Evolution of Synergy project

 I finally have the doll completed for my Synergy project.  BUT...there is still so much more to do before this piece can be completed with the installation of the lamp work done by my partner Cindy.  I still need to finish the stand which is a turtle.  It has taken me two months to complete the doll.  I haven't been working on it continuously as I have been busy with work and other projects, but I must say that it has taken over a big part of my beading time.

I started out with a resin face covered with cloth. Then I painted the face using acrylics.  The doll has a full armature as she needs to stand without a visible doll stand, and she must hold a boutique of lamp work flowers.  Once I get the boutique, then I can mount them and cut off the remaining wire.  Also, I will then be able to mount the doll onto the turtle (in progress), but I need to have the lamp work beads first to figure out the weight distribution as I don't want this doll to fall over during the gallery show.

I've been asked why the hair of my dolls are so dense.  Up until now, I haven't shown anyone how I do the head piece of a beaded doll.  As you can see from the photos, I cover the head with peyote then use that as the base to have an even and dense platform for the beaded hair.  Not all my dolls have hair like this as it is very time consuming and requires the use of hemostats to pull the thread & needle through all those base beads. But I do like the look of it especially when the piece is to be judged.

You might be wondering why such huge hands.  Well, the boutique of lamp work beads will be covering up most of this and I needed them to be larger to hold the weight of the glass flowers in place.  Later next month, I hope to get together with my partner up in Michigan to work more on merging both our work together. 

So far so good.  Still have to figure out if I want the turtle to be all beaded or Apoxie Sculpt.