Newport Beach Art Exhibition Entry: Part 3

My sculpture for the Newport Beach Art Exhibition is almost done! My little doll has changed a lot since you last saw her...

She now has a face, a dress, and I even gave her toes and thumbs! I attached her to the moon with a wire that I threaded through her leg and arm. Then I poked the ends of the wire into the moon with a tiny bit of glue to help everything stay put. This worked out really well because the wire doesn't show and I didn't have to put any glue on my doll!

Here is a close-up of her face. She has an embroidered nose, fabric lips, drawn-on eyebrows, artificial eyelashes trimmed down to size, and real blush on her cheeks!

I original made her with fabric eyes, but decided I like the sleeping look better. What do you think? (This picture was taken pre-eyebrows, too.)

Now I am working on a base that will keep the sculpture standing up. By next week it should be done and I will have a new project in the beginning stages to show you. Until then, keep dreaming!

Newport Beach Art Exhibition Entry: Part 2

My sculpture for the Newport Beach Art Exhibition has come a long way since I first showed it to you! I added a splotchy later of blue paint to give the color a little added depth. Next I evened it out with a very light coat of white.

Blue splotches

This is what the moon looks like now! Much better than when I first started it: 

Styrofoam Moon

What's even more exciting? My doll now has legs, arms, and hair! I hope that by next week she will have a dress and a face. Then I will need to figure out how to attach her to the moon and how I want to display the whole thing! I'm also batting around ideas for a second, similarly-themed sculpture for the exhibit, since every artist is allowed to contribute two pieces.

Don't worry, I will hide all the loose pieces that are showing right now!

I am excited to see how this project turns out and I hope you are too! Keep following your dreams and I'll see you next week!

Some Wedding Designs

A lot of people dream about what their wedding will be like. Mine was last June so I got my fill of looking at wedding stuff for awhile. Still, I realized that I couldn't have a mini shoe collection without a couple pairs of bridal shoes thrown in. So, being inspired by Christian Louboutin...

I made a pair of red bottomed bridal shoes!

And a pair of the limited-addition "Tiffany blue" bottomed ones, with clear seed beads to add sparkle!

I had these little ribbon flowers left over from another project so I decided to to make a couple pairs of simple lacey bridal shoes. I made a pair in cream and a pair in white.

As usual, all of these can be found in my Etsy shop, and by custom order!

On that note, I am also taking orders for this custom cake topper. The example dolls are made to resemble me and my sweetie. I would love to make more of these for other couples in different color combinations. If you would like to order one, send me a message through this blog or my Etsy shop! I will work with you to create your own dream design!

 

And, just because we're on the subject, here are some more things I made by hand for the wedding. These aren't on Etsy, they're just for fun! (And because I didn't write a post like this after the wedding like I had planned.)

My dress

These knit gloves that I wore with the dress, until it started to get too warm out.

 

This choker to go with the whole ensemble.

Blue rose hair clips for the bridesmaids. (Okay, all I did for these was cut the heads off some artificial roses and glue them on barretts.)

These sparkling silver and blue bridesmaid purses.

Personalized labels for these perfect little blue bottles, filled with bath salts for the bridesmaids.

Blue and silver pixie dust necklaces for the bridesmaids.

Our ring box.

And the inside. I did not make the rings, just decorated the box. The inside is leftover fabric from my dress.

The "CARDS" sign for this book-shaped box.

I can't claim credit for this one, because even though I designed the prototype, my mom and mom-in-law made the 10 or 20 lanterns that ended up decorating the reception. Thanks, Moms!

Congratulations if you actually made it all the way to the end of this post. At least it was mostly pictures, right? I hope you all enjoyed this peak into a DIY wedding. Next week I will be back into my project for the Newport Beach Art Exhibit, so I'll see you then to show you how that's progressing! Until then, keep following your dreams!

My Entry for the Newport Beach Art Exhibition: Part 1

I recently recieved a call to artists for the annual Newport Beach Art Exhibition and decided to try a mixed-media sculpture to enter! My idea is to show dreamlike image of a young woman in pajamas (possibly with wings) sitting or standing on a crescent moon.

The project is a still in its beginning stages, but here is a sneak peak at what it looks like right now!

Here is the moon, carved from styrofoam, textured in paper maché, and with a coat of white paint. I may add some more color to it, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to do yet.

 

I put on one very rough layer of paper maché to give the moon texture, then a second much smoother layer to regularize the texture and make sure it didn't look like an accident!

And here is my character in her beginning stages. She is made of crochet thread around a wire armature to make her fully posable. I don't usually make dolls this small and this is the first time I have started one with a wire skeleton, so I am excited to see how she turns out!

                                  

So far I love the structure that the armature gives the doll. I think makes her feel a little more real. I also like how the armature acts as a 3-dimensional "sketch" of the doll's shape that I can trace as I crochet her outer skin. Creating a detailed face at this small scale may be a challenge. I have some ideas, though, which you will see soon! Keep following your dreams, I'll see you Wednesday!

Seeing Red- Ruby Slippers and Red Bottom Shoes!

Here they are, straight from Oz as promised...

Dorothy's ruby slippers in miniature! Glass seed beeds give them their sparkle. I just couldn't resist re-creating these iconic shoes. I know I always dreamed of having a pair when I was a child. If you would like some too, check them out in my Etsy shop!

Don't they look like the originals?

And speaking of red, I was also inspired by these oh-so-famous red soled shoes by Christian Louboutin, so I decided to make some of them too!

The originals...

My interpretation!

I've got some more shoe ideas for next week as well as some non-shoe things. Also, check back on Friday for a bonus post on one of my in-process projects! Keep dreaming and I'll see you next time!