Wonder Woman Sock Monkey Sculpture

I had a little fun yesterday during Baby G's nap. Yes I should be cleaning the house and working on custom orders. But sometimes a girl just has to have a little fun, ya know?


She is Wonder Woman sock monkey, a 4.5" sculpture. I have been wanting to do a series of sock monkey sculptures dressed as various characters for a while, but haven't found the time. I started dreaming about them two nights ago, and I just had to get one out. So here she is.


Wonder Monkey to the rescue!

Wonder Woman sock monkey is available in my etsy shop.

New Sock Monkey Wedding Cake Topper Cupcake Size

I've had several requests for a mini sock monkey topper that could adorn a smaller cake, a cupcake tower, the groom's cake, or perhaps just as a decoration or keepsake.

This is it! It is 2 inches tall. I had such a blast making these little cuties!



This topper can be ordered as shown, or I can make the following customizations:

1. Choose the color of base that the monkeys are sitting on
2. Choose the color of flowers the bride is holding
3. Choose two colors for the two accessory flowers which are included.
~You can order more accessory flowers if you want more than two!

4. I will make this a hangable ornament for you if you ask me to. I will add hanger loops to the top of each monkey, but only if you ask!

ps This would make a wonderful wedding gift.

They're waiting in my Etsy Shop!

Rocker Muerto Day of the Dead Art Doll

Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, Halloween, skeletons, sugar skulls. These are a few of my favorite things! And that time of year is sneaking up on us already.



ADO Team is having a Halloween challenge, which got me motivated to do this Rocker Muerto. Rocker Muerto is 13.5" tall seated. He is made of polymer clay, upcycled clothing including red pleather pants, and a bamboo t-shirt. The skull on his shirt is my own design.



My Rocker Muerto has a 7" removable polymer clay and wire guitar.

He is in my ETSY SHOP.

Saskia

I am so fortunate! I have a new little doll living with me. Her name is Saskia, and she was made by Chrstine Alvarado of Du Buh Du Designs. Isn't she fantastic?



My birthday just happened to be the day before Saskia was for sale in Christine's shop, sooo
"Happy birthday to me!"


Thank you for creating such beautiful and inspiring dolls, Christine!

Shipping Tips!

How to package our dolls and fragile art items is a big question that many doll artists have. When I first started shipping my cake toppers I knew the packaging was crucial in order for them to arrive at their destination intact.

I've had some trials and errors with packaging, and here are the key points I've learned:

1. Choose a box that is at least twice as large as the piece you are shipping.
~You want to pick a box that has plenty of room for packing material

2. If your item is extremely fragile I recommend double boxing. Placing your well packed inner box inside a slightly larger box with packing peanuts surrounding it is a great way to insure your item will arrive safely. Did you know that the USPS requires 4" of packing peanuts around an inner box in order to pay a claim on an insured package? If you are paying extra to insure your packages, make sure your package meets your shipper's packaging criteria.

3. After trying several more advanced techniques such as wiring my sculpture to a base before shipping, I learned that the very best packaging for my items is bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap!

4. You do not need to spend much money on packing material! Find a local business who receives lots bubble wrap, and you can save them money by taking it off of their hands. I found an endless supply of bubble wrap by posting on Craigslist. The same is true for boxes. Find a local store who will give you their boxes and you are in business.
~Be sure to inspect your boxes for damage, and never ship in a box that has been dented or ripped. Make sure when reusing bubble wrap that the air is still in the bubbles, and check to be sure the packaging is clean.

Taking a few extra steps today while packing your art will save you lots of time, effort, and money in the long run.

Sarah's Visit

I've had the pleasure of a visit from the adorable Miss Sarah, from New Orleans. She belongs to the talented Colleen of Loopy Boopy, and is my latest and final visitor from the Art Dolls Only Team traveling doll project.

Sarah and I have spent our days shopping and at the beauty salon. Sarah got a new bag, new shoes, makeup, purple highlights in her hair, and a breast augmentation. Yep, she went all out! Fortunately for an art doll a boob job only takes a few minutes and is quite painless.




I have fallen in love with sweet little Sarah, but soon it will be time for her to return to Colleen. I will need to spice up a few pages of her traveling journal and then she will be homeward bound.

I'm Back!

I'm home after a wonderful month at my parent's home Lake Okoboji, Iowa!

This is the first time I've tried going on "vacation" and bringing my artwork with me. I did not close down my Etsy shop, instead I brought all of my clay, my tools, and my pasta roller (for clay) and I set up shop on a little table where I could look out a massive picture window at the beautiful lake.

Next to my table I set up a nice big play area for baby G, full of fantastic toys and treasures my mom found at garage sales before we arrived, and he played and played and played.

So was I productive on my "vacation"? Here is what I did while away:



On the left is a 6" wedding cake topper with calla lilies and hydrangea on the base, and calla lilies and bells of Ireland in the bouquet. The wedding colors are silver and deep purple. Those hydrangea flowers took forever, and I love the result.

On the right is a 5" wedding caker topper (that was supposed to be 4 inches) with colors turquoise and red. The flowers are red roses, of course, and the bouquet has some white accent flowers. Aren't these great wedding colors? The turquoise really stands out.

I was so excited to have these two orders back to back so that I could get a picture of the 6" sock monkey wedding cake topper next to the 4" topper, but oops, after making the 6" topper, my internal scale was set high and I made the 4" topper 5 inches!!! The bride didn't seem to mind.





I made two of these little princess ballerina monkeys in Iowa. The first one was an Etsy order. I had it finished and my neighbor walked in with her 10 month old little girl and said she had to have one for her little princess' party. So I made another one for her. I LOVE this birthday cake topper!!!

I also made:
A birthday monkey gone bananas,



and a happy little turquoise and yellow party monkey.

Whew, that's a lot of monkeys!!!

Tip for Polymer Clay

I'm so excited to share this little tip. I was at a going out of business sale at a little local food store, and I found the most amazing tool. It is called a bench scraper or pastry scraper and is normally used for cutting pastry dough and cleaning work surfaces. It was marked "50 cents" so I picked it up and put it in my cart, not knowing what a treasure I had just acquired.

Later the same day I had some clay to roll out in my pasta machine. I looked at my new tool and realized it would be perfect for first chopping my clay into nice manageable slivers before rolling it out. This worked like a charm! Then I used it to cut long slices of rolled clay, to clean my pasta roller, and to scrape clay off my work surface.


I have used my bench scraper daily since I got it, and now I think I need two, one for cleaning surfaces, and one for cutting clay. If you work with polymer clay, you must get one, or two. They cost under $10.00 new, and in my book, they are priceless!

ADO Elements Challenge

ADO, "Art Dolls Only" team is hosting an art doll challenge. Members and art doll enthusiasts were asked to create a doll in the theme of "elements", and then post their doll on their blog today. Click the picture above to see the list of participants on the ADO team blog, then go blog visiting to see what everyone came up with! The challenge pieces will be posted all weekend.

I am a water lover. I was raised at a Lake, I've lived at the ocean, and I'm a water sign. Both of my children were born under water. So it is no great surprise that I chose WATER as my element and I sculpted three mermaids. I gave them each a Hawaiian name.


Here is the first mermaid I did. Her name is Lokelani (lo-kay-lan-ee).

Lokelani is a one of a kind handmade art doll. She is 9" tall including her base. The shells in her hair were picked up on the beaches of Kauai, and she wears a piece of sunrise shell (a rare and beautiful shell the color of the sunrise) in back. Lokelani is mostly polymer clay. I used a starfish from a vintage box of treasures I inherited, and I did not buy it, you know they kill them just to sell to tourists at the beach, so please don't buy them new!

Next I sculpted a silly little lady named Ke'alohi, which means "the brightness".

She is a polymer clay sculpture which I have mounted to a large clam shell. I painted the clam shell to resemble abalone, and added a few sparkly details.

Her hair is Tibetan lambs wool, she wears Swarovski crystals and seashells in her hair. Ke'alohi stands 7.5" tall including base, and is 6" across.

Finally I made "Pikake" which is the name for a Hawaiian flower used to make leis.

Pikake is the most inquisitive of the three, and I love the movement I achieved with her. It is as if she is swimming in a circular dance. Her hair is spiky and wild, and she is mounted on a silk flower which is meant to represent a colorful anemone.

All three of these mermaids are for sale in my Etsy Shop.
Thanks for looking at my ADO Element Dolls!

I'm in Iowa!

I'm at my parent's lake home in Okoboji Iowa for the month of July.


I'll try and get some fireworks pics posted this week.