Sunday, August 21, 2011

New art dolls in the future

I  have plans to make a series of Indian art dolls that represent famous  Indian people of the past.   First will be a set of three women called, " Three  American Indian Women".  They will represent Pocahontas, Sacajawea, and Sarah Winnemucca.   Each of these three women have an important place  in the history of our country. I plan to have the three as a group .

 I actually started the three women project , made and finished Sarah Winnemucca.   Someone saw the finished doll  and loved it  so now that Sarah is in a private collection.    When I get back to the three Indian Women set, I  will have  to make another Sarah.  The second Sarah will be different from the first one, even dressed different and possibly on horseback.   I got involved with something else and haven't gotten back to the three women project, but in good time...

Right now I am working on an interesting project.   A client has a large  model of a birch bark canoe, the type Indian people used in fur trading in the 1700-1800's.  I am making an Indian figure that will  be kneeling in the canoe.  The canoe will be loaded with fur bundles and  accessories which would be necessary to the traveler. 

I have finished  carving the paddle and am ready to sculpt the fingers around the paddle.

More on this project as construction progresses.
Marion Springer


Saturday, July 16, 2011

How fast time flies

Here it is Friday already and I'm wondering where this week went.  I had planned to have my project  finished by today , the first part of the project anyway so I could get started on the main part of the work but one small oversight slowed things down .  The oversight was, in my haste I bought the wrong JB Weld , a compound that I use to hold things I'm building together.

JB Weld is a two part resin/glue that is just great for many things.  JB sets up in 20 minutes .  The mfg. recently added another type that sets up in 4 to 6 hours and that is the one I mistakenly bought.    

I wondered what was wrong , why wouldn't my project set up ?   I finally saw the mistake and had someone pick up the right JB for me  so now I'm back on track.   I guess that old adage of , "haste makes waste", is right.  In this case it was time wasted.   

Marion Springer
   

Thursday, July 14, 2011

New Indian doll blog site

Hello Everyone, 
I have had my web master set up a blog site for the Indian dolls that I create.  Dolls really isn't an appropriate word,  for dolls suggests toys.    My creations  are not toys .  They are my version of Indian people of an earlier time.  I represent  them doing the ordinary daily things they might have done back then. 

From the time I was a little girl I had two passions-I wanted to fly and I wanted to make dolls.  I have been very fortunate for I have lived my dream...my career was spent in aviation and I am also making dolls.   there's that word again! 

The heads, hands, feet and legs of the Indian figures  I make are sculped from Pro Sculpt which is made of PVC and plasticizer.  In other words, it's a plastic clay .  The sculpted part is cured in an oven. 

The body of the figure is generally a wire armature with a fabric body-stocking filled with polyester fiberfill.  Occassionally the body will all be made from clay . 

I have a head full of ' Indian dolls' I want to make...a mother holding her baby,  a young man playing his flute for a beautiful young woman , also   women tanning a deer hide. Those are a few of some things I would like to make.  I have more ideas than time to make the figures.  

This is my first blog on this site so I don't know if it allows  viewers to comment or not but if it does  do send me your comments or questions.
Marion Springer