Small dragon skeleton fossil

Dug up in West Sweden, Texas by an amateur paleontologist, this small dragon skeleton is over 50% complete. By the size, it’s been determined that this is an immature Draco Pygmaei (Pygmaen Dragon).

No, I haven’t gone bonkers. This is actually a bas relief piece that I’ve had in my Etsy shop for some time now. I decided to pull it and try it out on Ebay but it’s not getting many hits so I figured I’d do a little blog post about it. This piece took me around 10 hours to make and includes a pound of polymer clay, sponge coral, and an amethyst. The spine bones from the neck through the tail are all sponge coral. All the other bones were sculpted out of polymer clay except for a couple of small bones in the wing.

I have it permanently mounted in a black shadow box frame and plan on including a COA by the Draconus Reliquiae Magister from 1947, when the skeleton was “discovered.” I’ve debated putting together a small photo album showing photos of it’s discovery as an extra gift with the item but I haven’t really convinced myself to do that yet.

Meanwhile, you can check out the “discovery” pictures right here:

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You can find him on Ebay here.

EDIT: He’s back in my Etsy shop.

Venus on the half shell.

Well, she’s completed! And looking as lovely as can be expected for a large, purple monster with a rather interesting concept of fashion.

I did end up using my commercial artist acrylics rather than attempting the paint making myself. I’m still not sure how the egg tempera is going to handle once I have it made so it’s definitely going to be reserved for experiments at first.

Venus' Face

From the head down…the hair is a fuzzy yarn I had on hand. Like fabric, I’ve become entranced with yarn in all it’s many forms, but especially the really soft-looking stuff. I’ve even taken up crocheting again, although it’s on the “hobby” list so I don’t usually have much time to do any. The eye is an acrylic doll eye (I think it’s Tallinas). The bathing suit was sculpted on and then painted.

Side view.

From the side, you can see her saggy belly, hanging just a bit over the teenie bikini bottom. She definitely likes to draw attention to herself. The yellows and reds came straight from the tube but the purple had to be mixed by hand because I didn’t have any purple paint in my stash. Funny thing is that I realized I don’t even have a good set of primary colors on hand. I managed to scrounge up a small bottle of violet and had several blues so I picked on and did a bit of mixing before finally coming up with a dark, purplish blue. Once she was painted and I looked her over, I realized she was still too blue so I did a wash of violet over her to give her the deep purplish look.

Back of the beauty

My kids were tickled that you could see her butt hanging out of her bikini bottoms. And, they’re hard to see but she does have a tiny set of wings under all that hair.

So, when she was all finished up and had hair, I finally decided on a name–Venus. Because I got this mental image of my purple bathing beauty on a clam shell looking like a rather silly version of the Birth of Venus.

Striking a pose

Original nose and mouth...kinda small and out of place.

Once again, I forgot to take a photo of my original sketch but, after looking at that tiny little nose again, I just knew I needed to go with my original idea of big, fat smiling lips and no nose. So I scraped the nose and mouth off and started that part over. My first try at her new lips were waaaay too huge so I had to tone it down a bit. I finally came up with something I liked, including her rather extreme overbight.

New facial features...as in, really big lips.

This will be the first doll I’ve made that required so much painting. Usually, I only have to paint the head hands and feet and the rest is cloth over a wire armature wrapped in batting. But after taking a class with the very awesome Susie McMahon (something I still need to do a write-up on), I’ve taken more of an interest in painting my dolls.

She needs a name, too...

Here's the lovely and not quite finished bathing beauty.

Now, let me just give some background to this. My husband and kids were hanging around the dining room/kitchen one day (can’t remember what we were doing) and I started singing the Purple-People Eater to my kids, figuring they would like it. Of course, my memories not what it used to be and I started mixing up the lyrics with Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini. As you can imagine, it made for some interesting and even sillier lyrics than the songs normally have by themselves. To top it off, my husband was convinced that the Purple-People Eater sang, “Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” during the song.

Side view. You can see her wings, three-fingered hand, saggy butt...

Which is how the Purple-People Eater wearing an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini and wondering, “why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” was born. As you can see, she’s still a work in progress. She needs hair (probably sculpted although I might use some yarn/fiber), ears (holes poked into the sides of her head), and I haven’t decided if I will give her a tail yet or not. And she needs to be painted, naturally.

Back view

The other thing I’m not sure about is her expression. When I look back at my original sketch (I didn’t think to take a photo of it so I could post it here), I made her with a big smile on her face, really fat lips and a couple of fangs. No nose either. The one I’ve done has a pretty human looking nose and a little mouth that’s down-turned because I figured she’d be sad/embarrassed since everyone is picking on her. I was even thinking of making her cheeks very rosy. But when I look at the sketch, I think she might be better with a smile, so I may change that before I finish her up.

Close up of her butt and wings

The painting may end up the being the biggest challenge for me. I recently decided to take a little more control of the various paints, pastels, etc. that I work with and bought pigments so I could mix my own artist paints/colors. I now have “the fear” of getting in there and actually mixing up some paints (acrylics or egg tempera are two types I’m looking at). Maybe I’ll take some photos while I’m playing, as one site put it, studio alchemist. Then I can share my disasters and, hopefully, some successes as well with the paint mixing. Hmmm, I may have to just pull out my artist acrylics from the box they’re in (waiting to be sold) just so I can finish this doll by the deadline.

The front of my lovely bathing beauty to be.

Figure Carving Finesse by Al Stohlman

Maya Codex I

Since I had to give up polymer clay (mostly) because of the allergic reaction I had to it, I was looking for something to “replace” that medium in my bookbinding. Frankly, my polymer clay books were the most popular ones I made because of the uniqueness. I could get texture, designs, and relief images in polymer clay that was missing in just using fabric and paper. I’ve been meaning to play around with a different type of clay (Apoxie Sculpt, a two-part epoxy clay) but the techniques for working with it are so much different than polymer that I haven’t even started trying to figure out how to use it for bookbinding.

Enter leather. I don’t even remember what got me thinking about leather carving. I

Like a glove mini journal 3" x 2"

think the leather idea came up when I found a pair of vintage leather gloves at a garage sale for practically nothing. Way too small for anyone but a child or teenager to wear, even though they were ladies gloves. And since I didn’t know anyone they would fit, I cut them up and made a miniature book out of them using most of the leather and one buckle for the book. I’m not sure how I went from recycling leather to using veg tanned leather and carving/stamping it but I did.

Of course, being a bibliophile means I need to buy how-to books on the subject. I actually did pretty good, though, and held out for quite awhile. I first checked out various websites for info on types of leather to use and then, finally, ended up at Tandy Leather talking to the manager of our local shop. He’d actually studied the history of leather carving and leather use, including aspects of bookbinding, so we had some really good discussions. He also showed me, in between helping other customers, how to do a little stamping, carving and beveling and shared some suggestions on which tools I would need and which ones I could wait on.

Tilting at Windmills

My first attempt at a full leather binding, hardcover, with a hand-carved design was a simple, original design of a windmill on the front cover and lances on the back cover. It was a “Cervantes” sketchbook I did for a BEST (Bookbinders of Etsy Street Team) challenge last year. I never submitted it because I made some mistakes on it and didn’t want to put it up for sale. But I am proud of it–it was one of my first hardcover books, my first hand-carved design (on a book, I did actually practice the windmill a couple of times), and the first book I did with a fold-over closure that snapped closed.

But you actually came here for a book review rather than my rambling walk down memory lane. Which brings me to the book, Figure Carving Finess by Al Stohlman. I did pick it up mainly for some detailed instructions on leather carving and the book is full of that. I also had this notion that it might prove beneficial for me as a sculptor and, I absolutely believe this is true. This book provides some amazing instructions in determining musculature on both animals and people, hairing, scaling, and texturing techniques, and a lot of the information really can be put to good use by sculptors and/or for doing sculpted relief work.

So what do you get in this book? Frankly, a little bit of everything and a lot of excellent techniques and specific information on actual carving techniques including what tool to use (by Craftool #, of course), where to use it (with enough information for you to extrapolate where to use it on whatever figure you’re carving), and whether you might need to grind the tool down in half so it will work better. He gives you information on tracing a pattern or on taking a photo and converting it to a usable pattern for your carving. Including how to reduce or enlarge the pattern, if needed. Stohlman wastes absolutely no space whatsoever in this book. Every inch is covered with techniques, tips, tools, steps for carving from cutting through dying/coloring and finishing information, and everything in between. It is truly a wealth of information and an excellent resource for leather carvers. Even those like me who have no intentions of doing a lot of human or animal forms specifically.

But, for me, the added benefit is the wealth of information that I can use in my sculpting. Everything from hairing techniques that could easily translate to sculpting (even if I’m using different tools, I’m confident that the methods he used for making close-knit fur or shaggy hair, for instance, would work on a sculpture). He includes some basic details of how the muscle formations will differ depending on their position and whether they are stretched or bunched. He shares some facial characteristics for different races of people. He gives details of his observations on how animals walk so that when you carve (or sculpt, even) an animal walking, trotting, or racing, you position the legs properly for different types of animals.

The only downside, which really isn’t a downside, is that he doesn’t waste space in this book covering things that he’s already covered in other books he’s written. He consistently refers to his Pictorial Carving Finesse book and has a list at the very beginning of the various instructional books he’s done, explaining that he won’t be duplicating much of the information found in the other books because why waste the space. Normally, I might find this frustrating because I’d like all the information I need right in this book. But, to be honest, if his Pictorial Carving Finesse and other books are as loaded with information, it’s not going to be a chore to own copies.

Overall, I would say this book is a “must have” for any leather carver and a excellent resource for the artist in general.

PetitPlat's sketch for our RR doll

PetitPlat's yummy looking mini pastries

Stephanie Kilgast (Petit Plat on Etsy) made the most incredible food and flowers for this collaboration. We decided that our design would be a little girl looking in amazement at a nest holding some broken eggs with miniatures spilling out of them–kind of a nod to both spring and miniatures.

Her little flowers are exquisite and so delicate.

PetitPlat's lovely miniature flowers

She used polymer clay for her pieces, creating miniature food that makes your mouth water and tiny flowers that look real enough to have a scent.

Originally, I was just planning on doing a bust for this, with the nest sitting in front of her face, like in the sketch Stephanie did. But I had an extra stuffed doll body lying around so I went with that instead. Added a foil covered styro egg for the head and I was ready to start some sculpting.

Stuffed body stolen from a commercial doll, foiled egg head armature, nest with minis and eggs

I decided to try an air-dry clay I hadn’t used before so I pulled out the Premix (LaDoll and Premier mix) and used it. It’s a bit more marshmallowy than Darwi and Paperclay but it really smooths out nicely. I’m not sure I like it though, because I had a bear of a time during the whole sculpting process adding new clay to dried clay and smoothing seams.

RR hands, not sanded yet

Hands first. I wanted her to have some chubby hands because she’s a little girl. These have no armature or wire–I’ll be carving a little grove around the wrist and tying/gluing the hands to the cloth arms.  These haven’t been sanded yet.

Feet followed–I was inspired by Holli and the

RR foot

cute little buckle shoes she uses on some of her girl dolls. I thought it would be perfect for this little girl.

I only had one foot done when I took the pic. It’s also unsanded at this point. I’ll be using the same method to attach the feet to the body–carved groove on the foot that’s tied/glued to the cloth.

RR head, mid-sculpt

Head was next. I used really big eyes (yeah, I like really big eyes) and then spent a bunch of time building the rest of her head up so she didn’t look like she had Marty Feldman eyes. This picture is mid-sculpt. I still needed to fill out the top of the head and add a little chubby to the cheeks.

Completed and sanded. The head looks a bit

RR Head sanded

better although I’m not totally happy with her. To be honest, I was sculpting off the cuff without really double-checking my resources for sculpting a child so I think her proportions are a bit off. But she’ll be fine once she’s painted and wigged (and dressed).

It’s the Spring Chipmunk! I added a little pointed chin on her, too, just because I wanted her to have one.

RR doll in progress, sanded

Here she is, keeping my place in my puzzle book (I love Sudoku, even if this page shows a word puzzle). She’s been sanded and now just needs to be painted, wigged, clothed.

And now, the question–what kind of hair does this darling need? I was thinking pony tails with curly hair.

RR with wool hair

Unfortunately, every time I look at this picture I think “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” This is wool hair that I bleached–it came out whitish-yellow.

RR with Flax hair

This one is flax colored viscose. I like it but I think it might still be too light. I can curl the viscose if I decide I want to use it.

RR with Dark Blonde hair

And, finally, the dark blonde. I think I like this one best, even though my original mental image was a blonde girl. I’m still not sure though. Part of it will probably depend on the painting I do on her. The idea is for her to have a pale-pinkish skin tone, very faint blush, faint coloring on the eyelids, and pink lips. I may have to wait to do the eyebrows until I’ve decided on the hair color. I think the shoes will be black and I’m stumped on the dress right now. I kind of picture an Alice in Wonderland type dress but that might just be my brain making me feel guilty for not having done my Alice doll yet.

Anyone have any opinions? If so, just leave me a comment about it. I’d love ot hear what y’all think.

Worry by Amy Rawson

There’s no hard and fast definition to be found for an art doll. They can be made out of almost any medium or several different media. They come in various shapes, sizes, styles, and designs. They can be very realistic or abstract with barely anything recognizable on them. They can be human, humanoid, anthropomorphic, alien, fantasy, sci-fi, or just about anything in between. “What is an art doll?” is as loaded a question as “What is art?”

Matilde by Colleen Downs

The two main defining points about art dolls that you will find consistently are:
1. An art doll is a work of art. The chosen form might be a doll but the piece is art and is intended to be treated and viewed as such.

Violet by Sarah Faber

2. Art dolls are not toys. Usually, an art doll is for display with little to no direct interaction but even art dolls designed to be interacted with (e.g., puppets, marionettes, jack-in-the-boxes, and automatons) are made for adult collectors and are not toys or usually even considered child friendly. Most people wouldn’t allow their children to play with a bronze sculpture or painting on the wall and art dolls fall into the same category.

Ramon by Ky Eliza Ivany

Just like other art forms can be expressed through multiple media, art dolls can, as well. Art dolls can be fully sculpted or partially sculpted from clay with soft bodies. They can be soft sculpture which involves very detailed sculpting of foam and fabric with a needle to make incredibly realistic features. They can be assemblage taking a combination of various materials and making a doll form out of them.

Meadow Moss by Marjorie Liucci

They can even be altered dolls–consider Barbie, sculpted over, painted and turned into a wood nymph…to the point where you barely recognize her original form. But each of these media follows the same defining points of an art doll–they are works of art first and they are not toys to be played with by children.

Octopus Mermaid by Kate Sjoburg

One-of-a-kind (OOAK) is a phrase that shows up a lot in the art doll realm. It denotes something very specific for doll artists. A OOAK art doll should be an original doll (made from start to finish by the individual artist; from conception through design, sculpting, and finishing the piece) that will not be reproduced again.

Green Witch by Rachael DiRenna

Further breakdown can take place within each media. There are such a variety of clays to use, from high-fire to air-dry and epoxy clays. Some porcelain dolls fall into the art doll category because they are individually made by the artist, rather than being mass-produced from a mold. Polymer clay, air-dry clays, two-part epoxy clays like Apoxie Sculpt, paperclays and papier mache are all used for sculpting either full-sculpts or partial sculpts with cloth bodies.

Orphelina by Mary Esther Ward

Soft Sculpture includes using foam, batting, fabric and nylon to make highly detailed realistic figures. Like sculpting in clay, these figures are sculpted using a needle and without a cloth pattern. It also includes needlefelting which can make some amazingly life-like figures, as well. The key to recognizing soft sculpture is how well defined and how detailed the cloth sculpting is. A simple cloth doll with painted face, mitten hands, and rounded feet doesn’t fit into the soft sculpture definition, but a doll with a needle-sculpted face, individual fingers, and defined muscles is exactly what soft sculpture is about.

Miss Culpepper by Will Wagenaar

Assemblage dolls are much less traditional, cobbling together a variety of items from old doll parts to kitchen utensils to make a doll form that’s somewhat recognizable as such. Just about any item is game to be included in an assemblage doll. Their very nature makes them eco-friendly, upcycling and recycling items that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Blue Bunny by Bastet2329 known as callmechristie on Etsy

Altered dolls, not to be confused with repaints (which are commercial-made fashion dolls that have been stripped and painted in a new style, frequently including a new hairstyle), are another non-traditional type of art doll. For altered dolls, artists use commercial dolls (Barbies, Blythes, other fashion dolls, cheap plastic dolls) and sculpt over them, remove and/or replace body parts, recostume and just generally remake the doll into a completely new figure. Most of these dolls are so altered, it’s hard to recognize the original doll underneath. While the use of a pre-existing doll might traditionally disqualify these from being considered art dolls, it can’t be denied that they fit well within the defining points of art dolls–they are works of art in doll form and they are not toys to be played with.

Molly and the Zombie Baby by Nicole Johnson

So what is an art doll? Essentially, it’s an original work of art in a doll form used, as more traditional art is, to express something the artist wants to express–an emotion, a political statement, a thought or series of thoughts. Similar to art, the reasons for creating art dolls are varied and can’t be pinned down or limited anymore than you would any other artist’s reasons for creating.

All of the artists whose dolls were featured in this article are sellers on Etsy and you can visit their shops or websites by clicking on each picture.

We recently started an art doll team on Etsy called ADO: Art Dolls Only and you can find more information on us by checking out our team profile.

This article was originally posted in the Storque on Etsy.

Full Body WIP

Ok, well only one right now, actually. And he’s still in progress…

I don’t have a ton of photos but a little update on this project. Worked on him last night while watching Shooter (I love Mark Wahlberg movies–well, most of them) which I’d already seen so I didn’t get too distracted while futzing with his hands. I hate sculpting hands and this didn’t change that perspective much even though my goal was to not be overly critical or particular about how well they came out. I figure these guys aren’t supposed to be perfect so I’m not going to spend hours stressing over how detailed and exact their fingers are. I still might tweak them a bit next time I work on them, but for now, they’re good.

Spring RR Hands

Speaking of hands, you can see the hands I did for my EtsyDAMs Round Robin doll in the background behind Blue Barry here. I’m using Premix (a combination of LaDoll and Premiere clays) and I like it even though the texture is a bit like marshmallow. It smooths wonderfully and is less messy than the Darwi. As you can see, the hands still need to be sanded a bit. They’re deliberately chubby–I’m making the doll a young girl so her hands and face will be rather chubby in keeping with that innocent, cherubic look I’m going for. Of course, this may all change when I get to working on the face more.

Barry

But, back to Barry. I finished his hands and just set them on his body (so they didn’t have flat spots while curing on a tile). Next I’ll need to attach the hands to the body and sculpt over the seam. I still need to clean up his hip joint area which has seams. And I had to break the poor guy’s elbow because the arm wasn’t really positioned correctly. So I need to add a bit of clay there. After that, it’s onto the head.

I also made some eyes while I was at it, since I had a little bit of leftover white and blue Apoxie Sculpt. Made four sets white with blue irises, blue with white irises, and some marbled ones. Oh, and teeth for Mr. Barry–he needs sharp teeth, otherwise, how can he shew on the ribbon?

Eyes

Daisies and Ivy Detail

Starting with the completed one–I did another full-leather binding, this time with some seriously intense designs all over the cover. I have some ivy leaf stamps (left and right), so I initially thought I would just stamp them all over the front and back covers and dye the leather green. Of course, that’s just not complicated enough for me, so instead, I carved vines on the cover, used a petal stamp to make some daisies and then stamped the leaves all over. I dyed the leather in a lovely, emerald green and then painted the flowers in orange, red and yellow overlays. The cover looks fabulous, if I say so myself. BUT (isn’t there always a “but?”) I made some interesting technique errors–minor and they don’t effect the function of the book (and really barely effect the aesthetic), but still.

Daisies and Ivy grooves and headband

First, for some reason, I forgot to do the French grooves while the leather was still wet. It was quite an interesting challenge rewetting the spine and adding in the grooves. Second, the end papers wrinkled a bit when I attached them (the paper itself is a printed Italian paper–gorgeous but not easy to work with). I’m still having problems with my measurements between the spine and covers. Finally, the leather stamping was a challenge itself. I’m used to basic carving and shading to make the carving stand out. Many of the design stamps, however, are not sharp stamps and they take a lot more force to get a good impression into the leather. I even moved to a heavier mallet and I still ended up double-stamping a few because the impression had all but faded or didn’t even show up well to begin with.  But once it was all said and done, I like the finished product well enough.

Daisies and Ivy cover

The unfinished project is a sculpted critter. I was initially thinking I’d call is a pixie–well, truthfully, I had

Blue Barry's right hand armature ready to hang

this idea to use my sample-sized colors of Apoxie Sculpt to make five or six little critters that I was going to call rainbow pixies (because each one would be a different color even though they all look similar, feature-wise). I was planning on making five of them specifically for a little Victorian birdcage I have; one of those wonderful old domed metal cages painted in shabby chic white. I made five armatures and actually have the cage bottom removed so I can fit them all back in but I decided to just make one for now and get a feel for it. See how long it would take to make one and how well I liked working with the Apoxie Sculpt. I do like the clay but it is a challenge changing my sculpting habits.

Blue Barry's left hand armature with bell

So the first one, I thought would be a holiday critter–a mischievous little feller holding some kind of holiday item (a jingle bell) that he’s broken (actually I’m just going to have him holding the bell in one hand and a dangling red ribbon in the other as if he yanked the ribbon off

Blue Barry Grixie with head in lap

of the jingle bell necklace). The thing is, they’re all going to be rather mischievous, wicked even, creatures and I’m starting to think I like the “gremlin” name better than “pixies.” But we’ll see once I get closer to being finished…After dropping my quick pix on my computer, I had the brilliant (if I say so myself) idea of combining the names “gremlin” and “pixie” and calling these little guys “grixies.”

Well, the first big news is that we finally got Etsy to give us a Dolls and Miniatures Category!! It’s very exciting stuff because people have been on Etsy for over three years asking for one. When I first signed up with Etsy, I was thrilled to find the site but a little disappointed that there was no specific category for my art dolls. After campaigning for several months with a core group of doll artists and miniaturists and a petition of over 700 signatures, we finally got a live category for our art!!

Here’s a link to the category: Dolls and Miniatures on Etsy.

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The Bookbinders of Etsy Street Team is holding a Halloween Challenge. I was planning to enter a book but, as usual, I picked a totally new technique to use (relief work in leather) and couldn’t get it done in time. If I manage to figure it out before the end of the week, I’ll send it in to Rhonda to add to the group. For now, here’s the link to the voting post–GO VOTE!

BEST Halloween Challenge

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Other exciting news for me personally–I finally broke down and bought a graphic tablet. I didn’t go with Wacom (waaaay out of my budget) but got a Genius tablet that had some good reviews. So far I like it a lot but there’s definitely a learning curve that I’m still on the lower end of.

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What more do I have to share? I’ve got more projects started and ideas swirling around my brain than time to get them done. I picked up several copies of dog eared magazine from an estate sale and have had too much inspiration from it. The first time I ever saw it, I hesitated to subscribe because I was interested in basic bookbinding and it’s full of various book arts techniques and discussions from altered books to zines to traditional binding and everything in between. There’s an issue on zines, miniature books, popups and sculptural books. It’s packed full of ideas and with the first issue I was hooked–using rubber bands for binding (which make little books that even I can complete in under an hour), among other simple and unusual binding ideas.

I’ve got a Pumpkin King started that is, alas, going to be finished after Halloween (my usual timing; complete the holiday-themed item following the holiday). Ah well, perhaps some Halloween-all-year-round person will be interested in him. I plan to do a post sharing his progress.

I’ve got two leather relief books I’m working on–a spider on a web and a pumpkin. Again, two items that will problem be completed after the holiday, but I’m learning/teaching myself a new technique so I refuse to be frustrated at my timing.

I’ve got two custom full leather books to make, with two more waiting in the wings. I’ve got four assemblage dolls with books, one of which is pretty far along. I’ve got an Egyptian book that was going to be made out of polymer clay but will now be made from Apoxie Sculpt. I’ve got one Medieval style book in the same boat. Both of those will fall under my Keith Smith Challenge. I’ve got a doll sculpted on a bottle that I’m in the middle of; five pixies that go in a Victorian-style birdcage; and one man standing the rain. I’ve got five stamped and carved full leather books I’m working on; one artist book about Wash’s dinosaurs (from Firefly, the TV series); and one artist book about soap (don’t ask me why–just something that came to me one day that I started on).

Yep, definitely have more ideas and projects started than I have time to work on.