Hello Everyone

I went to the store and bought things to finish sanding the Fae,
Thanks to Judy and her wonderful tips :) the haul consists of a smoothing block (which you see below)and some sand paper which Richard picked up for his sander and gave to me .

now the stuff you see below is a new tool that I found and can use on the dolls. before I bought the drimel (sp) tool I should have looked a little bit closer at this "Peticure" that we bought and couldn't use because it scared the dogs. on the commercial the dogs and cats look so calm while you file down their claws, in real life they try to kill you to get away from the horrible noise this thing makes.

its' almost like a drimel too only bigger so if you happen to see one and don't want to buy a drimel tool pick it up instead, it'll save you some cash.

"the peticure is on the left, the drimel is in the center and the sand paper is the orange stuff"

and this is what I've done so far, you can't see the face because of the flashback and I just found out today that Im using the wrong clay.

if you plan on making figures it is suggested (it? who is this it? well basically everyone who sculpts knew this except for me..another Lucy moment?) you use prosculpt

so now I have 4 or 5 boxes of Super Sculpty...yippe

when payday roles around I'll run up to Akron and pick up some prosculpt (I sort of wondered why this was like sculpting in bubble gum, oh well.... it can be mixed with a harder clay *thank god for that*

so I'm back in business, going to work on the face tonight, after I sand down the arm an make some feet and hands for this little Fae

off to work!!

*Big Cabbage Patch kid Smile*

Marisa

Quick update!!

I baked the dolls yesterday but I had to run out of the house because it was 102 here! the dogs and I were dying from the humity, poor Bella collapsed on the floor with her tongue out so I threw her in the sink and gave her a much needed bath.

I took them out this morning and they look pretty good! I need to sand them down and probably put more clay on the mermaid, I found some ruby chips for eye for her *it's amazing the stuff you find lying around the house* Her tail needs to be finished and then some ears and back into the oven she goes!

the other fae will need sanding, I can't get over how clear the eyes are and thats one heck of a jaw it's got on it.

I'll post photos later, it's just too hot to work upstairs right now

Now I see why dollmakers take off during the summer! you'd get heat stroke messing around with a hot oven and it's 100 outside! talk about cat on a hot tin roof

who's got the lemonaid?

Marisa the cat!

*get it, little play on words there with cat on a hot tin roof?.... get it now?.....no? ok*

here is a sneak peak into my world, above is my workspace. I was able to take the entire wall of the upstairs bedroom and my friend gave me the lamps so it's really bright.

I started the other figure last night, Im not too sure about the head but when I took a good look at it the eyes were clear (apparently I had a Lucy moment and I didn't cook my eyes long enough, pretty typical of me I must say)

the Mermaid is ready for sanding and I foiled the tail last night so she's moving right along. I didn't touch the other face..too many irons in the fire. I will work on it sometime soon. too bad the photos of the new figure didn't turn out well the clay is light and I'm getting a flash back.

so what did I learn

1. bake you work for the proper length of time

2. some mistakes can be corrected

3. work on your project a little every day and you'll make some progress

Bye for now

The Divine Mrs. Stein

PS. I'm going to have to get a stool, the table is way too high for me *but I'm still grateful for it*

ok, I did some searching and found a site that explains how to use liquid Sculpty to transfer photos so instead of using leather, steel, copper, ect. just download from the computer, print from a laser printer and then cover with L.S. then bake.....simple huh :)

*my mind is reeling from the possiblities this means no more searching for the right fabric just download something to photo transfer and cover it with L.S. and bake..what could be simplier?*

before I forget here is the information:

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/liquid_polymer_clay_photo_transfer

so you want leather boots and don't have the money to buy leather? No problems down load some leather looking art from the net and then print it out on your laser printer, bake and there you go..leather for your boots and you can do colors too

ok update on the sculpting

I looked at the face I baked last night, I don't like the lips...all my doll faces look like they have Lisa Rinna lips *even Lisa Rinna says that's a bad thing* I was so disappointed this morning when I looked at it but I guess it's a learning process.

I'll post photos of the face later on tonight

Bye Ya'll *yes I've been watching Paula Dean again*

ok this is the new head I'm working on, sorry it's not clear I had problems with the camera, trust me it does need a lot of work. for some reason I can't get the mouth just right and the eyes are giving me problems but the nose looks good and the overall shape is coming together. needs a bit more work. the Mermaid/Sea Hag is below...yes, isn't she just lovely (thats sarcasm BTW), ok I've ripped her apart and I will be taking off the paint with acetone and a little sanding. what I found out was that you can use fingernail polish remover and fingernail files if you don't have the good stuff from the hardware store. *this is my first time using it so lets see how it turns out. the list for her is as follows

1. remove paint and sand
2 . fix her ears and bake them
3. fix her hands and bake them
4. fix her tail and bake it
5. add her scales and make sure everything is scale, then bake the entire doll with everything attached

*yea, I'm going to have to fix her girls and her bottom, add a bit more detail to the tum tum too!

thats the plan
will still need to get Teddy Bear Stuffing to prop her up and she will need a display, the good thing about acrylic paint is that it's easy to remove. I'll move up to heat set oils later or not..who knows
on ward and up ward...one head is in the oven baking now..so I going to work on the body tonight..add some dirty clay and then bake it so it wont give me any trouble..maybe tomorrow I'll attach it and see what else I need to do to her/him...it?

right now it's the mermaid..time to foil her bum and get her sorted

then bedtime, 5:00 am comes early here.

Cheers mates

I'm inspired...well I'm actually at work but when I get home...I'll be inspired!!

I got a wonderful Email from Penni that almost made me cry, someone listened to me and someone cared. that really means so much to me right now and I can pay it forward because thats how life is supposed to work isnt it? *well it's supposed to work that way but sometimes it doesn't*

I did work on the Mermaid last weekend and I have a face in the Oven ready to go ( I have an oven in my makeshift studio, I do have a space to work since Richard got his Mancave!) I have so many self doubts right now, that accident really took it's toll on me. I don't know about my faces but if they make me happy I suppose that's all that matters.

I don't want to sell them, I know it's crazy but right now I don't want too..I want to keep working on them and have them around me but I don't want to sell them, this is fun for me and I liked making 10 faces and squishing them and I liked making the armatures and making sure things were to scale

ohhh and I learned how to make clothes out of liquid Sculpty if you go to Morezmore's website she has web tutorials that she's found that are very helpful and fun to look it. I also learned that you can make your own eyes out of sewing pins, just put a little clay on it, color it like an eye and cover with liguid sculpty *mine turned out cloudy but you should follow the tutorial*

so tonight I'll be firing up the one head and finishing up the other while working on the mermaid *she deserves better and I'm going to give it to her after all...she's mine* wow..I've never really felt this good before it's like a black cloud has lifted

I'll post photos tonight of the progess *it helps to keep me on the straight and narrow..if I post photos its shows I'm working again*

Love you guys

Marisa