The Dollie MaMa

UPDATE ON THE PAST FEW MONTHS

2010-06-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

Not sure where to begin, so much has happened since January.
Rodeo Rita was published in March issue and Sunburn Suzie was published in July issue of Soft Dolls and Animals Magazine.

In March, ten of my Fabulous Floozie dolls made their debut in a shop out in Scottsdale along with 4 other larger size dolls. In April Dottie the dog lady was sold I was happy and sad all at the same time.

May 1st, Twelve of my Fabulous Floozies are selected to go into Gallery 225 in Gilbert. Talk about exciting I was jumping up and down. The Fabulous Floozies are my designs. They are approximately 12 inches tall.

May 20th I attended a wonderful conference in New Mexico. Creations in Fiber in Albuquerque. I went with 5 other girls from our doll club (Dollie MaMa and the Fabric Floozies and Mary) Mary doesn't like the floozie part of our name but she still loves us and prays for us. I entered one of my dolls in a challenge C. C. Cookie is her name (This doll was adapted from a Patti Culea pattern) and I won first place in my category (Beginning Professional) which was another exciting moment.

I took a class from Arley Berryhill a wonderful Artist and Teacher, the class was Masked Ball. This class was on costuming I learned quite a bit from him. Arley was also very entertaining I thoroughly enjoyed his class. As soon as I finish her I will post a photo of her. I wasn't happy with her head so I deheaded her and now she is sporting a new head just need to sew on her hair and arms.

I met so many talented artists at this conference I am looking forward to next year.

FABULOUS FLOOZIES SNEAK PEAK

2010-01-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

I thought since I mentioned my Fabulous Floozies a few posts back I should give you a sneak peak at them.

I am having so much fun making these Fabulous Floozies with their Sassy Sayings. Its probably because they are the wilder side of who I want to be... to a point. They do allow me to say things I might not normally say out loud.

This sweet little nun is a bit discheveled in her mini skirt, halter top, & black ultra suede boots with fringe. I'll probably go to hell for making this one. Although the tag that is attached to her says "Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned".

The Floozie dressed in pink with a Martini Glass, her tag says "Good Girls are made of Sugar and Spice, Bad girls are made of Vodka and Ice"

I have 10 Fabulous Floozies created and 10 more on the drawing board, or should I say sewing table. They are available for purchase for $100.00 each. I welcome custom orders, if interested please contact me.

Published Twice in The Same Month!

2009-12-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

Can you image how excited I am I was published twice in the same month. Katrina, the Russian Ice Skater was in the January issues of Soft Dolls and Animals magazine & Doll Crafter and Costuming magazine.

Katrina Karpov sits with her hands folded on her lap nervously awaiting her 1st Figure Skating competition. Katrina stands approximately 28" tall in her fur trimmed black skating skirt, turtle neck top and red polka dot leggings, her hair is mink brown created with fun fur. Katrina Karpov is based on a pattern from Patti Culea.

NEW LINE OF DOLLS

2009-12-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

I am working on a new line of dolls, they are going to be called Fabulous Floozies(tm) they are about 10 - 12 inches tall and are very busty and risque. I am having so much fun making these beauties. I will post some photos soon.

Our first Doll Club Meeting at our new location was a great success fun was had by all.
Six members were in attendance. We are going to start our first Round Robin in January, the theme is New Beginnings.

New Location for Dollie MaMa and the Fabric Floozies Doll Club

2009-12-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

Great News!!! Dollie MaMa and the Fabric Floozies has a new location.

Day & Date: Second Wednesday of the month
Time: Noon-2 pm(so we don't have to drive when it's dark)
Place: YMCA-Valley of the Sun Power Ranch Family YMCA, 4546 East Haven Crest, Gilbert, AZ 85297 in the Power Ranch community.

Same Great price of $5.00 per meeting, per month as long as we have 10 ladies.

We have lots of room to grow, light, bright and great atmosphere. We have more elbow room, The increased space will not only allow us to accommodate additional members, but also provide space to bring in other artists as instructors for seminars... which could even stimulate club growth by making other artists in the area aware of our group. My goal as the club founder is to bring in fresh ideas and techniques that will benefit each of us. As our club grows, I also hope to obtain discounts and other benefits for club members with fabric stores and other merchants in the area

Traci - Hair Stylist Doll

2009-06-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Traci was fun to make, probably because she was made with love for my favorite hair stylist. Traci has blonde fun fur hair with a few streaks of color and blue eyes almost like the real Traci minus the fun fur for hair.

Her dress and slip on shoes were made with a Batik fabric and a solid hot pink fabric for her pants. I purchased a child’s size toothbrush, cut off most of the handle and then rounded and sanded the end to make it smooth, (Dennis did the cutting and sanding part). Voila... a little hairbrush! I also found a pair of tiny scissors and a hair blower that were little charms and tucked then into her waist band of her dress.

Here she is at her new home BB Harringtons in Chandler, Arizona.

Survivor Doll

2009-06-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

My latest doll is Sue Vivor…….

Her face is sculpted and colored using prisma pencils for her features and micron fine point pens were used for thin lines around eye and eye lashes and brows. Oh I almost forgot I used gel pen for her pupil and whites of her eyes. She is wearing a hot pink dress with lace trim. Her black pants have tiny hearts on them. I used pink ribbon enamel charms as earrings. Her long black hair is a mixture of solid fun fur and flecked fun fur with color. I used two tiny scrunchies to pull her hair back away from her eyes it also makes it easier to see her earrings. She has individual fingers on her tiny hands which are sometimes a pain to make (I should say always a pain to make). I must have made 3 pairs of hands before I was happy with the outcome.

She is joining other artists' creations in the Saving the Tatas battle against breast cancer Silent Auction, at Gallery 225 in Gilbert AZ, October 15, 2010 from 6-9PM.

Please join us for this charitable event. 100% of the silent Auction and raffle proceeds go directly to Susan G. Komen, Passionately Pink for the Cure.

Not So Raggetty

2009-06-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

I just shipped off two dolls to their new home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. I wanted them to be my version of Raggetty Ann style dolls but for some reason they didn’t turn out so Raggetty.

They were a custom order. I wanted them to resemble 2 little sisters, one with dark brown hair and brown eyes and the other with red hair and blue eyes. They are a keepsake for Sofia Elizabeth (2 years 10 months) and Nicole Ann (1 year 1 month) two of my grandchildren.

I shipped a box of things to my grandchildren. I made a strawberry shortcake flannel blanket on one side and minky fabric on the other for Sofia and for Nicole I made a blanket with quilt squares some of the squares were chenille and some were tiny print flannel with a solid pink flannel on the back side.

The dolls were also packed in the same box with other games and toys. So when my daughter Nicole opened the box Sofia put her little hands on her cheeks and said ”Oh my goodness”, took both dolls out of the box and took them to her room.

Later on that night they were tucked in bed with her with just there little heads poking out.. She said they were going night-night. Not sure if my daughter will be able to put them on a shelf to be just a keepsake.

They are loved no matter what and that’s all that counts. As soon as I get a minute I will have to perfect a raggetty style of my own. I have so many ideas in my head I overwhelm myself.

The Nature of Glass Exhibit

2009-05-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Dennis and I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix to see The Nature of Glass, Dale Chihuly art sculpture exhibit.

This was his first exhibit in an outdoor desert environment.

It was 107 degrees, hotter than the hinges of hell or what I think hell feels like having never been there. The exhibit was spectacular and worth it. It was our own fault we should have gone earlier in the season. If we had we would have gone again to see the exhibit in the evening also, because they light up the glass sculpture at night. I’m sure that would have been incredible to see also.

All the glass sculptures were mixed into the desert landscape they truly looked like they belonged there. The colors, imagination, craftsmanship and the incredible talent…WOW!
I would recommend if one of his exhibits is ever in your area, it’s a must see.

Dottie My Dog Lady-The Pup of the Party

2009-05-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Dottie was a lot of fun to make. I made her using a kona cotton layer with the dot fabric over top for her body and legs. She has black silk pants, and a dress made from a batik fabric. Her scarf was knitted with toothpicks because I wanted the smallest gauge. My poor hands were nearly crippled up after that.
I monogrammed her clutch bag with the words Doggie Bag, I sewed on a bone shape button for closure and attached a leather strap so her purse could go around her neck. She also has a black velvet choker collar with rhinestones. Her nails are painted and she is truly the pup of the party.

My Clients Best Friend

2009-05-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

Just before Christmas last year, I received an order for a custom doll my client wanted a special gift for a very special friend. Of course I said I would love to make her a doll. She didn’t show me a picture of her friend she just said she has: Long brown hair, brown eyes, loves purple, has long legs, wears short skirts, has big boobs, drinks martinis and plays cards.

I immediately went to work on her. I started with body and head from one of Patti Culea patterns and she was modified from there. I sculpted a couple of heads so my client would be able to choose one. When she picked the one she wanted she said, “this face looks just like my friend Mary”.

I sculpted her so she would have a belly button and also a butt crack. I made thong underwear with lace on them. I added larger size breasts to her body and gave her a tattoo on one of her boobs. I made her a ultra suede wrap around mini skirt with leather trim with ultra suede shoes to match. Her top was made of white stretchy fabric the front was low cut to show off her great boobs and tattoo, the top also was tapered so you could see her belly button.
I painted her finger nails (5 coats of mod podge, 2 coats of nail polish and 1 coat of clear, had to wait for each coat to dry before applying more…had little patience for that part). I also put a huge rhinestone ring on her. Applied a few fake eyelashes, that was pretty tricky (if you get glue on the tweezers the eyelashes stick there instead of to the doll) I knew that, but it still happened.

She was holding a purple martini glass in one hand and the other hand was holding cards that were a royal flush. She was 29” tall, I ended up going to a flower shop and purchasing a gold long stem rose box for her but I still had to modify the box to fit he (actually my husband Dennis modified the box not me). Tied a big red bow on the box and she was shipped to Colorado to her new home, and Mary loved Mary. Wish I could have been there to see her face.

She was a lot of work, she took me a couple of weeks if not more but I had so much fun making her it really didn’t seem like work at all.
This was so much fun I’d love making more custom dolls (BFF’s moms, daughters, teachers, etc).

Pastry Chef Goes To New York

2009-05-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have improved a lot since my first doll. In fact Cher is having a hand transplant because I just didn’t like her hands. See there goes that perfectionist part of me again having to make things perfect. I did try real hard to let it go, as you can see from my first post I made her in 2007 and its now 2009.

About a month or so ago I sent my pastry chef doll to her new home in New York to be with my step daughter Jen who is a cake artist, (Check out her blog and website they’re in my favorites). Here she is before her trip.

As soon as I receive a photo of her in her new home I will post that one too.

I then had a empty space on the shelf where she sat so I decided to make another pastry chef. She looks completely different then the first one. I am real happy with the way she turned out. I used a different shape head and different color hair. I really love using the fun fur style hair its make them look a little wild. I found a fabric remnant with little whisks on it for her chef pants, so cute.

The Dollie MaMa's First Day!

2009-05-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, here it is my first day at my new blog. Guess I should introduce myself first. Those of you who don’t know me, Hi, my name is Rose and I am The Dollie MaMa. I make Soft Sculpture Art Dolls.

I am starting a blog because I wanted to connect with other creative people and I was told this was the way to do that, so here I am. This is really hard for me I want this to be a fun and interesting blog and I am such a perfectionist, I probably would have had this done a long time ago if I wasn’t trying to figure out how to make it perfect, but here goes.

I started sewing & creating at a young age. Art, sewing and cooking are some of my favorites. I come from a very creative family as so many artists have.

Having had my own décor company for nearly 20 years, helping clients with fabrics and colors, they would say I could turn a sows ear into a silk purse. I heard that phrase again several years later when I was helping with a fundraiser silent auction doing gift baskets. The committee would bring in a pile of donated stuff and I would have to make it look like a fantastic gift that you would want to purchase.

My artistic gift has come to me without formal training. I have always been interested in arts and crafts of all kinds. My doll making didn’t start until Spring 2007.

Here is Cher, the first doll I made before I took any classes (the original pattern was from Patti Culea).

I started by taking online classes then decided that wasn’t enough. I flew to Florida to take a class taught by Katie Gardenia on Matlache Island and it was truly an inspirational day. She is an extremely talented lady. I had a lot of fun and learned some new techniques. This was my first in person class.

I then took a two day class from Elinor Peace Bailey in Northern Arizona, she is such a hoot, a great personality as well as being so talented. Her style was a lot different from Katie's, but that’s the reason for taking classes from several different teachers so you can find the things from each teacher that fits you.

I took one day of mini classes on faces, in California from Patti Culea, Barbara Willis, Betts Vidal, Sally Lampi, Li Hertzi and Elinor Peace Bailey. I guess what I enjoy most is the different styles and techniques from each teacher.

I start out with one pattern and change it, mix and match patterns, I guess you could say I don’t follow directions well or I like to do it my way. I’m like that when I cook, I almost never follow a recipe.

Just to show you what I mean this doll started out as a pattern from Elinor. I then used some of Patti's pieces, changed and shrunk them and here she is my nurse. Her name is Flora Flipper.