What a wonderful weekend!

I am so fortunate! I just returned from Columbus Ohio and the (drumroll) Artistic Figures in Cloth  learning extravaganza!! (ok I'll settle down with the exclamation points, but really, there should be several more included) If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. The event is so organized and Cyndy Sieving's and her posse of helpers think of everything and are so helpful and considerate...smiles every minute, no matter what time of day. I took Natalie Hamade's "The Dame" class. What a hoot and my gosh, she simplified drawing a face so well, that I now am going to be fearless! (ok, one more) Thanks Natalie for making this event so much fun.
The next class I participated in was "Poppet" by the wonderful  Lillian Alberti. Two days of laughing and sculpting out of paper clay. Wonderful. (hmmm, I already said that, well, it's true.)
I still need to finish both of my projects. Hopefully, I will be able to keep this fantastic creating in the forefront, oh all those balls that juggle in the air, a few may fall. HA!
Smiles to All,
Brenda

...ohhh what to wear

I am so excited about how this gal is coming together...It is a major challenge to teach myself about these joints and how they are all suppose to work, so, needless to say, they don't work "perfectly" they do work though!!! YEAH!! Now it is time to decide what I will have her wear. That was pretty funny as I was talking to my friend at work, I couldn't help but notice how perfect her shirt would make just a wonderful dress!! (She didn't agree...lol!)

Smiles to All, Brenda

...look ma, no hands! (or arms, or foot, or back of cranium)

Here she is so far. I am completely amazed and thrilled with how she is coming along. I have had a lot of down time, just kind of walking around scratching my head trying to "understand" how it all works together. I have found that, once again, nothing works better than "doing". (The same way exercise works by doing...crazy concept!) Granted, she's not all together yet, I'm still working on making her hands, and arm joints. Her foot fell off today, which is good, now I know that I need to secure it better than just at the ball seam. (poor thing, you can see her foot just sitting there in the background) My goal is to have her completed, dressed and coiffed, so that I can take her for show and tell at the AFIC conference, that's the end of April, so there is still plenty of time, especially for a procrastinator like myself.

Now, onto her hands, and working on her torso so that she can sit all the way down...she's kinda has that dirty toilet seat squat going on right now... oh...you know exactly the position of which I speak! HA!

Smiles to All,
Brenda

...slowly but...not surely

This may look like I've not gotten very far...I've been fixing things like...the abdominal area, adding breasts...and trying to figure out how in the world all of this goes together. I've found a sight that has helped me a bit on the steps, but isn't very detailed. (Boy, I really wish I read Japanese!) Obviously, I'm not going to complete this perfectly, the leg joints aren't the way the are suppose to be, the doll isn't able to get to a full right angle...things like that...how deep the balls should go into the joints...how do the feet and hands get balled and then how does the hook work????..among other things of frustration....YET...it is coming along, and that I am extremely pleased with!!(what's the saying? Rome wasn't built in a day) : )
Smiles to All,
Brenda

...arrrgh!

yes, the title is me letting out some of my frustration. I am way in over my head with these BJD stuff, I'm still holding onto the edge, so that I am not drowning, but ...phew! Granted, I'm a newbie but I also seem to suffer from perfectionism. Now, I really didn't think I did, cause I put plenty of stuff out there that isn't perfect. But ohhhh, if you read the self help stuff, and I'm listening to Brene Brown's " The Gift of Imperfection"(wonderful wonderful book) um,but,  I suffer. Nonetheless, here I am in the deep end with all the swimmers. DIGging deep as she would say.

With all of that in mind, here is what I am up to. My first Ball Jointed Doll First, you make a Styrofoam model (never have done this, but pretty amazed that it actually comes out) then, you sand and form it a little more precisely....good...good....that seems to do fairly well too.

Now, cover the individual forms with the paper clay....EGADZOOKS! and actually make them look like a leg versus a tree stump? OK...a little stumpy, but here comes some magic....sandpaper. Ahhhh....a multitude of sins can be knocked off with sandpaper, and then what's pretty neat too, is that you can add more paper clay if you knock too much off.

Yeah!!!....oooowwww...now what? I've frozen.... it's time to cut my head in half and dig out the Styrofoam....let's cross the fingers and see what happens next....(I find that I'm hiding from this struggle with a cloak of gourmet jelly beans, and miscellaneous heads.) Forward I shall go!

Smiles to All, Brenda

...progress

What a great weekend. First a sunny warm day in the middle of a Northwest Indiana winter. (giant smile) We got the rest of the wood pile moved to the front porch. My great new book arrived. Michaels had great coupons and I was able to start getting my supplies ready for Ohio. (even bigger smile, I used my Michaels gift card that I got for Christmas-thanks Mom and Dad). Dave was able to get out on the bike!!!(jumping while smiling) and I worked on learning about paper clay and painting faces...here are the results so far.

you can definitely tell both the progression of sculpture structure and painting. I've e-mailed our high school Japanese instructor to see if she can help with the translation of the book. Let's keep our fingers crossed, that would be AMAZING!Smiles to All, Brenda

...it came!!

I finally got my book from Japan today! So exciting. Now...I really wish I read some Japanese! What I find so funny is that the pictures and numbers are in English, and under each heading is the English word...and then to add insult to injury a specific square with the only language is English "Advice" and then the advice given all in Japanese. To be fair. I knew that this book was not written in English. I also thought that the photos and the sequences would be exceptional. I am not disappointed! AMAZING! It has got my curiosity up so much that it's a bit of a nuisance...it has me thinking that I need to talk with our local high school and see if the Japanese class can do some extra credit by interpreting....hey...I think its worth a shot.
Smiles to All, Brenda