Monday 23 February 2015

Stars and Moonlight Peg Doll

Hello and a warm welcome to Magpieheaven. I'm feeling very excited to be over at PaperArtsy tonight with a project that involves two of my favourite things at the moment: wooden jumbo pegs turned into little characters and Shrink Plastic! You might remember that I made some of these dolls for an Unruly Paper Arts article a little while back. 



In my Unruly project, which was initially inspired by a wonderful Art doll course I took with Mary Jane Chadbourne, last summer, I used Fresco paints on one side of the dolls with Sara Nauman's lovely text. I used scrap-book paper on the other side. To add a 3D effect the dolls held charms. I use my own art work reduced digitally to fit the peg faces. I like how I can change the dimensions of the faces I've created digitally and how they change when they are re-sized and placed on a project. Each little peg seems to be telling me a new story!



And for this project, I created some little hands and gave them shrink plastic embellishments to hold. I used just paint and text from Sara's latest PaperArtsy stamp plate ESN13. I wasn't too worried about losing bits of the sentiment. I liked that the key words remained like an enigma to puzzle over, a story for the viewer to unravel.




I explain all about how I created the Shrink Plastic embellishments over at PaperArtsy here. I think this character is a princess of the stars and moonlight and she holds a silvery songbird, while a musical moth flutters about her skirts.



First I like to give the pegs a light sanding with a sanding block before applying a layer of white Gesso. On these pegs, I then applied Blue Oyster, China and Wisteria in blocks of colour blending into each other.



 I stamped Sara Nauman's sentiment in Wendy Vecchi Cobalt Blue Archival. Sara's musical notes figure both on the head and the embellishments. As she is the Moonlight Princess perhaps she is humming Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as a lullaby to bring sweet dreams.



And if we turn her over, we see that she has fallen asleep, lulled by her own lullaby. 
I applied a couple of coats of PaperArtsy Matte Glaze to seal and finish the pegs.



Sapphire Treasure gold on the metal hinges is the finishing touch. I have been having so much fun practising drawing faces and hands and it's been really satisfying to be able to then use them in miniature on a project. Thank You so much for stopping by today. It is always such a joy to have your company and your feedback. Please do have a play with Shrink Plastic, or create something else miniature for the PaperArtsy theme this time. If you link up your project there is a chance you could win a great prize!

13 comments:

  1. A stunning project, love the colours on the peg and the hands are just beautiful!! Xx

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  2. Julie Ann, your work is so special, I love your creativity! I could imitate your work, but it would not be from the heart like your unique talent! The combination of the faces, the hands and the adornments is amazing! Well done for launching the miniatures challenge! Great creativity! Xx

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  3. Your peg dolls are always so lovely, even with the shrink, Julie Ann!!

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  4. Gorgeous girlies!! Absolutely adore these! Hugs, Chris

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  5. Julie Anne, I have just this minute visited your PA blog post and had to come here to say that it is adorable. I once again had to declare that you are Queen of Shrink because no one uses shrink as you do.
    I adore the tear drop and how you have her hands holding the Sara Naumann star. It is such an adorable project. Thank You for sharing your magical talent with us.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  6. I love your pegs, Julie Ann, they have such character and charm,

    Lucy x

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  7. Fabulous minature project Julie Ann, loving the colours very much but using your own hand drawn faces is the icing on the cake. Fantastic inspiration :-) xxx

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  8. Gorgeous peg dolls, your artwork is perfect and stunning on them. Beautifully thought out. Wow! Ruth x

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  9. What a fun creation, Julie Ann. I wonder how beautifully you have worked on that tiny surface.
    Great inspiration for me!!

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  10. Just reading what Shilpa has written above, I can tell you the same: This is a great inspirational work for me too, stunning and so unique, so beautiful wow, just exquisite Julie Ann!!! Great drawings by yourself too, your faces are very beautiful. xxx

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  11. These are wonderful Julie Ann! I really do love those faces- uniquely yours! xoxo

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  12. Dear Julie Ann ~ I marvel anew each time I visit you and see the details of the wonderful pieces you create.
    The Shrink Plastic touches are just perfect too!
    Lovely and so inspiring.
    oxo

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  13. Oh good - so lovely to get some photos of maybe my favourite Peg Doll... I've fallen so far behind that I think I missed these both at UPA and at PaperArtsy - so happy to have a chance to catch them now.
    Alison xx

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