The Topsy Turvy doll is a doll that has a sad face at one side and a happy face at the other.  Traditionally, they had a coloured face at one side and a white face at the other but these have fallen out of favour to be replaced with sad/happy face.  Normally the sad doll was dressed in rags and the happy doll dressed in gowns.  I had one as a child that was Cinderella in rags and Cinderella at the ball.  She was beautiful.  I don’t know if she was made for me or if she had been bought but I loved her all the same.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make one for quite some time now and never quite managed to get the arms right.  Recently though, while looking through books in a charity shop, I came across an old series of books called Stitch By Stitch (which, by the way, reminds me of the song Step By Step by Annie Lennox and now I can’t get that song out of my head).  Within the pages of this book was a pattern and instructions on how to make your very own Topsy Turvy doll.

Happy

Shortly after I also bought a copy of the stitching magazine, Inspirations, which also contained a pattern and instructions for a far more elaborate doll that I might try one day.  This doll is from the pattern in the book.

Surely this was a sign, so I have been making my very own doll this past week.  It’s a lengthy process, not least of all because I don’t have a working sewing machine and have to hand stitch it all, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end.

Sad

I’ve been working from home the past two months, which has saved a couple of hours (and more) on my working day, allowing me some crafting time in the evening.  Tomorrow I go back to work in the office so I doubt this will progress any further until the weekend.

I’ve promised it to Iona when it’s finished.  She wants me to dress it in a kilt and jumper…not at all a girly girl!

I know you also need to hear Annie Lennox so you too can have that song stuck in your head.  Right now I’m alternating between this and Van Morrison’s Moondance, which Alasdair is learning to play on the trumpet.

A Prince among wood sprites?

Surely he must be!  Look he has a crown on!?

I’ve put in place a self-imposed ban on making these sprites as they seem to be quickly taking over the house!  Until I start making more again I’m just going to drip feed the existing ones to you!

Available to buy here.

I have blogged about these before, so won’t bore you with the details again.  I have been trying to get some decent individual shots of them though and having struggled with lighting and props I finally managed to get some pictures for the shop, I’m rather please with them so I thought I might as well share them.

Click to view full sized images, there will be more to follow as I upload them.

These sprites are available for sale here.

Skot is another artist found through DeviantArt where he goes by the name Lord Hoki, living on Austrailia’s East Coast Skot works in a variety of media creating a range of drawn, painted and sculpted objects.  Much of his DeviantArt account is taken up with his Hoki range of work such as those pictured below:

Above is just one of a wide range of character sketches featured in Skot’s DeviantArt account.  Aside from the sketches there are also fully worked up paintings (see below) in what is probably best described as, full 21st century technicolour:

I really love the blending and highlighting used in this painting, the background providing a wonderful richly textured contrast with the smooth features of the the face itself.  It could be that I’m attracted to these works thanks to the eyes – eyes being something of an obsession for me – and what eyes these are!  I almost feel like I could fall into them, a real focal point of many of these Hoki works.

If you like these characters painted, then you may well like them painted on t-shirts (below), wear an original work on your chest … I’d pay for that!

It only seems right that the Hoki’s be brought to life in an altogether more 3-dimensional fashion, and so it is we discover Captain Hoki:

The Captain here is a sculpture in papier mache that really fits in with it’s 2-dimensional forebears, the nose and eyes being the main feature with colouring and details in keeping with the designs I’ve already featured here and the others in Skot’s gallery.

Given what’s gone before you may well be forgiven that Skot is something of a one trick pony, yet nothing could be further from the truth and so, before I finish this post I’d like to share a few of Skot’s other works with you.

A pencil sketch entitled “My Dad”, we presume it is … his … not mine!

A couple of bird boxes made from reclaimed and recycled materials … makes me think that the birds we get around where I am are a bit rubbish.  Having said that the Buzzards, Grouse and Barn Owls are pretty cool … oh! and we don’t get deadly spiders, snakes or other nasties!!

As ever I can’t recommend enough that you check out this artists gallery which is available here.

I’ve really been taken by the work of Kezeff, another artist I found on DeviantArt.  I’ve only been following them for a short period, but even in that time I have been fairly impressed not only by the quality of their work but by the creativity behind it and the seemingly highly effective execution of that creativity.  Kezeff uses super-sculpey in creating their sculptures, a hugely popular material (and something I’ve been itching to try myself) and I believe paints them up with acrylics for the most part. You can find more of their work here.

Face Parts Study

Aspiring artists and sculptors would do well to take a leaf out of Kezeff’s book and do some studies of whatever their preferred subject matter is. I’m sure it’s something that I would benefit from, even where your intention is to twist it in some fashion understanding the basic anatomy of your subject can be hugely beneficial.

Much of Kezeff’s work appears to consist of busts either in a more realistic fashion as with this piece here:

Battle Chasers Knolan Bust

Or something a bit more corrupted like this fellow:

Zed

Kezeff has also worked to create some the more quirky pieces such as these wee characters here:

Snoogle

Pumpkin Carl

I really enjoy viewing the sculptures that Kezeff creates, but what keeps me coming back for more (aside from the cool subject matter) is the attention to detail that he puts into the sculptures. Look back over the images above and notice the wrinkles and creases in the skin, the underlying bone structure, the attention to making moist elements appear moist and the variation in skin tone and texture. It’s each of these elements that add up to make some rather great sculptures and I can’t recommend enough that you take a look at their DeviantArt account to see more of their work.

With luck I’ll have one of my own sculptures to share with you soon, I can’t promise it’ll be as refined as these but it will be in my own particular (shouldn’t that be peculiar?! – ed.) style!!

It’s been commented on in the past that there are strange things going on in the dark recesses of my mind, that they seem to bleed out into the light through what I create … I think ‘they’ may have a point.

I seem to have a raft of canvasses lying around and despite repeated attempts to paint something of any worth on them I seem to fail and fail again.  The canvas here has been used so many times now that I can’t recall how many images lie beneath this final effort, perhaps it’s a furious amalgam of all that went before, a seething anger at the ineptitude slapped on the canvas below.

Whatever it is, using a canvas as a base for some wall art/sculpture is an avenue of interest to me and something I feel sure I will pursue further at some future point.  In the meantime I can think of at least two (more conventional) sculptures that deserve to be finished after well over a years worth of idling!

It’s always a bit of struggle for me to get back into the swing of the craft thing following the festive frivolities, of course it hasn’t helped that we were on emergency fuel rations until our delivery arrived Wednesday and I had to spend the next three days shifting it up the hill to the house … that’s another story though!

Currently I’m working on this piece of wall art that I last picked up during late November or December and following the break I’ve lacked any kind of motivation to pick it up again.  Losing momentum can be a real struggle at times and until you can gather yourself to move on projects can idle and die, this can be a real issue with materials like papier mache which require long drying periods in between adding layers or building up texture or depth.

The concept isn’t exactly a new one but it’s one I’ve been keen to experiment with and following my fourth sub-standard painting on this canvas I decided it was time to use it for something other than painting … I suppose you might suggest that the previous efforts have been consumed by the character emerging from the canvas now.  He certainly looks like he might have a touch of indigestion!

I first became aware of Helen’s work a few years ago when I began dabbling with papier mache and was just beginning to see the possibilities it offered beyond what we traditionally think of when we hear about this much under-rated material.  I had tried my hand at making a mask with mache and Helen (a mask maker) happened to comment, something that led me to view her DeviantArt gallery.

Helen seems to have become a mask maker of some repute, something that is certainly confirmed from what she has featured online, these masks are created most usually from papier mache or leather.  In honesty it’s the papier mache work that interests me most given my own experiments with that particular medium, and her talent here can be seen in these two designs:

Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh.

Gilded Pleasure

 On the latter mask, above, Helen says this:

I’m not sure what it says about my maskwork, but whenever I try to create something pretty, it usually ends up looking sinister.

Something which I admit made me laugh!  Indeed not all of Helen’s masks are sinister, or even black for that matter.  From what I’ve seen though it’s when Helen is working with leather that a form of organic beauty comes to the fore and it’s in working with leather where her skill for mask making is most apparent.

Social Butterfly

If this, and it’s counterparts, don’t fall into the ‘pretty’ camp then I don’t know what does.  Helen herself sees much more of the gothic in these than I believe there is, yet as she created them I guess we should cow down to her opinion on the matter, either way these are fab … to see more like these follow the links at the end of the article.

Steampunk inspired mask

Steampunk is something of an artistic movement that has gathered pace in recent years and has now pervaded almost every genre you might think of from it’s early literary origins and it’s something I’m a bit of a fan of myself, perhaps that’s why I’m a fan of this piece.  Yet it’s the little details that really set this mask apart with the attention to detail around the edges and the textured finish given to the mask.  Subtle, but it works so well.

I’m not quite sure if this counts as a royal endorsement but Prince Charles, below, certainly seemed to take a shine to her popular ‘welsh dragon’ mask! 

Come on Charlie, put it on ... you know you want to!

Not content with mixing with the royals Helen has also been commissioned to do make masks for the theatre and this music video for Ebony Tower and their White Rabbit track:

Something a bit different, but check out that mask!

Whether you’re a fan of masks or just seeing great pieces of work created by a true artisan then I strongly suggest you visit either Helen’s deviantart account, or better yet, check out her website (where you can also make purchases if you’r eso inclined).

This will probably be the final batch of plant pokes until after Christmas as ‘other priorities’ take over … also, the workshop gets hellish cold at this time of year due to gaping gaps under the doors and roof which may as well not be there when the cold winter gales get going!

Click image for full view!

As ever these were made using the power carver, actually my new power carver following the untimely demise of my last one.  I went for a different model and whilst it doesn’t have the same grunt as it’s predecessor it’s actually not too bad once you get used to it’s foibles!  Next time I may need to invest in one of the heavier duty motors.

There’s a good chance that I’ll be putting the power carver to greater use in the future for larger carvings, currently I exclusively use traditional hand tools for these but the amount of time this takes just even from a roughing out point-of-view can be excruciating … time will tell.  Still at least the traditional tools can be used in the house … by the fire!

Better late than never.

I finally managed to get the guy dressed and delivered to the shop on Tuesday, a bit later than I had hoped, although this was largely as a result of not being able to find any suitable clothing for the chap … the hat, for example, wasn’t exactly what I had in mind!

Anyway, just like his creator, it turns out that Guy is partial to a nice cuppa tea out in the garden.

This rather peculiar, and lumpy, fellow can now be seen in the local shop where he scares the bejeezus out of the ladies that work there, particularly now that the nights are getting longer and darker.  I can assure you that it’s creepy as hell when you forget he’s there and just catch this large man-sized shape out of the corner of your eye … I’m just glad he’s niot in the house anymore!