In college the sculpting class spent an entire semester working on one bust. An. Entire. Semester. At the time this seemed unbearably long, but now it seems pretty reasonable. Time changes everything I guess. My point in mentioning this is that while I have an art degree I am self-taught when it comes to sculpting. One of the best ways that I found to practice on a small scales was to create small figures. This eventually led to making dolls. I know, I know when I tell people I sometimes make a doll or two (or 20) they usually reply, "Dolls are creepy". And indeed sometimes they are. I spent a year culling a museum's collection of over 1,000 dolls that were not stored in ideal conditions; let me just say that 30 years worth of heat, humidity and insects makes for some creepy and smelly babies. I'll have to post a few here sometime.
But even after that experience I still make dolls. For an artist working in different mediums they are engaging. While I am comfortable sculpting the heads, hands and feet, I wish I was better with fiber arts so I could create fabulous clothes. The bodies and clothes create a challenge but I do like that.
This little fairy lives at my mom's house. My mother badgered me to photograph her doll at the edge of the woods, "with the fall leaves around her". Doing this put me lying on the ground and taking pictures dangerously close to a red ant hill however, it did turn out pretty well. Mother knows best.
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