Sunday, July 29, 2012

Meet Bliss

Have you ever finished a project and loved it so much that it made your heart sing?

I've created things before that I liked. I've created things before that I've been pretty proud of.
This is the first thing I've made that has filled me with such joy.

I've always dreamed of creating something I felt worthy of labeling an "art doll."
This doll has been my muse ever since I first taught myself to sew in 2009.
She's been patiently waiting these past few years for me to figure out how to create her.

Sure, there's still some edits I want to make to my pattern and still lots of room for improvement, but that's part of the fun, right?

Anyway, I'm really excited to finally introduce you to Bliss.


She came out way larger than I originally planned...24" tall!
(I think I'll shrink my pattern some for the next one, lol.)


She is jointed at the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.
She and I had so much fun taking these photos!








She's the first of what I'm calling my Muse dolls...and I have a feeling there's going to be many more!
(Seriously, I've got a long list already written out of dolls I want to create!)

I can hardly wait to get started on the next one!

Hope you guys like her. :)

6 comments:

  1. I absolutely adore her! Such beautiful work and her character really shows through. Wonderful pictures!!! I'm excited to see more dolls to come. Her face is sooo adorable. I can keep gushing on her cause I can tell why she brought you so much joy..but I'll just finish with saying LOVE HER! Nice work!

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    1. Oh, thank you so much! I put a lot of heart into her...and I feel like she's the first thing I've made that really represents *me* (if that makes sense).
      I'm so happy you love her!

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  2. She is absolutely adorable. I love her little ears and her sweet little face. Wonderful!!!!

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  3. OMG she is super cute! Her joints look perfect! I am trying to figure out how to make joints just like these, can u tell me where I can learn to do this? Any pictures of her shoulders and hips? I love her!

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    1. Aw, thanks so much!
      I don't have any close ups of her shoulders and hips, but they were jointed using this tutorial:
      http://mimikirchner.com/blog/archives/2007/03/hidden-button-movable-joint/
      Instead of the shank buttons she talks about, I used pony beads inside there and instead of thread, I used regular old dental floss.
      Have to thank this thread on craftster for that info:
      http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=205341.0
      As for the knees and elbows...I really just studied a lot of pictures and patterns of other dolls to figure it out.
      Although I didn't actually use her pattern for Bliss, this book was a big help and has a pattern using similar joints:
      http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Cloth-Doll-Collection-Embellishments/dp/1592537030
      It's basically just a wooden bead sewn in between the two pieces. I hope that makes sense. :)

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