Work in progress, The Pale Rook blog

Tuesday July 11, 2017
I have spent the last week reading everything I can about how to blog, and I think I am getting the hang of it! Self help books are advising me to start small and go slowly. No problem there.
I have been looking at the blogs of other doll artists, and am very impressed with many of them. At the moment my favourite is The Pale Rook, written by Johanna Flannigan in Glasgow, Scotland. When I first started looking at dolls online, her haunting cloth dolls caught my attention. They are very simple, but each one has its own life and story. They are primitive, but, not. Go to her blog to see these arresting creations.
She writes her blog from her heart, and one post in particular, June 2015, went viral, due, I am sure, to the way her description of her artistic journey to becoming a full-time doll artist strikes a chord with so many of us (especially women). She describes the struggle to overcome the reluctance to put yourself forward as an artist whose work is valuable and is priced accordingly. She is eloquent, feisty, fascinating, intelligent and brave.

At the moment I am working on a polymer clay doll that will be sitting on a wire chair that I have yet to create. I need to have the dimensions of the doll, seated, when she is assembled, so I can make the seat height just right. This doll is made using Fimo Professional Doll clay. I ordered it through Amazon and it came in a very timely way, all the way from Germany! I have never used it before, but I like it. It is similar in feel and handling to ProSculpt. I didn't have any issues like moonies or bubbles with Fimo regular, but I have noticed a couple of bubbles in this sculpt. Could be my sculpting practices.
Wednesday 
Worked on the armature for my seated doll today. Bought some ball bearings at Canadian Tire to make a weight bag (a la Susanna Oroyan) to keep the doll anchored. Made the bag, got the armature ready, fiddled and fiddled with the wrapping of the batting, and finally, ta da! It was too long. Ripped it all off and decided to paint the doll parts while I figured out how to make buttocks, and how to connect them to the body so the doll sits properly. I will have to make a new armature too. As Susanna O. says often in her books, dollmaking is just an ongoing solving of problems. But, they do get solved.



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