doll making supplies sent off

Posted on by
17

I sent a box of doll making supplies to Iowa today. Instead of worrying about losing my luggage during the flight changes and being without the necessary workshop materials, I decided to mail them instead.

I can easily replace missing clothes, but I wouldn’t be able to buy these materials at short notice, especially my precious plant dyed wool felt. There’s pipe cleaners, embroidery floss, wool fleece and acorn caps, too. Everything you’ll need to make the little dolls from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.

I’ll be using these supplies in a doll making workshop on Saturday, May 21st at the Muscatine Art Center in Muscatine, Iowa. Please contact the center if you’d like to come. I’ve already painted some doll heads, so we can spend as much time as possible constructing the figures and sewing their clothes. I’ll take pictures of our creations and show them to you!

SCBWI summer conference

Posted on by
4

I’ve heard from some people who want to know if I’ll be attending the summer conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, so I thought I’d better write and announce that, yes, I’ll be there! When SCBWI executive director Lin Oliver called to tell me that Pocketful of Posies had won the Golden Kite award for illustration, she invited me to come out to LA for the awards ceremony. She also asked if I’d give a workshop at the conference, so I agreed to both.

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

The event is held in Los Angeles, California, August 5 th, 6th and 7th. I’ve never been to one of the large SCBWI conferences, just the small regional New England ones. The summer (in LA) and winter (in NY) conferences are large affairs, with tons of workshops, talks and portfolio reviews given by editors, art directors, agents, writers and illustrators in the children’s book field. I tell anyone who’s serious about writing or illustrating for children to become a member and attend these conferences. This is the place for wannabes and published authors to mingle and network, as well as get a realistic idea of what’s involved in creating children’s books in today’s market.

I’m not sure when I’ll be arriving in LA, but I know I will be there on Sunday, Aug, 7th to give a workshop, The Joys and Challenges of Dimensional Illustration, from 10:45 – 11:45 am. Then I’ll be giving my acceptance speech at the 2011 Golden Kite Awards Luncheon. Later, from 5:15 – 7pm, I’ll be signing books with the rest of the faculty. It would be great to see some blog followers that day! To find out about the conference and see the whole schedule of events, go here. You can also read an interview I did on SCBWI’s blog here.

uncommon scent dolls

Posted on by
11

Almost 30 years ago, I made and sold a slew of these sachets, of which I have only one left. The Uncommon Scent Dolls were about 4 inches tall and filled with pleasant smelling spices, leaves and petals. The pattern is the same as the Nativity dolls I showed in an earlier post here.

Uncommon Scent doll, 1982

I remember picking out different woven fabrics and using the selvage edge as much as possible. This was back in the days when I used the zigzag feature on my sewing machine for the appliqued parts.

I also made these Matruska doll sachets, modeled after the Russian wooden nesting dolls.

doll sachets, 1985

Pocketful of Posies and workshop in Iowa

Posted on by
14

Go to bed first, a golden purse, from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

The original fabric relief  illustrations from Pocketful of Posies  are currently on display at the Muscatine Art Center in Muscatine, Iowa. The exhibit will be up through June 19th. (See traveling exhibit schedule here) I’ll be flying out the weekend of May 21/22 to take part in some events at the museum. On Saturday, May 21, from 10:00 to 5:00, I’ll be teaching a doll making workshop (call the Muscatine Art Center to register). Also, a reception will be held on Sunday, May 22 from 1:00 to 5:00 and I’ll give a gallery talk at 2:00. I’m looking forward to experiencing some warm mid-western hospitality and hope to meet some of you at the workshop and reception!

So far, this is the only scheduled doll workshop on the tour, since I’ve pretty much stopped teaching.  I figured since I’m traveling out to Iowa for the weekend, we might as well get together a group of  people who want to do my favorite activity, stitch and make little dolls, that is.

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Ojai doorways 2011

Posted on by
4

Last week, two friends and I went on our yearly trek to a spa in Ojai, California. In addition to providing lots of exercise and healthful food, The Oaks Spa is located in a wonderfully idyllic town with photogenic little houses in the surrounding neighborhood. I found these doorways particularly appealing.  See last year’s Ojai houses here and  here.

Closeups (baskets)

Posted on by
13

I love baskets and have included all kinds in my artwork since the beginning, like this Easter basket crayon drawing from my childhood.

crayon drawing, age 7

The elephant mother in my first picture book, The Way Home (1991), needed a way to carry bananas, so I made tiny (1/2″) wire baskets, wound in embroidery floss. Read my story about the making of The Way Home here.

TWHbasketWM

Here is Mary, from Mary Had a Little Lamb, holding a basket of clay strawberries. This basket is also made with thread wrapped wire, but a little bigger at 1 1/4″. Real stones are glued in the garden.

MHALLsrawberriesWM

This egg basket appears in Pocketful of Posies, in the illustration for the rhyme, Higgety, pickety, my black hen. It’s made by coiling and wrapping wire with embroidery floss. You can see glimpses of the green florist wire through the thread. I can’t for the life of me remember how I did the pattern on the top and bottom.  The original is about 2 inches long and filled with 1/2 inch wooden eggs.

blackhenbasketWM

Also from Pocketful of Posies, Daffy Down Dilly’s 3/4″ basket is made the same way.

marycontraryfairyWM

This detail from Jerry Hall is enlarged quite a bit, with the original basket being less than 1″.

jerryhallbasketWM

book giveaway at Living Crafts

Posted on by
8

Jerry Hall, he is so small, from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Living Crafts blog is holding a giveaway for 2 of my books, Felt Wee Folk and Pocketful of Posies. The deadline to leave a comment is April 17th, 2011. Details are at the end of the interview, My Life My Craft: SALLEY MAVOR here.

Also, I’ve recently written a story for C&T Publishing’s blog about the symbiotic relationship between my how-to book and my children’s books here.

more Rabbitat

Posted on by
21

For the past 4 months, I’ve been working on Rabbitat, a large (24″ x 30″) fabric relief piece. It started as a simple driftwood house, then I added a rabbit topiary and over time it grew into a lush rabbit habitat. I’m not showing much yet, just peeks now and then, because I want to show it later, when it’s finished. Here are some detailed shots of some rabbit characters.

A team of local filmmakers are gathering material for a short 5 min. film (see film here) about my work and specifically this piece. You can see an earlier post about Rabbitat here.

We want to show a time-lapse of Rabbitat being put together, so filmmaker Daniel Cojanu locked the camera and tripod in place with duct tape. He took a series of photos, one for each bush, tree, rabbit, or felt background piece that I added, until it was all put together.

Here are some parts laid out and ready to be set in place for the time-lapse photo shoot. Now that we’re finished with that, I can sew everything to the stretched upholstery fabric background and Rabbitat will be complete!

We want music in the film, so I asked local musicians Jan, Tom and Lisa to play some traditional Irish and Scottish tunes. We chose bouncy, rabbit-like music for them to play. I’ve known Jan since childhood and she is incredibly talented on the recorder, pennywhistle and concertina.

Elise and Daniel recorded them in my studio and what a treat to hear them play! Making this film has been so much fun and I can’t wait to see what they put together. We’re planning on having the film ready to show this summer at the Woods Hole Public Library. They’ve been kind enough to organize a reception to celebrate my Golden Kite Award for Pocketful of Posies on July 10th, from 5 to 7pm. Original illustrations will be displayed during the event and I’ll give a short talk. I hope that some of you can come. I’ll also figure out a way for everyone to see the film online. Stay tuned!