Aroha - an Artdoll

Meet Aroha

She really evolved while I was working on her, she started as a calico doll bodice on wire legs on a block of mdf.I added some clay and she got her striped tights, oh btw she has perky little boobies and a heart ♥

Then when she needed clothes, this cloak sort of happened, so I finished her of as a little tribal Maori-like doll. I have a little sweet spot for her...named her Aroha, which means "Love", 'cause she just LOVEs those tights, hehe ;)

New Cloth ♥ Art Dolls

Here are a couple of the cloth art dolls I made recently.

They are such fun to make !

Introducing the little Delft-blue: 

"Dutchie"

and 

"Hurt" 

{a healing doll}

- Dutchie is already spoken for, Hurt is in my Etsy shop-

Kakariki

Kakariki means "green" in te reo Māori and since I live here and this little doll is mainly green, nature like and earthy, I thought about naming her Jade or something like that, but Kakariki sounds so much more like her with her long curly lock on her left shoulder and her (allthough they are vague) curly fern-tip like details here and there. So here she is, I like her to bits ♥ she is in my shop if you love her too

Gone soft for dolls ♥

 

 This is kind of a long post with lots of pictures (I like pictures) and links about kind of smallish creatures...... ;)

I want to share this other soft spot of mine, my other desire, a possible challenge ? something I really want to give a serious go a little more at some stage. I started the odd project over the years and some of those are still waiting patiently (as if they have a choice ? - see pics of them below-) to be finished .... if I ever will, because by the time I make some time for them I have other ideas about them already. Now, with having the school holiday kids program in my Art studio for the last 2 weeks, I had been looking for something "simple" to do myself and I made up some super simple calico shapes and stuffed them and started painting little faces. The first two born the other day, I gave wings and they became little angels

 

(a little like my Matryoshka dolls I did a few years ago)

  

the last one is a free little spirit and I really dig her!

 

But seriously, I have been admiring very special dolls for quite a while now. I would love to make some of these really really GR8 and amazingly beautiful dolls. I am in love with the out-of-this-world-oh-so-super-gorgeousilistic dolls by Nefer Kane  

and the tender, fine faces by Paulette Goodreau

   

 but also the grungier folky-arty cloth dolls by some dollmakers like Gritty Jane, and the Steampunky ones by Paula Nerhus and there are so many more. 

Tim Burton - dollmaker extraordinaire

  Of course I understand that it takes time and practise and YEARS of improvement, just like painting and sketching and everything else for that matter.  So .... one day .... I guess when my days have 48 hours and my weeks have 21 days and I will be immortal hehe......but before all that, I WILL make some more "simple" dolls for sure

♥

cloth doll wip 1

same doll wip 2

face start

face done ?

not happy with the nose, but ah well

want to finish her regardless

see where she ended up, stuck in a pot with legs up and all ?

this one is even an earlier one, kinda creepy actually....

♥