Four Small Dolls

First off, sorry for my long absence from this blog. I've neglected it again for some time but the up side of this is I have amassed several projects in the meantime that I'll be able to post.

Here we have a set of 4 small dolls I have created for a swap. I often participate in these mini doll trades and if you are a doll maker I would LOVE to engage in such a swap with you. The only rules are that they are between 3 and 6 inches tall and have a loop to hang them from. My goal is to have a massive collection of these one of a kind creatures decorating my home. The Yeti I featured a little while back is one of these dolls created for SpookyPooky, one of my crafty art crushes. 

Here is the most recent set I have created. My goal this round was to build as much of each piece from polymer clay as possible. Enjoy!

My first partner had listed mermaids and Day Of The Dead artwork on her likes so I combined them into this lovely. She is constructed entirely out of polymer clay, with the exception of her jointed dangling arms and tail fin. Her fin is made out of one of my favorite materials (as I love any craft that requires fire) Fantasy Film.  I've also heard it called "Angelina Film." It's a thin plastic film that is heat reactive, changing colors and warping shape and texture. It is perfect for things like wings or fins and is oh so much fun to play with.  

My next partner expressed a love of birds and so this was created. The basic shape was built from polymer clay and then painted a royal blue. I then covered the piece in blue and white feathers. Oddly enough, this gave it the perfect texture, weight and density to feel frighteningly realistic. I feel so sorry for my partner who for a half a second when she opened her mail and reached into the bubble mailer, must have worried that she had gotten a lunatic for a partner who sent her a dead bird.  She later told me that due to his stern expression she had named him "The Blue Bird of Seriousness"

This happy little mushroom is entirely clay and has one of the cutest faces ever. I originally intended to make a psychedelic multicolored  funky friend but after I started sculpting he begged to be painted in natural warm colors. The details I put into him like the  ridges under the cap (that I failed to get a good shot of) came out so well that they demanded I stay in realistic tones.

And this spectacular little fellow is by far my favorite. My partner's list included things such as bat wings, eyeballs, tentacles, "the aesthetic of old retro toasters" and the instructions "Go a little mad, and I will be sure to love it." The answer was so very obvious: The Space Toaster from Hell.  She loved him so much she mentioned she was considering divorcing her husband and running away with this fabulous creature. 

I love this Toaster. Love, love, LOVE it. I love that she loved it. I love that it loved her. It makes me so unrelentingly happy when a creature I have created is so perfectly matched with and cherished by it's recipient.

Hope you enjoyed this latest edition of my dark eyed creations :)

Much Love!