Thinking of summer

This is my second stab at making a miniature folding chair. I've been working on a two figure sculpture titled Aunt Shirl and Uncle Jimmy in Hollywood, Florida, 1994.

This will be the chair for Uncle Jimmy. The first one I made is pictured in my previous post, but I made it after I made Aunt Shirl, so she didn't fit in it as well as I would have like.

Lesson learned. Going forward I will make sure I have the seating arrangements all figured out before I complete a figure!

Aunt Shirl

This is a sculpture that I am working on for an upcoming exhibit entitled Unobvious (abstraction of a common object). I created the lawn chair first from 3/32 aluminum tubing and ribbon that I found at a local craft shop. The ribbon looks exactly like the webbing from this type of vintage lounge chair (needless to say, I've been back to buy more!) I'm envisioning a whole group of ladies of various sizes and shapes sitting around in Hollywood, Florida kabitzing, but, so far, I have only completed Aunt Shirl.

Madame Odette

I created Madame Odette for Mar. We met on Swapbot and Mar sent me the most amazing box of ephemera. In return I created one of my 'little souls'. She told me about Madame Odette (and even sent me a photo of her in her younger days). After thinking about her for a week I sat down at my art table and slowly brought her to life.

She arrived at Mar's just yesterday. She was as excited to receive her as I was to make her.

Paper Art Dolls

As a child I used to play with paper dolls. I had a fairly large collection, but I never considered them 'art'. Recently I signed up for an Art Doll Swap on atc's for all.com. I sculpted, painted, clothed and wigged one of my clay dolls and sent her off to the moderator for the swap. Once she arrived at her destination (three days before the deadline) I received an e-mail from the moderator asking about the other two dolls that were required for the swap. Yikes! I hadn't realized it was a 3 for 3 swap. With the deadline fast approaching I decided to try making some jointed paper dolls. I broke out my collection of brads and with the help of several fashion magazines I came up with two self-portrait paper dolls.

Altered Altoid swap

I created a button fairy inside a leather suitcase for a recent altered altoid swap. I used a brown paper bag and weldbond glue to make the imitation leather. Layers of acrylic paint dabbed on and blotted off added to the illusion of leather.

Madame Marie

I created Madame Marie for an Art Doll Swap on ATC's for all.com. She was created with Puppen Fimo in 1/12th scale and has wired arms and legs.

Her dress and shawl were created from sari fabric that I received in another swap that I participated in on Swapbot.

I've been making my clay dolls since 2001.