Introducing Miranda

In September last year I went on a face making course with Jan Horrox in Cromer. These are the Heads that resulted. I have now created a body to go with one of the heads. Jan has a new book An Introduction to Cloth Doll Making and I used the first pattern in the book for the rest of the doll. She is called Miranda.

The legs are made from a re-cycled blouse. The body has vermicelli stitched in gold on top of organza and some recycled silk from a waist coat that a friend made. The top of the arms use the same silk, but an area which was previously dyed with silk paints. The first two pictures are work in progress pictures. Her clothes are stitched to her body so I wanted to take photos before she was covered.

Here she is finished.

 

Brooch or Necklace

Brooch or Necklace, originally uploaded by juliestenning.

This is a continuation of the embroidery that I blogged about a few days ago. The beads on the inside of the pentagon were sewn one and then another couple of layers were added to the bottom to provide stiffness and cover the bead sewing. These layers were some plastic a4 pockets and some acrylic felt. A very fine soldering iron was used to cut the shape out and fuse the layers together. Unfortunately the silk layer prevented the edges from being sealed properly and the edge looked very rough. Also, I didn't like the pale blue edging on the pentagon. So, another lines of beads was added to the edge.

I haven't decided if it is going to be a brooch (pin) or a necklace.

Shimelle September 6th and 7th

Shimelle September 6th and 7th, originally uploaded by juliestenning.

Two more lessons learned.

I can use my mobile phone as a wi-fi hot spot, even at home. I can only use it as a mobile phone at home when I am outside, imagine, a phone which works better on the Internet than as a phone.

Using a sharp needle when sewing with metallic thread will stop the thread from twisting.

A Strange Dream

Last night I dreamed that Moira Stewart rang me up to tell me that I had got the gift aid donation wrong for some people that were coming on a course and that it would affect their tax bills and they might be one of the million or so people that will be getting letters from the tax authorities. I was able to tell her that ticking boxes for gift aid did not make any difference to how much tax people paid.

For those of you who don't know, Moira Stewart is a news reader, firstly on the TV and now on the radio. She has the most gorgeous voice and perfect diction. Our tax authorities have got a new computer system and have worked out that a million or so people have either over paid or under paid tax and the Inland Revenue are sending letters out to these people to let them know. A few 10s of thousands are being sent today.

Beautiful Barbie

Beautiful Barbie, originally uploaded by juliestenning.

This is the right hand side of the spread in Pascale's "Barbie" altered book. I printed a copyright free stock photo onto tracing paper and then "painted" it with water colour crayons. I sprayed it with a white colour wash spray to blend the colours better.

Barbie Imposters

Barbie Imposters, originally uploaded by juliestenning.

This is the left hand side of Pascale's "Barbie" altered book. The book is an old mathematics book. I wanted to leave some of the age visible so gessoed the inside of the page. It has blue water colour crayon painted over the gesso followed by some red, soft pastels. A swirly stencil has been used and painted with silver paint. The dress is a peel off sticker and has been painted with silver paint and had silver glitter sprinkled on top. The lines of the dress have been done with a peel off/acetate pen.

The imposters are Tina, Tressy, Sindy, Pound shop look a likes, Bratz, Crissy, Maxie Girlz and Tammy.

Barbie Spread

Bar
Barbie Spread, originally uploaded by juliestenning.

This is a spread in Pascale's "Barbie" altered book. We are doing a round robin with the ABEurope yahoo group.