I'll be teaching "Soft Sculpture Animals" (see below) at ArtFiberFest June 24 - 28, 2009 in Portland, OR. Registration details will be available Feb 1st... Click here for the festival website and more on this fabulous art retreat! I'm currently offering three one day workshops. Each of these workshops takes approximately eight hours to complete. I include a day of instruction, a tutorial packet filled with patterns/tips/ideas, and a materials list for pre-workshop distribution. Please contact me if your fiber club would like to arrange a play day. An intensive head making workshop for doll makers who want to explore the personality which emerges with the creation of a bust of a doll. We concentrate on head shape, eye placement, and needle sculpting of facial features. In this workshop I provide my handmade eyes, which bring your doll to life. The stick base completes the display and offers the artist the opportunity to embellish and play. Don't be surprised if your doll becomes a personality you weren't expecting, especially for beginning doll makers. That happens a lot. But it's often the best part about making dolls! This workshop is a great introduction to doll making. A good understanding of your sewing machine is necessary. Picasso Inspired by some famous blue nudes, I made these box dolls. These seated sculptural nudes can be arranged any way the artist wants. We will explore the human shape as we create natural limbs, torsos, and heads and assemble them within a three dimensional box form. Simple graphite markings highlight basic needle sculpted facial features. Most time will be spent on the head and hands. Matisse A good understanding of your sewing machine is necessary. Bring a picture of your favorite animal and I will show you how to easily create a 3D huggable version. We will use string, muslin, and stuffing to soft sculpt the shapes you need to make your finished piece. Then we'll begin to hand stitch fabric scraps to your new animal, making it the sweetest whimsical creature ever. There's a good chance you'll take your animal home unfinished, since so much hand stitching is essential (but you never know; you may work fast). This is one of my favorite projects to keep my hands busy while listening to music, or a book on tape. Choosing the perfect fabric scrap for the animal's surface is a pleasing exercise in enhancing 3D forms with pattern. Warning soft sculpting animals is addicting...you'll want to make more!