Who are the dolls in our new blog banner?

You may have noticed that we have a new banner at the top of our blog.  Here you will find a full picture of each doll, along with credit to the dollmakers and the pattern designers.

A collection of faces, made by members of the doll club.

The first face belongs to this doll, made for our Fassett Fabric Challenge in 2011.  Ann C. made this doll, using a Patti Culea pattern from the book Creative Cloth Doll Beading.  It is a beautiful example of the 'standard' needle-sculpted cloth face, with features colored by colored pencils, permanent markers, and acrylic paint.

Greater-Crested Ruby-Throated Dream Chaser,
made by Ann C. from a Patti Culea pattern

The second face in the banner was made in our Spring 2012 workshop with Leslie Molen.  Katie created this cloth-over-cloth face with inset eyes, and used a fantastic beaded fabric for the hat to set it off.  Here is the post about our class.

Princess Chun Woo, made by Katie in a workshop with Leslie Molen

The only male face in the banner is also needle-sculpted cloth.  Mary started this doll in our 2006 Elven King workshop with Judy Skeel.  Due to his strong nose and rather imperious expression, he ended up with a definite resemblance to the Harry Potter character Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius, made by Mary M. in a workshop with Judy Skeel

The center face in the banner was made by Ann R. in our 2011 workshop with Annie Hesse.  This is an in-progress picture taken during the workshop itself, but the doll did eventually get arms!  The fully-beaded face is a departure from our usual cloth faces, but was an awesome technique to learn.

Garden Party doll, made by Ann R. in a workshop with Annie Hesse.

The next picture is an example of cloth-over-clay construction.  The face was sculpted out of clay first, and then covered with fabric and colored.  Nita made this lovely doll during a workshop taught by our very own Leslie W.

GwynnEllen, made by Nita in a workshop with Leslie W.

The next-to-last photo in the banner is an old-fashioned embroidered face, sewn by Julie G. for a Gail Wilson doll.  Julie got to take a class with Gail in the spring of 2010, and made this adorable Lottie doll.  Gail is quite the queen of old-fashioned dollies, so we had to include one of her designs here.


Lottie, made by Julie G. in a class with Gail Wilson

The last doll was made by Andrea B., in a 2004 workshop with Christine Shively.  Our club has invited Christine to teach more than once, because her faces are so much fun to color.  This workshop included both The Countess doll and The Extraordinary Chair.  The flat face was colored using Prismacolor pencils, acrylic paint, and a fine-line Micron pen.

Gothic Princess, made by Andrea in a workshop with Christine Shively

The 2nd Half of our Doll Show

We were walking around the display at our 10th Annual Art Doll Show and Sale.  Let's rejoin the tour at the far end of the room, which features our Round Robin dolls.

As you can see, we had a busy day with many visitors!

This is the west side of the table, taken while we were still setting up.

We filled in with a few more dolls the next morning.



Gloriana by Shelby, Three Faces of the Goddess by Barbara, N'Ambessa by Andrea



Guardian Angel by Leslie, Owls by Rebecca



Brigitte by Andrea, Witch and Wazinkies by Leslie, Kewpie by Ann R,
Jilly by Andrea, Roxanne by Julie G.



Gift Basket fundraiser for a family who lost their home in the southside explosion

Challenge Winners and the 1st half of the doll show

Here are the first pictures from our 10th Doll Show :-)  This was the view as you entered the room.  Our Leslie Molen class dolls served as a friendly welcoming committee.

And above them was a varied and interesting cast of characters, including last year's Judge's Choice Winner, a furry monster, a Greek myth, and a literary villain. There's also an extra-small doll in the lower left corner.

Counter-clockwise from the bottom:
Poppie by Martha J., Tucker Beano by Erin F.,
Aquarius the Water-Bearer by Katie J., and Lucius Malfoy by Mary M.

If you turned left, you found our Gift Giver Challenge table.  We collected a total of 116 votes for the People's Choice Award, which definitely set a new record for us.  Here's the table during the show, with the ballots being collected, and story signs posted for each of the dolls.

Here's a tidied-up version, after the winners were announced.

People' Choice Award Winner: The Princess and the Frog by Katie Jones.
Second Place went to The BFG by Erin, and
Third Place in the popular vote went to Fine Lady Elinore by Shelby.

Before the show we also had our dolls judged by a fiber artist, and we gave awards for those results, too.
First Place and Judge's Choice went to The Princess by Katie Jones.
Second Place went to La Befana by Mary McNeely.
Third Place went to Mother Nature by Jude.
Congratulations to everyone who finished this year's Challenge!  And special kudos to Katie, who swept the awards with her excellent workmanship.

Let's go back to the display, and see what else was on the table.  This is the view from the east side of the room. 

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More soon...

It's almost Show Time!

Just a reminder to everybody that our 10th Annual Art Doll Show and Sale is this Saturday, November 17th from 10-5!
Come see us at the library branch in the beautiful neighborhood of Irvington.  The construction is finished, and the streetscape is lovely and easy to drive through now.  Don't miss The Gathering of Artists art fair nearby, too.  With all the great little shops and good food, it's a fabulous way to spend a Saturday and do lots of Christmas shopping. 

Also, check out our new blog banner up top!  I had always planned the original one as 'just a place-holder'; now only a few short years later, I have replaced it with a collage of many doll faces made by different members of the club.

We hope to see you Saturday.  Let us talk your ear off about how much fun it is (and how challenging it can be) to make cloth dolls.