Black-Eyed Suzie Art Dolls and Oddities

Cabin Fever Triptych

For the first few months, east coast Canadian winters can be quite lovely. Snow falls on the land and every last branch sparkles.  People like me - somehwat hermetic by nature - have an excuse to stay inside and curl up under blankets and read books and do crafty things with impunity...

and the cats curl up with each other and sleep for days.

But by February, even I'm bloody sick of winter.  Come March, I'm ready to climb the walls and the cats....

feline warfare reigns.

Last week was beautiful and sunny and I took my little fellow out for a long walk every day and 'Spring, spring, spring' repeated in my mind like a mantra and it was glorious.  Then two days ago, this:

It was lovely to look at, but too horrible to contemplate.  And that's winter in Quebec; just when you've let your guard down, one more snowstorm, just to remind you how silly you were to forget Every. Other. Winter. But the sun is back, so hope pokes back out of the ground...

Now let me try to use my blog for good rather than whining, and let you know about a very talented young musician and dear boy, Max.  Max is my friend Katie's nephew, and I have fond memories of sitting in the grass in Cape Breton this past summer with a bunch of friends on a perfect summer day while Max played guitar and sang for us and we were all lulled into some kind of dream state.  If you feel so inclined, please take a few seconds and vote for Max to win the CBC's School of Rock Competition.  You can find the link to his song, "Morning Lark", here. With a name like Maximillian Cooper-Flint, he has to be a rock star.

 

Have You Seen My Mojo?

So I've been pretty crap about posting lately, and I won't make a bunch of excuses...I think I just needed a bit of a break.  I've almost almost finished my thesis.  Finally.  My adviser approved it and now I just have to correct typos and a few mechanical problems (apparently, my use of the semi-colon borders on egregious).  I've also been feeling a bit stuck, doll-wise.  A bit uninspired, like I'm treading the same ground over and over while itching to try something new.  The challenge is this: anything new and different takes time, time to experiment and make mistakes and try again.  That means time away from making dolls that are more quickly finished, posted and put in the shop.  So I fear people might start to think, 'Oh, that slovenly Black-eyed Suzie - she never finishes anything!'  and lose interest.  But fear doesn't produce anything interesting or beautiful - one must be brave.  So I'm going to try to be brave, and make something new and thrilling to me and trust that it's the right thing to do even if it might seem impractical.

(photo credit: Ryo Yoshida)

I've blogged before about my interest in ball-jointed dolls, but until now I've always felt like I've had too much going on to commit to the daunting task of actually making one.  Now that school is winding down, I've decided to actually start one and I can't wait!  I've been pouring over Yoshida Style and some other bjd books sent to me from some lovely readers in Australia (Monika & Jayne - you're the best!!)

(photo credit: Julien Martinez)
While I'm fascinated by the structure of traditional bjds, I do sometimes find their faces to be a little too child-like and saccharine for my liking.  Until I came across the work of Ryo Yoshida and Julien Martinez, I hadn't seen faces that really appealed to my aesthetic.  My hope is to use  the bjd form but impart a darker sensibility to the face and clothing.  My ultimate goal is to get a kiln and cast dolls in porcelain. But for now, I must simply begin.  From humble paperclay beginnings she will grow...

I think she's already saying she wants to be named Octavia...

 

(photo credit: Julien Martinez)