Christmas Creations...

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I have been staying busy with my sculpting, and would like to share some of my latest sculpts with you.

I have made 2 Santas this Christmas and some mini babies as well.

***************************************************************

This First Santa is enttitled, "He knows what you are dreaming.....".

Santa is standing holding a dream in his hand, he is wearing a long off white coat over his traditional dress of green pants and red velvet shirt. He stands 18 " tall, and has won an honorable mention in the annual Pro-sculpt Santa contest on {www.artdolls.com}. Which is Jack Johnstons website.

He has been sculpted without the use of molds, and his entire costume has been hand sewn by myself. He has been made with beautiful blue eyes made from glass, and his hair has been carefully attached each small peice at a time.u enjoy the pictures.

Here is the second Santa I sculpted, he is entitled " Follow the Stars....."

He is my interpretation of a Nordic Santa, he is out on his snowshoes, and decides to stop for a little rest and check his compass.

He has been sculpted from Pro Sculpt also,and is 18 " tall, I also sculpted his snow shoes from copper tubing and Magic Sculpt to make them strong. My Mom helped with the costume on this doll, she sewed the little flanel shirt he wears, and I made the rest of the costume. He has the same great blue glass eyes as the other Santa, which really bring life to the sculpture. He carries with him a small bone handled knife, with its own tiny sheath.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of my Santas, and I would love to hear any comments you have .

Well, this is probably my last post before Christmas day, so I would really like to take a moment and pass along a "Christmas wish" to all of you who take the time to stop by my blog and view my newest creations.

I appreciate it, and would love to hear your comments, and if your interested in seeing whats coming next, please take a moment and add your name to my "followers" list.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your Families!!

Christmas is coming!!!

Well, Christmas is just around the corner, everyone is busy running from one thing to the next getting ready for the special season ahead!

I've been busy getting ready for the Christmas season too, I have 2 Santas on the go, and some new little baby dolls as well. I will be offering these One of a Kind family treasures at the Centre for the Creative Arts in Grande Prairie. I hope you can find time to drop by and check out all my newest Christmas Creations.

Here is a new little mini baby I have sculpted, I can't show all of them, since I would like them to be a surprise on the galleries opening night show.

I thought I would also gather up a few of my earlier works all together in a neat little collage to show you. These were made over the last 5 years or so, and are still some of my favorite pieces.
Well, thats all for now. I will writing in here again soon, and sharing some pictures of my lastest sculpts.

Make sure to drop back often, and see whats new!

Have a Happy Holiday Season!!

New Classes Offered....

I hope you will join me at the Centre for Creative Arts for my new classes beginning in January. We will be creating a character head from polymer clay, you will learn the proper proportions of the head, as well has how to make your sculpts with more personality.

In February, we will be sculpting a miniature baby doll approximately 6 inches long. Everyone will go home with a cute and cuddly baby doll.

In December I will be teaching some fun Christmas classes for kids as well as adult classes. These classes are not as intense as the others, they are suited to anyone who has never handled clay before, or just wants to get into the Christmas spirit.

I hope to see you there!!

If you are interested in private classes, please email me for more information.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween Everyone !

I hope everyone had a spooky Halloween!

I was busy getting into the spirit of the season, and completed my very first "life sized sculpt" .

Her name is "Violca", she is from the old country, and is a true "One of a Kind" witch.

Her head has been sculpted over a skull made of tin foil covered by Magic Sculpt, and the eyes have been sculpted and hand painted by myself.

Her long creepy hands have been constructed of tubing and wire, all covered with Magic Sculpt and then sculpted over with polymer clay.

After the sculpting was done and baked, I spent a couple days just painting her to look more realistic, including tiny veins on her hands, as well as age spots everywhere.

She is was sitting in The Centre for the Creative Arts in Grande Prairie, AB.

I had so much fun making this sculpture, and hope you enjoy seeing her.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween !!

"Master Doll Maker Certificate"

It has been an exciting few weeks for me! I have recently returned from the United States with my "Masters Doll Makers Certificate", and couldn't be more pleased.

I was chosen in June to attend the Johnston Original Artdolls Academy, and successfully completed the requirments for the Master Sculpting Course there, and recieved my Certificate.

At the Advanced course in June I completed an 18" Art Doll of a Norwegian Sami Grandma, and so at the Masters course I decided to work on an 11" baby sculpt. I had made many miniature babies over the years, but had never tackled a larger version, and I must say it was a lot of fun to sculpt. I met many wonderful people at the course, and look forward to seeing them again in the future at Doll shows and other events.

Below is a picture of my completed "Baby Sculpt", I have named Benjamin .

I have since completed another 11" baby sculpt and will be listing it on Magnolia Lane Doll Auction site. I will be offering more of these adorable little babies for sale , so please check out my auctions there, and if you would like to place and order for an Art Doll, or Baby Doll, I would love to hear from you.

***************************************

Please check back soon to see whats new for Halloween, and of course the Christmas Season is coming and I will have some new and wonderful sculpts coming for those festive times.

Grandma Sami

"Grandma Sami"

I wanted to share some pictures of my finished art doll that I made at the Jack Johnston doll making course held in Calgary in June.

This wonderful lady is a recreation of an old Sami woman, from Norway. I sculpted the face and body while at the course in June, I then did some research on these interesting people and hand sewed the costume as close to the pictures as I could. She is shown here sewing beads on a leather mitten for one of her grandchildren.

She has been sculpted from Pro sculpt, her dress is royal blue velvet, with red cotton accents, and finished with lots of embroidery.

I hope she embodies the spirit of these remarkable people, and that you enjoy the pictures of her.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e mail me at: lilbitsclaycreations@telus.net

I would love to hear from you.

Lil' Bum-Kins

Lil' Bum-Kins are my newest series of miniature collectible figurines. These adorable little sculptures measure only 3 or so inches tall. They are each sculpted from polymer clay, without the use of any molds. They are then meticulously painted with acrylic paint, then antiqued and finally sprayed with a matte finish to seal in the colors. None have faces or hands.

These One of a Kind creations are fun to collect. Use them to decorate , set them up against a picture frame, a vase, a candle, or anything thing in your home for an added western touch. They also make unique and wonderful gifts for that special person.

Each Lil' Bum-Kin comes to you signed and dated by the artist.

If you are interested in purchasing some of these wonderful little collectibles, or have any questions, please e mail me, I would love to hear from you.

Jack Johnston Course in Calgary Alberta - June 6,7,&8th

I've just returned from very exciting weekend in Calgary, taking a 3 day course from the Master Sculptor himself, Jack Johnston!! It was a busy weekend, with lots to learn and do, I along with 5 other ladies all walked out of there on Sunday with a fabulous new doll and the knowledge to create more in the future.

We started on Friday morning, we sculpted the head and by afternoon we were learning to wig our dolls properly. Saturday was no less exciting as we started on the hands first thing in the morning, and returned from lunch that day to work on our feet. Sunday morning came early again and we began to sculpt a soft posable body, which was very interesting for me since I had never made one before. When we were done forming our body we then attached all our limbs and then the head , and there we were taking pictures of one another and our newly formed 18" dolls!

This was a great experience and I highly recommend anyone out there interested in doll making to go and take Jacks course. This was the first time I have been able to attend a course of any kind and have been self taught up until now, so i was excited and pleased when Jack invited me to his Professional Course he puts once a year at his home in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have signed up and can't wait to go.

Here is Jack with his newest creation, what a wonderful sculptor.

Below is the face I sculpted on Friday, I am making an old woman, she has no hair yet in the picture, so looks a little strange. Ha ha

I can hardly wait to finish her costume, and put her all together. When I am done, she will be a "Sami" woman, which are people who live in Northern Norway, Sweden and so forth. They are much like the Inuit we have here in Canada, except they were mainly reindeer herders. I have been doing some research on the internet to find the proper costume, it will be a challange to make, but she will be very interesting when I get her done.

If you are interested in taking a class from Jack, or would like to see his work, just follow the link on the left of the screen to Art Dolls.com.

Babies, Babies, and more Babies..........

I have been busy lately with a new fasination.......babies!! I have been watching other people make them for years and on websites and ebay, and always wondered what was so interesting about them, and then I made one!

I can not explain how drawn I was to it the moment I finished curing it and held it in my hands, I just sat and starred at the tiny little thing I had just made, and had to make more. The picture above is of two tiny babies a boy and girl, they measure around 5/8ths of an inch long, and are by far the smallest I have ever made. I was very pleased with how they turned out, they were purchased by a wonderful customer from the United Kingdom and now reside with her and her daughter.

Below are a few pictures of some other little ones I have made, and have found homes in various parts of the world.

This little guy is named Jacob, his measures around 2-2-1/2 inches long.

He is also living in the United Kingdom with the two tiny babies seen above.

Below is little Kaden, he is about the same size as Jacob, and as with Jacob, I really had fun sculpting this baby.

He lives with his new family in Hawaii US, what a lucky little guy!

Now that I had made all those boys, it was time to have some little girls join the fun!

Below is Little Lola, unlike the younger babies above , she is a toddler, and loves her toys. I made all the toys out of clay, and you can see all the babies are on tiny little blankets, and some have very tiny hats, these were all knitted by my Mom, who does a wonderful job at it.

Lola now lives with a very nice family in Los Angeles ,US.

Next came Lexi.....

I had so much fun making little Lexi, with her soft features and cute little pink accesories. She also measures around 2" long, and is one of my favorite babies so far.

She lives with her new family in the United Kingdom with some other babies I have made.

I will try to keep updating with pictures of my newest babies as they come.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures, I would love to hear from you if you have any comments or questions.