As some of you know I was in the San Francisco Bay area in August and one of the great things I did there was help my two daughters collect ideas and different parts for their joint Halloween decorating theme. Needless to say I was all fired up when I got home to do some Halloween stuff.
A couple of years ago I tried my hand at making a witch doll that I sculpted out of fabric she took residence in my art studio and at the end of the season I sold it to my friend who also loved Halloween. So it was time to make another one. This time though I wanted to do one that I would use sculpting clay for the head and hands. As any savvy artist knows you can go to Utube for any tutorial for anything in the world so was pretty sure that there was going to be one on doll sculpting. 
So I actually made the larger witch with the pitchfork while I watched the tutorial. One of my friends found the pitchfork she holds in her hand and mostly I used stuff around the shop for her costume. She is about 22″ tall and I like how she came out. The other witch is one that I did as a gift for my hairdresser friend who has a shop two doors down from my art studio. Last year I had found a pin that had a little mirror with hairdressing stuff hanging from it. I used that as inspiration for this little gal.
She is only about 18″ tall. One of the items I knew would hang from her was feet and hands with their nails painted to represent manicures and pedicures. They are white because of course they are dead parts. I also sculpted them and then hung them from a chain attached at her belt. I delivered her today and she was immediately put on the shelf in the beauty parlor for all to enjoy. Along this doll designer journey I sculpted three other heads that turned out very unique and each has its own personality. These three are turning out to be a force unto their own and they are called the “The Red Salsa Girls”.
As you can see in the pictures I have their faces painted, their hair made and body and arms attached. Even thought these three were my practice runs using three different clays to create, I like them better.
I can’t wait to dress them. I want them to be more timeless and not necessarily a Halloween decoration. You are probably wondering why in the world I am working on dolls when it is usually my painted quilts. One thing that most artist types realize is that doing the same art medium over and over again can put you in a rut and makes everything a little too routine. Changing lanes so to speak helps to change how you look at things and when you go back to your art medium you feel refreshed and ready to try something new. I can tell you just by learning to sculpt faces on these dolls it has changed my perspective to how I will paint my next portrait on fabric.
It really helped me to notice how the face is put together better for future work. So if you seem to be stuck on a art project or everything starts looking the same, try something new that challenges you. Who knows, your next art quilts could develop into a whole new thing with a different perspective…..Let me know what you do when you get stuck in a project…..Karen
