FAITH

My dear friend Lynn  found a doll for me that had the right face and hair, a little tatty but soon fixed that up.  Not quite the body I wanted, but not to worry I found a doll with what I needed and as I knew how to swap parts over,  'presto' I had the perfect doll.  You do have to careful when you do this because if you're not, you could end up with a pale face with a darker body (not a good look).

I started making her wings first, which took me about a week. The feathers have got to face the right way, because, if you didn't know...there are right and left ones (learnt something there).

Her wings are in the resting position, as I would imagine they would be on a real Angel if one was standing in front of me (I'm a dreamer) 'Oh well'.

She is also holding a marcasite cross.

'FAITH' is the one I took great pains to make sure she was a perfect as I could do and is a very special doll to me.

'FAITH' is now living in Penang in the 'Wellness Centre' where  I believe she is watching over the people who visit.

Each doll I do takes about 4 weeks to complete and 3 different outfits 'till I'm happy with it.

Unfortunately I didn't take a separate photo of her wings, but here's what they look like from the back.

UNICORNS and Fairies


    Here are two of my unicorns.
    The small little doll I used had no hair and a very plain face.  No eye definition.  Basically had no personality.
    The Unicorns maines and tails are made from Angora hair.
     I also replugged the dolls head with the same hair. Her wings are made of Fantasy film, wire and gallery glass.  
    With Fantasy film depending on the light and direction they can change colour.
   The black horse originally had a felt like covering which I removed and repainted him black.  The horn is maid from clay.

    The white unicorn is clay. 
    This was made for my 8year old Granddaughter who loves Unicorns and was always drawing them (or I was).
    I also set it up in a glass display case and as you can see, used the same idea as I did for all my fairies.

Fairies...cont.



These little fairies I created for my three brand new nieces.

All of their outfits were fashioned out of silk flower petals.
Their wings are made of Cellophane, wire and gallery glass.
The seats they are sitting on were made from pieces of gumtree and given a coat of estapol (varnish).
Their bases I covered in fleecy material to give it a grassy look and then  scattered it with flowers and tiny wood chips to give it an overall appearance of a forest floor.
Lisbeth and Charlotte Rose  both had brown eyes which I changed to blue because all three nieces had blue eyes.

'LISBETH'

                 

                                                                                                        






     'CHARLOTTE ROSE'

'ZOE JADE' 

All of my fairies wear ballet slippers and when finished I place them into glass display cases for protection.

Mermaids


     Awhile ago I was given a beautiful blond doll with very long hair with what looks like little plaits through it and half of one foot chewed off.
     It didn't take long for me to figure out what she was meant to be...but...how to do it was another thing.    I thought she would look great as a mermaid, so on to the internet  and with a bit of research I finally found what I needed to complete my project.  
    My thoughts were...well it makes perfect sense...I mean,  there she is with one foot missing and I had to cut both feet off anyway (sound a bit barbaric doesn't it...tee hee).   This is where I discovered clay. 
Her setting is a round fish bowl with gravel, shells, ferns and coral.

 

I have called her 'MORGAN'.  This is what she looks like in her new home.

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     A dear friend gave me a little doll along with a whole lot of other dolls.  She is only 7 inchs tall with long blond hair.  

     I kept her  sitting in front of me , while I was doing all the others trying to make up my mind what I was actually going to do with her.   Then it struck me... why not make her into a mermaid as well... so I did.  

Here's an idea of size with my her in my hand.    The other is one of her balancing on top a vegemite glass.   

                    
          
                 This is a picture of her fin.

  






                                                            This is "OCEANA"

I set her up in a little plastic aquarium and set it up the same way you would a normal  one, very much the same way as I did for 'MORGAN' and this is how they turned out. 

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This is the fin I used for another of my mermaids.

For some reason it looks gold in the photo but shows up a different colour    when you can see the whole tail.

The  little throne she is sitting on is made of clay and I have painted it in shimmering gold and instead of gluing  little stones into it I used Dimensional Fabric gold glitter.

My Indian Princess

                                                         This is 'JASMINE'

       'JASMINE'S'  hair is really long and wavy which I straightened,  has gold streaks and the face I needed to make my Indian lady.   I pierced her ears,  made her earrings and matching necklace.  To give some authenticity I place the little red dot on her forehead which is call 'BINDI" and has a multitude of meanings.  I did that with fabric glitter paint which I find is great for effect.'  
        Just for fun placed a dot on the side of  her nose to make it look like it has been pierced and a dot in her belly button.   Her lips were very pale at the start of the transformation and were enhanced by repainting them. Imagined her in a traditional  'SARI' which I found out all about from the Internet.  Looked up other Barbie dolls in Indian dress, checked out 'how to wear a Sari, how to put one on.  O.M.G. (as they say).  I could dress anyone in a Sari in 15 minutes, but put one on a doll , (Oh My Giddy Aunt) it took me ages to get it right.  She almost ended up in the river (lol) but patience prevailed. 

      The amount of material needed for a 'SARI' on a real person is between six(6)mts and nine(9)mts in length.  Working out the ratio for a doll is or can be quite frustrating.  I designed a little crop top which is made of satin as is her petticoat.  The amount of time I spent on her outfit got me close to giving up but (nope) I didn't and here she is.

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My Fairies

  This everybody is 'PRINCESS'. 

     My first attempt at making a fairy doll.  She certainly didn't look like this when I got her. 
      Her wings were the first ones I had ever made and they are made of fabric.  I designed her dress and made the little chair she is sitting on. 
     All princess's need a tiara and after a lot of thinking I finally made her one.  Unfortunately or fortunately 'Princess' never made to the fairy garden because of the wind we get here at home and now resides in my craft room.

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This is 'HOPE'


I created her for a 'Breast Cancer' awareness group on request and as pink represents 'Breast Cancer'  I was lucky enough to find a doll with a pink highlight in her hair and managed to find just the right pink for her outfit.  I make all my own wings and thought that these were appropriate. 

       The little champagne glass is a candle and at the base is a little butterfly (I didn't make that) which represents change.   I didn't changed her facial features as I thought she was perfect the way she was.  When I found her she was grubby and her hair looked like she had been electrocuted (something like our own hair looks when we first get out of bed) :-).  

       I scoured the internet for any information I could find on fixing Barbies hair and  'Oh my stars' guess what!!  I found many articles on the subject (fantastic).

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 This is 'GYPSY'

     This doll reminded me of my daughter. Her bedroom looks a bit like a Gypsies tent with twinkle lights hanging over bed like a canopy, smelly candles,  a variety of stuffed animals arranged all over her bed.   Things hanging in her doorway which I usually get caught in and as I said a Gypsies tent.
    This is where I got the idea of creating 'Gypsy'.

             

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                                                                    This is 'ELLE"

      Elle's hair was straight and as I wanted her to have curls I found out how to do it, and am really glad we don't it to our own hair.(lol)

      I taught myself how to pierce her ears, made her earrings and found a little charm that says 'hope' which thrilled me no end and made it into her necklace.

       I'm pretty fussy about the dolls I use and have been very lucky with their condition.

        Elle was also created for a dear friend of mine who is also a Breast Cancer survivor.