The Magic Bean

Wordless Wednesday - Covered in Moss

Freebie Friday - Doll Accessory Tutorials from Furniture to Fashion to Furry Companions

Sometimes a doll just needs a little accessory to give them that something extra special.  Here is a collection of doll accessory tutorials that could prove to be that much needed extra detail.

If you've never read the Magic Bean before, every Friday I do a round-up of free craft tutorials on a certain theme. So stop by every Friday for your weekly dose of free crafts, patterns and tutorials. Or browse for more free tutorials by combing through the "Free Craft Tutorials & Patterns" category (just click the link) or use the Google Search function on the top left of my blog to search for something specific.

Fashion Accessories

BJD Magazine shared a simple but gorgeous tutorial to make a Marie Antoinette style hat using cardboard and fabric.  Click the link to check it out.

Cynthia Treen shared a fun tutorial to make a miniature felt umbrella on the Crafts Department blog, on the Martha Stewart site.  The umbrella is shown with a frog softie but would also look great with a cloth doll.

Martha Boers shared a tutorial on her BJD doll website, Antique Lilac showing how to make a pair of gladiator boots for a doll. 

Doll Furniture

Make a doll bed as the perfect accessory for a sleeping beauty or even for a toy doll bed for a child with a bed making tutorial from Ana White.

Use some twigs to make these adorable mini chairs with a tutorial from One Inch World.

Sharon Mitchell shared a tutorial to make a large travelling trunk for your doll on her blog, SFM Cloth Dolls with Attitude.  Scroll down the page after clicking the link to see the trunk making tutorial.

Animal Companions

Edwina Sutherland shared a two-part tutorial on her blog, Not Carved in Stone, on how to needle-felt tiny pets as companions to your dolls.  See part 1 of making your needle-felted mini pet and part 2, by clicking the links.

Make a cloth dog to go with your cloth doll using a free pattern from Sharon Mitchell on her blog SFM Cloth Dolls with Attitude.  Click the link and scroll down to see the pattern for Biscuit the dog.

For more doll accessory tutorials revisit some of these older posts including this one featuring just doll accessories, this post which contains accessories as well as other doll making tutorials and this relatively recent post which also contains some doll accessories tutorials.  You can never have enough accessories, right?

 

Wordless Wednesday - From London with Love

Freebie Friday - Using Colour in Doll Making, Art and Decor

Life is not black and white.  And neither is art.  One way or another colour will come into play whether you make cloth dolls like I do, or if you dabble in mixed media or textile art, or if you are decorating your home or even just getting dressed in the morning.  Here are some free tutorials and tips regarding designing with colour, useful for however you intend to colour your world. 

If you've never read the Magic Bean before, every Friday I do a round-up of free craft tutorials on a certain theme. So stop by every Friday for your weekly dose of free crafts, patterns and tutorials. Or browse for more free tutorials by combing through the "Free Craft Tutorials & Patterns" category (just click the link) or use the Google Search function on the top left of my blog to search for something specific.

Basic Colour Theory

First of all, it helps to understand basic colour theory.  Read the basics in this article on the Color Matters website which covers the foundations of colour.   I remember having to learn this in art classes and after what felt like making the millionth colour wheel, I would have liked to use the colour wheel as a dart board.  As much as I resented having to learn the theory, if I had never learned it, I would have really struggled in my fine arts degree.  In fact, I would struggle still, in my current line of work. Patience young grasshopper.  You must understand the basics before you can earn a black belt in colour.

Alisa Burke, certainly one artist, author and blogger who is not afraid of colour, shares her top 10 tips for making colour work with Cate Prato of Cloth Paper Scissors.  Check out some of Alisa's fearless use of colour with a round-up I did a while ago featuring many of Alisa Burke's free tutorials or check out Alisa's blog.

Mood boards

What is a mood board? According to Wikipedia, "a mood board is a type of poster design that may consist of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition of the choice of the mood board creator. Designers and others use mood boards to develop their design concepts and to communicate to other members of the design team."  Mood boards are also widely used to create and try out colour schemes.

Rachel of HappayScrappay guest blogged at Cherry Bits about how she uses mood boards for her crafting endeavours.  It's simple but you can see how collecting colours in a mood board is a short cut to creativity.

Holly Becker, author of Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home shared how to create a Mood Board to Go on her blog Decor8.  This mobile mood board would be great when you are shopping and you need to make sure that whatever you buy fits your colour scheme.

Holly also shared a great idea to make a cheap and cheerful mood board to put up in your studio or workspace.  Click the link to see how she did it.

Online Colour Tools

You can even create digital mood boards using online tools.  Crystal at The Weekend Homemaker shared a tutorial to use Picassa to create an online mood board. 

There are lots of free tools online that you can use to create and to share colour schemes.  Here are few:

Colour Scheme Designer 

Kuler - create and share links to colour schemes.  This is a particularly great tool when you are working with someone else who needs access to your colour schemes.

Colour Lover's - again this site lets you share and view other people's colour schemes, so if you are stuck for colour inspiration, check it out.  This site even has a blog and a forum. 

Online Inspiration

Kristina Klarin shares pictures on her blog where she draws out the colour palettes from her inspiring images.

Color Collective is a blog that is pulls colour palettes from the work of various designers to inspire your own work.

Everyday and celebrity fashions are the inspirations behind these five colour palettes shared on the Wear Palettes blog.

Pantone Colours

Pantone colour was something that I used to hear talked about, but truthfully, the whole thing mystified me, but Pantone isn't really all that complicated.  Basically, the Pantone Matching System is a standardised colour system that is widely used by the graphics and textile industry.  Here is an explanation of what Pantone colours are and why so many people talk about them. If you've ever had a sign made or fancy trying your hand a fabric design, it helps to understand a wee bit about Pantone.

Pantone also releases its trend predictions for colour - what they feel will be the hottest colour of the year or season.  Read this interview with Leatrice Eiseman about how Pantone's trend setting colours are chosen. 

The Less Technical Way of Playing with Colour

If all that scares the heck out of you, then here are some less technical ways that you can make colour work for you.

Here is a tutorial I wrote a while back about how I often pick colour schemes for my dolls.  Basically, you pick one fabric or trim that you just love and work around that.

One of my favourite cloth doll books that covers how to choose colour for making dolls,  is Barbara Willis' book Cloth Doll Artistry: Design and Costuming Techniques for Flat and Fully Sculpted Figures.  In that book, Barbara talks about choosing fabrics and uses a dress silhouette to audition fabrics, colours and textures.  Read this excerpt from her book on the Craftside blog and download a free dress template to try out Barbara's method yourself.  Once you've layered up your dress template with fabrics, wouldn't it look great on a mood board or decorating a card?

Whenever I teach, I tell my students how one of my high school art teachers accused me of being a "colour wimp".  She said my colour choices were predictable and safe.  I would have felt very indignant about that accusation if she hadn't been right.  So I made up my mind right there and then to not be afraid of unpredictable colour. And now I am issuing you a challenge - on the next project you work on, do something you've never done before.  Your mission: to explore strange new colours, to seek out new palettes and new combinations.  To boldly go where no one has gone before.

Disclaimer:  Any similarity that the above statement may have to the opening of a certain science fiction program is purely coincedental and has no bearing on colour or what can be done with it. Just sayin.

 

Wordless Wednesday - Dusk Descends

Freebie Friday - The Latest Free Doll Making Tutorials

I'm always on the prowl for new doll making patterns and tutorials that are available for free on the net.  Here are few that I've recently found that I think you'll really enjoy.

If you are new to the Magic Bean, every Friday I do a round-up of free craft tutorials on a certain theme. So stop by every Friday for your weekly dose of free crafts, patterns and tutorials. Or browse for more free tutorials by combing through the "Free Craft Tutorials & Patterns" category (just click the link) or use the Google Search function on the top left of my blog to search for something specific.

Simple Dolls

Just in time for Valentine's day - make these little painted styrofoam ball love bugs with a tutorial designed by Julie Lewis and featured on the Plaid website.

Doll designer, Kat Lees shared a free Snow Lady pattern, free on her blog Christmas Designs by Kat.  With the snow we've been having in London, this little snow person is perfect for making the most of the chill. 

Photo credit: Christian Sinibaldi
Perri Lewis shared an idea to make babushka style dolls that double up as bookends on the Guardian website. 

Art Doll Tutorials

The enormously talented Susie McMahon, shares a number of doll making tutorials on her blog.  Her latest tutorial is how Susie creates her doll hands with opposable thumbs.  Click the link to see the tutorial.

Susie McMahon shared a pictorial step-by-step guide to how she constructs one of her doll's heads.  Click the link to see Susie's Picture Trail tutorial.

Susie also shares a step-by-step peek at her method for painting historically influenced dolls on her blog.

Doll Accessories

Gracefaerie shared a free pattern to make an elf hat on BJDcollectasy.  Perfect if you are a Lord of the Rings fan.

Make a simple cone hat for a doll that could be a princess hat, party hat, or clown hat, using this tutorial from BJDcollectasy.

The talented Deanna Hogan of Blue Heron dolls shared a video tutorial to make gorgeous wings using a reclaimed plastic milk jug and silk flowers.  Watch the video below:

 

If you're a doll-a-holic you might be hunting for yet more free doll tutorials, so check out my Free Doll Stuff on the Net Category. Considering the number of years I've been doing Freebie Friday - that could keep you busy for hours!

Wordless Wednesday - Imagine Who Has Walked Here Before You

Look What Anne Made

Anne Sander just sent me these pictures of her completed All Bottled Up Doorstop doll.  Anne is a member of the Doll Maker's Circle and took my All Bottled Up doll class at the end of January.

I think you'll agree that Anne did an outstanding job colouring the face.  Then she set the face off beautifully by trimming the cloak with a beaded picot edging.  With the hood folded back, Anne has really set off the beauty of the face, I think.

I also love how Anne used beaded leaves which sparkle a bit and set the leaves off against the green background.  What a beauty.

If you are inspired by Anne's doll and want to learn how to do beaded picot edging like Anne has used,click the following link to see a really simple beaded picot tutorial.   

Thank you so much for sharing Anne.  She's beautiful.

 

Craftsy Patterns are Now Live!

Craftsy has just launched its e-pattern store.  So you can now buy my PDF patterns via Craftsy and get them instantly. 

All you need is to register an e-mail with Craftsy and then you can use Pay Pal to purchase patterns using a credit or debit card or your Pay Pal balance. 

Check out my Craftsy Pattern Store by clicking the link.

Have your own patterns to sell?

If you are a pattern designer yourself, or maybe you just want to be, consider selling your patterns on Craftsy. Craftsy charges no fees to list your pattern and no fees when you sell.  Added to that, when someone buys your pattern they download the pattern directly from Craftsy after they’ve paid. That means that you don't have to e-mail or post anyone the pattern. Find out more about how Craftsy patterns work by clicking here. 

Free Stuff

You can even find free patterns on Craftsy.  I've uploaded two free patterns to Craftsy - The Little Sneaks Shoe Deordoriser Dolls and A Delicate Disposition Eucalan Bottle Doll.

So head on over to Craftsy and see what you can find!  

Freebie Friday - Using Faces in Mixed Media Art

I am primarily a cloth doll artist and so I love faces.  I am drawn to faces and so I draw them everywhere.  Thing is, that many people are scared of drawing faces.  But faces don't have to be hard.  Start off by incorporating some simple faces into your art with these tutorials that make incorporating faces into your mixed media art work a piece of cake.

If you are new to the Magic Bean, every Friday I do a round-up of free craft tutorials on a certain theme. So stop by every Friday for your weekly dose of free crafts, patterns and tutorials. Or browse for more free tutorials by combing through the "Free Craft Tutorials & Patterns" category (just click the link) or use the Google Search function on the top left of my blog to search for something specific

Learn how to draw faces in mixed media art with Julie Nutting, author of Collage Couture: Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art with a special excerpt from the book as featured on Create Mixed Media.

Make a very Picasso-esque sculpture with some cubist style faces using wire and gauze.  Click the link to get the tutorial on Creativity Direct.

This tutorial on Creativity Direct shows you how basic and cartoony faces can look fantastic in mixed media art work.  Click the link to learn how to make these hanging painted canvas figures.

If you really want to mix up your media why not try incorporating some needlework?  Use this free face cross-stitch chart created by Romona King of Northbrook Stitches to create a beautiful face, cross-by-cross. 

Then make the cross stitch face into an ornament with another free tutorial from Romona.

Another approach to including a doll face in a mixed media piece is to use clip art.  Download a free vintage image of a woman and make an elegant hankie doll ornament with a tutorial on Vintage Image Craft.

If you'd love to incorporate a face into your artwork, but fear of drawing stops you, then why not download a free face template designed by Alma Stoller, available on the Cloth Paper Scissors website.

Alma Stoller also has a tutorial on her blog where she shows you how to carve your own features of the face stamps.  The tutorial also shows you how you can make the same stamp look different, on different faces. 

If you'd like to try free-hand drawing faces, get some guidance from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, the creative power behind a new DVD from Interweave, called All About Faces. Watch this preview of the video to get some face drawing hints:

 

See faces don't have to be hard.  Give it a try!