This is Cirque!  My tribute to Cirque de Soliel.  I have not as yet seen a Cirque de Soliel show, but have tickets for late in May, and will be inspired to make another doll after seeing the real thing, bein sur.  If I ever go missing, be sure to look for me with this circus.  I love everything about it.  The colors, the music, the drama, the costumes, and all that just from the DVD from the library!  Stay tuned....  (the beautiful cab face was created by Linsart, of course)

This is the beginning of a series of small butterflies I am currently working on.  The cab faces are made by Linsart which I get through e-bay, and I bead the body and wrap the wire wings in fibers.  I also hand paint the faces and seal them in Diamond Glaze. To finish I make antennae with free form wire wrapping and Swarovski crystals.   The completed doll measures about three inches high.  I am currently accepting commissions for these dolls.

This is the last doll from the series that I made in 2004.  All the others were given or traded away.  The face cab was made by Linsart, and the body was a pattern from Rhonda Kivett.  The wings, of course are feathers, and she measures about 2 1/2 inches tall.  Like all my dolls she is bead embroidered on felt with Silamide thread, and the only glue I use is to hold the face on.

This is how the butterfly series got started.  This doll is much larger, about 8 inches tall, based on an art project my kindergartener brought home.  The face, again is by Linsart.  My daughter is very proud of the fact that her project helped create this doll, in fact, she considers this "her" doll.

This is a close up of the face and head of a self portrait doll that I did recently.  As a young girl I lived in Hawaii, so I gave her a flower behind her ear.  I also gave her a crown, for fun.  The doll stands about six inches high and sits on a wooden stand.  She is completely beaded.  The face cab is again, by Linsart.  All of the faces are glued down with E6000 and then peyote stitched around.

On the left is Florida, my tribute to the movie The Bird Cage, (face cab by Linsart).  On the right, my water spirit doll, half of the pair I made representing water and fire.  The fire doll I gave to my very good friend Kay.  I actually made this face, which, explains why now I buy all my faces from Linsart.

I thought it might be fun to show you my next work in progress.  This all started with the middle round bead found at The Bead Garden.  The face is by, of course, Linsart, which I embellished with paint.  The body pattern is my own. You can also see part of the tray I use for my bead pallet.  It's something I picked up at Goodwill and then cut up a velour blanket to line each of the spaces.  I couldn't work without it!  I was blessed this April with birthday money, which was spent on some fabulous expensive beads that I normally don't treat myself to.  Thank you!

Art Dolls