ANKIE DAANEN!

Yowzers!  Two fabulous doll classes in less than a month! 

I’m on starstruck overload after spending two glorious days in New York with another of my heroes, Ankie Daanen.

 The workshop was sponsored by Gwen Jackson and we stayed at her home, which made getting to work on time really easy!

Here is Pat Adamczyk, my roomie.

 And here is my creation as it stands right now. Obviously, I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m very proud of this one. After years of saying “I just can’t sculpt in clay,” well, I guess I can after all! One of the secrets here is watercolor paints and I went out first thing this morning to buy my own set (I've got nearly as much studio space dedicated to paints and clays as I do fabric!)  I’ll be sure to post the completed doll, hopefully in just a few days.

Here’s a few more pics of our class:

Art Is... You!

Making art is a lonely business! 

This really began to hit home since I quit my day job a few months ago and, in spite of the many on-line friends, groups and followers, I found myself hungering for real live interaction with like-minded artists.  So when my brilliant and perceptive life partner offered to send me off for classes as a birthday present, I jumped at the opportunity to go to a convention.  Which is how I found myself celebrating this year’s birthday in Danbury, Connecticut at “Art Is… You!”

“Art Is…” is a mixed media art convention that takes place every year alternating between the east and west coasts (with a new convention beginning next year in Australia). Sallianne and Ellen, the creators of this remarkable event, have packed the 5 day journey with an incredible collection of teachers, “spontaneous” happenings. Being a very early riser, I was stunned to find Sallianne manning her welcome station as early as 5am!
I have found nothing that compares to the jumpstart of my creativity as going to a convention or live class.

 My classes included a day with Australian jewelry designer Keith Lo Bue (this man’s brain knows no boundaries for what makes artistic materials!)

a couple of days with doll artist extraordinaire, Shelly Thornton (I’ve been working my doll non-stop since I got home) (this is Shelly’s doll, not mine)

and the ever so famous quilter Berryl Taylor (I got her autograph!)

each of which demonstrated techniques and new (to me anyway) materials, that have changed my way of thinking outside of the box.

Most important to me were the people I met along the way, several of which live close enough to get together. Recharged, with new inspiration, skills, ideas and real live friends – probably the best birthday present ever! Thanks, Tom – and thanks to Sallianne and Ellen too!

This past weekend was spent doing my favorite things with my favorite people; we had Adele Sciortino come to the Textile Tarts to teach her wonderful Creative Costuming class. An intense two days selecting colors and fabrics and trims (decisions, decisions) making flowers (more decisions), playing with angilina fiber and tyvek and Shiva paintsticks (yet more decisions), then draping and shaping and taking it all off again (I have committment issues - actually it is all those dang decisions!), and of course, running around seeing what everyone else was doing. Day 2 I was there extra early to begin anew and I was not even close to the first to arrive. Adele demo'd a number of really cool tools, which I HAD to own. I bought a tool to help make ribbon roses - in about half the time, a thread burner and a pleating mat - I've want one of those forever. Also some really cool material that, when sewed to your fabric and steam heated, shrinks and bubbles and textures the fabric in really cool ways. Yea, I'm sorry I'm not unpacked yet, but Adele has all these cool thing on her website (http://www.costumesandtrim.com/ & http://www.adelesciortino.com/)- at least she said she did, I don't dare go look, at least not until next payday! More pics below - enjoy -

So many tricks to make hats1

Busy people making costumes!

Latest Creation

I love taking on-line classes. Recently I signed up for two classes at the same time, not usually a good idea for someone with time constraints, but this time it worked well because I was able to combine the effort into one doll! The doll itself is "The Charmed One" by Sherry Goshon. Like all of Sherry's classes, this one was great fun and her patterns are a dream to make. I always learn something new with Sherry and this time it was the use of texture paste. That's what makes her hair. I have to admit, what you see here is the third attempt using texture paste for hair. First lesson learned, texture paste is heavy and if you try to do the whole head at once, the neck begins to sag from the weight. The really cool thing is I got to use skills I picked up at a cake decorating class more than 30 years ago! Goes to show, nothing learned is ever wasted...

The second class was Jean Bernard's wings class. I've got to warn you, this one is addictive!! Watching the colors burn in, playing with alcohol inks, embellishing to my hearts content! This is what heaven should be like!