Sunday, December 15, 2013

Doll project Dec2013

  Over several months ago I was out just browsing designer pages.  I stumbled across Jim Hankins page and found this amazing doll he made.   It gave me an idea to make my sister a doll and then I had the desire to make my own doll project.   I completed and gave my sister her doll and have been trying to figure out what my doll theme and piece would be.

 I first had to go out and purchase another doll form and I was able to find another one at Tuesday morning.  My project started with this doll form that I purchased at Tuesday Morning.

My next step in the process was to figure out what type of style I wanted this doll to have.  I wanted to have a distress vintage feel.  I have always like antique and old rulers so I knew I wanted to have that element.  I also wanted this project to relate with my style and personality as an artist.  Here were the base materials used to develop the dress for the doll.

I decided I wanted to use tags with a paper and fabric element.  So I attached fabric and old ledger paper to tags.  I ended up making 60 tags to use to produce the dress in my project.  I used adhesive to attach the fabric and ledger paper.   I then sewed several of the tags with edged stitching on the journal tags to give that additional element.

I attached each tag to the doll by using a glue gun and alternated the tags to develop my pattern.  I then added elements of embellishments and choose to use keys, gears and time pieces.  Here are more pictures of my doll.



When going through the process and attaching tags I found as I edged further down the form I ran into where I had a gap between layering edges.  So I had to figure out what to do that would bring the dress panels together.  I then decided to take old wooden rulers and cut them to size and use those as my seam to bring the panels of the dress together. 

I hope you enjoy my dress project and this was a Christmas present I made for myself.   This piece is proudly displayed in my studio and is used as a muse to help me with my creativity.   This is one of my proudest projects to-date. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you enjoy.  If you have any additional questions on this project let me know.

Thanks,

Trent

11 comments:

  1. I would keep it for myself too. How tall is she? Is the form new or vintage? The idea for the dress is ingenious. Very beautiful.

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    1. She stands about 2.5ft. This was a santos dress form I purchased at Tuesday Morning. Thank you for the positive words on my creation. I wanted something with a true vintage and mixed media feel.

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  2. You found that form at TM??? That alone is amazing! Gorgeous layering on the skirt. Very inspiring.

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    1. What or where is TM? I started looking for the cage dolls and even repros are way out of my league.

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    2. I found it at Tuesday Morning. It was over 8 months ago.

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  3. This is sensational. I'm pinning it!

    I found you through the last Retro Art Cafe newsletter!

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  4. Trent, this is fantastic! I'm also visiting today through Retro Café. I hope to see you this year in a Retro Swap. I would LOVE to own one of your creations. Thank you for sharing your wonderful project.

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  5. OMG!!!! That doll is fantastic!! I am i love with cage dolls, be they Santos or other types. I love making them from old wire ornaments or small bird cages....I just wish I had 12 more hours a day to play in.

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  6. She is very beautiful, I would not have been able to part with her

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