Hawaiian Retreat Fun!

Every so often I get together with my good friend and fellow artist Marilyn Radzat and we have a creativity retreat at her Magical Paradise home located on North Shore of Hawaii. We have so much fun at these retreats...Sometimes TOO much fun!!
One night, at midnight, with a full moon out (..yeah..it was that darn full moon!) we all took a walk down the beach, where our friend Patricia impressed us with her famous Duck call!!
Patricia does all the cooking for us at the reteats, and definatly adds a ton of fun!This is me..TRYING to imitate Patricias' famous duck call!.. I must say, I sounded more like a little squealing piglet, then Patricias Elequent ducky! Or maybe I was just more the rubber ducky!! I'll have to practice.... This takes a lot of creativity..believe me!!Me...after our midnight moonlight swim..duck calling contest... and a bit too much fun!

There is a special path we take over to Marilyns secret "Sea Glass " beach. Sometimes we find the most unusual things!! Here someone found a poor dehydrated froggy!

I'm sure there was a prince in there somwhere (a long time ago maybe!) just waiting for that magic kiss to be released.....Sorry Prince!..I just couldn't go through with it!!

Come join us for our next retreat Sept 2009..and maybe you can find your own Frog Prince!!

E-mail me at faeries16@hotmail.com or marilyn at ikons@hawaii.rr.com for info!

Alice Theater Box Creation

I thought I'd show how I put Alice's theater box together for the Alice piece I did For the Duirwaigh gallery show.
In all my piles of stuff I save, including some really cool old antique boxes,...I did not have one single box that was just the right size and shape I needed... Wouldn't ya know! But I did find a box that some ancient treasure I purchased from ebay came in. Now, how to make it cool and old looking.
I reinforced the seams with archival linen hinging tape and attached the box to a wooden block..new problem the blocks not as wide as I like so have to solve that problem by later adding wooden trim moulding.

Here I rounded out the corners to give it an arch shape using cardboard and linentape.
Inside I cut watercolor paper that I glued in and then gave it all a good coat of Gesso to protect.
(I really have no clue what I'm doing at this point and I'm beginning to wonder at my sanity!..Now WHY I'm I making this box???.!! Oh yeah..I think it will make the Alice piece much more interesting)!!
I added pages from an old Alice book to the sides and back and aged it. I was planning on a black base but it all started getting to dark. So to lighten it up a bit I repainted the base a yummy sagey green.I added curtains made from an old masonic lodge collar. Then cut, gessoed and painted foamcore in an arch for the top.Sculpted a Cheshire puss face,painted the banner. Added the quote "Were All Mad Here"By this time I really did think I was mad!Thats it in a nutshell....but in actuality it took me about a week and a half to complete it.Drying time was some of it but, Mostly, due to the fact that I had no clue what I wanted! So it was a slow step by step process.




Here is the finished Theater box..minus Alice....as Miss Pennythistle decided SHE should be the STAR of the show, and told Alice that she was due in court!
Dark & slightly crazed Blessings,
Gail

GHOSTIE Book SpOOkY Sneek Peek!

Okay...you ask for it so I'm giving you a little peek inside the book! Each book has an original ink drawing on the inside cover of my little Skeleton Baby Head!
The book is 40 pages and has color photos of 18 of my Ghostie Dolls and the "Dark Whimsy" poems I wrote about their early demise.
Spiral Bound 5 1/2"x 8 1/2" Limited to only 50 copies.

$25.00 within the US (includes shipping)

$30.00 International (includes shipping)

Payment can be made through paypal.

e-mail me for info @ faeries16@hotmail.com

Eternally yours,

Gail

Alice in Wonderland Show piece

WE'RE ALL MAD HERE!!
Here is my finished piece for Duirwaigh Galleries "A Walk through Wonderland" show!

Since the Mad creator herself.."Angie" has posted pictures of my Alice piece for her show on her site... I thought I would finally show the finished piece here!http://www.messagefromthemuse.typepad.com/duirwaigh/
Alice... who has been wondering in wonderland a bit too long... and her dolly "March Hare" who both have imbided in to much "tea" at the party and have gone a "bit mad here"!!
Alice is free standing and 10" tall. The overall theater piece is 16" high by 7" wide.

Alice's clothes are made from antique textiles and hand dyed lime green leather victorian shoes. Wild "mad" mohair wig, and hand painted pinkish/blue eyes. Hand made top hat complete with leather Rabbit ears!

Her "Mad Wonderland Theater Box" was an after- thought... and, once I started it, I thought I was truly "mad" for coming up with the idea to do it !! Although, I think it greatly adds something to the piece, I had no idea of what I was doing, and it was like a bad "Twilight Zone movie that just went on and on and on........ the never ending story...no wait ..thats another movie!!

I took photos of the creation of the "mad box" as I went along.... so keep watching and I'll be posting photos of the, "how I did it",... while I was still half sane!..or not..a matter of opinion!

Ghostie Book!!!

My Ghostie book is NOW Available! !
Fresh from the ghostly printers is my Ghostie Book! OOOAAAAHAAA!!!
40 pages, with photos of 18 of my little Victorian inspired Ghosties, and the poems I've written about their early demise.
If you'd like a copy to haunt your mansion, Please e-mail me at faeries16@hotmail.com .
Price in the US is $25.00 includes shipping.
International is $30.00 USD
Payment by Paypal
Eternally yours,
Gail
The Goddess of Ghosties,.. (well......that might be a stretch)

Ball Jointed Dolls

I have been experimenting with sculpting ball jointed dolls on and off for a while now, and thought I'd share some of the one's I've done. This is one of my favorites. My daughter thinks she looks stoned, but I really like her! Her wig is removable, and I have a blonde one I did for her also, but I like this dark one the best. Her eyes are not removable. Her ankles are ball jointed, but I've made her socks a bit to tight and they are a pain to remove so you'll have to take my word for it! She's about 13 1/2" tall, and sculpted from polymer clay.
These are just some fabrics I've pinned on her to try and get an idea of how I will dress her. This poor thing doesn't have her hair yet.....and, she has a splitting headache! Literally!!
I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but her little head is splitting from under her chin on her left side, and is slowly creeping up past her nose. A problem brought on by the tension of the stringing cord and probably a weak spot in the clay on that side of her face. This is a problem I'm finding with using polymer clay for the bjd's. She is about 9"

This one was the first ones I did. Her head is not jointed, and I've sewn the clothes on her so I can't remove them to show you her body. She measures 10"

I really love the poseability and being able to "play"with these jointed dolls. The majority of my dolls I make are free standing, and posed in one position, and this is so fun to be able to interact with them! I just wish there was a FASTER way to do them! It's definatly not instant gratification!!!!! Always, when I'm about half way done with one, I start wondering what the heck I was thinking as it feels like I'll never get finished! I just want to get done and see the finished doll! For me it's the costuming that I enjoy the most..and I'm VERY impatient!


I call this piece "fairy funeral". She started out to be a ball jointed doll. Her head is jointed but her arms are cotter pinned at the shoulders and her elbows are put together more like the old balinese puppets. By the time I got to her legs...I just couldn't stand it, and so her torso and legs are totally sculpted in one position. She has human hair and is 13 1/2"

If I get one really good body I like, I may just get it molded and then sculpt different heads for it.... in between all the other things I want to do.....aaahhh.. so many ideas and never enough time!!

The Bewitching Hour

AAHHH..Midnight.. The Bewitching hour!!
This is what happens to Cinderella when she does not listen to her FairyGodmother...and comes in after Midnight!! So Take Heed and mind your Fairy Godmother!!!