Tutorial for Mahdreen the Elf of Wisdom

Hello.....well here goes!           This is the making of Mahdreen.

She is an all cloth doll, sculpted, painted, clothed & bejeweled!
Mahdreen sits about 6 1/2 inches tall, she does not have the ability to be posed. Her face is sculpted cloth but has been painted with gessoe, then designed with water color & acrylic paint. She has sculpted clay eyes that have been hand painted & inset. Her ears are wire rimmed and painted with the same flesh colored paint as her face. Her hair is a specialty yarn that has been hand sewn, braided and trimmed. Mahdreen has one wire sculpted hand and one jeweled mystic hand. Her coat, pant and shoes are scrap fabric that has been pieced together to make the beautiful outfit that you see here. As for the amount of fabric it took to make her...it was minimal ! When I mention that I used scraps..it truly is what it took to make her. The fabric for her body is a one way stretch faux flannel piece that I had in my scrap box. I had used it previously to make a larger 2 headed doll, a pattern that had been handed down from my mom. I rarely ever throw away any scraps...I love fabric and unfortunately I cant find anymore of this fabric ( I bought it that long ago!) I'm sure there are comparable fabrics that can be used, in fact the  next doll will be made of something entirely different (as I said, I don't have anymore of it left :)

I will post a progressive pictures of Mahdreen from inception to completion next...ENJOY!  and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a message and I'll get back to you asap ;D

Mahdreen's head before sculpting

                                              Her body, legs, arms & hands before stuffing

                                                Mahdreen's head after being sculpted

Elf ears pinned in before sewing & eyes that I drew on a separate piece of material with watercolor pencils. I cut them out and pinned them in to see what my actual eye drawing on the face itself would look like. I changed my mind along the way and used clay eyes that I painted & set into the material.

Her body has been stuffed and ears have been attached. Legs have been sewn on and arms and hands were next on the agenda.

clay eyes were molded and painted.....dried & glazed. Piercing a hole in the clay allows you to sew it into the cut in the fabric.

 

trying them on for a fit before painting

Her eyes have been set in and her face has been given the first coat of gessoe

Mahdreen completely sewn together and with her first round of face paint..I did repaint her face several times. Changed the flesh color the eyeshadow and mouth color a few times, I just kept going until I was satisfied.

!Well I'll leave her at this point and be back tomorrow for more...she was a process, but well worth every minute of her creation!

I hope you are enjoying "The Making of Mahdreen" the Elf of Wisdom ;D

Be back tomorrow! & if you have any questions in the meantime please feel free to leave a message for me. I'd love to answer any that you may have.

Thanks for taking this adventure with me,

Michelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mahdreen the Elder Elf of Wisdom.....COMPLETED!

First a picture of the beautiful Mahdreen, my Elder Elf of Wisdom.....completed!

 She has been the most patient Elf that I've ever known, so many months and a yr have gone by since I began her. She has waited through all my healing from surgery, moving to AZ, getting settled in my new abode and then a few other projects that seem to have jumped ahead of her. Ah, but here she is finally completed and as beautiful as I thought she would be from the inception.

I will post a tutorial on her as best I can, being that she was a personal project I didn't get a step by step picture of her progress. She has gone through many changes as I put her together and played with the possibilities of what she would look like when finished.

This has been a learning experience for me as well in making Mahdreen. As I read more about soft sculptured dolls I came upon new ideas, I mixed them with the picture I had in my vision of her and voila'.........My greatest desire is to add more Elves to Mahdreen & Zandar's world.

Zandar (above), for those who are new to my blog, is my first Elf. Zandar is not my pattern (a pattern from SDA) but his clothing and detailing are. Mahdreen is a pattern drawn by me, as are her sculpting, clothing and detailing.

I will have a tutorial on Mahdreen coming this week! I also have a grandson on the way (November) so I'm making a quilt...my first for both! I will be sure and post on the progression of it and of course make a tutorial out of it as well. I also have a new doll that I've drawn just recently and plan to start that too! Busy, Busy, Busy!

See you soon,

Michelle

Mixed Media Art doll workshop

Back from the Art Doll Workshop and I had a great time. They taught everyone how to make a "pin doll" tonight, so I have that to show you. And I also have some new pictures of Mahdreen :) I made eyes as I previously posted and I have put them in and added eyelids.

I gave her face a coat of gesso and let it dry then sanded it once and added another coat. I will sand one more time and then paint her features. I will also work on her hand addition, I'm excited to see what I can come up with. So far I'm loving what she is evolving into, I couldnt be happier.

I'll be brief for now...I'm tired, go figure :) I've been going non stop all day. Up at 8am, working on Mahdreen and then straight into gathering my misc. for the workshop. We meet next thurs and have decided on a Mermaid project. Looks like lots of funnn!

Be back tomorrow with more :)

Michelle

A Cozy Basket for your Baubles

What a great day its been and a busy one at that. I posted my first "rag" product on Etsy and I'm really excited about the possibilities! I posted the beginnings of my basket previously and just last night I made the final stitches :) I love this basket! It was so much fun to make and I couldn't wait to put it in my shop. Please visit Rag Romance by clicking the Rag Romance Banner to the right. I will have more in my shop very soon.

As for my dolls, I am currently working on Mahdreen. She is the female Elder Elf that I began before I left Ohio. What an amazing, beautiful lady she will become. I'm really looking forward to dressing her and creating her face and will post the day to day progress so you can see whats going on with this enchanting woman:)

Mahdreen is a pattern that I have drawn myself and may be one of the first patterns that I put in my Etsy shop as well. I'm working on her forearm and hand at the moment....and funny but as I finished one hand and went to pick up the other....It was missing! SOPHIA!!! she's not admitting it but I think that she knows where Mahdreen's other hand is.

Well back to work!

Oh Happy Days,

Michelle

TIME... WARP..!

I have been involved in some home-work of sorts that has taken up my time lately. Things are going well though I have to say and Im feeling great. So I'll be back to my Elf in no time.

I do have the body sewn and am in the process of stuffing it. The legs and arms are sewn also, I just need to fray check the edges and then on to stuffing them too! I will post pics of the progress of Mahdreen in a few days. She is going to be just amazing, I can't wait for you to see her :)

Love, Balance & Light to you all,

Michelle

My Lady Elf...sculpted

Well today I've gotten the sculpting done and now Im looking forward to painting her face!

It's amazing how each doll takes on its own personality as you move through each stitch. I had a small idea of what I wanted  when I began and it seems that  this lovely lady had her own idea :)) I thought that I would make a younger female Elf to go along with Zandar but  when I finished sculpting her she appears to be a bit older.

 I feel that she may be one of the Elders of this group of Elves. She will be known as Mahdreen. She is one that the young seek for the knowledge only an Elder can impart. The ways of the Elvish are ancient and very deeply guarded and can only be passed on to the young by an Elder. Mahdreen will see to it that all the young, even Zandar :), learn the ways of the Elves of this clan.

Well we have her name, Mahdreen! and we will return soon.

 Back to the the workroom...........

See you soon,   Michelle

A New Day and what to make, hmm

Well as I stated in the previous post there were some copyright issues. I did hear from Ute regarding this and she assured me that it was ok for me to continue to post my progress. I thanked her and let her know that I indeed was having a fun time working on her pattern.

With that said I have decided to go with my original plan before I came upon the troll pattern. I was in the process of working on my own patterns and was making a female elf of my own. I have decided to do just that, work on my own creations. I came to this decision due largely in part to the events that I've dealt with over the last year. It seemed there was always someone, somewhere, deciding what and how and when events should and shouldnt be happening. I felt like that with this episode of copyright issues. I have some knowledge of copyrights with a magazine that I was in the process of putting together many years ago. Sounds very glamorous doesnt it, it was, for a while. It was a small project that struck my creative edge and I gave it a try for a short time. I did some research for that project in the copyright arena and gained some knowledge in the process. So suffice to say that I have chosen to work on my own creations and not venture off into the land of someone else's power field.

I have enough creative energy and ideas to keep me busy for a very loooooong time so here we go :D

I have been working on a pattern for an elf, a female this time. She will be my own from top to bottom. We will start from the head and work from there. I will draw the entire doll first but won't bombard you with all the bits and pieces, just the head. Of course the head is where all the personality comes from anyway and that just spurs you on to invent and create more! It always seems to me that once I have the head in progress that the name just seems to pop into my mind. I can't wait to see what creative being comes together next.

Ok, I've got my excited, creative energy in full rev!! Im off to the sewing room (you know, I should name that too, the way people name cars :)) to retrieve my drawing inventory and continue the pattern drawing process. I will return with some good, no, GREAT ideas and a beautiful, womanly elf for all of my readers to join in the fun with! :)

Be back soon,

Michelle

Zandar is here!

I am happy to say that Zandar the Elf is here in all his splendor!

I had thought that I would be finished by tuesday at the latest but just as I was finishing the details......there just seemed to be more to add!

I've had so much fun with Zandar and am very happy to have him join my family.
A FEW OF THE DETAILS......
His hair is hand stitched and his clothes are part pattern and mostly modification :) I like to start with a basic pattern piece and then adjust and modify as I go so that it fits just right. Depending on a fold, a seam, a dart or hem..things can change. It all depends on the personality of the doll, and they do end up having one ;D

I gave Zandar a walking stick...its part of a dried flower arrangement that I have in my living room! I took only a portion of it and of course gave the other half to Sophia :) she loves it.

The boots are made from a piece of upholstery suede that I found a few weeks ago...haha, I just knew I would need it sometime soon. I have hand sewn them with some button/upholstery thread that I had in a box of bits and pieces that my Mom left me. Thanks Mom.

His earrings are actually jump rings from my jewelry making supplies and his coat trim is a strand of beads that I started during the Holidays for a gift and didnt finish. They had a place after all :)

I have painted his face with gesso only in the places that were to be filled in with color, Eyes, mouth,& nostrils. I have used water color pencils for all three areas and blushed his cheeks with a bit of my powder blush.

Hope you enjoyed the ride, I LOVED it!
Love~Peace~Balance~Harmony
Michelle

ZANDAR THE ELF :D

I've been very busy working on Zandar and he's almost ready to make his finalized "Presentation" to our beautiful Universe. I'm so excited with all the recent additions that I've made to this wonderful being and I can't wait for you to see him.

I've enjoyed every minute I've worked on my precious Zandar. And I have even incorporated my Sophia ( she's my dear little 6 month old jet black kitten, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting her ) successfully to the doll making process. She is my newly appointed quality control officer :D. She makes sure that all dolls are happy and having fun and being as silly as she is, he,he. She is such a cute little button and a stinker bug at the same time and I love her lots. If by chance there is a flaw of any sort then Sophia gets that piece as a play toy. You can imagine how many pieces she deems unfit for doll making!

I will post the final pictures of Zandar on Monday, Tuesday at the latest if there are any glitches. Well, its getting late and sleep is on my list so I will see you all in the next few days. Have an amazing Sunday!

This is a pic of me, probably somewhere around the age of 4-5. I remember already sitting at my Mom's side while she was sewing any chance I could! Which was very often....

Michelle the Elf maker and Sophia the kitty assistant :)

New Pictures of Zandar :D

I have some new pictures of Zandar, I'll post them and then I have to go to the market to get them printed so that I have room for more pictures! See you soon,

Michelle

One Elf on Its way :)

I thought that I would name him Zandar. I almost have the body finished, had to remake one of the hands because I blew out too many fingers! So I have sewn it and glued it and am waiting for it to dry. In the mean time I will sew the legs to the torso, I have one arm already sewn on.

I can't decide if I want to paint the entire face or not. By that I mean..do I want to gesso the entire face and paint on that or do I just want to primer the places that I want color on? Hmm, I'm not sure. I like the way the material looks now, with the slightly fuzzy effect. But I don't think the paint will come out the way I want it to without any primer. So definitely will have to prime at least the spots that I want to paint, like the eye and mouth area. I can do the blush without any primer.

Yep, I will only primer the eyes and mouth. I love talking to myself...haha, it really helps me think things out.

So here's what we have so far, a naked Elf! I will post some pictures of what I have put together and then be back with more tomorrow.

Also I have a picture of Ms. Sophia with one of the "mistake legs" I made. I had sewn it on the wrong side and didn't realize it until I went to stuff it. Oh well, a great cat toy. She loves to carry it around in her mouth, throw it up in the air and catch it, roll around all over the ground and then start all over again :)

Im having a great time with this project, and of course I feel great! yay!

Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll see you soon :D

Michelle, once again dreamweaving.....