Alex Project #3 and My Job

Here is the third doll from the Alex Project.  I like this one a lot.  His bear suit is made out of Alex's coat, he has corduroy hair, a t-shirt face and a t-shirt heart.  His legs are made out of a well-worn pair of jeans.  I have three more to make.  One will be a super-hero, one a pirate and the other I am not quite sure yet.

Below is a photo mosaic of some of the people I work for.  For a week and a half I have been teaching a doll making class to the consumers at Stone Belt the *amazing* day program I work at for adults who have developmental disabilities.  The class went over very well, which was a huge morale booster for myself because my paper mache class was not so well received (most didn't like the feel of the mache, though it grew on some).  The fabric we used was all donated by different staff, so there was quite a hodge-podge for everyone to choose from, and they did an excellent job tracing the pattern and stuffing and drawing on facial features.  I think they really enjoyed watching the sewing machine, I felt like I was almost in Stone Belt celebrity status as I used it because they would stare intently as I was sewing and then applaud dramatically whenever I finished.  It was great.

Pumpkins

Just wanted to share some fall moments with you.  Can you guess which one is mine?

Alex Project Doll #2

Here is my second doll of the Alex project. I am really enjoying working this way---there is just something different about working with fabrics that contain memories, I am more careful with my craft and at the same time it forces me to be inventive.  It makes me think that I should try working with more thrifted fabrics, though at the same time it's hard to resist those enticing japanese fabrics out there.  

In other news, I have this neighbor across the street who has an orange cat that always peeks inquisitively out of their window.  My dog, Albert, does the same thing.  I think they make eye contact sometimes, but whenever I double check to see if they are having a staring contest, one of them quickly turns their head and pretends like they don't notice the other.  It's quite hilarious.

The Alex Project

This project will consume my next couple of weeks.  I have a very good friend, Tracey, whose brother, Alex, passed away a couple of years ago.  Her mom asked me to make each member of her family a doll out of Alex's clothes---they will be their Christmas presents.  This project is pretty dear to my heart for a few reasons.  Some of you may remember my post about my mom who passed away last year, and I know there will be several of you who will be able to relate when I tell you this:  Grief is a very lonely thing.  Especially when it relates to the passing of a loved one, because you miss them so much that it puts a hole in your heart and also because people who are your good, good friends maybe feel embarrassed and don't know what to say to you.  For a long time I did not talk to my friends about what I was feeling, and it just sort of made everything a bit wonky and confusing---there is no other short way to describe it.  I was later able to talk with Tracey, it was easier with her because we had "loss" in common.  We talked one night for over an hour on the phone and when the conversation was over I actually felt physically lighter and I think it was because I was finally able to vocalize things that had been stuck in this murky place inside of me for too long.  I am not sure if she knows how important that conversation was to me.  So, I am really happy that I am able to do this for her family because she helped me out so much.   I think I will write more about this project as I post more dolls, but this top one is for Tracey's mom.  The shirt is one that Alex always complimented and the face is made out of a T-shirt, plaid shirt, dress shirt and corduroy's of his.  The heart is from a pair of well-worn jeans and the hat looks like one from his childhood. 

Pugsly for Melissa

Pugsly is a wee bit short, and a wee bit stubby and his nose is slightly squished, but his personality is made out of pure gold.  Pugsly is one of those good fellows in life who cares very strongly about whatever it is you are talking about.  He finds many subjects to be of great interest but his very favorite subjects are human interest stories.  People just tell Pugsly things, from their deepest, darkest secrets, to the way they take their tea, and Pugsly finds it all fascinating.  His mother told him that his ability to listen well is his special gift to the world, which he prefers to his father's suggestion that he is just nosy.

Pugsly is for one of my favorites:  Melissa of Pugnotes who always brightens my day and fills me with warm-fuzzies because of all the nice comments she leaves.  Pugs are such wonderful, strange little creatures, I can't ever look at one without smiling.  It's almost as if their sole reason for existence is to put people in a good mood.  When I lived in Memphis, there was a used bookstore called Bonnies, and Bonnie was this sassy black pug who pranced around the aisles and made snorty noises at you if you weren't giving her attention.  The owner was fun too because she wore roller skates while she worked.  Sigh, I miss Memphis.

Giant Heads

The Derrek Lee bobble head head is finished.  I was frantically trying to finish it up this weekend because I have to ship it to my brother so that he has a few days to make the bobble mechanics before Halloween.  I for some reason had it in my head that Halloween was this Friday so I was rushing for no reason. I kept asking people "what are you going to wear on Friday" and I was getting odd looks so I just assumed that my co-workers were a bunch of Halloween haters, but really I am just a calendar doofus.  If you are ever interested in making your own giant puppets (I'd call this Derrek Lee costume that), there is a great web-resource here at the Puppeteer's Cooperative site.  I used their site a lot 2 years ago when I taught this Giant Puppetry workshop to my town's high school art club---they made amazing, amazing puppets like these:

A Giant Head

I need to post this non-plush giant head because I am spending a lot of time on it.  This guy is for my brother who told me his Halloween costume idea months ago and has big plans of winning contests at all the bar parties.  I made the base out of cardboard, newspaper and lots of masking tape and right now I am in the process of paper mache-ing the "paper bag" layer onto the head and tomorrow I will paint it.  At the moment the head actually looks like a caricature of Billy (brother) which was not intentional.  After he is painted he will hopefully look like Derrek Lee, who plays for the Chicago Cubs (sigh--I know, I know---actually I don't know the details, but I think they lost something important and that they usually lose important things), or maybe he doesn't anymore but he used to, or maybe he still does?  Sorry I am useless, I do know however that Leanne won Project Runway this season (Woo!).   Anyway, so Billy has a Derrek Lee jersey, and he is going to wear it and then he'll wear the Derrek Lee head (he'll be able to see out of the mouth) and he will be a Derrek Lee bobble head!  He is in charge of the bobble mechanics---he's pretty resourceful so I am sure it will bobble well.  I think it is a pretty great costume idea, now I just need to figure out mine!