Time Travel

It's my birthday today, at the beginning of a new year, and so, thinking of both the past and the future as we inevitibly do at this point in the calendar, it seems appropriate to post my just completed piece, Col. Filbert's Time Machine. He was made for the Central Texas Art Doll Sculptors' doll-in-a-year challenge and will accompany me to the national meeting of the Original Doll Artists Council of America in Anaheim in July. My fellow CTADS member, artist, and pal, Karin Otto Burfict, took the fab photos. See her incredible work at http://karinottoburfict.com/.


The time machine is made from an antique wooden clock, a belt/tie rack, a silver cruet basket, and an unfinished photo frame. The Colonel is sculpted from polymer clay and has a soft body built over a wire armature. His boots and aviator cap are glove leather, and his navigation system is constructed from a variety of watch/clock parts, scrapbooking ephemera, and metal and wood findings.

The Countess of Checkered Past

This is the piece that I made for the ODACA second round jury. The full title is "The Countess of Checkered Past Ponders Her Next Move." She is about ten inches tall, seated, and made of polymer clay with a soft body built over a wire armature. I used more than a dozen different fabrics or trims in her costume and stand, from hand-dyed lace to vintage sari silk, and her rollerblades are sculpted from polymer clay. She sits on a column of real checkers, and her hat is a stack of black and red checkers hand-sewn from miniature hat straw. While the Countess clearly has made some interesting choices in her life, she's looking ahead, not back, and she's ready to hit the track again . . . just as soon as she decides which direction to go.

It's Official

I'm just home from Chicago and so happy to report that I am now officially an Artist Member of Original Doll Artist Council of America (ODACA). This past year's odyssey of creating and critiques has truly been a growth experience, and although I have learned much, I know in my polymer clay bones that I have only begun. As a part of three supportive and amazing groups of artists--CTADS (Central Texas Art Doll Sculptors), TAODA (Texas Association of Original Doll Artists); and now ODACA--I look forward to new work, new friendships, and new adventures. I hope to be posting more regularly, and I also hope you'll be following as I showcase some older pieces as well as works in progress.

Meanwhile, if you're going to be in Houston over the next few weeks, I'll have two pieces in a show, Dolls Now, at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) that opens on July 31. There's also a reception on August 5, if you're able to stop by.

Shelly the Singing Dragon

Wow, it's been an incredibly long time since I've posted, but a lot has happened in the past 16 months. I haven't been idle, so the next few posts will feature some of the things I've worked on lately. Just over a year ago, I joined an amazing group of talented artists who belong to the organization Central Texas Art Doll Sculptors. I couldn't begin to tell you all I've learned from them, but I'll show you what I made at the first retreat I went to. We were all using an armature for a snail doll, but of course, coloring outside the lines, I decided to make a dragon. Several especially cool things happened to make this piece unique. First, I had taken with me a package of small shells that, as it turned out, seemed ideal for the dragon's spines. Then CTADS member Karin Otto Burfict asked me if I'd like to use her dragon scale tool to finish the skin. I didn't even know there was such a thing! And the glitzy dried stems that Marilynn Huston had brought were the perfect touch to represent the dragon's song. Shelley the Singing Dragon has been waiting almost a year to make her debut. She hopes you like her!