How to Make Clay Characters by Maureen Carlson

My mom's been sorting through her craft stuff and I've been the beneficiary of most of it. Saturday she brought me some books on working with polymer clay. I've been making dolls for a long time but I'm not usually happy with the ones I sculpt free hand so I often use push molds and alter them. The book listed in the post title is very helpful, though. Although this old man is far from perfect (way too much dirt in the clay for one thing), I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. He even has five o'clock shadow. I think I'm going to practice making heads for awhile and then move on to hands and feet. When I get enough body parts, I'll start to make some more dolls.

A new follower!

Welcome Lena of http://miniatyrmama.blogspot.com/. She has photos of several beautiful rooms on her blog.

Passing on the blog award

I am supposed to pass this award on to 15 people so here goes:
1. Doreen at http://doreensminiatures.blogspot.com/
2. Rosanna at http://lastanzadigiuggiola.blogspot.com/
3. Nell at http://nell-miniminis.blogspot.com/
4. Katie at http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/
5. Tom at http://turningsinminiature.blogspot.com/
6. Taenia at http://taeniasminiatures.blogspot.com/
7. George at http://tallminiguy.blogspot.com/
8. http://orrlakemusings.blogspot.com/
9. Kim at http://kimsminiatures.blogspot.com/
10. http://buildingherhousewisely.blogspot.com/
11. http://fluffybricks.blogspot.com/
And the others that I would award have already received this one.

My second blog award!

Thank you, Brenda, for this blog award. She says it's for "Most Prolific Miniaturist" because of a standing joke on the Small World forum. I tend to be somewhat single minded when I'm working on a project and then once that one is finished I'm on to the next right away. My mom is the same way so I'm blaming it on her. ;-) Now I need to give this award to 15 blogs. That's gonna take some thinking.

Revisions again...

As often happens to me, once I saw clear pictures of the fairy I decided I needed to change some things. The photo is at least twice as big as the actual doll so it is much easier to see details. I wanted a more detailed face and I wasn't happy with her hair. I also added "fairy dust" to her wings, iridescent paint to her flower hat and some sparkle to her dress. She looks much cuter, although I do need to trim some of the hair out of her eyes. :-)

Thank you, Grace and Jayne!

Thanks to Grace (Treefeathers) and Jayne (Tallulahbelle) I have some clear pictures of the little fairy doll I made. Here she is checking out her winter supply of walnuts as they are her primary food source. She also uses the shells for cups and bowls.

Here is a closer photo of her wings. They are made from a rub on tattoo that was mistakenly rubbed onto the clear backing. I sealed it with Mod Podge and it makes a wonderful set of fairy wings.

Tiny fairy

I figured out how to make my little fairy. I used craft wire to form her body and a bead for her head, padded her with some masking tape and painted the entire assembly with flesh colored paint. Her clothing is made from various silk and paper flowers and she has butterfly wings. The wings are really hard to see in this poor photo but they are really pretty. I have trouble getting clear pics of the tiny things. Does anyone have tips? In general, I've been happy with my Nikon digital camera. It does have a setting for closeups but I usually end up with blurry shots.