Oddest Goddess

My Mom and Sister recently made a trip to Tanzania. One of the things they enjoyed the most was their trip to a Masaai village. When they returned,  I saw a picture my sister took of the 2nd wife (of 4) of the tribal leader/elder.

I commented that I wanted to sculpt that face because I found her face so beautiful.

So my sister had the idea of commissioning a doll from me. I decided to give her a two for one deal and made one for my Mom too. I made my Mom the Tribal Elder. My sister spent considerable time looking for the just the right fabric to evoke the colors and the  spirit of the Masaai clothes.

The bodies of the dolls are made with one of my late Dad’s old sweaters that I dyed the proper color.

The top layer of the Tribal Elder is Masaai fabric that my sister bought in Tanzania. He has a  leather belt with a knife pouch at his side. I sculpted his special stick with cold porcelain (the same clay I use for the face and hands.)

I made all the beadwork for the 2nd wife, with size 22 beads.

The hair for both dolls is alpaca fiber.

I loved how they turned out!

I met Leanna from Kele Alpaca and she asked me if I would send some dolls for their holiday show. I had the idea to make some alpaca’s made from their alpaca’s fiber. These are some of the dolls I made for their show. I particularly love the Santa! I am not sure or not whether I really want him to sell or not *grin*…kind of hoping he comes back to me!

The dolls are all 5 to 6.5 inches tall.

I also made some lovely little alpaca ornaments with little red ribbons around the neck.

Would love to make some commission alpaca’s, if anyone is interested…or maybe some sheep…hmmmm!

I haven’t been posting too much recently because I have been sewing my little fingers to the bone here. I made a trip to a show on Long Island last month and got to do lots of sight seeing in NYC and then on to Washington , DC where I visited some artist friends in Maryland.

November is busy for me. I have 6 shows going on this month. Logistics has been the most challenging part of it all…trying to get the stock together for all shows at the proper time. Some dolls have to be shipped to different parts of the country for shows…such as Greenboro, NC where my dolls are being shown today at the 35th anniversary event at The SaltBox in Greensboro,.

Anyway, my store is closed down for now because all my Oddest Goddess Art Dolls are visiting too many other places right now. But if you have an interest in getting one of my art pieces please contact me. I have some places open in December to take on some SPECIAL ORDERS!  I can get pieces done in time for the holidays if you give me some lead time!

In honor of my Dad, I do a little thing in my booth. Every once in a while, I give away one of my heart pins or cat pins to a child who shows up in my booth. I used to sell these but have found that giving them away is so much more fun! My Dad was a school teacher and in later years, a Santa Claus (he had a real beard)!

I ask them to “pay it forward”.

This the lovely thank you note I received last week from one of those children. My Dad would have loved that!