WITCH CRAFTS

WITCH CRAFTS

Thursday, December 22, 2016

NEW FAIRY DOLL, AND BOOK CLASS

Hi All,
Join me this January to make a MINI-BOOK PENDANT you can wear around your neck.

This little book measures 2-1/2" x 3". We start by ripping craft paper to make 3 signatures of pages & stitch them together. Next, we decorate our leather covers with odd bits of metal, beads, and stamping. Then, we put the whole thing together, and finish with bits of chain and charms to hang from the book!
SUNDAY, JAN 15
FROM 10 to 4 (with an hour break)
COST: $50
At NEW TRICKS GALLERY & STUDIO
1751 Bellamah NW – Suite 2101,  Albuquerque NM

Please contact me if you're interested (arleyberryhill@hotmail.com)










And, I wanted to share with you a new little fairy I made for my friend for Christmas:


I had so much fun making this little woodland fairy doll. I hand-painted the dolls' skin with watercolor inks (it started out a white body). I "made" all the fabric for the costume using a fiber collage technique with free-motion embroidery. For the sheer pieces (lower skirt, leg & arm pieces) I used "SOLVY" (a water-solvable stabilizer - it looks like plastic film) with scrapes of chiffons, tulle netting, a few yarn fibers, and free-motion embroidery.

I did the wings pretty much the same way. All the veins on the wings are satin stitched, with the 3 main veins wired with more satin stitching. I coated all the edges with glitter glue (I just love that stuff!).

Everything (doll & costume) got hand embroidered with beads & sequins, with a small dotting of more glitter.

The hair was a challenge for me. I don't like doing hair much. I used some green mohair I ordered from Canada. At first, I was going to let the hair just hang natural, but saw that it was going to get tangled up with the wings. So, I decided she needed an "up-do". I needled-felted a small cone of wool to the back of the head. Then, I made a weft of mohair and glued it around the hairline. I needle-felted it all up the back, and up the cone. Again, I was just going to let the hair go natural and curl where ever, but it was a mess. (What I don't like about working with hair, is that after a few months, it get tangled and ends up looking like a rat's nest.) So, I broke out the curling iron and hair spray, and styled it in a big curl.

Her color scheme was easy to figure out -- it's my friend's favorite colors! (orange, olive, and brown).

I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!

Thursday, December 8, 2016

NEW DOLL BUST

Hi All,
I just took an on-line class with Sharon Mitchell (blog here) called "Marie Antoinette Bust". Sharon lives in New Zealand, so I was really excited that she was offering this on-line class (from A for Artistic www,aforartistic.com), as I could never go to her in person.

Sharon is a very talented cloth doll maker, and a master at needle-sculpting,-- so check her out!

This class was three weeks long, but it took me 5 weeks to finish (mostly, because I didn't have the right hair, so I had to order it. Plus, well, Christmas.....)

 Here she is:





And, here are some WIPs:
We started with the head. I've never done this type of needle-sculpting for the eyes before!


Then, we started on the torso. Sharon designed a very bust-y bust! (Sorry, no photo without the costume). We used a wooden dowel that was set into the candlestick with 2-part Apoxie, that went right up into the torso and neck, and on into the head.



After we did the coloring of the face, we attached the head to the torso.

Next, we started on the hair. Sharon gave us a pattern for the base of the hairstyle, that we stitched to the head. Then, I needle-felted a layer of white wool roving to the muslin hair pad.

Here I've needle-felted on the weft of pink wool roving. Sharon had us add a little top-knot, so I put it on the back of her hair. Now, she's all wrapped in cling wrap, so I can spray the hell out of my pink hair. (lots and lots of hairspray!)

After that, I added the hair decor, jewelry, and false eyelashes.

I hope you've enjoyed the photos! Have fun,
Arley