February 2012

Hello everyone!  It has been a long time since our last post.  I now have help with the Guild minutes, so I hope the delays will  be a thing of the past.  I hope all is well in your part of the world.  The midwest was tortured by tornadoes yesterday and ran rampant around over and under the Greater Cincinnati area.  I hope the artistic creations below help calm damaged nerves and replace scenes of horror with smiles of delight.

February 2012 Meeting

Stephen Rausch
First up - We are overjoyed to welcome Stephen Rausch back into the Guild.  We beat him up pretty badly year before last and it took sometime for him to recover.  We promise to be gentle this year and help him learn how to say "no" when it come time to volunteer for projects - LOL.  His newest doll is amazing - as usual.  Enjoy!

Stephen Rausch signed the top of the wooden stand with a gold pen.  The stand was then given a high-gloss protective coat.  A very elegant finish to a graceful work-of-art.

Elizabeth Marten

Our beloved Liz Marten suffered a fall recently.  Stiff and sore she still attended today's meeting (you can see her in the above photo behind Stephen's figurative sculpture).  While spending a few days in bed recovering from her accident, she remembered that she had some clothespins that had been cut and were ready for dressing.  Please note that the arms have been made from a clothespin that was cut in half.  Very cleverly done!  Here are a couple examples:

Show and Tell

I apologize in advance if I've gotten names in the wrong order for the figurative art below.  I will correct quickly if I have, in fact, listed the following items in an incorrect order. 

Holly Alder

Holly Alder has made a delightful cloth doll.  I'm sorry I do not know the pattern name, although I think it was mentioned in the meeting.  Sue has detailed her little lady very nicely.  A strand of pearls, a "diamond" nose ring along with a saucy ensemble make this a very stylish little lady.

Sue is a new doll maker and asked us several questions about this piece.  I'm using this space to remind everyone to check out our scheduled Events for this year - which you can reach by clicking on the "Events" button at the top of this page.  We are starting a cloth doll class at the March meeting for those of you new to doll making where we hope to pick up many more excellent doll making tips from Liz Marten and all members of the group.

Holly Alder

Holly Alder created a lovely piece of mixed media figurative art from air dry clay.  The arms are moveable and this photo does not show the sweetness of her little face.  I think the striped leggings are just the right touch for this piece!

Holly also created a delightful piece that we plan on using for our Make It and Take It next year meeting.  There is no doubt in any of our minds that the attendees of this meeting will be very happy with her creation.  What is it?  Ahhhh, you will have to wait until it is unveiled.

Carol Lang

Carol brought in several delightful items. To the right you will see one of two pancake style dolls that Carol then adorned with an amazing amount of beading, metal flowers, sequence and dragonflies.  The beading around the seams must have taken hours to complete.  Very well done!

Her second item (below shows a couple pages from a fabric  book that she made with her quilting group.  The pages have little pockets in them to hold the tags that she collects while working on this challenge.  She suggested that we may want to do a book like this to hold our Artist Trading Cards or Art Card Editions and Originals Challenge.  (Remember - this challenge is due to be unveiled at the March 2012 meeting!)

The colorful piece below was also made by Carol Lang - who has been extremely busy since we last saw her!  I envy her productivity - I haven't been nearly so creative myself.  Well done Carol.  I love this piece - she brings a smile to my face.

Helpful hints to keep the rest of us being creative....

Keep a list of projects in progress and exactly what needs to be done next.  Then, when you get bored working on one project, make a note where you are in the project and what needs to be done next.  Tidy away that project (so that your tools and supplies are available for something else).  Once this is done, check over your list - and pick a project that sounds more interesting.  Pull it out at GET BUSY!

Doll by Carol Lang

Since we started with Stephen Rausch, we also want to end with him this month.  A big congratulations go out to him on his recent cover and article in Doll Collector Magazine, January 2012 edition.  Alas, this edition has already been removed from the shelves, but I bet you could purchase a copy from the publisher.