An Inside Look At What I Do

For the curious, I wanted to show a little bit of the process it takes to make my art character dolls.....

I take a basic wooden clothespin-



Holes are drilled, wire threaded through, and clay is used to form the head, arms and shape of doll-



I then paint and design the doll's facial expression and begin the work on designing their costume-



The finishing touches are made on their costumes, sometimes requiring a bit of hand sewing-



Hair styles and finishing touches are added, now for the other character!-



Now the characters are complete, and ready to be displayed!- (Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan)



I hope you enjoyed the little mini tour, and seeing the process of what goes into making my creations!

Stop in again soon!

Just Do It!

Today I was looking over some of my first art doll characters that I made- ugh...you can tell I was learning! But you know, everyone had to start out somewhere, right? So I kind of smile when I see those, and I like to keep them as
a reminder of how far I have come.

I used to only make female dolls because making male dolls scared me since the clothing was much more of a challenge. I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I avoided pushing myself to learn....but that bugged me.
So, I forced myself to get past my apprehensions and do it anyway...I don't know
how many made it to the trash bin, but I am sure there were quite a few that did!



I guess the moral of the story is, it is a good thing to stretch yourself. To try things that sound tricky, or hard. It feels good when you set a challenge and then
realize that if you try hard enough, you will see the reward.




Do I still try things that are new and potentially difficult? Yes indeed I do, and I will always try to do something new if I can- as a matter of fact, I have a book I keep new ideas in for me to try,(if I ever get around to it!).

If you are toying with some ideas to try and are scared to do it, my advice is to
go for it, you just may be surprised at the results!

Coming soon...

I often get asked what my next ideas will be or what will I be creating next....
which is why I am glad I have my "never ending" ideas book. It is a large spiral notebook with dividers and it is full of ideas of characters to do, what I want to add, pictures of how I want to do it, and so forth.

That really helps when you hit a stale wall...trust me. And hitting that wall is something all artists or creators will do sooner or later.

Some of my upcoming designs include Rhett Butler, Tom Sawyer, Tatiana of Shakespeare's play, Mary Pickford, and a lot more.

Just for fun, here are some of my newest creations-

That's Life

Well, this has been quite the month, I must say. I had my twins just graduate high school, my husband has a tentative job change possibility, but the biggest shocker
was our daughter coming home after 3 years of college and telling us she had signed
up to join the Marines...(of course without talking it over with us first). Now I ask, where did THAT idea come from?

( Now I can see why some species are known to eat their young! )

Well, my husband and I are having to learn what we all must, and that is to make the best of what happens, there is no other alternative- (since we tried the kicking and screaming route but it didn't work!)

Times like this are what make me appreciate having an outlet in my creating. It's better to snip and cut fabric, glue and paint, and put my focus on something
that will distract me from the things I don't want to think about... or rather can't do anything about.

While it may not give a resolution to the problems at hand, it does help me realize that life is life and you just have to take it as it comes and deal with it one step at a time- which is all any of us can do!



This rainbow I took a picture of is a good reminder that things can get better after a storm.

Handmade Spark - Uneek Doll Designs

Handmade Spark - Uneek Doll Designs

Here is another place you can find me, should you need to!

Cute Little Toads

Well, this is off the subject a bit but my son loves toads and frogs. He has for a long time, and I am afraid it's my fault...

I bought a science project from a curriculum company that said you could raise your own frogs. They didn't say what kind, I just assumed they were the run of the mill kind that you would find in any pond. And the success rate for the kit was pretty low so I figured maybe if we were lucky we'd succeed in getting one set of tadpoles to grow.

Not so...all 10 tadpoles lived and thrived. We did lose two eventually, so we had 8 African clawed frogs that all survived and it ended up costing my husband and I hundreds upon hundreds of dollars because we had to buy a much larger tank, several filters, food, and other assorted goodies to keep up with these good sized critters. (These aren't the kind of frogs you see in a pond so putting them there wasn't an option.)

All of this has served to encourage my son's enjoyment of amphibians and here where we live, there are toads EVERYWHERE. He finds them and brings them in for me to see...(from afar please, thank you!)



By the way, I will be reading the fine print if I ever buy any more science projects throught the mail!

A Christmas Carol Isn't Just For Christmas

I know some people think the story of A Christmas Carol is a holiday themed story, and yes, I have to agree it is, in one sense- but in another sense, not so much.

You see, the other day I was pondering on what I wanted to work on next and it hit me- the main characters from the Charles Dickens tale of A Christmas Carol. Yes, it was May, and yes, it is 90 plus degress out, but I happen to love the version with Patrick Stewart in it, he made the best acting Scrooge I have ever watched! Anyway, as I enjoyed the movie, I found myself getting out my supplies and work away I did.

Christmas or not, the message of the novel and the movie has a strong year round lesson about life and how it should be approached- and I felt that though most think it as a Christmas themed tale, I happen to believe it is more of a life themed tale.