Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Doll Number 2

Doll number 2.  This Schoenhut was BADLY damaged, her mouth cracked, her nose half gone, both eyes rotted.  I did extensive sculpting/recarving to make her a new face.  I am debating if she needs freckles.  I sloped her outer eyes down to make her a bit more pensive.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Little Miss Sunshine

Sealed and all ready to dress!

 

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Re-Imagining a Schoenhut Doll, Part 2

Little girl is painted and awaiting final approval/revisions before I seal her.  Then I have one more stop to do on the eyes.  (This is not her wig, I just didn't want to show her bald!)



 

Friday, August 21, 2015

Re-Imagining a Schoenhut Doll

I am working on two Schoenhut dolls, the first one I am doing is shown on the left.

 I can only work on one doll at a time, I have this whole mental process I go through with them, and I need to "connect" while I am working, so a doll needs my full attention so she can tell me who she is.
This doll for a client was NOT to be a "restored" Schoenhut--instead, I was given free reign to do what I wanted.  Now I know there are antique doll purists out there who will NOT be happy to see this, so stop now if this will bother you!  There seems to be a never ending supply of these dolls--if they were very rare I wouldn't touch them, but I think that millions of them must have been made.  At any given time you can find dozens of them for sale online.
After I stripped the paint (she had been badly repainted at some point), I could see she had a sweet smile and dimples.  Well ok, maybe she didn't really have dimples, but she TOLD me she did! The wood around her right eye was rotted and crumbling.  So I went to work.
 Here I am working on re-building her eyes with wood epoxy.
 When this is done, I sand the entire doll mercilessly, before doing the final sculpting/carving of her features.
Then she gets her body painted, blushed and sealed.


 The next step is painting her face.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Just Because



How far she has come, this little doll of mine.  From a tear stained waif, to a pale princess.  Only her eyes remain unchanged; still fathomless, still holding all her secrets.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Yep--another one

I now have all four of the ghost sisters made by Alena!  This last girl came to me as payment for doing extensive work on a Schoenhut for a customer.   Of course, I can never leave them alone--they go from ghosts to living dolls, quite literally!  Here is my new girl;
 She hadn't told me her name yet.....



 

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Painting the Roses Red

I decided that Clarimonde would make an awesome Alice in Wonderland.  I started by designing a gown for her that I call "Painting the Roses Red".  That was what I intended, but it actually ended up looking more like blood than paint, and the whole effect is a bit eerie--but then, she IS a ghost/goth girl, so I guess that's ok! I used white silk dupioni, lace remnants from a Victorian wedding gown, hand made, hand painted satin roses, and glass beads.  I still have a bit more bead work to do along the sides and back of the skirt.