullins Benefit Art Auction

"Sugar Fae" created and donated by Kat Soto

Recently I received shocking and sad news in the regular newsletter from Duirwaigh Studios. Robin Sullins has tragically had to have her legs and some fingers amputated after contracting a sudden rare blood infection after a nip from a beloved family dog over the holidays. 

Duirwaigh Studios are holding a fundraising auction, (click this link to preview some of the items already donated) on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2013, and asking for help from the arts community.

They are asking for donations of art works, including art dolls, and collectibles. They are asking us to help publicize the auction and fund raising efforts, and of course they are asking us to visit the auction and bid.  

There is a second Facebook page for the Relief Fund with links to some of the press the event has received, and a website where you may read the full story, and learn more about this little known canine bacteria.

"Pinkett" by Wendy Froud.

Duirwaigh are accepting donations until February 10th. Please contact them via e-mail at: donations@duirwaigh.com . 

And please spread the news of the auction in all your blogs and FB pages! Thank you.

Aware of Areaware

The catalog of Areaware includes some really cool wooden toys, including a modular slot together Cube Robot that is very cute. They can be painted, and look interesting posed in groups of bright colors. Also available, beautiful smoothly carved wooden animals.

In another are of the catalog are printed monochrome photos of animals on small pillows in different sizes. These are sold as toys or home decor.

Sweet Julie Arkell

Well I have managed to completely miss the work of British folk artist, Julie Arkell - probably because she does not appear to have her own blog or website. She is however, prominently featured on other people's blogs, at least one wonderful Pinterest board, and in several online galleries especially Earth Angel Studios.

Most of her art dolls are woodland creatures like rabbits, and humans, made from her trademark paper mache and scraps of reclaimed fabrics embellished with hand embroidery. She also makes pins and other mixed textile small pieces. If you look up whimsical in the dictionary, you will find a picture of any one of her sweet figures, in delicate, slightly faded pastels. Her paper mache makes the text of old books part of the beauty - and you know how much I love text in art. She also hosts workshops and inspires many others to discover the joy of paper mache figures.

Paper Doll Printables

Happy Holidays! Here's a nice gift - Paper Thin Personas - a website with oodles of sweet graphic free paper doll printables for your doll play and mixed media pleasure. There are also some tutorials. There are dolls in full color, dolls in black and white begging to enlivened, dolls that work as magnets.

Also on the blog are articles about antique paper dolls and collecting, and antique reproduction costumes so you can go ahead and get your Jane Austen on too.

And a Happy New Year to all.
 

JAMIEshow Alert

Tomorrow, November 27th, mid-morning, Angelic Dreamz will be releasing their Holiday Collection of resin ball jointed JAMIEshow dolls and accessories. They really are a beautiful fashion doll, and they are manufactured from a more environmentally (and health) friendly low VOC resin. The accessory collection ranges from shoes, wigs and differently posed hands to fantasy death's head masks and grim reaper zombie hands.

"Tis the Season

The Holidays are just about upon us. I plan to do a hand made and electronic Christmas, with most of my shopping being online, and much of it being being gift certificates. My daughter who has grown out of play dolls wants mostly computer gaming stuff for her gifts. I love the ease of downloads.

I am also making dolls for the holidays, including completing some commissions for Wish Dolls - so it's nice to know others are buying handmade.

One previously featured miniaturist, L. Delaney, has sent me a heads up about her upcoming Black Friday through Cyber Monday (Nov 23-26) sale at her Etsy shop, with a 10% off coupon for blog readers.

Not only are Laura's products adorable, I want to point out what a savvy marketing move it is to contact a blogger who has featured her in the past (ie me) with this information. Good work.

New Resource for Doll Makers

I have just received notice about the new Handmadeology Market. It is not a storefront, but it is a promotional opportunity to showcase your art works that are for sale at other online storefronts, like Etsy or Meylah, or directly from your own website.

From the email:
"The Handmadeology Market is not another selling venue, it is a live market place to show off your items.  Items added to the market are only live for 90 days, so the content it kept fresh! Sellers from across the web can list their items and link back to the items in their shops and websites. We welcome sellers from all sites and ones that have their own site.  There are no transactions happening here in the market.  Potential buyers can click through to your items and even contact you through the contact form.

Our new market is directly connected to Handmadeology and we will be utilizing our social media network and readership to get exposure for the sellers that list their items. "

I plan to put my dolls and paper crafts on the marketplace, and hope to see an uptick in traffic to my store. I'm not sure I'm very happy with the new "Browse" search paradigm on Etsy, which seems to favor jewelry and handbags, so anything that brings new eyes to my products is welcome. I plan to try the free version first, but closer to holidays, when I have some new pretty dolls, I may opt in to the $5 advertisement.

Has anyone listed yet? Have you noticed any increase in traffic?

Blooming Peg Dolls

Author and puppeteer, Margaret Bloom, hosted a peg doll trade. She documented the dear little dolls and sweet stories from all over the world on her blog. You say "peg doll", I see Kokeshi. There are gnomes and geisha and fairies, oh my. If you click on "puppets" in her tag cloud, you will see the sweet puppets and stories she has made.

She also has a book about making peg dolls. She describes them as perfect for children to make. I agree.

Etsy Paper Doll Workshop

There is a cool doll related Etsy Lab coming up: Etsy Hands-On: Letterpress Puppets. It's printing, then decorating and embellishing articulated paper dolls. Unfortunately for me, living in California, the event is in Brooklyn, NY. on Tuesday, October 23rd. The good news? There will be a livestream demo.

The lab is being facilitated by Etsy seller, Crankbunny.

Doll Essence

Tatiana Tofeneto of Doll Essence has a gorgeous website. I especially love her lengthy pictorial description of her process for creating her ball jointed porcelain doll design from a polymer clay pure sculpt - under the About tab. You can click the images for a slide show, and it is all very efficiently organized. The dolls are delicately painted and beautifully costumed.