I love making things! I have never made dolls before and I often wondered if I could, because well.. I have not actually learned how to use a sewing machine. Sure I can hand stitch, but its more of decorative type stitching yanno? I'm not quit sure I'd use that for sewing alone. Well, Helmar makes a Fabric Glue that I always do well with in my projects. I think it is the glue I am most likely to use whenever I use fabric of any kind. It allows the fabric to appear almost pristine. There are 2 things I love almost as much as Helmar's Fabric Glue, one is Vera Lane Studio Digital Images and the other is water coloring. Today I present to you a project I was more than happy and kinda giddy (in a good way) to create.
Items for this project include:
- Helmar Fabric Glue
- Helmar Crystal Kote Fixative (optional)
- Vera Lane Studios Whimsical Fairy
- Vera Lane Studios Bright Ideas
- Deco Art Transfer Paper
- Canvas Fabric
- Sharpie Paint Pen
- Gansi Tambi Water Color Paints
- Stabilo Pencils
- Tombow markers
- paint prush
- Scissors
I began first by using the images I purchased from Vera Lane Studios (VLS) and printing them as large as I could on copy paper. I then placed the Deco Art transfer sheets, of blue carbon, sandwiched between copy paper and the primed side of the canvas. I used a bold tipped pencil to trace the image hard on the canvas. When both images were done they left a faint blue outline.
I took a second piece of canvas and flipped it to unprimed side and placed it under the blue images and cut them out. I tried to leave a 1/2 inch border around the images. That's where I planned to place my glue. So the unprimed canvas is the inside of the doll and the primed side of the canvas is the front and the backs of the doll. I hope that makes sense. I then placed Helmar Fabric Glue along the edge of the front of the doll, on the unprimed side and matched it up with the back piece. Do not forget to leave a space big enough to add your stuffing, you will close that later.
Once the glue was applied to both doll cut outs, I allowed a wee bit of drying time and I began to add color to our lil whimsical charactors. I first used a black paint pen and I traced the image and the details out as seen here.
Once that was done I added color with stabilo pencils, water color paints and tombow markers. (if you use acryllics, fabric paints or Derwent Inktense to color with, you won't have to worry about the doll getting damp) I also came to the conclusion that maybe I could have used gel medium on the entire image or even used Helmar Crystal Kote Fixative in a layers to protect the image. Everything is a learning process and that's the truth (smile).
I then flipped the dolls and laid down some color and added some awesome quotes I can share with you all...
The fairy with wings reads: May you believe that you always have an angel by your side. The other reads: Give me the wisdom to know what must be done and the courage to do it and the strength to overcome any obstacles along the way. Lets have one more glance at the finished dolls (smile). I stuffed the dolls and added more glue to close them up.. VIOLA!!! Dont forget to check out all the products over at Helmar
And let us know what's your favorite in the comments!!
