Friday Funnies! I had a great dream this morning

Ahhhhh...don't you just love dreams? I love most of mine! This morning, I had a dream about teaching an LDC painting class. I don't know where this class was in the dream but there were about 75 students in the class!

About 20 of those students were there not by their own choosing. They were doll artists~creators of Character Art Dolls (this must have come from a conversation I had with my good friend Angie last night~LOL) and most of them were men. Oh my gosh they were hysterical and again, forced to be there for some reason. You never get ALL the details in a dream~hahahahahahaha.

I am very detailed when preparing for a class but for this class I was not pre-set up nor did I expect 75 people! The Art Doll men had helped themselves to the practice limbs that I had for the class and had really painted them up in all kinds of mystical and pre-historic colors while I proceeded to set up for the class. What a kink in plans that was!

So while someone went to the show floor (whatever show we were at) to find doll kits that were on clearance special so that we could actually use the LDC paints, I began the intro to the class. Wow...I just love that! I'll have to ask my husband if he heard me "giving my spiel" in my sleep because in the dream I was going full force.

And then I woke up....early. Like 5 am early. Did you know that the sun is up at 5 am?? Huh...who would have guessed because I don't get up until 6 on our "work" days and ohhhh...between 7 and 8 on our "days off" which is what today is...but here I am! UP! :)

But back to teaching classes. I am energized now for the day! Teaching just thrills me to the bone and well, we have a lot of fun in my classes. Here are a couple of funny shots from prior classes:

This one is real blurry but that is me on the left. I don't remember what I was talking about by my arms were on the fly! It looks like I am trying to lunge a horse! Speaking of horses, tomorrow we are going to a horse "Play Day"~a day where you go to practice running the barrel race, pole bending and events like that. I will be training our youngest horse Ruger, age 2 1/2, on the events. He is not ready to compete and my old boy, Toby is on summer rest due to a lower leg injury. Oh how I will miss doing these events on him as we have had a lot of time in our younger years playing at events like this. Anyway...funny picture from an LDC painting demonstration at Tiny Treasures 2009 in San Antonio Texas:

And then this one is my all time favorite! I look like some kind of exotic bird! LOL
This picture was taken at IDEX 2010 in Orlando Florida.

Ahhh...life is fun and it's great to laugh at ourselves.

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

Hugs~
Debbie

Scheduled shows for the remainder of 2010

Now that the Dubai show is canceled, I can turn my focus and energies toward the fall shows and the last ones on schedule for 2010.

On September 4, 2010, I will be in Portland Oregon for the Dolls 4 All Doll and Teddy Bear Show. I always enjoy these shows so much! Dorothy Drake does a fine job organizing the shows and she's so accommodating to we artists. This is Labor Day Weekend

~September Show Info~

On September 28, I will travel to North Caroline for the 2010 Doll and Teddy Expo! I am really excited about this show. I've never been to North Carolina before, my two wonderful friends will be going with me to support me at the show (they really are underpaid as they are amazing help!!!), we are also sharing our room with sculpting artist Sharon Robinson, one of our very dear friends~we just love that lady~and her babies!! I am exhibiting a table adorable reborns selected especially for the theme of this show and, I am teaching a day and a half LDC painting class!



~Direct link to the class~

The above link will also allow you to navigate the entire EXPO site so take a peek around.

Pre-registration for my class is direct with me. My contact information is on the site. My classes are always very informative and a lot of fun!

Mark you calendars!

Random thoughts~

Well wow. Today is the first day in a LONG time that I don't have to have each and every little detail of this day planned and scheduled out. In a way, it makes it hard for me to function! Part of that could be that I am dead tired. The weekend proved to be full of very intense labor with every moment of time needed to finish those twins. I should be tired...I am eternally pregnant! LOL

The first Noah prototype is on eBay now:

~Noah by Rachel Maynard~

I've been asked to hold off on mine until the other two are listed, one at a time. I have ordered a custom knit set for him from Australia~I can't wait!

Oh Oh oh!!! I have to share in my most recent excitement!!! It's about GLASS POTS!
Now doesn't that just crack you up??? Yes, it's true, I am easily excitable especially when things come in the mail! Yesterday I got sponges in the mail~sent by a reborner who I've been chatting with via email about sponges and pots and all kinds of stuff. Anyway, GLASS POTS! Back in the early 90's, Corning Ware came out with a line of amber glass pots called "Vision Wear" I had a full set back then but in 98, I married my DH and we bought a new set of cookware that I had been dreaming of so I either gave my glass pots away or sold them at a gigantic yard sale we had. I have regretted that move ever since I started dying mohair as you see, metals in pots can taint the acid dyes causing off colors in the hair. Now I did find an enamel coated pot that worked really well for me for a long time and I've been looking for the elusive glass pots for about a year or so. Here of late, that enamel coated pot has been causing more and more problems as the enamel is wearing off and the metal is exposed. I've looked in every thrift store and flea market for these glass pots and finally, last week a bunch of them were listed on ebay and I won 3 glass pots! 2 large 4.5 quart pots and one 2.5 quart pot~Whoooo-Hoooooo I am so excited!!! Seems the pots were discontinued due to some exploding on the stove. I am going to chalk that up with people putting a cold pot onto a hot burner or adding cold food to a hot pot, or cooking on high. I never cook on high...anything...so I will be fine and I do have good common sense. Duh.

Okay that's enough random thoughts for today. Tomorrow I'll share my show schedule.

Hugs!

Logan and Leah auctions~

Such SWEET babies!!!

~Logan's Auction~

~Leah's Auction~

I have really enjoyed working with the full vinyl torsos!
You all should get one...or two!

So...who is next??? Well, I've got three customs that are paid for and have been waiting...and one wee little prototype by Jessica Schenk. I had put him together just to find out his true size so that I could see if the outfit I had planned for him would work and to order a custom sweater set. I've not done a thing to him and already I love him!

And I have agreed to do two other prototypes from two other artists...more on those later. I've got to run to the airport and pick up my DH :)

Prototypes Logan and Leah are done!

Wow they are finally done!

Please meet Logan.....


And Leah....

Prototype siblings by Cathy Rowland going on eBay tomorrow.

Today is the official photo shoot and then the listing begins. As always, the "births" have been a lot of work and I am amazed that I have them done!

To order these adorable, full size, anatomically correct, full vinyl torso babies, go to Creative Impressions:

~Creative Impressions~

Matthew is Bad to the Bone

THIS Matthew is bad to the bone??? How could that be?

He is a horse loving cowboy after all.....
with a secret passion!

Yup, he has a wild streak and loves to play the Bad Boy Motorcycle role!

I believe it happend in 2009 when I took him to the Harley Davidson Shop in Down Town Disney Orlando. He's been hooked ever since!

This weekend in my little city of 10,000 people, the streets swell with thousands of Harley's, Honda's, and Kawasaki's for the annual Hell's Canyon Motorcycle Rally. I love this event so I dressed Matthew up in his Bad to the Bone attire, took him down to our local art gallery and displayed him in the window so that he would draw "Hoggers" into the gallery to admire the amazing art of the talented people of Oregon. We have several fabulous pieces of art that Motorcycle enthusiasts would enjoy...and they might get a kick out of Matthew too!

Mohair processing tutorial

Welcome to my mohair processing tutorial! Ready to get your hands dirty??

This is a box of "raw" curly, 2nd clip angora mohair that I hand selected from the farm. Come with me on a journey to take this mangled mess through the process to create luscious locks for your reborn dolls.

The first step to processing mohair is to sort out the locks. This box full of hair is about 4 pounds of locks but I won't get that weight in completed hair.

From that wad of hair, I hand select locks, sorting them into similar lengths and curl or wave. Then I band the sorted locks together at the cut end of the lock. I usually put 2-3 locks together, depending on the thickness of the locks.

Now it is time to wash the locks. Fill a sink with hot water and Dawn Dish soap. Dawn is important to cut the lanolin/grease from the hair.

Taking one lock at a time, wash the lock by manipulating the water and soap through the hair. Rinse in a clean basin of hot water.

Allow the locks to air dry. When they are dry, comb out the locks, protecting yourself and the floor with a large sheet to catch the debris that falls out during combing.

While the hair is being combed out, I have my acid dye bath on the stove bringing it up to temperature. I keep a bottle of spray cleaner handy to wipe up any spills that might happen.
I get my acid dyes from these two places:

~Mohair Wig.com~

~Mohair by Debbie (Not ME Debbie, another Debbie, LOL)~

I always have problems with the ordering process from MohairWig.com so if you do too, just email them.

I am not going to go over the processes of actually getting the dyes ready and using them as they all differ by company so just read the instructions that come with the dyes.

I've fixed up brown/black dye by combining colors:

Once all the hair is washed and the dye bath is ready, It is time to cook! The dye I am using here takes about 40 minutes to process. You see in the picture above that the water actually was very dark and here, after I've cooked it and added vinegar at the proper time, the water has turned clear and the dye is now soaked into the hair.

I let the dye and hair cool in the pot. When it is cool, it is hand washed again in a hot, Dawn dish soap bath, rinsed, and then conditioned. I used to use Downy Fabric Softener to condition but now am using human hair conditioner. The brand does not matter as long as it is a moisture conditioning formula. The last product I bought was the Kirkland brand from Costco. The conditioner helps to comb the hair out without added loss.

Here the locks are soaking in conditioner waiting to be combed and for the bands to be removed.

Comb the locks again with the conditioner on them. Again you will lose a lot of hair during this process. Rinse and then remove the bands with a small scissors. I cut the whole top of the lock off to the band, leaving just a small section of the light "band" area on the lock so that it is easy to verify that this is the cut end of the lock.

Place the hair on racks and allow to air dry.

Whew....that was a lot of work! Yes, processing mohair IS a lot of work. But doing it right makes it worth it in the end.

Happy mohair processing!