November 30, 2009

Christmas Angels

I love to make dolls for my granddaughters to celebrate their birthdays and Christmas. It's a challenge designing something different each time though. Over the years, the dolls are getting smaller in size!

These little angels can either hang on the wall or sit on a shelf. The doll is approximately 8" tall. Various neutral cotton fabrics make up the body and head. I needle sculpted the hands and faces (just the nose since the head is quite small). Acrylic paint, colored pencils, gel pens and graphite were used to paint the faces and, of course, each has painted fingernails! The "shoes" are painted on with gold paint.
The dresses are made of silk scraps. Making the blouse was a bit of a challenge since I decided to slip it over the head which meant the armholes needed to be wide enough to accommodate the hands. I interfaced the silk too which made it much easier to handle.
The dolls are a bit top heavy and need to lean against something to sit up straight - which they must do at the dinner table! I cut the core of a roll of paper towels to size and painted these with cheap gold paint. The doll will sit nicely now and the support doesn't show under her skirt.
Here are the completed angels. The buttons and trim are hand sewn. The angels needed crowns which are made from painted and punched card stock. There is a small ribbon hanger on the back of each as well a pretty wired bow which forms the wings.
I've still got lots of Christmas gifts on my to do list...better get back to work!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Again, Whoa...what wonderful works of art!!!!! I bet your granddaughters just love them and will always cherish them!!!