The Social Lives of Dolls

Sometimes my dolls seem to have social life all of their own. I have two new dolls that will be out and about this coming June.

Princess Amaya, The Wise Princess, will be at The California Department of Education Black History Month Planning Committee Juneteenth Celebration and Art Sale Fundraiser. The event will be Tuesday, June 3rd from 5:00pm to 7:00pm in the California Department of Education Building  Lobby on N Street in Sacramento. The event will include food and entertainment and bidding on art from  some of Sacramento's best artists. Princess Amaya will also be available to bid on. If you would like to adopt Princess Amaya come down and visit this fun event.



Princess Amaya is a positive image doll and was  inspired by little girls who wanted a "princess who looks like me". If you are interested in having a princess doll made for a little girl in your life let me know.


Because Princess Amaya is a wise princess, she has some words of wisdom to share with you:

1. Never take apples from a stranger.           
2. Real friends won't lock you in a tower.
3. Slay your own dragons.
4. Never walk through a dark forest alone.
5. Stop waiting for Prince  Charming,
be your own hero, rescue yourself.

My other doll is Grandma Selene, The Bayou Queen. She is a very mysterious lady. She will be part of my "Grandmas are Beautiful" collection but more about that later.  Her inspiration comes from some of the Southern Folk Tales that come from a lot of my ancestors. Some of these folk tales go all the way back to Africa. The stories came across the Atlantic with the slaves and grew and changed as they were passed on by word of mouth from family to family and from generation to generation.

 Grandma Selene will be part of the "Focus on Fiber" 3rd Annual Fiber Arts Open Show at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, 5330-B Gibbons Drive in Carmichael, June 3rd through June 21st. For more information visit their website at www.SacFineArts.org

Grandma Selene's costume is made of plain white cotton muslin that I used a couple of dye techniques on to get her one of a kind look. The skirt is made of strips of shredded muslin that I stitched together and put through my washing machine and dryer to distress the fabric. I used three  shades of tie dye to color the skirt. It almost looks like the feathers of a tropical bird.

Grandma Selene also has some wise words to live by, of course, because grandmas always do:


1. Gray hair is beautiful.
2. Respect is earned not entitled.
3.Wisdom comes with time and experience.
4. Love comes from the heart, not from the back of the throat.
5. Don't let negative people live in your head, raise the rent and kick them out.
6. Never let success go to your head or failure go to your heart.












I will be teaching the "Flying Dancers" art doll class this fall at The Elk Grove Fine Art Center on Saturday September 20th from 11am to 4pm. This will be great because we'll have 5 hours to work on and complete the doll. I am hoping to be able to accommodate 6 to 8 students. I will have more information later this month. Other classes and locations will also be announced later this month.



Sacramento is having it's first Black Book Fair, "On The Wings of  Words", June 6th, 7th, and  8th in the historic Oak Park District.  Co-chairmen, Faye Kennedy, would like see this become a yearly event. Black authors from all over the United States will be flying in for this three day event to hold workshops and sign their books. There will also be tons of activities for children. For more information go to www.sacramentoblackbookfair.com .

They are also still in need of volunteers to help make this fantastic event happen. If you are able to volunteer at least two hours of your time on any or all of the three days, you can download an application from the same website under the volunteers tab.

Here's and update about the 2014 California State Fair. The judging results were published Friday and some other fiber artist that we know also placed.

Alice Calhoun,   "Floral Abundance", Honorable Mention, Category: Large Quilts

Connie Horne, The Meissner Sewing and Learning Center Award, 1st Place

Connie Horne, 1st Place, Category: Wearable Art

Jan Hollins, "Days Gone By", 3rd Place, Category: Applique Quilts

Gloria Grandy, "Verlene", Honorable Mention, Category: Dolls and Toys

Gloria Grandy. "Michael", Third Place, Category: Dolls and Toys


Happy June, see you later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All The Latest For Cre8tiv Glory

On Easter Sunday, a friend invited me to an amazing Easter service. The pastor's sermon was inspiring and so full of hope. It set the tone for the coming spring season, a hope for new beginnings with opportunities to be creative and...

The next creative cycle for the next new moon begins April 25th, the new moon is on April 28th. I

started the second piece for my long term project during the last creative cycle but this month was full of commitments and I wasn't able to give it a lot of time. I've promised myself three uninterrupted days in this cycle to focus on it alone.

Thank you to the ladies who attended my first Art Doll 101 class of the season. You were a great group to work with. The dolls you made are wonderful and your creative attention during the workshop was awesome. I will get back to you this week with a follow up location so that we can finish your dolls. Thanks also to Jeff Louie and Capsity http://www.capsity.com/ for providing this wonderful workspace and to Jan Hollins who found this location and for letting us share it with her quilt class. If you missed the Art Doll 101 Flying Dancer Doll Workshop, I will be teaching it again in the next few weeks. I have two tentative locations, a day class in  Citrus Heights and an evening class in Folsom. I am also looking for another location in Sacramento. If you would be interested in taking this class at one of these locations please email me your interest and at which location. I need at least four people to sign up in order to hold each space.

The patterns for the Flying Dancers Dolls and for the Sacramento Jack Rabbits: Ebony Rabbit and Brown Sugar Bunny Dolls will be available next week on PayPal for $12.00 each plus $1.50 shipping on the IDAE blog site . See the drop down menu. http://innerdivaalteregodolls.blogspot.com/





                                                                                     

The next Art Doll  workshop at Capsity will be Tribal Energy. 
This is one of my favorite dolls to make. It allows you to step away from traditional doll making and use non traditional cloth doll techniques and materials. The faces are done in mask style using broad strokes and bright colors and the costumes use beads, feathers, African prints and rustic textiles like burlap, batiks, mud cloth and kente cloth. The inspiration for these dolls came from another African American doll artist. She was a guest on an interior design show. She had created these beautiful African dolls that she made with African passport masks.

The dolls were simple with wonderful textures and details. I made my own versions of her dolls by painting mask designs in place of the faces on my doll heads.







Masks are a part of so many cultures, celebrations and ceremonies. They are part of African, Japanese, Aboriginal, Mexican, Brazilian and other Latin and Asian cultures. I've collected photos of a lot of these masks. Ideas and inspiration for masks can be found on my Pinterest page: "Tribal Energy, Masks" http://www.pinterest.com/cre8tivglory/tribal-energy-masks/


The Tribal Energy Doll Workshop will be at Capsity, May 22nd from 5:30 to 8:30. The class are $46.00 and $40.00 for SQC members. I have space available for 6 to 7 people. Registration with PayPal begins on May 1st on the Inner Diva, Alter Ego blog site http://innerdivaalteregodolls.blogspot.com/.  Class description and materials list will also be available on May 1st.

I want to thank everyone for their donations of their scraps and left over fabrics, yarns and trims for my kids class this week. There is enough for their Mother's Day Doll Project and for future projects as well. This is my chance to introduce this form of textile art to the younger generation. There was a great line in a film that I saw that said we have raised a generation of children who are used to buying everything but they don't create anything. We need designers for the future. I think of some of the futuristic movies I've seen where the populations are either robotic or survivalists. The environments were either sterile or in ruins, there was very little beauty or creativity. Our children are the architects, designers and artists of the future.

 

A Mermaids Party at Inner Diva Alter Ego Dolls

 

Our mermaid doll workshop is coming up soon. It will be Wednesday, June 26th at The Fabric Garden, 2922 Fulton, Sacramento, California. The samples will be available to view at Fabric Garden sometime late tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning but I will share some of the photos here. You will also be able to pick up a supply list and for students who have already signed up, I will email a list to you tomorrow. See you soon. anyone still interested in taking the mermaid doll workshop can sign up by calling the Fabric Garden at 916-483-2955.


This is Josette, my sleepy little mermaid.

 This is Nadia with fiery red hair and a mischievous smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Doll Classes, Inner Diva, Alter Ego Art Dolls

Please check out my art doll classes, "Inner Diva, Alter Ego Art Doll Workshops"and see what some of my students have created and if you would like to sign up for one of the June classes. the Link is:  http//:www.innerdivaalteregodolls.blogspot.com/