Alice In Wonderland

"Curiouser and Curiouser" said Alice!

A new OOAK piece I finally completed. I have been working on this piece off and on for awhile now.

I had always wanted to do a Alice In Wonderland piece and incorporate the various characters into it so this was the project.

 

I love doing Mixed Media pieces and so I started with a box and went from there. Alice is handsculpted from fimo clay and if standing would be approx. 10" tall. I wanted her to be a little bit "Edgy" something different than the traditional blonde Alice with the blue and white dress and pinafore.

Of course Alice would not be complete without her silly friend the Mad Hatter. 

He is also sculpted from polymer clay and dressed in vintage fabrics complete with his cup of tea and toast. 

All details were made from scratch

Another character I always enjoyed was the March Hare. This fellow was needlefelted from mohair, with handmade eyes and teeth. 

What a silly guy he is!

Alice is so disgusted with the little crying pig-baby. She came become quite a nuisance!

The illustrations of the little baby that turned into a pig always amused me...especially with Alice trying to deal with it. I tried to capture that in the expression of this screaming baby! ;-)

"Eat Me"    "Drink Me" 

Of course the sly Cheshire Cat has to make an appearance!

Alice's Throne

 Details

 Loved this clock for the back of her chair....spinning...down....down...down.

Many, many hours and details went into this piece.

I hope you enjoy it!

Available for purchase here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/123927497/alice-in-wonderland-ooak-and-mixed-media

Alice In Wonderland Video U-Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV9F8Di9H8g&feature=youtu.be

German Bisque Pansy III Doll by George Borgfeldt

German Bisque Pansy III by George Borgfeldt.

I have loved the Pansy dolls for quite some time. I now have acquired all four of the Pansy dolls.

Today I am sharing my latest restoration. 

This is Pansy III made by German doll maker Geroge Borgfeldt. Era 1910-20

When I first acquired her she was in a frumpy blue dress. She did come with a gorgeous blonde wig...but it just didn't suit her very well so I replaced it with a beautiful human hair wig in a brunette color to match her gorgeous big brown eyes.

She had no undergarments so I proceeded to make her a slip and bloomers. 

Her shoes were not appropriate so I replaced them with a cute pair of black oil cloth shoes.

I am always on the lookout for old christening gowns. This one had some tiny rips that I repaired and then later covered with the lavender colored ribbons.  The dress was hemmed and vintage lace added to the hem sewn entirely by hand. The sleeves were also shortened. These old gowns are gorgeous made into doll dresses. Old christening gowns that may have stains or other imperfections are great for transforming into a pretty dress for a doll.

She received new hair ribbons, a sweet vintage pin and then she was complete! 

Handwerck and Heinrich 109 -11 21"

Lots of things to share so lets get started...

I have been working on some new restorations to share so I will start with those first!

Handwerck Heinrich 109 -11 21"

This is a beautiful doll made by Simon and Halbig for Handwerck on her original signed Handwerck composition and wood doll body made in Germany circa 1900.

I was so thrilled when I got this doll because she came with her original lace dress. It is gorgeous and was in nice condition...just needing a cleaning. 

She was in nice condition needing only a little cleaning to be done. I washed her clothes, replaced her ribbons and added the darling vintage doll hat I had purchased several years ago. 

As far as restorations...she really didn't have any issues other than her hands were a little scraped up.

I lightly retouched the paint on them just to make them a little more presentable.

This doll is known for her sweet Dolly type face and is one of the most sought after dolls for collectors.

I love how she turned out.

A truly gorgeous example of a fine bisque german doll!

Kristallstjärna (Crystal Star)

A Snow Angel and her Frosty Friend

Winter is upon us once again. While the snow falls gently to the ground, the snow angel Kristallstjärna (Crystal Star) flies down to her favorite forest to visit her little snowman friend. She brings him a gift basket of beautiful snowflakes ,but as she soon discovers the warmer weather has melted her dear snow friend into a pool of himself. Her heart breaks. His humble scarf and unbecoming buttons lay wet on the ground in the puddle he left behind. Soon to her surprise however, she sees his last attempt to reach her. It is a sign, stuck in the snow. It reads "I'll be back again someday". After all, snowmen are of the winter and will eventually come back to play once the winter snows begin to fall again.

 My newest sculpture just in time for Christmas!

Her name is Kristallstjärna (Crystal Star)

a beautiful Swedish name that

some sweet friends of mine named Clare, Jemma and Samantha came up with.

 I think it fits her perfectly...don't you? 

;-)

This little snow angel is a OOAK

made from Fimo Clay and Mixed Media

She is approx. 7" tall not including the base.

She is made to be free standing and can be taken off her base if you would like

to display here in another setting.

Her Snowman friend is made from mixed media.

He is permanent on the  9 1/2" x 12 1/2" Base along with the Christmas Trees.

Her sweet little blue eyes are glass and handmade by me, and her soft little locks

peeking out from under her hat are tibetan lambs wool.

All clothing is also made by me and embellished with vintage lace and dusted with

some beautiful snow.

She holds in her mittens a carved walnut shell basket full of beautiful snowflakes

 and flowers brought down from the heavens just for her little friend.

I hope you enjoy her as much as I enjoyed creating her!

Have a Merry Christmas!!!

To see a U Tube Video of this piece see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TbmIxg1-lM

She is available for purchase here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/116540278/ooak-winter-snow-angel-crystal-star-and 



"Our Fairy" Type Little Bisque Dolls

I wanted to share with you a cute little pair of "Our Fairy" type bisque dolls that I have been working on. They are just a bundle of sweetness!!!

When I purchased these little dolls someone had painted their feet and areas on their bodies with gold paint!! After I cleaned them up some little black shoes and blue socks appeared from under that old gold paint.  Perhaps a child had painted them....I am not sure but after I cleaned them up they were so adorable I decided to make them some new outfits.  They are copies of the German all bisque little doll named Our Fairy which is so popular with collectors and stand approx. 5" and 5 1/2" tall. 

I named this doll Violet.

         

She is the smaller one of the two and is marked on her back "Nippon" 

I used a pale lavender batiste for the dress

and overlayed a piece of antique lace on top of it. 

These little dolls are a nice way to use small pieces of beautiful lace to really show it off. I then added some silk ribbon flowers on her dress and made her a little flower head band. I think these dolls are adorable!

The second little doll I named "Daisy"

With her blonde hair and little blue eyes she just looked like a Daisy to me!  ;-) 

She is unmarked.

Her dress was also made with pale yellow batiste and overlayed with antique laces.

Both these dresses were hand stitched. I have found that stitching these dresses by hand as much as possible is the best way to go. I then found some vintage daisy motifs that were added here and there on her dress along with tiny 1/8" blue and yellow silk ribbons to accent her dress. 

Hope you enjoyed meeting Daisy and Violet!!!

:-)

Where did the time go????

Well....has it really been this long since I posted???

 My poor little blog thought I forgot about her! 

I better "Get To it"  and write something!!! 

Life has a way of slipping by in the blink of an eye!

I have been very busy working on a lot of projects. Both old and new.

 So first I will show you what I am working on at the moment and then hopefully in the next few days

some updates on other related items.

Halloween...it will be here before you know it. Yikes! October in less than 30 days!!! No...it can't be!!!

Well...I have been working on a piece called "Whoo and Boo" this is the first few photos of the sculpt.

 Ummm...what is it???

 Beginning of Armature

 Adding the clay

HeeHee...funny looking....  :-D

 Beginning to look more like an owl.

Almost finished with sculpting, then on to painting and working on his passenger Boo!

I hope to have them done before Halloween. I will post pictures as I get closer!

Nodders!

I came across these little cuties recently and just had to post pictures of them.

They are 3 inches of cuteness!

 Made in Germany these little dolls are stationary except for their heads which turn in different directions.
They are held on by elastic strung through the tops of the heads. Different companies made them from 1920 on.  Mine are not marked but I believe they are German. So cute...just had to share!

R.I.P.

My heart was broken a couple of weeks ago...

We lost our beautiful Arabian horse Mirage.

So sudden...I was not prepared for it.

I still miss him greatly...

I find it so hard to go out to the barn and not have him greet me with

his wonderful whinnies and nudges begging for a scratch behind the ears.

A beautiful being that enriched our lives greatly!

Until we meet again for another ride in the heavens!

I love you... and miss you....my faithful steed!!!