Sari Scrap Flower Child Fairy

Every artist has their default zone, the supplies and techniques they turn to when they don't know what to work on or where to start. Sometimes artists have the need to putter with supplies as therapy and make art that feels comfortable and familiar and makes them happy. Sometimes we want to stretch, to try something new, different or even scary. But sometimes we just want to putter and be in the happy, familiar place. And both the new places and the familiar ones are good and necessary.

For some people the default zone is journaling, for others it is splattering paint, or drawing, or collage. For me, the happy, puttery place is making paper dolls.

My worktable, covered with paints, ink, scissors and bags of doll parts.

Sometimes my puttering is not even doll making, it just finding scraps of leftover projects and cutting arms, legs and torsos. Sometimes it is cutting interesting faces or clothing from a fashion magazine that may later become doll parts. I often use a doll body template that is available from Retro Cafe Arts, an online craft supplier. I also collect images of vintage paper dolls from sources such as The Graphics Fairy.

I keep a bin of doll components, and within that bin, baggies of faces, wings, shoes, hats, tops, bottoms, legs, arms and unfinished dolls. When I feel the need to regroup and relax, it is very meditative to pull out the parts and give birth to a new doll.

On top, a baggie full of some favorite paper doll components, and below, the start of a doll.

As I rifle through the baggies of parts, I select the ones that--in that moment--really strike me. Next, I move them around and audition the parts until the doll begins to speak to me. 

The head, from a fashion magazine, was too small, the skirt too short, and shoes too big.

This head was a vintage photo reprint with strips of Jane Davenport washi tape.

This face looked good, but was unfinished.

I liked the arrangement above the best, but the face was incomplete. Her eyes, nose and mouth are strips of Jane Davenport's washi tape that were placed on watercolor paper. I sketched in the rest of her head and hair with a pencil, added a neck and shoulders, then used Derwent watercolor pencils to complete the face.

I thought about leaving the green background, but decided a square head would look weird, so I cut away the greenish background, leaving only the hair and shoulders.

Strips of Jane Davenport washi tape formed the center of the face.

I cut a half-circular slit in the neck so the torso could be inserted, then secured it with a mini brad.

A piece of orange silk sari scrap fabric made a wonderful skirt. I gathered it at the waist, pulled the strings until it was the right size, and tied it in the back. A little dab of gel medium was added to keep it in place.

Once the skirt was stitched on, I discovered a couple of tiny holes in the orange silk, so I added a magenta sequin and clear gem, hand-stitching them carefully to cover the holes.

A hole in the silk skirt was challenging to fix.

A sequin and a bead covered up the holes and matched the mood of the fabric.

Arms, legs and wings were auditioned, chosen, and attached with mini brads and the doll was nearly complete. The torso and legs I selected are made from florentine paper, available on Gwen's website. I used some cardstock underneath the paper for added strength. The arms have a combination of commercial scrapbook paper and fabric covered with recycled teabags.

The finishing touch was special accent chain that was part of a shipment of Turkmen Jewelry Parts. It made a perfect belt, and was hand-stitched in place.

Detail shot of the fairy doll on my worktable.

The wings were made from a butterfly stamp on watercolor paper, and little peach floral brads attaching the wings to the arm add charm and whimsy. Layers of Baked Texture Embossing Powder were added on top of the stamped butterfly image. Dots of gold fabric paint were placed on the wing edge for contrast.

With her pink hair, wings, and fluttering sari skirt, she is a magical fairy, evoking spirit of a1960s flower child--perhaps my own inner child!

If you want to purchase any of Gwen's fabulous supplies, now's the time! There is a sale going on; just use this coupon when you check out.

Fly Your Freak Flag

On Saturdays and Sundays, I relax and unwind from a long work-week by puttering in my art journal. Collage seems to be one of the most therapeutic art forms for me. I pull out items from my drawers and shoeboxes that, at that moment, speak to me. Some days earth tones call to me, sometimes bright vibrant colors and shapes.

A few weekends ago, pink called my name. One item in particular was a pretty napkin that was tucked into an envelope full of Paris-themed ATCs. I decided to use it as a background. It seemed to clash with the other pink tidbits that I had piled on my work table, but I pushed ahead anyway. I also used a pink carnation printout that was gifted to me from Kelly Kilmer when I took a class a few years ago. I had been holding on to it, waiting to find just the right collage to use it in, and decided that I had waited long enough so I used it in the center of the page.

When my pink collage was done, it looked kind of yucky. I had mixed the napkin with some old dictionary pages, a pink argyle piece of washi tape packaging, fabric scraps and paper scraps. I put the collage page aside and left it for a while. Something wasn't working but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly went wrong.

The unfinished, too pink collage page

The next weekend I was playing with some Jane Davenport washi tape facial features. I had been waiting almost a year for my local Michaels to restock the tape and was so happy to find it. I made some peculiar faces and dolls with the tape, and one face with oversized eyes looked freaky-wonderful, but I didn't quite know what to do with it.

The face was too big for a paper doll, so I auditioned her on the loud pink collage page, and it seemed to work, but I decided that I needed to knock back some of the brightness of the collage with white paint and gesso. I also added Gwen's Ornamental Petals stencil/mask in a few places in the background for a subtle texture. It looked better...but not done. I decided that the page was already looking pretty strange, so I decided to try adding some Dresden Trim. One extra-large gold wing seemed to suit my girl, and a tiny gold Bourbon Crown added a touch more of whimsy. I liked the weird proportions of the giant wing versus teeny crown, with the round head and oversized eyes. I thought about giving her a second wing but she looked like she could fly with just one.

An oversized face, gold wing and tiny crown, background stenciling,
and white body suited the overly pink collage background

Still, the page didn't seem done. It was too clean, and too pink, so I decided to add contrast with a Scribe All black watercolor pencil. I added a little hair, some chin definition, and gray tones around the figure and in the background, which brought out the stamped design nicely.

It occurred to me that she looked decidedly freaky, and that she seemed to make no excuses for her oddity. The words "fly your freak flag" popped into my head so I wrote them big and bold on the page. Even with just one giant wing, she is certainly ready to fly, and not afraid to be a little unusual.

The words "fly your freak flag" popped into my head as I was finishing the journal page

If you like the German Dresden Trim wings and crown, take a look on the website to see Gwen's amazing collection of Dresden items. While made of paper--not actual metal, they are strong and flexible, hold their shine and have fine details. And here's a coupon you can use for a discount until the end of the year for Dresden Trim and/or German and English Scrap. Happy shopping, happy New Year, and happy creating!