Classes and Workshops which helped me to Grow

My philosophy on workshops is to be honest about your weaknesses and learn as much as you can to improve them. I may not utilize every technique I ever learn, but by learning many, I am able to discover what works for me and what doesn't. I have a basis of comparison. If you are a cloth doll maker, don't limit yourself to cloth classes, learn from everyone and adapt whatever you can to make it work.

Wenham Museum March 1999

I took a workshop with another NIADA artist, Jaques Dorier, learning to make Japanese style dolls using washi papers. It was a fun class and I will have a photo soon. Jaques is a delightful teacher and a fellow choc-o-holic. At lunch time we snuck off for tea and peanut butter pie. Mmmmm.

Jekyll Island Doll Seminar 1999

Recently I have returned to the Jekyll Island Doll Seminar (2/99) and have taken workshops in wigging (from Jodi Creager), body making (from Nancy Walters) and picked up some photography tips from Richard Creager who besides being an excellent doll maker is a fabulous photographer .

I also took a class on making a Victorian Corset with Alice Leverette. It was a lot of fun and look what we created! This same class is being offered again at JIDS 2000. And this year the class for the form is being offered as well. (Alice's mother made mine and I purchased it, rather than make one myself.) A highly recommended teacher.

Nancy Walters body making class was a riot. We got to play with fire! Nancy teaches you how to use proportion in designing your doll. Her dolls are polymer clay, but this still is a good class for cloth doll makers. Nancy uses a blow torch to create her armatures and we all got to give it a go as well. A lot of the students were timid but we all did it. Here is a look at a the partially finished result - Ginny P. Nancy will teaching this class again at JIDS 2000.

Ginny P will appear later in our Story pages. She also will be raffled off at the Quilters Gathering in Westford MA. Raffle tickets will be sold by the Textile Tarts at the show, November 5, 6, and 7 1999. She is a collaborative doll being created six of our club members.

AADA/VAAC Week of Workshops 1997 & 1998

Gloria "Mimi" Winer is a wealth of information. You never know whether to take her classes with needle and thread or notebook and pen. I suggest the former with a tape recorder actually. To see the two dolls I have created in Gloria's workshops click on INFANT or ANNIE. When you take Gloria's classes you most definitely get your money's worth.

Akiko Anzai is another terrific artist. The realism of her work is inspirational so when given the chance to take her class this past May (and to be her hostess as well) I leapt at the opportunity. Akiko teaches the Japanese method of cloth doll making and it is very different from what I had learned previously. Her dolls use a modular armature and are self supporting without elaborate bases or stands. Akiko studies the human body and to that effect she prefers nudes and that is what she teaches. One may chose to dress or not after the class. Click HERE to see the doll created in Akiko's class.

Jekyll Island Doll Seminar 1998

Carole Dubek does not exactly make dolls, although she is classified as a doll artist. She specializes in phantasmagorical creatures and very realistic reptiles. If you take a class from Carole, you will get out of the box. We made TURTLES.

In Antonette Cely's class on posing your doll, I learned how to dissect my designs and reassemble them to create different positions. This was a fun 1/2 day class of just sharing techniques. She also showed us her methods of mounting dolls to a base and of turning her tiny fingers. I made my own tool just like hers using a needle and a piece of cork. Cut the eye of the needle in half, sick the pointed end into a cork. Stick a round coffee stirrer into the finger, place the cut eye over the seam and slide the finger up onto the needle. It really works!

Suzanne Oroyan is the doll maker's doll maker. Her books, "Anatomy of a Doll" and "Fantastic Figures" are extremely useful to anyone who wants to create their own designs. She doesn't give you patterns-she suggests methods. In person, Suzanne lets you know that it isn't easy and you should at least be honest with yourself about your work. Reach for perfection, don't take shortcuts. She is an excellent instructor and has wonderful techniques to share.

In February of 1998, I went to the Jekyll Island Doll Seminar and took a sculpting workshop from her. We worked in Super Sculpy. It was a great deal of fun, the results of which ultimately became GANDALF. You can see more of Gandalf in the Gallery.

February 1997

elinor peace baily came to New Hampshire and stayed with me for 10 days while she lectured and taught around the state. elinor is a wonderful fun person who encouraged me to "just begin". She showed many of us that dolls were not all pancake styles with her caricatures and that they could be very real or very abstract in her slide show and lecture. However, my first contact with elinor was in 1996 when I took a workshop from her at Queen Annes Lace in Kissimmee Florida. In that lively class I made ZELDA, The Gypsy from the Bronx.

I hope to have more photos in the next few months for this page, but as I look over the coming workshops for many events, I am finding fewer that interest me as I begin to develop my own style and find my own way.

You may direct your comments or inquiries to
Wendy@wendys-whimseys.com