Bobbin Gobblin'

For those who know me, my passions are vast and many. Making bobbin lace is one. It was actually incidental that I got started on it. If you recall, my tatting teacher's teacher, Mrs Sheila Dutton, was visiting one year and the group did bobbin lace. It looked challenging but I made a plunge to pick up a few techniques. The pieces I made weren't much to show, but you might want to see the bobbins I gathered subsequently.

Sheila sewed the bobbin cases, and they are beautiful! They can't be left empty; oh, absolutely not. The enthusiasm to purchase a few bobbins got the better of me, and... Well, the rest is history.

 

Thought you might enjoy some eye candy.

Doll Boots Class

Just as a person needs clothes, so does a doll. I am working on some doll clothes, and what an adventure! It's looking up patterns of doll dresses, accessories and fabrics (of course), and due to my inexperience, I thought I should work on a prototype. Details will be in another post.

A couple of months back, a fellow bear-making friend agreed to give a lesson on making leather doll boots. Ooh, that was exciting. Started by cutting out the template for the boots and tracing the parts onto a piece of leather. Then holes were hammered onto the leather for sewing the pieces together.

 

The steps weren't complicated.

 



 

Voila! A proud new pair of leather doll boots! These are so cool!

 



Doll'in Up Next!

At a gathering last year, I was introduced to a porcelain doll teacher. What did you think? I know I wouldn't pass up the chance to making my own doll! Finally I could start in late November, and got to casting my doll parts. I was going to make a portrait doll from a mold by renowned doll artist Dianna Effner. A portrait doll is a doll which is made to the likeness of a real person. The process was fascinating.

First, porcelain slip was poured into a plaster mold, and a layer of clay sets to form the doll parts.

Once the parts are leather hard, they are soft-fired in a kiln.

Then it's time to sand away the parting mold lines, and cut the eyes. The key is to ensure that
the windows to the soul are symmetrically shaped.

A refined set of doll parts are now ready to be bisque-fired.

Here are some of the brushes and painting tools used to paint the doll, starting with the face.

The painting of the features, such as the eyebrows, eyelashes, lips and even the rouge, had to done in layers,
and fired a few rounds to achieve the desired effects. Similarly, the other parts of the body,
like the limbs and shoulder had to be painted to give the parts depth, and a 3D feel.

This doll has a soft fabric body, which would be sewn and attached to the different body parts.

I will have more pictures and the fully made-up porcelain doll to show in the next posts.

Till then. Have a great week!

Meeting Cooper

In this cyber age, meeting new friends online is easy, but all the fun is in seeing them in person, or persons. Last month, my teddy bears and I got to meet Kay and Brian Cooper from Australia! Kay is the bear artist behind Cooper Bears. Thanks to Esther (the artist who creates all the lovely Esther Bears), we ~ Esther, Paula (a porcelain doll teacher whom I will introduce in another post) and I ~ met Kay and Brian for coffee in town. Of course our teddy bears had to come along too! Bucket, their famous travelling bear, came to coffee, and all the bears chatted excitedly among themselves.

Sugar with our coffee?

After coffee, the group adjourned to Gardens by the Bay. As we went through the entrance to the gardens, in the distance, there was the cluster of Supertrees. We gasped at the magnificent 16-storey-high structures that juxtaposed the varieties of trees and shrubs. According to the official website of Gardens, 11 of the 12 Supertrees have been embedded with environmentally sustainable photovoltaic cells to harvest solar energy.

Not to be missed is the OCBC Skyway, a 128-metre-long walkway at a height of 22-metres that connects two Supertrees at the Supertree Grove. Although the walkway was a steel bridge, it felt a little wobbly, especially with a bunch of us strolling on it.

From left: Esther, Kay, Brian, Marcia and me

 We managed to cover a small area of the gardens, and are impressed.

Marina Bay Sands is just opposite the Gardens.

The joyful koi in the gardens

'Planet' by Marc Quinn (b. 1964) is a sculpture that depicts the sculptor's son, Lucas.

As night fell, we headed for a scrumptious meal at Satay by the Bay, a hawker-style eatery that featured local cuisine. The spread was totally mouthwatering.

From left: Marcia, Esther, Kay, Brian and Paula.

On our way out after dinner, we were treated to a light display that lit up the gardens. You must see them for yourselves! It's magical.


Does this not remind you of the neon forests in 'Avatar'?

Two Little Alphabet Keyrings

for two lovely colleagues... Thanks for all your help, Juliana and Terrenz!

Alphabet motifs from Tatting Lace by Applemints, tatted in #40 Lisbeth threads.

A Simple Cuff Bracelet

The school holidays are finally here!
Am gearing up to finish a lot of re-organizing -- my craft supplies, display cupboard, books and patterns -- all need some TLC! I think I have a couple of giveaways in the works. Look out! ;)
Here's a cuff bracelet I tatted. Pretty simple with basic motifs and some delica beads for a bit of glitter.

Tatted using a #20 Japanese cotton in Baby Blue, and a 5mm medium grey Swaroski pearl

A detailed view of the centre motif