Just Wanted to Share Some Pictures

Hi Everyone!  I just wanted to share some pictures that were sent to me by a couple of students that just finished taking two of my recent classes. One of the things I love the most about needle-sculpting is that no two dolls look alike because they are individually sculpted and painted.  I just love how Jack and June used the techniques I taught to infuse the dolls they created with their own personality! 

 This is the class doll that Jack was taught in Advanced Needle-Sculpting in Tulsa.

This is the doll Jack Chowning created.

This is the online class doll that June was taught on A for Artistic.

This is the doll June Silberman created.

What fun!

If you are interested in taking an online class I will be teaching a Christmas in July class called Poinsettia on A for Artistic starting July 9^th.

If you are interested in learning more about the class you can click here

http://www.aforartistic.com/classes/open-classes/christmas-in-july-poinsettia-with-marla-niederer-cloth-doll-artist.html

I was very Honored to Receive the Award for the Original Doll Catagory at the Figuartive Artists Consortium!

I just wanted to share that I was very honored to receive the award for the original doll category of the Figurative Artists Consortium Competition in Ottawa last Sunday for my new workshop doll Mistique!  The award itself is a beautiful work of art created by my friend Diane Blewett.  And to top it off it was presented to me by my friend Peggy Wilson.  I met Peggy at the very first doll making retreat that I attended many years ago.  At the time I didn't know how to needle-sculpt but was bound and determined to learn by the end of the retreat!  As I was trying to figure it out Peggy kindly pulled two stuffed doll heads out of her bag and asked me if I would like to sit with her and needle-sculpt one together.   She made the process of learning how to needle-sculpt so much more understandable and fun.  I have continued to develop my skills since then and have started to teach what I have learned in the hopes of continuing to promote doll making as an artform and to share the joy that I experience each day when I set out to create something new.
If you are interested in my new workshop Mistique you can find out more information and sign up on this link if you wish
 http://www.aforartistic.com/Mistique.html

New Year, New Projects!

Of course I didn't add complete my unfinished projects to my New Year resolutions list.  How ridiculous would that be?  Instead I chose to embark on three new projects.  I am very excited about each one.  First since I so thoroughly enjoyed presenting an online class on the A for Artistic website, I decided to create another one.   And since I was working on one online class why not work on two at the same time?

This is a picture of the needle-sculpted heads I am working on for the two new workshops.  They both will utilize new watercolor techniques that I have developed for facial coloring.  My goal is to create the dolls to look like they have just walked out of a watercolor painting.  I must say I am really enjoying the process of creating them.

The third project came about during the holidays while I was surfing the net (yes sometimes I do get lost there).  I found a website that just absolutely touched my heart.  It is called Enchanted Makeovers.  You can see it by clicking here:         http://enchantedmakeovers.org/      The organization does makeovers of homeless shelters for women and children so they can have a place that is inspiring to a transformation in their lives.  It doesn't use the traditional let me help you philosophy.  It utilizes the philosophy where everyone in the equation is on equal ground and each person works together to enrich each others lives.  I contacted Terry who is the founder of the organization and asked if it would help if I created a pattern and tutorial for a child friendly stuffed doll for Enchanted Makeovers.  She was really excited about the project so I started to develop a pattern for "Warm Hugs."  I just  started working on developing the pattern and will keep you posted when I get a little further along and have some pictures to share.