::Wendysigns::Arts&Crafts::

New bracelet

2009-01-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

♥ Happy New Year!!! ♥

This year started very busy as usual, but I managed to find some time and finished this bracelet that was waiting for my atention.
I wanted to make something that could contrast in style, so I thought of a piece with a certain elegance, a design inspired by the sun and the moon, hence the studs, rivets and pearls. At the same time, images of biker looks, in a soft style, were around my mind, that's the reason why I chose silver and black fake leather as a base.
There are more style pics in my fashion blog ::wendyzine::Everyday Fashion&Beauty::
My best wishes to all of you!!!

Original Dolls In Progress

2008-11-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

I've been working on finishing and casting some doll sculpts that have been around my shelves as WIPs since a while ago...

At first, I conceived the head above as a completely sculpted bust for a sci-fi themed character, but then I thought it would be interesting to also save the same face for an original 1:6 doll, with 'real' hair and an articulated body, as I really liked the way it came out.
So, before I start to sculpt the hair for the bust, I have to make a resin copy in order to have the head ready for the other doll project too. Hope to get it done this week (the casting, I mean, not the whole doll... yet!). :-)

I've been also finishing and casting two other heads I had around:

These are for a 1:6 and 1:4 original dolls. They're casted in a grey resin which is best to notice all the little details in order to give some final touches in case it's needed. After that, I'll cast them again in a flesh tone resin and will proceed with the painting tests.
It's a long and laborious process, but being the perfectionist I am, I think it's worth it!

Asuka Crush: Blythe doll themed necklaces

2008-11-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is Pure Dolly Madness:

I have made these dolly necklaces inspired by my Blythe doll Asuka, using some funny and 'glamorous' wiggle eyes to capture the essence of her 'trademark' look.

Since I put her face in my t-shirt designs (both adult and doll size), the character I created for her seems to be making its way into a lot of handcrafted objects.
I guess that when you're fond of your little plastic girls as I am, everything you do looks like them!

In case you're a Blythe lover, have a crush on Asuka, want some cheerful litlle companion, or just wish to add a touch of fun to your outfits, these little 'Asukas' are now available at my Etsy Shop, wendysigns.etsy.com.

Here are the pics of each model of the Asuka Crush Collection you can find:

And for total fun, you can put some of them together or... dare with the whole bunch!!!

Recent works on jewelry

2008-11-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a sneak peek at what I've been doing lately in the jewelry 'department'.

Red & Turquoise necklace:

Sculpted red sparkling balls with red & turquoise muslin ribbons.

Pearl Drops necklace:

Pearl drops hanging from little crystal prisms and a silver chain.
A classic touch...

Red Stones necklace:

Sculpted red sparkling pieces, varnished in a way to mimic enamel.

More to come soon...
For fashion tips and style ideas, please visit:
::wendyZine::Everyday Fashion&Beauty::

Handmade 'gemstones'

2008-11-12T15:01:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard to finish a lot of projects I have around my desk (and everywhere!).
The things I like to do the most when sculpting for my jewelry, are gemstone-like pieces.
I love to study the real ones (mostly by photos or watching the window displays at the jewelry shops), and try to make it look similar, but also giving them some original characteristics that make them unique.

This 'gem' is sculpted and casted in translucent resin, and then painted with stained glass paints.
It's mounted on the inner border of a foam ring, which is also painted to create the 'FX' of a silver piece.
This way, it lets the light go through...

A bunch of eyes

2008-11-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Hello again!
For the past months, I've had very little time for my ongoing projects, but I'm getting back to them at a good pace these last days.
The dolly shoes and accessories are all sold out and I'm very happy about it, so thank you!

I've already resumed work on the New Shoe Collection for Fall/Winter, so I'll be posting some pics very soon.
My most recent 'crafty adventure' is dedicated to my dollies, again. I'm completely absorbed by dolly eye-making, entirely handmade.
Here's a weird pic with some of the eyes I've made:

I wanted something unique for my dolly-girls and tried a lot of different materials and methods.
I sculpted, sanded, carved, hand-painted, varnished and a huge etc., untill exhaustion, but my dollymaking is sure worth it.
The ones in the pic are for Unoa dolls, and here are some sample photos of them:

You can see more pics of the doll wearing them in my Flickr photostream.
I have more fantasy designs in progress for Blythe dolls too, so I'll keep you up to date.
I'm also thinking that maybe I could use some of them to make some original pendants and necklaces, creatively framed...
Hmmm... I'll give it a try...

Now Open!

2008-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that the shop is finally open!
I feel like beggining a new adventure!
The Summer Collection of handcrafted shoes for Unoa doll is available for this Grand Opening!
There will be many more things to come for Blythe, Momoko and other lovely dolls, as well as some great goodies in human size too!
For now, hope you enjoy this first batch!
Here's the link: wendysigns.etsy.com

Dolly Shoes Preview

2008-06-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a preview of the U-noa doll shoe collection I've made:

I've already finished work on the photos, so I think they'll be available in my Etsy shop this weekend.
As we're approaching Summer, the shoes are mostly tailor-made trendy and sexy sandals made to fit Unoa dolls cute feet.
It's a little hard to find shoes that fit perfectly the small Unoa feet, as they're often made to fit a standard MSD size, which tend to be a litlle 'large' for them, so I did my best to draft original patterns especially made for Unoas.
I designed five different sole shapes for these seven pairs of shoes to be exactly her size and made them in a variety of quality materials, like rubber foam, especially treated-sealed cork, hand-sculpted polymer clay and faux leather.
The inner parts and the tops are handsewn, glued and finished as if they were human size shoes, and I used faux leather and trims in different colors, along with some snaps and handmade silver wire clasps. I focused on designing fashion trendy styles that could last for a lot of summer seasons to come, getting my inspiration from the greek-roman trend in the new sandals. :-)
Every pair is an original and exclusive design, completely handmade by me from scratch with lots of love. They're also One Of A Kind, as there are no identical two. I love making special things everytime, no repeats, so there will be one and only owner of each model.

There's also an OOAK bag in white, silver and gold, completely handsewn, that I designed to match any of the shoes, and it has a working snap button, for those dolly-girls who love bags and 'need' to put their cell phone, makeUp, magazines and stuff inside! :-)

Tomorrow, I'll let you know the day and time for the Grand Opening of the shop.
Have fun!
See ya!

A Shoe Collection for the Summer

2008-06-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Shoemaking is one of those things I've always wanted to learn, but never had the time 'unveil' its mysteries until recently, when I decided I should give it a try for once and for all. So, I put myself to the task, but with a little variation: the size. Instead of the 'ordinary human size', I chose to experiment with 'my little plastic girls' and their little delicate feet. I've been working hard for a lot of weeks, and I'm pretty excited with the outcome.

It's true that being self-taught is a tough choice, but also very rewarding!
I've managed to have finished seven pairs of lovely sandals and one bag ready to be listed for sale on my Etsy shop . This first batch is for U-noa Doll size, and I'll be listing them on Etsy on the next couple of days, as I'm in the process of taking photos and uploading them. So, stay tuned because there'll also be more pics of ALL of them here at wendysigns blog, in the next hours!
BTW, although I started with U-noa doll size, I have many more bags and shoes coming in Blythe and Momoko sizes too!

More Dollie Talk

2008-02-26T11:09:00.000-08:00

Last post was about T-shirt designs featuring doll illustrations.
Today's about more doll illustrations on T-shirts, but in 'doll size':

I thought it would be a funny idea to 'match' my recently made dollie themed T-shirts with some coordinate mini tees for the 'real little big-eyed girls':

It certainly was more challenging than creating the adult size ones (and took me a bit longer too), since I had to make the T-shirts itself from scratch. I decided to keep it all handmade, drafting my own patterns and sewing by hand ALL the seams (no machine this time), in order to have more control over the tiny pieces.
.
I think the outcome looks cute, so there'll be more coming soon, that's for sure!

Dollie Talk

2008-02-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

What started as a fun homage to one of my little plastic girls, has now become a serious work for me.

As a doll collector, I wanted to create something original for my wide eyed girl, Asuka, so I made this illustration of hers with the intention to use it on the new wardrobe I'm designing for her, but then I thought it would be fun to make it in 'human' size too, and this is how I ended up making these dolly themed T-shirts.

The rest of the designs are from a bunch of original characters that I've created and illustrated through the years, and now they are reunited to be introduced to the world as The Modern Girlz.
Here's a sneak peek into what's going on:

Who are they?
What do they do?
Why do they call themselves The modern Girlz?
Well, I think I'm going to leave those questions in the air untill I get all the girls ready for their official debut.

I've taken more pics showing some style tips on ::wendyZine::Everyday Fashion&Beauty::
They'll be available soon on my new Etsy shop, I'll keep you up to date on the Grand Opening Day.
Anyway, you can also email me if you're interested in any of the ones you've already seen here.

New Jewelry

2007-10-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

I'm resuming my blogging activity with some new projects that I want to share with you.
Lately, I've been devoting myself to designing, handcrafting and sculpting some pieces of jewelry that were in my mind for quite some time now.

The first one is an assembled necklace, made of polymer clay, metal pieces, fake leather, varnish and recycled foam circles.
I always try to stick to my ideals in crafting, which can be summarized in "the use of something new to tell a new story & something old that already has a background story". It's very important for me to get the perfect balance between the need to create something new and the challenge of forseeing how an old piece can be harnessed. I'm always on the search for new materials (I buy a lot from stores that carry new "salvaged" goods), to combine them with other items that can be recycled even when their use is unconventional. That's pretty much how I came up with this necklace. I wanted to create something colorful, eye-catching and full of joy and elegance at the same time; a piece that would have its own character and that could highlight and enhance any garment. Geometry and abstract shapes always do it for me.
I also made another pair of necklaces, a bit more simple, in silver and gold hues to match this one and allow me to "play" with them on many possible combinations:

You can see how I wore this piece @ my fashion blog wendyZine.

I want to end this post with a curious anecdote that happened to me the other day, while I was working on these necklaces. I received a friendly visit from this sweet little creature:

I thought it was worth an entire post, so I just had to write something about him in my Wendygital blog.

How good it feels when a project is finished at last!

2007-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I started to make this set of four glasses and a bottle in stained glass painting style. The bottle was the first to be finished and it had to wait a little time for their partner glasses to come to 'life'.
Now they're all together and ready to make a toast!

One project done, now moving on to the next. Painting recycled glass bottles can be challenging, especially when they're not transparent, because it makes it more difficult to play with the light and colors. So, I chose just gold and silver contour for this one. I think it keeps the 'shining character' of glass, and still allows some light to pass through between the lines. I'm hoping to show you the results very soon.

And as a break, it would be a nice idea to enjoy some sweet little snacks like these. They're called "churros" and are made of flour, sugar and water, and then deep fried and dried on a paper towel. I'm not much into fried food, but it can be fine to taste some little good treats from time to time. I went the other day to one of the most antique and traditional places known for their "churros" specialties. The whole story and the details on how it is served and eaten are in my wendygital blog.

Glass, Color & Light

2006-12-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

I've always been fascinated by the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. His designs are so colorful and yet so harmonious, that it looks like light is homaged in all its splendor. That, and the fact of giving new life to used glass objects, are the main things I keep in mind when I work on a new piece.
It's almost incredible the quantity of glass things that pass through our hands each day. Some people believe it wouldn't be necessary to produce any new glass, if we could just learn how to reuse and recycle what we already have, that there's enough glass 'material' in our world to process it or transform it according to our needs.
So, I try to find utility in almost all the used glass that gets into my home, as my humble contribution to an overloaded world.

The magic of crystal things

2006-12-11T08:15:00.002-08:00

This pic is from a new series of jars, vases and glasses that I'm working on. As I'm painting them, I never cease to amaze at the beauty of crystal, and very often get captured by the light that pass through the glass like wanting to get caught inside of it.