Northdixie Designs: March 2012

Izannah Walker Workshop 3 Starts April 1st

The Izannah Walker Workshop (III) will be offered one last time, beginning April 1, 2012. The class will run from April 1st through July 1st. I developed this pattern and class after studying and documenting original antique Izannah Walker dolls personally. The pattern is inspired by Izannah Walker's work, but is not a copy of an Izannah Walker doll. My own Izannah Walker dolls have been recognized by Early American Life. Many people have given positive reviews of the workshop.

Admission is now closed for this workshop.

This work at your own pace class includes:

PDF Ebook/pattern "Making an Izannah Walker Inspired Doll"

membership in the online classroom from April 1st through July

a class message forum

detail images of Izannah Walker dolls which have not been published

other doll making resources

Dixie's support through the class message forum

Skills needed: intermediate sculpting skills, intermediate sewing skills, prior doll making experience.

Note on skills needed: I have had some people take the class who had never sculpted or sewn before, but it's best if you have some doll making experience. It is your choice to take the class without these skills, but recognize that it might be harder for you.

You can join up until April 1st by paying the class admission fee below via Paypal. After I receive notification of your payment, I will send you an email invitation to the class site (which is hosted on ning.com). Be sure that you send me the email address you want to use for your class membership if it is different thanyour Paypal email address. Also, be sure to remember (write it down) your password, because this is not information I am privy to, it's between you and ning.com.

For those who have taken the class before, it is the same pattern.

Below are dolls made by members of the 2011 class:

Dolls made with the pattern by class members

Dixie Redmond

Dreams and Nightmares

A few nights ago I dreamed that I found the ONLY image of Izannah Walker existing. There are no images of Izannah Walker that we know of, only her work is existing. The image had a little plate on the frame that said I. F. Walker, which is how she was identified in the Central Falls Directory of 1877.
In my dream I washed the Izannah Walker photo image in the washing machine. I'm not sure if it was a tintype, ambrotype or daguerrotype. But the washing erased the image. The type identifying the person was still there. What a bad dream! I was so glad when I woke up to find it wasn't true. Phew!
I've been studying Izannah Walker's folk art dolls for six years now. If I found something that important, I would hope I wouldn't wash it. Maybe there is a photograph out there somewhere of Izannah Walker. Please don't wash it in the washing machine!

Dixie Redmond

The Ripple Effect of Small Changes

A friend came over today and looked at my living room and convinced me to roll up the rug. I left the pad down to give me an idea of what a lighter rug might do in this room. Amazing the difference that one change can make. Pretty soon we were shopping other rooms in the house for tables, etc. Here's the room with previous rug, etc.

Dixie Redmond

Too Many Ideas - Revisiting 31 Days of Art

I've gone back to re-read some of my 31 Days of Art posts. This is one of the most helpful, for when I am overwhelmed with too many directions to move in. Click the graphic to read the post.

Dixie Redmond

Auction Fever

A friend and I have been following what's available at Houston Brooks auctions in Burnham, Maine. I bought my most recent doll sized cast iron stove there. I don't need to bring more stuff home, but I am on the lookout for a particular kind of bureau/stand for my house. I want it to be vintage and in good condition but not so wonderful that I'll feel guilty about painting it. This lot with the pictures of an old house caught caught my eye.

I am somewhat sentimental. The picture of this house above was important enough for someone to put it in a frame. Was it an early family homestead or a beloved vacation spot? Was it their first home? I hope that someone wrote on the back of the image who lived here and when, and where this house is.

Mark your pictures, people.

Mark your pictures, Dixie.

Have a great day,

Dixie Redmond

Izannah Walker Doll Work in Process

This is Miss Double Stockinette 2012, with cloth ears applied. This is the doll I used to make the video of applying stockinette. I need to add some "paste" to the ears to knock the texture of them back again. Here's a picture of an original Izannah's ear...the scaled of the stockinette is finer. But it's interesting to see that the stockinette ribs go across the tube rather than vertically.

Dixie Redmond

Little Red Riding Hood - WIP - Work in Progress

Sometimes one change can make a big difference.

Dixie Redmond

A Hopeful Model:
Living Situations for Adults with Autism

I tried writing about autism on a separate blog. But it was too separate. If I didn't have a son with autism I probably wouldn't even be making art to sell online. So I went back to writing about autism here. You don't have to read the autism posts, but having a child with autism is why I make and sell art via the internet.

I was thrilled to see this hopeful living situation called Juniper Hill Farms via Dude, I'm an Aspie which I found via The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism's Twitter Feed. I was glad to find a positive example of a living situation for adults with autism who need some support. A kind of example to follow. So I wanted to share that, too. Click the image below to go to Juniper Hill Farms site.

Dixie Redmond

Miss Double Stockinette

Creations in process go through ups and downs.

Art is about a search. Some creations go through many stages. You may need to start again. You have something in your mind that you are trying to achieve. You try to achieve that, but the stages in between can mean lots of decisions. I wasn't quite finished with this sculpt, but I liked where it was going. I finished the sculpt and then put knit fabric over.

It was okay from the front, until I gessoed it.

Then all kinds of things I didn't like were revealed.

I have a really hard time giving up on a creation.

So I decided to add another layer of ribbed stockinette fabric
and use this doll as an example of how to apply stockinette.

I painted on a layer of Elmer's wood glue

to get the fabric fibers to lay down.

I kind of liked it in the stage above.

The rib is a little too prominent.

And I lost some detail of the sculpt

with two layers of stockinette

Primed with a flesh tone.

Features penciled in.

I had her eyes way too big,
so I repainted over the tops of them.

Now they are a bit too small.

She needs eyebrows and ears.

I may repaint her eyes completely.
The stockinette is still too prominent.

But there are some things I like.

She has a few more paintings sessions to go.

I've learned that they can change a lot in process.

Dixie Redmond

Google tells me I should put a picture of myself in my posts to help prove authorship.I'm not in love with this idea, but am trying to make sure my content isn't scraped.

West Liberty, Kentucky Tornado Relief

Folk Artist Rebecca Campbell Miller's hometown was nearly destroyed by tornado damage. Becky has posted on her blog how the community can be helped, if you would like to dontate. Donations are being collected by an established agency in Morgan County that can respond in a timely way to the local needs.

Tornado Relief Fund

If you'd like to help, all monetary donations should be made payable to Morgan County Christian Social Services, a local organization that will be handled by Vicki Stacy and Kim Standafer.

In the memo of any checks, please put:

MC Tornado Disaster Relief Fund

All checks should be mailed to:

Bank of the Mountains
c/o: MC Tornado Disaster Relief Fund
P.O. Box 309
West Liberty, KY 41472

If anybody has any questions, please feel free to call Bank of the Mountains at (606)743-3141.

Dixie Redmond

Video: Applying Stockinette
to an Izannah Walker Inspired Doll

See that above? That's a giant roll of stockinette.
I think it gets put over casts and bandaged areas to protect them.

See this doll below?
I had covered this Izannah Walker inspired doll

with a knit that didn't work out very well.

The kind of knit I was using didn't have a vertical rib, and was hard to apply on the doll head. Thankfully, I have a large supply of surgical stockinette I purchased. So I decided to make a video of the process. It gets cut off just before I was supposed to cut where the stockinette joins together. But I think you'll get an idea of the process from the video. I'll make another video in shorter clips next time so that doesn't happen. :-)

Here's a view of the top. I may need to add some paperclay in some spots. Izannah added "paste" on top of her stockinette covered dolls. I'll be gessoing and painting over this stockinette layers several times which will change the textures somewhat.

Thanks for visiting!

Dixie Redmond

The Wolf Gets It In the End

I am reposting a few posts so bear with me as I reformat my blog. If you enjoy Little Red Riding Hood public domain and antique sources, you can see more about Little Red Riding Hood here. This story has always fascinated me, and has many variations, but in the end the wolf always gets what's coming to him. You can download a PDF of the original public domain antique book that the illustration below is taken from here: http://www.archive.org/details/fairyrealm00hoodrich

Enjoy your day!

Blogger index dot com still has some of my posts on their site. I never gave permission for them to repost my copyrighted work from this blog via my RSS feed. You all should check for your blogs, too. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Dixie Redmond

Public Service Announcement:
Is Your Blog Being Scraped for Content?

The site in this image at right has been reposting Northdixie Designs content without my permission, as well as content from other blogs I have through Blogger.com. And while I was there I saw quite a few other folk artist's blogs are being scraped. So it would be worth it for you to check out what Google is presenting when you search for your name and your blog's name.

The justification can be read here in this Google support forum conversation. Apparently, if I didn't want my content re-published I shouldn't let readers subscribe through the RSS feed. Um, no. I use the RSS feed so that people can receive my posts in their email in-box, not because I want that content republished on the web. That's a bit like saying,

"Hey, you left your car in the driveway,

you're just asking for us to take a drive...."

This has happened before with other sites who usually post a small excerpt and then a small thumbnail and a link back to this site. Not by permission then either. But blogger dash index dot com site has been reposting my entire post along with full sized pictures. I wonder if this is a result of Pinterest's growth ...because when I tried to pin my images from blogger dash index dot com , yes indeed, you could pin my images from this site that reposted my content.

If your blog is being scraped, you can do a little. Here are a few links that might help you:

Pro-blogger on scrapers

Tent-blogger on stopping blog scrapers

Hyperarts on how to stop blog scraping

Start watermarking your pictures, kids!
Because they are traveling to places you never dreamed.

Now it's my hope that this is a new blogger who doesn't know any better. I hope so. The right way to do things is to get people to opt-in and not to make them opt-out. But all this leads to another question....

Why are these sites ranking so high?

What's up, Google???

My Northdixie Designs Newsletter

Here's the newsletter I just sent out. I don't usually post these infrequent newsletters, but I thought you'd like to see an example. Often, I send out a newsletter and give my email list the first opportunity to purchase my work. So that's one of the reasons you might want to subscribe to my newsletter. See the heading at right that says, "Get the inside scoop"? That's where you sign up.

Dear Folk Art Friends -

Recently I posted an antique Little Red Riding Hood book on my blog. This is a book my husband gave me for our anniversary several years ago. The book inspired me to make a Little Red Riding Hood doll. And then that nspired me to invite the Maida Dolls Group members to join in a challenge to make dolls based on public domain storybook characters. We have been having a blast with that, and will be submitting our creations as a group to a magazine.

We'll see what comes of that, but in the meantime we are having a LOT of fun and some fantastic dolls are being made by Maida Dolls Group members. You can see my doll in process:

On another front, I decided to offer one last session of the online Izannah Walker Workshop class, after I had several requests. So if you know of someone who has wanted to take the class but missed the previous sessions, please send them here to sign up.

http://www.izannahwalkerworkshop.blogspot.com/2012/03/izannah-walker-workshop-class-3.html

Thanks for reading my newsletter - we have snow on the ground but I'm looking forward to spring!

Best,

Dixie

www.northdixiedesigns.com