Monday 18 April 2011

Everyday People - Nora

First doll of my new range of Everyday People - Nora is a sunny vegan lady with a broad smile. She is an excellent yoga teacher. She is 31/4 inches tall in her chunky trainers and is poseable with 9 joints including moving head. She can sit on a chair but sadly can not sit cross-legged. She can stand by herself without a stand.

She is a portrait of my good friend and yoga teacher who really is such a positive and sunny personality. I really enjoyed making her although her trainer was really hard for me to make and it did not turn out as I had hoped. However, I was very pleased with my first attempt at a moving head which was a success.

Nora launched my Etsy page yesterday.


My Everyday People will be people I or anyone of us would have met and seen. Hopefully they will charm you and not look scary like my other characters :-) (no offence to them).

Saturday 16 April 2011

My latest 1/12th character


Tara 

(an Animal Aid activist)  


wearing a faded and frayed 1950s vintage dress (painted by me) with platted hemp boots



Friday 15 April 2011

EXCITING NEWS

Today I was put on the The Vegan Society Facebook Page, which is exciting enough without 65 likes in less than 5 hours :-) and my first negative comment, YAY, which surprisingly was on Kite Flyer (who normally gets the best).

Anyway all very exciting.

Sahaya

Stunning new faeries from Fortune Faeries

Here are the stunning new OOaK (for the first time absolutely no molds were used for the faces) made by Karen van Kalmthout, a wonderful artist and friend who I have learnt a lot from. In her website, Fortune Faeries , you  can see some more of her beautiful sculptures. 


Saturday 2 April 2011

A true and wonderful story that happened in Japan about a lizard (not Miniatura related)

In order to renovate his house, a man in Japan tore open the wall.

Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside had got stuck into one of its feet.

The man saw this and felt pity. He remembered that he had hammered that nail into the wall ten years earlier.

What had happened?

The lizard had survived in such a position for 10 years! In a dark wall partition without moving - not an easy task.

So he stopped work and observed the lizard. What was it eating?

Later, from somewhere, another lizard appeared with food in its mouth...

He was stunned. What kind of love was this?

Another lizard had been feeding the lizard trapped by the nail for the past 10 years!.

Were they a couple, family or friends?

These are reptiles (cold blooded) yet they were truly altruistic and humane.

Friday 1 April 2011

Miniatura part 1 - Thanks

First of all I want to say sorry for my delay in posting. I really was so exhausted and excited after Miniatura (especially because I did most of my work just in the weeks leading up to Miniatura and still had shamefully little to display :-( , spending far too much time planning instead of doing :-) ). and by the time I was fully rested and had registered everything that had happened over the weekend  I was too busy making new dolls (suddenly my head being packed with all these new ideas. I know very disorganised :-) ).


Anyway now that I am finally writing I want to say how great everyone was and how much I appreciate all the support they gave me especially the other artists. Not only was their work even more fantastic (it really was AMAZING) in real but what made it even better, if possible, was seeing their commitment and knowing how nice and kind people they all are.

To name a few, Aidan and Amande Campbell, Georgina Ritson, Jain Squires of giddy kipper characters, Jane LaverickJill BennettJulie Campbell of bellabelle dolls, and Malcolm and Sylvia of malcolmminiatures, all of whom were just amazing. 


And a special thank you to Jane Laverick (who had mentioned me in her blog before Miniatura, and hence many people said they had heard about me from there) for all the advice and the special little gift she gave meand also to Malcolm and Sylvia - I could not have had better neighbours especially for my first show.


And to everyone organising Miniatura - it really is a wonderful show (both as an exhibitor and a visitor) - Andy, Muriel and Bob Hopwood.


Miniatura

                     Shanti(she is so beautiful)-
Jane Laverick's wonderful and generous gift to me