Happy New Year, Christmas Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice and whatever else has happened in the past far-too-long since I last posted. What a crazy month it has been! My most-talented husband’s book, Mopus, has been published, which was very exciting. We had a launch mere days after I finished three major term papers in as many weeks, which I was sure was going to kill me (and led me to the firm decision that from now on I can only do two courses at a time, as three courses plus my teaching assistantship plus my part-time job plus my own book leaves me no almost time to work on my dolls or blog.) But back to more interesting things…
The launch was a great success, despite one of the worst blizzards Montreal had seen in years (and in a city known for fierce winter weather.) Mopus was published by a small, burgeoning publisher in Colorado called Counterpath Press, so a launch wasn’t really in their budget – we were on our own, which was just fine! The car we share with three neighbours was in the shop, so the night before we hauled two boxes of books in a bundle buggy on the metro up to our friends’ place (they live much closer to the bar where we had the launch.) The next morning we dragged said boxes the on a baby toboggan lent to us by said lovely friends with the wind literally driving ice-needles into our faces the whole time. Thank god we had other kind friends, Matt and Tara, visiting from LA – they helped us drag for a good fifteen minutes! When we arrived our faces were coated in ice crystals. We feared no one would show, but Montrealers are intrepid; in the end the place was packed, we sold lots of books, drank amazing hot toddies and ate good food. Oisin and I both read from the book and it seemed a good time was had by all.
Now we’re in Maine, visiting O’s parents, staying in a little cabin on their property that has a tiny but powerful wood-stove (thank god.) Some of you may remember WAAAAY back in May when I started a doll for Oisin that was supposed to be for his birthday (also in May.) Well, life intervened, but I did manage to finish her for Christmas instead, and I tried to remember to take pictures as I went along (although often got so engrossed I forgot important steps!) O. had asked for an Elizabethan vampire, so I did some research into Renaissance costume, and included as many authentic details as I could. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting pictures...
Here she is in her nascent, rather primitive stages; I used paperclay for head, hands and feet and it works up quite rough until it’s carved or sanded.
Now she’s got a nose – not quite such a scary, featureless lump...
And now she is mostly sculpted but unpainted
For shoes, I cut out small pieces of dupioni silk, which I then shaped around her feet, glued in place and then lacquered with acrylic varnish and matte modge podge.
And her stockings are made from real nylons sewn up the back of the leg.
...A bit of nail polish for her royal self.
Painted and a little bit creepy (did I mention he requested a vampire? Her fangs are painted thorns from a Hawthorn tree on our land.
And finally, the Bettie Page lunchbox I used to transport the fragile parts…very handy. I'll be posting the rest of the pictures over the next few weeks, so stay tuned...
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