Yesterday was my 60th birthday and my very talented brother surprised me with a wonderful pendent necklace that he made special for me. The dark stone is black pearl and there is a small diamond in the small copper heart. Isn't it fabulous? I have linked his website to the blog if you want to see more of his wonderful work,  KEAyersDesigns.com.

I finished my Ostrich Showgirl, a class by Natalie Hamade.

I am really happy with how she turned out. It has been a while since I have made a doll from someone else's pattern and it was a very nice change. I may go through my pattern stash and try another one.The hair on this doll was made with a molding compound and was very different from anything I have worked with before and I will be using it again in my dollmaking.                       

AFIC class doll

Here are a couple pictures of the doll I made at
AFIC (Artistic Figures In Cloth) which was held here in Columbus, OH the last weekend in April.
Cyndy Sieving does a fantastic job of organizing this event. The next one will be in the spring of 2013.
I took 3 days of classes with Natalie Hamade and
had so much fun and learned a lot. If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes, don't hesitate.
I have been designing and making my own dolls
for a few years. I want to take some time and
make some dolls from other designers. My first
project is going to be Natalie's "Ostrich Showgirl".
She is a hoot and will be fun to make and enjoy.
In class we learned how to make these wonderful eyelashes. We started out with a white body and
painted it. We dyed Tibetian skins for the hair,
and made embellishments from Tyvec. I made the beads and the flower in her hair from Tyvec. We
used a soddering iron on the clothing. And then there was the face drawing. I am really happy with how my face turned out. Natalie was a wonderful teacher.