Meg, Mistress of Potions

Anyone who has been following this blog will remember a piece of fabric I dyed a couple of weeks ago with diluted fabric paint. The fabric became a deeper flesh tone color although it doesn't show as well in these photos.

I had no plan for what the final design for her would be because she started out as an experiment in dying fabric. Once the body was completely assembled I chose a photograph to use to design her face.

Once her face was painted her personality came out and she began to tell me who she was. I used a wild, fiery red-orange yarn with gold treads in it for her hair and earthy fabrics for her costume and shawl.


She suddenly became a Celtic mistress of potions. I think I was inspired by the show Merlin that aired on the 'Syfy' channel this past season.

I gave her a headband made out of stone beads and a bag of potions around her neck.

She is also wearing suede boots with corded ties.

Of course, she told me that her name is Meg and she is now the newest member of "Gloria's Girls".

I completed the second item that I committed to this week. Now, I'm ready to finish my male doll.

TGIT Thank God It's Tuesday!

It's the first day of my "weekend" again and I'm ready to tackle my creative projects for the week. I've made an observation about myself. In the last few weeks I haven't gotten as much done as I have in the past. I used to have a pretty good creative flow and I was able to complete a number of projects every week. But I think I've gotten caught up in the social networking thing. Between 'Tweeting', Facebooking, the website, meetups, Etsy and keeping up with reading some of the wonderful blogs I've been following I have become less productive.

This week I am going to work more and 'socialize' less. After this post my plan is to not even touch my computer until late evening just before bed. Hopefully, I'll get more done. These are four of the current projects I've been working on for a couple of weeks and I have no excuse but to 'focus' and get them finished this week.



This is the fabric painting I 'started' last week when I was experimenting with a project from the book Textile Art by Susan Stein. Last night I worked on it for a while and added some applique work of a woman seated in the foreground and gazing at the rising moon. This project will be stitched, bordered and machine quilted this week. I promise!

This is my first male doll, I'm still calling him 'Keannu' until he tells me what his name is going to be. I've added some shading to his face to give him a more masculine look. I think when I create the next male doll I will give him a squarer chin line.

He also had a little 'surgery' last week to shorten his torso and narrow his hips. His body was a little out of proportion and looked awkward. This week he will get a great 'hair cut' inspired by Keannu Reeves and an outfit.....hmmmm that's going to take some thought. I did theater costumes for many years and raised two sons, you'd think I'd be able to come up with an outfit for a guy.

My last unfinished project for the week is the doll that I dyed with fabric paint. The doll on the left is the result after she was stuffed. The color is darker and closer to a skin tone that isn't as pale as the doll on the right and yes Mary Ann, I agree the fabric did change to a firmer texture. I kind of like it though, with the fabric taking on a tougher feel it was less prone to fraying and my seams were more durable.

This week she will get a new face and I hope she will tell me who she is and what she would like to wear. I'm going to leave that decision to her.

O.K., I'm off and running, lunch first and projects next.

TGIT Thank God It's Tuesday!

Thank God it's Tuesday, another work week for me is done and Tuesdays I begin working for myself. I started my morning with coffee and my favorite biscotti. I found out that biscotti is a good alternative to some of the heavy pastries and breakfast things I've been eating. They are very satisfying with coffee and lower in fat and calories. Winter makes me want comfort foods and I always gain extra pounds. I'm not justifying weight gain but all mammals are heavier in winter to keep warm. Am I not a mammal?

Now, I have a natural craving for lighter foods. Fruits and vegetables are coming into season and salads and steamed vegetables are so-o-o good to me right now and I can't get enough fresh basil, grape tomatoes and olive oil.



Cre8tiv Glory is beginning to become a small business. I've been given some great suggestions that will allow me to create my dolls and textile projects and share them with a wider audience. What's that saying...'if you work at something you love you never work another day in your life'...


With artists and designers, the creativity, the commitment, the focus and the desire are always there but we kind of get lost in the nuts and bolts of business. This blog will be one of the places that I will record my progress, successes and failures, so I will be accountable to all of you.
Last week I tried a new technique for dying some fabric for one of my dolls. In the second picture above you can see where I took a piece of pale, baby pink cotton fabric to a deeper flesh tone. Instead of the regular Rit dyes I used a product called "So Soft" fabric paint by "DecoArt". I can't give you exact measurements at this posting because I was still experimenting but I started out with about 2 to 3 cups of water in a plastic tub and diluted equal parts of 'Baby Pink' and 'Brown'. I mixed the water and paint with an old immersion blender until it was the consistency of milk and the color was kind of a dusty rose.

I added about a third of a yard of pre-washed and dried cotton fabric that already had a pink tinge to it but I'm sure white or beige would also have a good result. I squeezed out the excess solution and stored the paint and water solution for another project. I towel dried the fabric in a old terry cloth towel to get out as much of the moisture as possible and then ironed the fabric between two rags until dry to set the color.

The result is a deeper color. It almost looks like dusty peach tea staining. The flesh tone is darker than the ready made flesh colored fabric that I've been buying and using. When the dolls are stuffed with white fiber fill they tend to be very pale. My desired outcome is to have a doll that is not as pale after it's been stuffed.

I started stitching the body together last week and will stuff it today. I will share the end result here.