Blueprints September 2010

Blueprints

Imitation of Life Construction Company

September, 2010

Next Meetings, Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sew Pro, 4951-b Clairemont Dr, San Diego Ca 92117

6:30 – 9:00pm.


Doll Camp:  There is still room for more students.  This will be held at Angel’s Landing in Julian on Nov. 12th-14th.   Patti Culea and Rosemary Hernandez will be teaching.  The cost is $250 for the weekend, which includes the classes on Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday morning,  room accommodations for Friday and Saturday night (shared rooms, single room $60 extra),  3 meals on Saturday plus Sunday breakfast, apple pie and ice cream Friday evening.  Fun is free.  Since Patti has left for several weeks teaching in Europe, contact Lois ( lois@aardvarktozebra.com ), 760-438-3431, for registration forms, and payments.  Those already registered who have made a down payment; your remaining payment is now due.  Patti has given me the itinerary, supply lists, pre-sew instructions, etc. to distribute to those fully paid.  Patti is holding a pre-camp workshop in her home on Saturday for those who want help in the pre-sewing:   Patti writes: 

Some of the people interested in Doll Camp are relatively new. I told them I would be doing a pre-camp workshop on Saturday, Nov. 6 from 9:30am to 3:30pm at my house.  If you could let anyone know who might be interested
that would be great. I will need to know how many to expect. They will need to bring their own lunch. I will provide beverages.


What we will be doing is sewing the body part in preparation for camp. I'll have 5 machines they can use if they don't want to bring their own. What they will need is:

Fat quarter flesh-colored 100% cotton
Fat quarters 4 print fabrics for body parts
Stuffing (I prefer Fairfield and will have some available for their use)
Stuffing tools
Threads to match their fabrics
Sewing machine with a 1/4-inch open toed foot, or appliqué foot
Basic sewing kit - scissors, straight pins, extra bobbins, threads, seam ripper, ruler, etc.

This workshop will be for doll camp full-paid participants only. I will announce it later this weekend in my newsletter. Maybe that will entice more people to sign up.
         Patti  

Programs:  

• Sept. 28th:   Rosemary Hernandez continues with our learning lessons, with using a sewing machine and tools.  We also will begin a challenge, with grab bags of fabrics, trims, and a pattern.

• Oct.26th:  Sheila Godfrey will lead a hands-on program, making felt holiday ornaments with cookie cutters patterns which can also be made into pin dolls, using face stamps from Barb and Doug Keeling.

“Dimensions in Dollmaking”:  Patti Culea had a booth of her dolls, patterns and books at the San Diego Quilt Show, which went very well for her.  Patti has talked with Kim Graf, who says we can go back to the quilt show next year for our 20th DID, if we meet their conditions.  This needs to be discussed at this meeting, as we need to reserve space at the Comic-Con now if we choose to repeat our show there instead of being at the quilt show.   This decision will be up to the members by vote.

Workshops:

• Oct. 17th:  Barb Keeling with her needle-punch dolls   

PUNCH EMBROIDERY for your dolls and other creative projects.

Learn the joyful process of Punch Embroidery.  Using an easy to do hand punch, learn the fun and frolic of doing punch embroidery.

This is a great process of embellishment that can add to the texture of your doll creations.  The doll head here is done completely with the Hand Punch tool, using a thread, more or less the weight of buttonhole twist.  You will learn the basic fill in stitch and the random free form stitching, multi-thread use and using metallic and rayon threads together. This is very cool for embellishments as shown on the doll body. 

There will be the patterns for the head and body.  Come play in the thread with me on Oct. 17th. 

One day class is $45. plus the cost of the needle and punch.

 

 

• Feb. 13th:   Susan Berkowitz:  1 day workshop with found objects , Details to follow

• July or August:  Gloria “Mimi” Winer -- weekend workshop.  There are several classes to choose from, so I will bring photos and information to the meetings.

• Movie nights or weekends:   Lois has a new video of Gloria “Mimi” Winer’s “Needle Model a Pretty Face”, It’s 2 discs, 5 hours of detailed instruction, a fantastic series of lessons.  She also has 3 videos of Jane Darin’s, in addition to all the discs and tapes listed in last month’s Blueprints.  There are a whole, whole lot of doll-making instructions in this library.  Can we organize a series of meetings to begin showing these, in addition to our regular Tues. evening meeting?  Maybe in member’s homes, just an informal get-together, with a video and a cup of tea.  

Business News:
Arline Lowenthal has volunteered to review the By-Laws at the meeting. 

Membership News:
Membership dues are due at this meeting.  It’s still just $25 a year.  We have an exciting year planned, so please come and rejoin.

Carol’s Column

Dear Ladies of Blueprints,


 I am one of the newer members of the club having introduced myself about a year ago. I added "doll making" to my daily life just a little more than 18 months ago without a background of design, or in fact any kind of craft, ever, especially sewing. At that time I described my intention to put up a booth just outside the Farmers Market among the "precious" boutiques along La Mesa Boulevard. About 75 dolls later, I have given away many, many as gifts and sold a few to neighbors, however, still procrastinating the  day I offer up my dolls for sale and find out if my new endeavor (passion) will bring financial success  As a retiree, I was hoping for an extra $ 200 -$300 bump in my monthly income. My plan was to be able to sell many dolls in the $35- $45 range.  


I use Bendi-dolls and glue on polymer faces. The costumes are made mostly by hand and this is because I am not skilled with my machine. A very talented club member named Robin assures me this if fine as she also sews by hand. Perhaps you have noticed she brings her hand-sewing to meetings. My closest friend in the club is Sharon Cariola, who fits into the artist rather than crafter category and she has encouraged me to sculpt the faces rather than using molds. I moved to this kicking and screaming but loving my original little faces.  

Lois asked me to contribute to the newsletter.  I thought if I used my column like a journal, giving my fellow members an accounting of my progress toward the goal of actually selling my dolls, perhaps procrastination may be limited and I will finally face the "big day" when I market my work product.  

As an aside, I keep birds and publish a twenty page newsletter for the Finch Society. Our upcoming meeting is to celebrate the bird club's 37th anniversary. Pictures of Barbara Chapman's Christmas house were published in a home and garden type magazine last year and I had a copy. My cover of the September Finch Society issue was a picture of one of Barbara's creations which appeared in the magazine, a happy clown standing on one hand. It made a beautiful cover and I received much praise. 

Carol Whelan

Note from Kelly:
I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of you for your continued support and prayers for my family.  It's been a rough road and we're not through it yet, however, things are starting to settle down (knock on wood) and resemble some sort of normalcy around here.  I especially want to say thank you to Barb Keeling for posting the Dimensions In Dollmaking information on the blog in my absence. Great job, girlie!  I am planning on being at the meeting on Tuesday, and can't wait to see everyone. - Kelly