New Ghostie in my Etsy Shop!

Lila is my last little ghostie for my etsy shop until I return from my trip to France and the creativity retreat in hawaii mid Nov." Little Lila O'Brian Cox... succumbed after a short bout with the chicken Pox"

Lila is free standing and measures around 10 1/2" to the top of her head and 11" to the top of her antique chinese doll hat. Her dress is made from remanants of antique and vintage chinese theatrical costumes. Her shoes are vintage deep red velvet and match her sleeves. She has vintage millinary netting across her dress.

Hand painted glass eyes and red mohair hair

Her dress was inspired by the photo of the real "Alice" taken by Lewis Carroll in her dress up oriental costume. In my etsy shop...

Hope you like her!

Happy Hauntings, Gail

Happy Birthday !!

Today is my Birthday!! Happy Birthday to Me!!..And to celebrate birthdays with me, is my
friend Phyllis's Oh so french Irish Woldfhound "Laurie- Amelie" who is two years old and longer length wise than I am tall!
So Happy Birthday to ME and Laurie-Amelie!!!!

Alice and the Mad Rabbit

Here's a few photos of the finshed Alice and her Mad Rabbit! She is about 10 1/2" to the top of her head and 13 3/4 to the top of her hat. She's Free standing, and ready to run through the rose garden! She has hand painted pinkish/redish brown eyes and cute little buck bunny teeth.
Her dress is from antique civil war mourning dress sleeves, which is all that I had from this dress. I do not deconstruct antique dresses, I only use fabrics that are slavaged pieces and parts from them that otherwise do not have a home. I love using the old fabrics, as I feel it gives a since of history and mystery to the dolls. I love to wonder at who may have worn the piece and what their life was like, and to give the material a new life for someone to enjoy.

Her Mad Rabbit has had painted eyes, and new and old materials

Her hat is sculpted from polymer clay then flocked. The rabbit ears are leather. I like to combine different materials and textures.

Alice is happily haunting her new home far away from here!

When I create a doll I love to set a mood for myself. I am fortunate to have a studio to work from and do not have to pick up after myself! When I start a piece I do like to have a clean spot... I light absinthe candles that I got from a wonderful seller on ebay. Alas..the name escapes me as I write this, but I will look it up and post it later for you. I like to play movies and listen to music that deals with what ever subject matter I am sculpting at the time.

If your a big Alice Fan and like darker imagery than you get with the disney movies, Miss Pennythistle,...who is posing as the doremouse in this photo, recommends some of our favorites for you. "Alice" directed by Jan Svankmajer. The master Czech animator, no talking in this movie , lots of stop motion antique dolls and strange animated pieces, very artsy. Yaso, a japanese magazine has an issue devoted just to it. You can find the movie on amazon and the Yaso mag. can be found on ebay.

Another movie that is more of a darker Alice, is from the BBC. It's called "Alice in Wonderland" and stars Peter Sellers and Sir John Gielgud. I think also available from amazon.

Then there is the original music score from "American McGee's Alice" the game..very creepy and strange! All this sets the mood for making a more unusual type Alice. To top it off, I love the perfume oil blend from Black Phoenix Alchemical Laboratory called "Alice".

I hope this inspires you to create your own Dark Alice!

On more of a personal note, I just brought my husband home from the hospital today from his knee replacement surgery, so I am putting on my "nurse Ratchett" uniform for the next week!

I am hoping he heals fast as I will be leaving for France on the 30th to meet up with Marilyn Radzat and our friend Phyllis who is brave enough to drive us around France!

Marilyn will have her laptop and will be posting our adventures on her blog if you want to follow! she is already there paving the way for me and Phyllis!

Also..we have just a few openings left for some ladies for our hawaiian retreat in Nov. This is not a dollmaking retreat but a creativity retreat open to anyone searching for new inspiration. No experience required. Contact Marilyn at ikons@hawaii.rr.com or check her web at www.marilynradzat.com/

Happy hauntings, Gail

Slacking off

Sorry I've been such a bad Blogger lately. It seems there is always something going on here that takes time away from being creative. I did manage to finish up a new little Ghostie among all the turmoil.Poor little Mistress Maude,
always seemed a little odd.
She said her playmates came from the otherside,
But when the doctors examined her, insanity was implied.

Mistress Maude is on her way to her new home. She measured about 10 1/2".

I am hoping to get one or two more pieces done in the next couple of weeks before my trip to France with Marilyn Radzat..WoooHooo!! I'm getting the Hell out of dodge!!
Then I'll be home a week, just enough time to unpack and get re- packed and head off for our Creativity Retreat at Marilyns to-die-for beach front home in Hawaii!
The retreats are a wonderful combination of Magic, Art,Creative Inspiration, and just plain Fun!
We still have a few spots open.If anyone is interested in the information contact Marilyn at ikons@hawaii.rr.com.
I'll write more later...but for now I'm off to the studio to create an Alice figure. I've been so inspired with the new Tim Burton Alice movie coming out....I Can't wait to see that one!!
Happy Hauntings, Gail

New Ghosties for my Etsy Shop

I've managed to get two new small ghostie dolls done and listed in my etsy shop. An amazing feat concidering everything that has taken my time recently!
I've done a smaller petite version of my larger 12"-13" ghosties. She stands around 9 1/2".
Little Ellie Eleanor Blake
who, on her birthday ate too much cake,
Sadly, she succumbed to a tummy ache!

Her clothes are from vintage materials. I love her little baby blue angora hat..which just happens to be a vintage baby bootie, and has my trademark ghostie head attached on top and one on the strap. Hand painted glass eyes of course and white mohair wig.

He shoes are made from vintage blue and silver ribbon. She wears a tiny rusty bell so you can hear her coming!! (The gravemarker is not included)

I've also done a small wall hanging ghostie, which you can hang against the wall by a black ribbon attached on her back so she looks like she is floating.

She has Hand painted glass eyes. Her ghostly shroud is created with aged silk gauzes and vintage millinary netting. She has two little sculpted ghostie heads, one on her collar and the other attached to her striped bow. The head and hands are polymer clay. The body is soft over a wire armature. she measures about 11" from the tip of her ghostly shroud to the top of her head.

Hair is tibetan lamb.

Tiny Tilda who fell quite sick, after eating a pie laced with arsenic!

Here's the link if you would like to take a peek at the listing!

http://queenofthefaeries.etsy.com
Happy Hauntings! Gail

Ghostie Inspiration

I've been abit slow to add on my blog lately. My Mom is doing better but my father recently ended up in the hospital. It's either one or the other. This year has been a challenge for me to say the least!
Here is the inspiration I spoke of for my latest ghostie. While in Joseph Oregon for my husbands street rod show, I came across this wonderful old print on canvas of two victorian girls dressed in fairy costumes. I fell in love, and was inspired for my next ghostie !
I have several antique wax dolls in christmas fairy outfits. I love the old silver tinsel that was used on them, and have been collecting it hoping to find something to use it on someday. It worked out perfectly for my latest Ghostie Pricilla Pettigrew! I used my old tinsel and an antique silver bullion star for her costume. Her fairy dress is from vintage baby blue netting, and her wings are from vintage wire tinsel. She measured around 13".

Pricilla Pettigrew,

star of the Christmas play,

Practiced her pirouette with a passion all day,

Alas, while performing a perfect spin,

She spun right off the stage to a dreadful end!

Pricilla has been sold, but I am in the process of creating two smaller pieces for my Etsy shop, that hopefully I will have listed tomorrow or the next day...keep your fingers crossed for me that there are no more family emergencies!

Happy Hauntings, Gail

Highjacked!!!!

Well, I've been highjacked, spammed what ever you call it!!!!
I recieved a phone call this morning from a friend saying they recieved an e-mail from me saying I bought a computer and how wonderful the service was with a link.

If any of you on my mailing list get this e-mail DON'T CLICK THE LINK!! IT'S SPAM!!

I can't even reply to the people that wrote me to tell them it's junk, as hotmail tells me I have sent the max number of e-mails for a 24 hour period.
I don't know how they got my e-mail but it really fries me! I am sorry if any of you have recieved this e-mail.
If anyone knows how I can fix this or what to do about it, please make a comment on my blog as I won't be able to reply from my hotmail! This was the only way I could think of to reach any of you that might be on my list.
Ms "P" is in the process of placing a finger rigor mortis curse on this unscrupulus individual!!