Barbara Willis is teaching in Ottawa

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Barbara Willis workshop – “Juliette”

Barbara Willis is author of Cloth Doll Artistry Design and Costuming Techniques for Flat and Fully Sculpted Figures, has been creating dolls and teaching nationally and internationally for over 30 years. She has been associated with the quilting industry, fibre guilds, embroidery guilds and clubs, International Quilt Market, The Knitting and Stitching Show (UK) doll clubs, and workshop events for all of her career. She has been featured and published in many magazines including Sew Beautiful, Cloth Dolls and Animals, Dolls Bears and Collectibles, Better Homes and Gardens, Dolls and many others over her career.

Barbara Willis workshop – “Juliette”

April 21 and 22nd, 2012

Fee, including kit: $300 –  Please contact Edwina to register by March 11th, 2012

Juliette is a lovely doll with a unique construction.  She stands approximately 17" tall and has a soft sculpted face formed from knit fabric.  Her torso is skinned in knit fabric to match the face fabric and her breasts are implanted beneath the knit skin to create a delicate décolletage.  The lower part of the body is constructed of 2 stiff fabric panels open from the bottom and to allow the skirt to open up to hold her weight and to stand.  She sits on a weighted bag with half shoes poking out the bottom of the skirt.

Students will lean full facial soft sculpting and coloration,   simple wired hands, unique body construction as described, costume techniques to include the use of a smocking pleater to create the lovely pleated ruffle used at the bottom of her skirt.

Adam Thomas Rees works super fast

Enjoy this video from talented polymer clay artist, Adam Thomas Rees. Who said it was a craft material?
http://adamthomasrees.com/Welcome.html

Wordless Wednesday

Pocahontas and John Smith - amazing Paverpol work!

Needle felted Dogs, part two!

So last time I talked about sizing your mini pet. This time, let's give you a tutorial on how to needle felt. I teach this as a class, so look for it coming soon, online!!

Lay it on the profile picture to check the size again, and then adjust it so your dog stands by itself. I begin adding wool fibre in thin strips, winding it tightly around the wire skeleton. Once you have covered the whole skeleton, tack the ends in place with a felting needle. You need to work on a sponge work surface when felting. Add more fibre to thicken the body and legs. The tail will need more at the base than the tip.

Now you have well covered the skeleton, begin adding muscles. A dog is fatter below the spine than above, so to continue winding around the spine would create a cartoon shape. Add pads of folded fibre under the spine, to thicken out the ribs and belly. Back legs also need thicker haunches, so add pads of folded fibre here too. Keep felting as you add each layer and build the body up gradually. Keep referring to the picture.

Take a close look at the shape of the head. This is what distinguishes one breed from another. It begins round, and then shapes into the snout. This can be added once the top of the head is established on the neck wire. Eyes can be added with dark fibre rolled into tiny balls, or use black glass beads and stitch them into the head.

Ears are made by laying out two equal amounts of fibre. You don’t need much! Fold each pad into a triangle and felt it into the ear shape, leaving the wide edge loose, for attaching to the head. Felt the ears in place and give the dog some character! Who can resist a tilted head and a cocked ear?

That’s it! Add spots, extra big feet or whatever brings the dog to life. Give him a collar in leather, too! Maybe a leash for walking will finish off the new pet. Using a profile picture, you can create many kinds of animals in all sizes.

Wordless Wednesday

Family life 1812

Needle felted dogs

Time for a tutorial!

Have you ever wanted to create a companion for one of your dolls, but struggled to find the right size dog or cat? I'm going to show you how to create a dog to scale, with good proportions. The same rules will apply when creating any miniature animal.

Start with a profile picture of the dog; if it shows the dog in motion, so much the better. I find these images in magazines and online, or you can use a photo of your own pet. Now calculate the size of your pet. You might use a proportional scale, which calculates relative size in a flash. These can be found at art supply stores. Or, do it intuitively. If your golden retriever's head comes to your thigh when he's standing, then the mini retriever will reach the thigh of your doll.

Resize the picture using a photocopier. Now take two pipe cleaners. Bend a tiny amount under at one end of each pipe cleaner. Lay it on the picture and measure the front foot. Bend the wire at 90 degrees and bend the second wire to match. Now measure the wire up to the shoulder. Don't go right to the top, since the skeleton is inside the flesh of the animal. So, leave room for the muscles on top of the wire skeleton. Make another bend, to add some shoulder width to the frame. Bend again, where the spine begins. Bend the second wire to match, and then twist the two together along the spine, measuring against the picture and ending just before the tail. Bend out the hips as you did the shoulders and then bend down and measure the legs. I follow the curve of the back legs, and then bend the foot. Finish the foot by bending under the ends as I did at the start. Cut off the excess wire.

Now take another pipe cleaner and measure the head size. Bend it back on itself, then bend and measure the neck. Place this against the shoulders and twist it around the spine. The other end will be the tail. Measure this and bend under the end, cutting off the excess.

Lay it on the picture to check the size again, and then adjust it so your dog stands by itself. Not so hard! Now you are ready to build the rest of the animal, which I will cover in my next post.

Wordless Wednesday

Bridal lace

Easy Valentine crafts for you

Valentine's day is here and what better time to have fun with crafts? We always go crazy and make some last minute fun stuff in our house. So I thought I'd share a few with you this week. The one above is a Disney craft, based on the movie. I'm making these this year! Click the picture to go to the site.

Here are some cute cards to make from Magical Crafts. I found this on Craftsy.com, which I just learned about. I joined and posted my new teddy tutorial there.

Here's an easy one for the kids. Enjoy yourselves! Eat lots of choclate. It doesn't count when it's from someone you love!

Women with style

This is a long trailer for an upcoming documentary about stylish New York older ladies. The documentary is planned to come out in the summer of 2012.
For more stylish ladies check out http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com
For more about director go to linaplioplyte.com

Wordless Wednesday

Mexican boots
Photo by Edwina Sutherland