The Making of “Balancing Act”

 

The Body

Body parts waiting to be stuffed.

A stuffed leg

The attachment for the balancing pole

The body is stuffed and sewn together

The Head

After needle sculpting, the head is covered in a final layer of skin fabric. A mini iron helps to define the features.

The fabric is cut away to reveal the painted eyes

Sewing on the back of the head

Costuming

Fabrics are hand dyed for the costume

The collar has three layers

Trims are added to the collar and the head is attached

Trims are also added to the shoes

The hat is made in two parts: the brim and the crown. They are both needle felted and wet felted.

Shaping the brim on the head

Trim is added to the hat

The wooden base has a layer of suede on which are printed words such as home, family, work, etc.: things we hope to balance in our busy lives.

The finished figure

Fall Shows

Fall is in full swing! As one show closes, another opens. The Hanson Galleries show "Cutting a Fine Figure" will run through October 20 at the Memorial City location in Houston.

Opening October 20 is the Mixed Media Artists of Houston show "Innovations by Design" at Hollywood Frame Gallery, 2427 Bissonnet, Houston.

The opening reception is at 6 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 20. One of my pieces in this show, "Balancing Act", is pictured on the lower left of the postcard below.

 

If you are an International Quilt Festival goer, be sure to look for the doll exhibits. I will have three pieces in the exhibit this year. Quilt Festival preview night is on Halloween! The show will run through Sunday, November 4.

And if by chance you should find yourself in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, stop in at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilt and Fiber Arts. I have three dolls in a show there titled "A Thread Runs Through It", which runs from October 17, 2012 - January 6, 2013.

To close the year I will be participating in Lucia's Garden Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 2, 2360 W. Alabama in Houston, with angels, snowmen, and other winter whimsies. Much more information about that to come.

Happy Fall!



Fall Vacation

After a fabulous time at the NIADA convention (see previous post), we headed north to see some fall foliage.  Driving through the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut, we saw the beautiful Kent Falls.

A very beautiful and enjoyable walk through the wooded falls area.  Not a lot of fall foliage in Connecticut yet, so we kept driving north to Massachusets.  We arrived in Lenox, where we were to stay for two nights at the charming Birchwood Inn, built in 1766.

This is our gorgeous room - bigger than our room at home!

Lenox was lovely.  So many churches in the area.  I wish I had taken more photos of the churches.  Here are a few.

This one was right across the street from our inn.

Another one just down the street.

There were also some covered bridges in this area.

The foliage was just beginning to turn in Massachusetts, but we heard that it was already very beautiful in Vermont, so north we headed

and were rewarded!

Although the sky was very overcast, some of the prettiest views were of the lakes, with foliage reflected in the water.

On our last day in New England, we visited the Norman Rockwell Museum

and his studio

The Norman Rockwell Museum was outstanding - I highly recommend it!

And last, just before heading to the airport for home, the Mark Twain house in Hartford.

This was our first visit to New England, and we loved it.  This is beautiful country.  I hope we'll be back.



Connecticut and NIADA Conference

We are back from a great week in the northeast.  I got to attend the National Institute of American Doll Artists conference in Stamford, CT.  Mr. B came with me so we decided to make a week long trip out of it.  Our first stop was Mystic Connecticut.  Of course we had to eat at Mystic Pizza.  Remember the old Julia Robert’s movie?

The next day we toured Mystic Seaport and saw the Charles Morgan, a historic whaling ship from the 1800's under restoration, which was (surprisingly) really very interesting.

Then on to Stamford! The first night was "Gallery Night".  Oh, the beautiful dolls.....

Ana Salvador

 

 

Ankie Daanen

Connie Smith

Deborah Pope

Donna May Robinson

E. J. Taylor

Ima Naroditskaya

Leslie Molen

Lisa Lichtenfels

Nancy Wiley

Nina Tugarina

Shelley Thornton

Stephanie Blythe

Tanya Marriott 

Tatiana Baeva

The conference was wonderful.  It had been a few years since I attended and it was fun to see old friends and meet new artists.  Four fabulous days of dolls, demos, programs, and more dolls.  Next year I hear the conference will be in San Francisco!