Once Upon A Village Doll

Once Upon A Village Doll

#Gloria Grandy

EPiC Arts and Crafts Festival, Granite Bay, California

Just wanted to let you know where my Gloria's Girls Dolls will be appearing next month. We're taking our show on the road and traveling to Granite Bay, California. The East Parkway Church, 4700 East Roseville Parkway, is having an arts and crafts fair on April 13th from 9:00am to 3:00pm to raise money for their mission trip to Northrise University in Ndola, Zambia. 

Northrise University (NU) is a fully accredited regional university strategically located in Ndola, Zambia. The University is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of education through a comprehensive approach to teaching, research and learning.

Since its inception in 2004, NU has attracted local as well as international students who receive training in various academic disciplines at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Being a leader in education innovation, Northrise is the first University in Zambia to offer online programs.

I will be sharing my booth space with Jan Hollins, Quilts and More. We will be offering a beautiful and unique selection of art dolls, quilted art and home accessories.

If you are in the area or even better, just come out and see us and the other wonderful artists and crafters at this event.











You can see some of the items that will be for sale on Pintrest,    
http://pinterest.com/tamilynnlopez/. Or visit the facebook page
at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Epic-Arts-and-Crafts-Festival.

See you there.

Twelve Yards of Muslin: Projects: Projects 2, 3, 4, and 5

Here are the next finished projects out of my twelve yards of muslin. I was watching this wonderful program on TV, one of the stories they were featuring was about a doll artist. Of course, that caught my attention.

She had been laid off from here job for several months and started out making jewelry that her husband took to work to sell for a little extra income. I'm not sure how she made the transition from jewelry to doll making but she said that when she made her first two dolls they sold immediately.

I was so intrigued by her dolls' simplicity yet they were so detailed in portraying African cultural dress. She used small imported masks called African passport masks for the dolls faces. I wanted to make my own version of these dolls. I knew that I would have to be pretty resourceful in re-creating the dolls faces since I don't have access to the passport masks that she used.

I gathered the materials and the tools I needed. I had almost everything I needed already in my craft and art stash. I started out with a few rough sketches of what I wanted to create. My next step was to make an armature frame to build the doll on.

I always smile at myself when I pull out the power tools and hardware to make an art or soft art project. This project required my drill, wire cutters, 14 gage wire, pliers and wood glue.

I also got a chance to use up a lot of my leftover quilt batting scraps. I never throw anything away.

Here's where the muslin comes in. I used lots of 1" by 36" strips.

I wrapped the armature with the batting first and then the muslin strips. I got this little mummy like doll body ready to be costumed.

I love the way the wire frame makes the arms able to be posed in a variety of gestures.

My favorite part of any doll making project is the costuming. I guess it's because it takes me back to my theater roots. For this project I used burlap, (very itchy to work with) cowrie shells, African textiles, feathers, found objects and broken jewelry. I used enamel paint on fabric to paint the faces to substitute for the masks. This was a great project for my creative spirit because I could let my imagination run free. I came up with so many design ideas and these are the four I decided to make. They are the leaders of an African village.

"The Chief"

"The Elder"

"The Griot" (storyteller )

"The Merchant"

They are available for adoption at the Brickhouse Gallery in Sacramento. Can't wait to make more!

A Finished Project

In the midst of all of the craziness, I managed to finish another doll. She was inspired by the singer Beyonce. She turned out so pretty but decided to call her "Sasha Fierce" who Beyonce says is her alter-ego. The singer says that she is basically a shy person and sometimes has to reach inside of herself to be the beautiful star that she is. She calls her alter-ego "Sasha Fierce" who is the talented, strong, out-going woman who lives inside of Beyonce.

"Miley" Lead Guitarist of "The Urban Tinkerbells"

This is Miley, she's the first member of "The Urban Tinkerbells." It's been many, many years since I've been a teenager but I am inspired by the fashion and style of today's young generation. I am having so much fun learning about what kids wear today.

I have a four year old granddaughter Maya, who absolutely amazes me at how fashion conscious she is. I've seen her put her own outfits together and they are perfect. A designer couldn't do better. One of her favorite people is Hannah Montana. Of course we edit out the bad publicity that seems to be following this young star lately. We don't want to burst Maya's bubble yet. It would be like telling her there is no Santa Clause or Tooth Fairy. So my Miley doll is at the request of my granddaughter.

My generation had Twiggy, Carnaby Street, Betsey Johnson, and Mary Quant as only a few of the fashion influences of the 60's. I couldn't wait to get Seventeen Magazine every month to see what the latest styles were. My mom and dad were hard working people and they tried to give me everything I wanted. The smartest thing my mom did was to buy me my first sewing

machine when I was 12 and taught me to sew. She kept me in fabric and I got really good at replicating almost anything I wanted out of the magazines which saved my parents a ton of money. It got to the point where I only wanted to wear what I made myself.

Admittedly, I don't get a lot of today's trends and a lot of them I don't even like. But I know that fashion is the first rebellion young people demonstrate. The flappers did it in the 20's, my mother's generation did it, my generation did it, my older son wanted to be Prince, my youngest son went through the grunge style (that absolutely irritated me.) Every generation has a need to 'shock' their parents and authority figures and to make a statement about who they are and that they're young people and are not the same as their elders. I think rebellion is an absolutely necessary part of the process of growing up and fashion and style is for the most part a harmless rebellion compared to so many other negative and harmful things that young people could get caught up in. As parents, we need to let our kids and grand kids experience this creative freedom with some guidance from us for health and safety reasons.

I have three more dolls to add to this "Urban Tinkerbells" rock group. It is a challenge for me and I am learning and becoming aware of today's fashions. Keep watching this blog. Ga Ga is the diva and the lead singer of the group and she will make her entrance next.

Maixiu, (beautiful, grace)

I am pleased to share Maixiu with you. She is number 18 of my "Gloria's Girls" family. She is my first doll in Asian costume and I absolutely love her. Two ladies visited my booth last month and commented that they never see Asian dolls when they attend craft shows and that was an opening for a challenge for me. I wanted the costume to be something special that reflected

ancient Chinese culture.

Last weekend I saw a movie called 'The Forbidden Kingdom' along with a little Internet research that inspired the idea for this costume. I found the photograph of a beautiful woman's face also on the Internet and used it as a model for Maixiu's face. I love that it is so peaceful yet so wise.

I also designed a doll who will be wearing a Japanese costume. I'm looking forward to begin working on her in a few weeks. I am very proud to be able to present a beautiful doll that represents Asian culture.