The Spring Maiden

I promised a bunch of doll posts this month but after some thought (and an extra busy schedule), I found it might be best to reserve posts a bit.
I'd love to get a bunch of dolls together for a showing but that takes keeping them in bunches as opposed to selling them as soon as they come out.

That being said, I will however, be posting a few new items in my shop in time for the holidays, as well as some of peeks at the items I recently finished and am reserving.


As promised, here's my Spring Maiden, inspired by the 1920's and the sheer gowns of  Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti- Spring 2012.
I just listed her for sale on Etsy,  Etsy listing for Spring Maiden:

embroidered face

silk accents include a hand constructed flower

lace booties

open back dress is made of an antique handkerchief and lace bits

She can be purchased via my Etsy shop: Crystalistic

New Rococo Bird- Etsy Shop Updates

I made a new Rococo bird and "made-over" another. I'll be focusing on some consignment pieces for a while so shop updates will be slowed till March.

But you can get these, annnd there's a felt sale in  my Etsy shop too, so go and pick out something nice for yourself, be it silk or felt ;)

Looking wistful (can you tell I'm having fun with the wigs?)

The coloring reminds me of the flat, creamy "Barry Lyndon" look

Ruffle Tailed Rococo Bird on Etsy

Marie Antoinette wig makeover

Pink Hearts Rococo Bird on Etsy


Ah and check out the Etsy Treasury my cake topper was featured in:

"Regency Wedding" by bubbletime

Obligatory New Years Post, 13 Days Late

Happy New Year!
You're over it already? Sorry.

I went home to Philadelphia for Christmas but got snowed in and spent 4 extra days there. With no creative outlets for a week, I lost my mojo. I made it through a hellish ride back to NY that lasted an extra 3 hours (I get very, very motion sick on bus rides and spent two days recovering), exchanged some awesome presents, seriously brainstormed, thought about my New Years Post, dove into finishing some things I started before I left and then caught the flu- the likes of which I had not suffered since I was a kid.
The past week I was achy, weak, had a constant headache, slept the days away and watched A LOT of movies (most of which I can't even remember). By the end of it, I could have sworn it was going to be warm out, Springtime, verdant and lovely- no dice.
It's ok though, there is a lot to be done before Spring and while I've never been a "resolution" person, I'm going to share them anyway, or at least the general ideas (my actual list is compiled of incoherent word strings).
I think these are pretty good fundamentals so hopefully I'll stick to them.

THE LIST

GET "WITH IT"- Prepare for holidays in a timely manner. Participate in the "craft culture". Promote friends, promote myself. I spent several rushed December days trying to make things for the holiday when the ball should have been rolling in November. The mere idea of even participating in a show didn't strike me until early December.
I'm not remorseful though, this year took a lot of soul-searching and research.  Time to implicate it now.

WEBSTUFF- Oh, I've been wanting to have a new website for a long while now but it was never the right time and I didn't have enough content. I made one a very long time ago for a digital art class [http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cas361/ if you're curious but it is officially defunct] but I can't access it anymore and now I've actually got some work to show. It's very different from any site I would design now and was rushed due to class requirements so it's time to make something nice. 
And yes, I also want to stylize this blog because it's probably the most boring looking "art blog" you've ever seen.


GET CONCEPTUAL- I have a lot of concepts in my sketchbooks- A LOT and while I don't consider myself a genius, I barely touch upon ideas that could be very interesting (at least for me to make).
Being commercially viable and popular has (in the past) felt like a completely different monster from the things I'll actually produce, these deeper meaning ideas are also much more time consuming to execute but I'm realizing more and more I'll never get over my "weirdness" about making dolls, or shyness about considering it "art" without chalking it up and devoting some time to depth.

EXPLORE MORE MEDIUMS- Paper clay, paper, more drawing, more painting, getting back into metal, design fabric; as well as making prints, postcards and other media. I'm not going to cut out sewing but there is definite room for expansion and enhancement. Implicating more mediums will also help illustrate all those ideas I was talking about before.

All of these things are kind of related and build upon each other. They are all based upon developing craft but also interacting with others and I hope to do both. We'll see.


For now, here are the latest additions to my Etsy Shop:





Black Thumb Terrarium- Succulent No. 1


Black Thumb Terrarium- One Tree No. 1


Black Thumb Terrarium- Succulent No. 2




 
Black Thumb Terrarium- 1 Tree No. 3

And I also added a giraffe I made a while ago but am listing for the first time:


href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystalsuh/5352256818/" title="baby giraffe by crystal A suh, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5208/5352256818_e7d635cc16.jpg" width="400" height="399" alt="baby giraffe" />

6 Inch Baby Giraffe

This Post Is For The Birds

I've barely had any time these days- but why exactly, I don't know. In part it might the the research/organizing I've been trying to do but we'll have to see how that pays off.
It's put a big dent in my making but I've been trying to take smaller projects along with me when I can. That means no frills and thrills but a few little cotton birds.

"Je t'aime" Word Bird:
I think she came out very pretty. There are very few dolls I will say that about easily. Made from a vintage handkerchief and embroidered.


I've never claimed to be very good at embroidery but I think I'm getting better and I'm trying to incorporate it more into my work.


I'm still a little torn between my typical bead eyes and my more recent embroidered eyes. But I like the control (of bulge) it provides for the smaller pieces.
Etsy Listing



The "Fuck It" Naughty Word Bird:
I got the idea to do a few "naughty" words along with other word birds. This one was a prototype because I made the wings differently and an expressive face (with eyebrows). It looks so angry (and is red in the face) but for it's strong words, it's pretty comical.

Etsy Listing





The Bad Ass Bird (no words, just badassery):
Complete with sutures, eye patch and "blood". It's also made from a vintage handkerchief but is some sort of pirate-spy-zombie apocalypse survivor. A little gorier than my other recent work but my "Etsy career" started out with this Gory Girl Doll and my first commission was another so this is actually very tame.


Etsy Listing





AND a little one in progress, "Alphabet" or "Initial" birds. Not only could this be cute singular but I could imagine a flock of these spelling out things, or even an entire alphabet for a nursery.


"E", I randomly chose "e" to start with, don't ask why- there isn't a reason.
E exhibits my improved embroidery skills (hehe).
It actually started with the "Fuck It" bird, then the "Je t'aime" and now this so you can actually see the improvement.




And also, my Mario & Princess Peach plush/topper was featured in an Etsy Treasury:
"For The Love of The Game" by ten23designs


Ok, time to get sick off of the oatmeal cookies I just baked.
And yes, they are delicious- I almost didn't make it to the cookie stage because the raw dough was like some kind of delicious crack. It took a lot of willpower to not stand there and eat the whole thing raw. The cookies themselves measure up as pretty great but I usually like to see where I can improve upon recipes once I try them so we'll see.

Crowned Bird

Here is the re-shoot of the crowned bird:



This one won't be listed, instead it will be sent directly to the lovely Victoria Buckley Jewellery in Australia, this will be in the first parcel I'll be sending to retail in their shop. ((Exciting!))

Labor Day Weekend & Work In Progress: Mermaid

Look closely at the birdcage below...


The door is open and it is filled with bread. It might be the laziest OR most creative bird feeder for wild birds, I haven't decided. There are also floating pigs below it.
I like this house.

And here, a rainbow in McGorlick Park:


Not a double rainbow but still filled with colorful goodness. Maybe there's a height requirement for rainbows that have gold?


Annnnddd a mermaid I'm making:


As a child I LOVED mermaids. I always meant to make one and finally started. Her tail isn't finished yet (to show you would be obscene).
Normally I wouldn't start dressing or beading until after the form was finished but it was her eyes. They said, "Forget the arms, cover me in jewels!"
I think she has one of the prettiest face I've made yet. I meant for her to be a Siren, she has a bit of a mysterious look to her. When I finish, I'll have to take some better detail shots. I really like how the beading turned out (is turning out? not sure if it's finished) and you can't tell so much here but there are bigger beads along her spine, kind of nice in a bone/textural sort of way.

Some possibilities are brewing but more on that later in it's more finalized state.:)