A chair for a Mignonette

I am still working on my ball jointed French Mignonette inspired doll.  This week I worked on her hair, embellished her dress, made her shoes, and created a chair for her to sit on.  Oh what fun I had!  I still plan on adding a few more embellishments or two. 

As I promised last week, I am going to share some interesting tidbits I found out while researching French Mignonettes before creating this doll.

One interesting tidbit of information is that the earliest French Mignonettes were made in France, often had jointed limbs, wigs, and inset eyes.  The mignonettes paralleled the current doll trends and were quite elaborate.  However, the French doll makers were so busy keeping up production of the larger dolls that after the first year or so they started buying the tiny bisque dolls from German doll manufacturers.  The dolls were then dressed and completed in France and sold as French Mignonettes.

In order to share another interesting bit of information, I will need to give you a little bit of a back story.  As you may already know, my blog is called Orsini’s Angels, as is also my doll making business.  I named it after my grandmother, Dominga Orsini.  She moved to New York City during the late 1930’s where she found a job as a seamstress in the garment district.  One of my aunts, at a later time, also worked in the garment district as a pattern maker/designer.  My aunt took me to work with her on occasion when I was a child.  I would spend the day there sketching the models.  I can’t imagine where the love of fashion, fabric, and sewing came from!  Anyway, to make a long story short, I found out in my research that there were several mignonette doll designers in the early 1900’s that would then have the dolls created in bisque form by German manufacturers.  One of these doll artists was named Jeanne Orsini who lived in New York City during the early 1900’s.  Her last doll patent was dated in 1920.  All of her dolls were smiling except for one.  I couldn’t find much else about her during my search or if she is in anyway related to me but found the information quite intriguing. 

Hope you enjoyed this post and wish you a very creative week.

warm hugs,

Marla

If you are interested in learning how I use watercolors for skin tone and facial coloration on cloth needle sculpted dolls I am teaching live classes on this process.  The next class will be presented at the Quinlan Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend Event.  You can find out more about the class and how to sign up here.

http://www.quinlanmuseum.com/convention/

I am also teaching a live class this summer on the same process at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton NY.  You can find out more about the class by downloading their summer class catalog by clicking on this link 

http://www.tiartscenter.org/

 Or by sending an E-mail to Marcia Rogers

marcia@tiartscenter.org

You can also give Marcia a call at

315-686-4123 ext. 203

Early French Mignonette

I have been working on an early French Mignonette inspired doll off and on for quite some time.  This week I have been working on her costume.  She still needs shoes, hair, and more embellishments.  

The early French Mignonette dolls were “pocket” dolls that could be taken anywhere by their lucky owners.  The early ones were bisque, jointed, and had inset eyes.  My inspired doll is a needle sculpted cloth ball jointed doll.  She is hand painted with watercolors and has a unique needle sculpting technique around the eyes to give the illusion of inset eyes.  

While researching this project I learned some interesting information about the bisque mignonette dolls which I will share with you in my next post.  Until then wishing you a very creative week.

warm hugs,

Marla

Compassion

As the Dali Lama has once stated, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.  Without them humanity cannot survive.”  According to Thich Nhat Hanh, “Through we all have the fear and the seeds of anger within us, we must learn not to water those seeds and instead nourish our positive qualities – those of compassion, understanding, and loving kindness.”

At this time in my life, the only way I feel I can respond to the current climate of news events, is to create my art. While engaged in the process of creating art all else slips away while I enter into a state of total peace, total calm.  I strive to create my art to reflect and be infused with that calm and peace.   I cannot change how others think.  I cannot change how others act.  All I can change is myself and what I choose to send out to others in my thoughts, actions, and creations. 

I wanted to share with you my latest creation.  She was inspired by Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion, one who hears the cries of all beings.  Others know her as a Bodhisattva, one who puts off Nirvana in order to liberate all sentient beings. Many representations of Kuan Yin depict her as a beautiful oriental woman in flowing gowns carrying a vessel filled with the waters of compassion.  She is often depicted standing or sitting upon a lotus blossom. 

In this interpretation of Kuan Yin, I chose to place a hand crafted and hand painted lotus blossom upon her head as a headdress.  She wears a skirt and shawl of hand painted cheesecloth which represent the waters of compassion.  Her costume is hand beaded with silver lined glass beads.  

She will be on display at the Quinlan Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend Event in Philadelphia this April.  I will also be teaching a class at the event on how to use watercolors for skin tone and facial coloration.  

The class is limited in size to six students.  If you are interested in joining me in the class be sure to sign up soon to insure your place.   If you would like more information about the event and find out how to register for the class click on the following link to the event website

http://www.quinlanmuseum.com/convention/

Miranda the Mermaid

I just wanted to share what is on my worktable this week.  Miranda the Mermaid is a needle sculpted mermaid painted with watercolors and hand beaded. 

She will be on my sales table at the Quinlan Philadelphia Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend Event.  I will also be teaching a live class on how to use watercolors on a needle sculpted cloth doll for skin tone and facial coloration at the event with a very limited number of spaces for students.  

If you are interested in joining me there sign up soon to insure your spot.  You can find out more about the event by clicking on the following link.

http://www.quinlanmuseum.com/convention/

Getting Ready for the Quinlan Philadelphia Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend Event

I’ve been working on getting ready to go to the Quinlan Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend Event in Philadelphia on Friday April 29^th through May 1^st.   Last year was the first year I attended and enjoyed it so much I signed up to attend again this year!  I am very excited to be teaching a live class on how to use watercolors for skin tone and facial coloration on a needle sculpted cloth doll head at the event.  

The class size is limited to just six so if you would like to join me, sign up soon to insure your spot. I will also be bringing my Flower Faeries for my sales table. Hope to see you there!

You can find out more about the Philadelphia Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend Event by clicking on the following link

http://www.quinlanmuseum.com/convention/

Watercolor Headdress

I am still playing around with the art doll I shared with you last week.  Inspired by a tutorial shared by Ross Barbera on how to create rice paper earrings, I created a waterlily headdress for my doll along with some rice paper earrings.  I thought I would share some pictures with you and the link to the Ross Barbera’s free tutorials.  And yes, I did paint the cheesecloth that I will be using for her skirt with watercolors!

  You can click on the link to see his tutorials here:

 http://watercolorjewelry.com/blog/?page_id=1776

If you are interested in how I use watercolors for skin tone and facial coloration I share those techniques in an online class I am currently teaching on AforArtistic called Flower Faeries.  If you would like to learn more about it or wish to join me in the class just click on the following link.

http://www.aforartistic.com/flower-fairies-with-marla-l-niederer-cloth-doll-artist.html

New Eye Technique

I am always trying to develop new and better techniques with my doll making so that my art reflects more of what is in my mind.  I haven’t been satisfied with the eyes I have been making on my needle sculpted dolls and have been contemplating the subject for quite some time.  Last spring I came up with a way to cover a wooden bead with cloth and insert it into the needle sculpted head.  It was a pretty cool technique but it just didn’t hit the mark of what I saw in my head when I looked at the finished dolls.  So I set the idea aside until quite recently when a new idea just popped into my head.  The eyes on this doll are completely needle sculpted in cloth. I may play with it a bit more before teaching the technique in one of my classes. 

If you are interested in taking a needle sculpting class I am currently teaching my online Flower Faeries class on AforArtistic.  To find out more information and to sign up for it click on the following link to AforArtistic
http://www.aforartistic.com/flower-fairies-with-marla-l-niederer-cloth-doll-artist.html