Class Dolls and Sandy's Kings

At our Show and Sale... Check out the wonderful displays of dolls created in various classes, workshops, and retreats this year. The January Girls were created in a class with Barbara Schoenoff at the Threads of Time retreat in Danville, Illinois.

January Girls by Jude, Katie, Nita, Julie G., ?, Sue, and Ann C.

In March, Kathryn Walmsley taught a sculpting workshop - Punchinello scultped paperclay heads

Punchinello heads by Leslie and Ann R.

This small collection of Downton Abbey dolls travelled to another Threads of Time retreat in June.

Downton Abbey dolls by Ann C., Katie, and Julie G. 

In August we had a very fun workshop with Lucy Landry.

Lots and lots of Bridget dolls!

Sandy brought a wonderful highlight of our show this year; she brought The Three Kings from her denim nativity set.  The doll body patterns and costuming are entirely original, created from recycled jeans.

Shown below is the King from the East, bearing his gift of myrrh and robed in classic kimonos.

The second King has fringed sleeves and zipper embellishments on his chest piece and crown, and carries a casket of frankincense fastened with an overall buckle.

The third King has bias-swirled robes and wears a cloak crocheted with strips of denim.  The bowl holding his gift of gold is created of coiled belt loops.

Feb. 2012, part 1 - An original design and 4 beaded necklaces

This month's meeting was packed full of visual inspiration!  We had 18 people attending, including 2 new members and 2 first-time visitors.  We'll start show and tell with a set of brand-new original dolls.  This adorable design is a new creation from Leslie Wright.

Three of the 'Wazinkies' by Leslie Wright

Each doll has her own face and unique patterns, hand-drawn with gel pen and colored with pencils.

Back of a Wazinkie doll

Next Sandy showed us the little project she has been working on -- an outstanding collection of beaded necklaces.  Sandy is sending them all as a gift to her daughter, who is working overseas.


Purple and green beaded beads

You had to see them to believe them, but please click on the picture to see close-up just how many seed beads went into this awesome necklace!


Pink collar with green shell discs

This one is nicely musical when you run your fingers over the shells.

Wide band of grey and black stripes

All of the necklaces were very tactile, and we had a great time passing them around the table and trying them on.

Multi-color beaded fringe

This was probably our favorite one to wear.  The weight sat very comfortably on your collarbones, and the fringe was very soft and smooth.

Stay tuned for part two of the meeting...

2011 Show and Sale, part 2

So, we are continuing our tour around the display table at our 9th Annual Show and Sale.  In the center of the picture are two dolls from last year's White-on-White or Black-on-Black Challenge.

Lady Gaga by Mary McNeely and
Percival Poulet by Julie Gausvik

Next, seated on the leafy vine (sculpted from wire and Apoxie Sculpt), is the original GwynnEllen doll that Leslie taught in the fall of 2010.  The lady in blue with the pink headdress is Gabby's Night Out, created by Nita from a Jill Maas pattern.  Martha made the green and peach doll seated on the wooden box -- the green body fabric is a polka-dot print, and each dot is covered with concentric circles of beads!

dolls by Leslie, Nita, and Martha

Continuing around the corner, we find another nativity set by Sandy.  The polymer faces are set in silver spoons, and the robes are made of painted, embellished Tyvek.

Nativity, original design by Sandy Wildman

Next are two dolls by Katie Jones -- the tall one is a wrapped wire armature as taught by Ray Slater, and the other is from her class with Leta Benedict at AFIC last spring. The matroyshka doll is a collaboration between Leslie and her granddaughter Rebecca, and is the first doll Rebecca has made.

The very friendly-looking dog is a sleeve puppet (like a sock puppet, but different) with needle-felted eyes and features.  He was taught at another AFIC class, this one by Esther Bechler.

Brody by Andrea Baughman

The last dolls on the table are the smallest dolls in the display; 6-inch dolls designed to teach the basics of dollmaking to a beginner class.

Betsy, Bitty, and Betty by Andrea Baughman

From the smallest to the tallest -- at 4 feet tall, these members of Sandy's most recent nativity did not fit on the display table, and in fact, only three pieces would fit in her tiny Miata to travel to the show.  Sandy created an entire breast cancer nativity, complete with wise men and a camel.  The scene below depicts an angel bringing a new prosthetic breast to Mary.

And last but not least, our People's Choice table, with all nine of this year's challenge dolls.  The next post will have the results of the challenge judging.

Thanks again to everybody who came to our doll show.  It was a wonderful day, and we truly enjoyed the opportunity to share our love of art dolls with all of you.

2011 Show and Sale, part 1

We had an amazing turnout for our 9th Show and Sale this year!  We all agreed it was our biggest crowd ever.  Thank you so much to everybody who came, and to all of the dollmakers who worked so hard to put it all together.  Now let's look at some pictures...


Indy Cloth Dollmakers
 9th Annual Show and Sale 2011

We'll just start at this end and walk around the table.  On the corner are two very cute Allison Marano pixies by Nita Butler.

Gillie Gherkin and Ivy

Above them you'll see Nita's Sherry Goshen doll, and a GwynnEllen fairy made by Katie Jones.  Katie's Aquarius doll is in the foreground; her full-length view is in the next photo.

N'Ambessa by Andrea Baughman was started in Leta Benedict's Bastet class at AFIC last spring.  (Her name comes from the Ethiopian word for lioness.)  Next to her is Dande's Dance by Katie Jones.  And beyond her, in blue, is Katie's doll Aquarius the Water Bearer, from our Zodiac Challenge with the River City Guild last May.

A lion woman and a dandelion woman

Next is one of Sandy Wildman's nativities, from a pattern by Barbara Shoenoff.  This is the first of four nativities that Sandy brought to display this year.

Nativity by Sandy Wildman

Her second, smaller nativity is made of painted gourds -- you can see them to the right of the seahorse, made by Erin Fry.

Weighing the Possibilities by Julie Gausvik and Lorena by Leslie Wright

Leslie's original doll Lorena is seated on Ann Reddick's hand-pieced diamond quilt.  Leslie also brought a photo album of the Izannah Walker-style dolls she created for her antique doll club.

display table and Annie Hesse workshop dolls

We've walked around the first half of the display table so far.  We'll finish our tour in the next post!

P.S.  This is our 50th blog post -- I'm glad we have such a great event to share on such a momentous occasion!