Working on that Covered Vinyl Head Again

Change from the way she looked on March 9.

I am not finished with the face on this doll. I have more work to do on the eyes. I think they are too dark now, so I'll lighten them up the next time I work on her.

Two Little Juvenile Sock Monkeys

A Class to Dye For!

Took a fabric dyeing class today at Quilt Harbor (Aberdeen, WA). It was taught by Val Fox-Armey and lasted all day. We dyed eight pieces of fabric (fat quarters) using eight different techniques. Here are some pictures.:

In these pictures, we are doing our first project, which was producing our "ombre" pieces, which are made by immersing the entire piece of fabric into a bucket of dye, and then bit by bit, withdrawing it, while adding more dye to the bucket. It results in a graduated, monochromatic piece.

This is my spider web piece, with its first color added.

This is my folded piece; can you tell I like red?

My folded piece drained on a paper towel, and left this lovely imprint that looks like a rose.

When the towels were unfolded, this series of  "roses" emerged.

This was Karla's painted piece, waiting for its salt.

This is my scrunched piece, seasoning in a plastic bag until tomorrow.

Kay's scrunched piece, after rinsing and being ironed.

My clamped piece with the wooden whirls, seasoning in a bag til tomorrow.

Karla is adding a color to her piece that is wrapped on a pole and then scrunched together.

The Three Amigos and their Ombres.

"Look distressed," Val said. So I did.

But I wasn't. I LIKE paint on my clothes!! It looks creative!!

I DID Finish Him!

I finished my boy and he is now in the one month show at Harbor Art Guild's gallery in Hoquiam, WA. It's an unthemed, unjuried show called "Anything Goes." I wish I'd taken his picture before I took him over there, but I forgot, and then forgot the two more times I've been there since. But I will take a picture of him this week for sure, and when I do, I will add it to this post. He turned out cute, I think. I still want to make him a little hat.

Alabama Baby Boy's Clothing Begun

Actually, as usual for me, deciding what he will wear, what it will look like, and what it will be made from is the hardest part.  His jacket is begun, and I will take him to knitting tomorrow and for a second straight week, I will work on a doll instead of knit!! Oh, well, what can I say: I am NOT known for getting things done ahead of time. Management Via Crisis is my usual MO, although occasionally I try to reform and get a project done before the actual deadline (which I think, for this boy, MIGHT have been today).

Doll Done, Clothing Next, and Something Else, too

       Here he is. Without clothes, and waiting.

       Another thing I'm doing is having this blog, so far,  printed into a book by SharedBook. I'd like to have a printed copy for each of my three grandgirls, but so far I've just ordered one. I've paid and they will send it to me in a few weeks; I will decide then if I want to go with them for the other copies. It's VERY cool to just have them arrange it immediately into a book for you to look at online! I deleted a few posts that were just reminders about some passing thing, and I decided not to have a Table of Contents, as it went on for pages and pages. So I am looking forward to getting the copy in the not-too-distant future.

While the Boy is Drying, a Snowman is Begun

I used to just put a snowman face, buttons, and hat on an old-fashioned pear-shaped lightbulb, but they seemed so fragile. This year I decided to put a fairly thin layer of PaperClay over the glass. This not only should make it a little less fragile, but I can flatten the bottom so he can sit. I may still make some without the PaperClay, as Christmas Tree Ornaments.

Stay tuned.