Thawed Charlottes are simple little dolls based loosely around the classic bisque dolls. Their bodies are flexible wire based, and they are brightly colored so they are 'thawed' rather than 'frozen.' They are about 5 inches tall and have a hanging loop for potential ornament purposes. I will be teaching a class on how to make these at Art & Soul Portland in October 2010. These will be availablefor sale at the Indie Banditas Valentines Show; they will also be in my etsy shop shortly.

The Robot Bears were sort of an accident. They were supposed to be little rounded martian dolls with swirled wire heart antennae. They were going to have hand drawn plastic eyes with the remaining features sculpted in clay. I began sculpting around the eyes and wasn't satisfied no matter what I did. Three hours later, it became a bear face. Then I pulled the drawn eyes out and replaced them with shiny black upholstery tacks. Woot! Robo Bears! The finished bears are roughly 2.5 inches in height. These will be available at the Indie Banditas Valentines Show; they are also available in my etsy shop. As for those rounded martian dolls and/or hand drawn plastic eyes...I'll get back to those at a later date.

Lastly, I have a new logo! I sat down with my identical twin sister Jill in early January and we sketched out a new logo design. She illustrated it for me today! My sister is queen of 2d arts...I just make dolls ;]. I am excited to get the logo worked into my banners. At the moment I am working on my 2 part credit card receipts for the Indie Banditas V-day show...I am using carbon paper to make them. It was incredibly difficult to find carbon paper for sale! It is sort of a dinosaur item I suppose.

I am pleased to announce that I will be joining the Indie Banditas for a Valentines Bazaar in Bainbridge Island, WA on February 13th. I have a few special product lines I will be unveiling as the show date approaches.

Admission is $1 or the donation of a canned good.

I am delighted to say that after 10 years of moonlighting in arts, I am finally launching my doll business full time. January 1st was my last day working my 9-5 job. I am a compulsive list maker and you should see the oodles of lists and plans I've made just in the last two days. There will be no shortage of keeping busy around these parts :].

Here is to hoping everyone has a wonderful 2010! (I think many of us are about due to have a good year!) The above Pink Ice Pillow form doll is a new addition to my etsy shop.

In an effort to streamline my internet presence (and because SquareSpace is neat), I am combining my website and blog. One less link to link to things :]. This will hopefully afford me more time to work on important stuff, like perfecting microwave smores (and/or making dolls!).

Grace (puppy at the top) is doing well. She is just about potty trained and is becoming very feisty--the 'no bite' and 'off' training is now in place. She gives you the most hurt/tortured look when you scold her. Besides the day job, that has been about it. I've been designing and sketching a lot. Hopefully I will have a chance to work on some of these things soon--I am really excited about them! First I need to focus on the pile of laundry that has migrated into the downstairs hall. ;/

Back of Experimental Skirt

Sue's Seahorse, Which is now mine.

Now my horror story... which has little to do with sea horses (actually nothing). So, anyone who has sewn by hand with upholstery weight ultrasuede knows the stuff is thick! I use beading needles to break through the toughness--and I bend several in the process. (I am getting somewhere with this.)

Couch of doom: Looks harmless...

birdvlopes

I took all the following pictures with the camera in my iphone, so they are not the highest quality, but pretty good for a phone! (The phone had no reception out there, so I am glad it was good for something ;p)
This was my favorite shot. There was a little path to the left of our tent. We went down that path to gather fallen branches for firewood. While on the path, I turned around and saw just a bit of the lake and mountains behind it--glowing like a little window. The first time I walked down the path, I about had a panic attack. There was so much buzzing and rustling and so many spiderwebs--nature was freaking me out. When I was little, I ran through the forest barefoot like a wild child, but at some point, I lost that. It was nice to get a little more comfortable with dirt again (the buzzing still makes me nervous though).

As you can see, the weather was interesting... we had a little bit of mist rain and some sprinkling, but it never quite poured, which was nice. I took this pic while we were putting around in the boat, but it is quite similar to the view we had out of the front of the tent--the mountains surrounded us on all sides and the glassy lake went out as far as I could see.

Hmm. That's a chair. I don't know why I added this picture.

There were lots of pretty little wild flowers all around. There were some white ones I wanted to photograph, but there was a honey bee hanging out in them, so I didn't want to bother him.

There was a super creepy giant rootball down the path. I didn't get very close to it--just snapped a picture and ran away.

And I lazily looked for four-leaf clovers, but found none. There were a lot of huge clovers--I think those are lucky enough. The clovers made me think of this grumpy pin doll I made in batch 6. "Three leaves are just as lucky as four."
When I was little, my dad used to hold a contest for my sister and me to see who could find a four-leaf clover faster. Once when I was about 7, I looked forever (probably 20 minutes in reality) and could not find one. I needed to win. So, I found the teeniest clover I could find (about an eighth of an inch or so) and I very carefully tore one of the leaves to make three into four. I won a dollar. I still feel bad about cheating.

We are preparing to adopt a dog--a Chesapeake Bay Retreiver--the new litter was born a few weeks ago, so when they are old enough, Alex and I will go and pick out a female--there were four females born and we have first pick, so that is exciting. The above picture is the girls at 3 weeks--little dollops of chocolate :]. The one on the top right is my favorite in this pic.

I played with a website for a little bit earlier. You run through a little flash menu to create your super-hero (you end up so many odd places when you click around...I don't remember what I was doing in the first place). The names they gave mine were sort of lame, but it was still fun to play with. I suppose the one-eyed thing is fitting with my gimp eye. I also ran into a comic strip earlier that made me laugh because it hit so close to home... My super-secret super power would be the ability to change the color of anything--the artistic possibilities would be endless and enemies beware ;].

Lastly, I leave you with this awesome baby I found in allibell's etsy shop.
I love it. She should sell prints of this photo. I might be the only one to buy one...but still. hmm. I think I need to buy this baby.

Yes, I bought it.