Baby's First: Halloween

Has it really been 12 days since I last updated?
Wow! Time sure flies when you have sick kids in the house :)

I started a new series called Baby's First. Since Halloween is just around the corner, the first babies of these series will be dressed in Halloween costumes.
I must tell you, I am not a professional seamstress but I do love sewing and I do try...
These costumes were a challenge but I am happy with them.
I have 4 babies so far: A sleepy Cow, a Grumpy Lion (both around 10") and a Little Girl Mouse and a Little T-Rex (7").
I am also working on a Little Leopard (10") and a little Boy Mouse and a Little Clown.
The only one really ready is the Sleepy Cow who is also listed on eBay right now. Here are some pics. Hope the thumbnails work :)

Baby Claire

Announcing the birth of Baby Claire, in Athens Midwest Maternity.
Claire was born at 38wks, measuring 12 1/2", and weighting 1lbs 2oz.
This in miniature term is the equivalent of a healthy 7lbs 20" baby :)

Claire is my first big multi jointed baby girl, jointed at the head, torso, shoulders and hips.
Please not that in her pics below I haven't yet painted her body or limbs :)
She will be heading on eBay I think in the following days. I have to still make her a few outfits. I did finish a gown with matching booties and a hat today. My very first design ever! And holly cow it worked. I took apart one of my boys' newborn gowns and made out a pattern. Amazing thing is, IT WORKED :)
And its not half bad either!

Enjoy Claire's pics!!
Claire's first pic
Claire has hand painted hair
She is a multi jointed full sculpt
I really love this little girl

Simon and Jamie

Simon is almost 3 years old and just a week ago he got a baby brother, Jamie.
Simon is 7" tall with a cloth body, partial arms and legs and a light armature that allows him to be posed in a million ways.
Jamie is 4" tall, a full sculpt. Both their outfits were made by the amazingly talented and sweet, Cherry in the UK.
Simon has crystal mouth blown eyes in a blue/lavender color and a hand made mohair wig. I did his hair cut ;)

Enjoy the pics!
Simon
Simon 2
First glimpse at Jamie
He is not so bad mommy!
Brotherly cuddle
Be gentle with the baby Simon!
Closeup

Newborn Baby Girl

I am out of clay!!
That's a terrible thing to happen to any artist, to run out of material that is... and I am out of clay!
So, I rushed to place an order except I got a message back, that my supplier is on vacation until the 18th :(
Well, ok, at least its only a couple of days away, right?
She had told me before she left but did I remember? Nooooo... My brain is like Swiss cheese these days; can't remember a thing!!
I mean... literally can't remember a thing. I forgot to cook lunch for the boys today. Thankfully I am pretty quick to make Mac and Cheese (the homemade kind not the boxed kind) and so catastrophe was averted :)

Any way... I am out of clay. There was a little head sitting on my work bench (lie, there are LOTS of half finished heads sitting on my work bench) looking at me with her half open eye (she was missing her other one at the time) kind of forlornly. Next to her was the package of clay I had used for her.
Aha! So you HAVE clay you might say... well... kind of.

You see you can't mix and match packages unless you have mixed them together *before* you started. Its a common occurrence for variations in the clay color to appear between packages. So you might have a half done face and then open a new pack of clay to finish it and you end up with a face that is dual colored; one part is lighter than the other.

So for every head I start, I use a fresh pack and I keep that pack next to the head or I put a post it on it to know which head goes with which pack.

So this little one was sitting there, with her half finished face and her half finished pack of clay... and I was working on a bigger ordered baby.. and I was stuck.
You see for a baby to be *truly* good I must feel it. Its a feeling that comes and goes... yes I take longer that way but most of the babies I made, that are considered "my best work" I felt it.. and I took forever to complete.
So because I really want to give this lady a wonderful piece of art, I put the baby aside for a bit and decided to work on the little girl's head. Especially since I was now out of clay for the big head. Problem? Not really because I am only missing the back of the head and neck ring so even if the clay is another color when it comes, it won't show at all.. Well, I still have to tweak the face a little bit but if I need to add clay I can always steal some from under the chin or something...

So anyway, off I go, working on my derelict little head and before I know it (actually it was about 5 hours later) she had two eyes, chubby cheeks and was ready to be baked.
So I baked her, then colored her and boom! It was a girl (all the while I thought I had another boy).

With this and that its now 2:20 am. I didn't sleep much last night and I guess I won't sleep much tonight either.
I will be up with the boys in a few hours since George is on duty today.
Its also Election day over here so I will be out much of the day voting and then having lunch with family.

But my perfect little girl she is so cute! I must think of a name :)
Any suggestions? I will post pics when I have a minute!
T.

Imperial Child

This little baby's face was started some time in the beginning of summer and I worked on it for a few days, then left it alone on top of my work bench.
It sat there, looking at me... well not really looking at me, because it was still a sleeping baby with fat cheeks at the time, but you know what I mean..
Last night I don't know what got over me and I started working on it again. It turned from a sleeping, chubby European kid to a barely awake, Japanese newborn... still chubby :)
I am still looking for a name with the help of my Japanese friend Rieko, but for now, he is "Imperial Child" all wrapped up in red imperial silk, complete with a 5 talon dragon.

Here he is:
Imperial Child

He is about 13" long with a 11" head circumference and fits into micro preemie clothing fine.
These are not his limbs though... I hope to make his real limbs soon. Last night was a break from orders... tonight I am back to finishing the two larger babies I have been working on.

Thanks for looking
Tina

Mei Li Hua

This is a little BJD I am not sure I want to let go... however I am sure one of the major utility companies will soon change my mind by sending me a lovely little note called a BILL and I will need to sell her to pay it.

Her name is Mei Li Hua and she is 6" tall. These are not the best of pics or the official ones. I am still waiting for her outfit to arrive ... click on the links below for pics
Mei Li Hua on her tricycle
Mei loves to go on tricycle rides!
She is only 2 years old!!
She is also trying to teach her doll how to ride
Mei also loves playing with her blocks
And she also loves to drive her green car
Isn't she adorable?
Yeah, we think so :)

Here he is...

This is Julian! Click on the links to see some photos. I had to re-sculpt a leg as it turned out too big for him after all.. Hey, it happens to the best of us some times ;) (ok not to say I am the best, its just an expression alright?)

Julian
Julian's little foot
Julian's little leg

"The Real Infant" by Tina Kewy

Sometimes you sculpt a doll that really touches your soul but maybe you can't really understand why. It might not be your best work even!
Well, recently it happened with me. I sculpted one mini baby I am in love with (and will be very difficult to part with) and a preemie baby boy I adore.

This post is about the preemie boy, Julian Earl Kewy. He is my "Real Infant"... he is a 34 week preemie, with the very characteristic preemie look, all the extra skin he still hasn't grown into, froggy eyes, not much cheek, lots of rolls of skin and wrinkles. Perfectly proportioned, very delicate ears, tiny nose and rosebud lips.

I am unsure of his fate. If I offer him to a company I need to pick carefully. I want him made in the "good stuff" (good quality thick vinyl), in the right color, fairly soon and with good attention to detail.
If I decide to produce him myself, I take the risk of paying a good amount of money and nobody, or few, buying. Plus he will be made in resin this time as I 've always wanted to try it!

No pictures of Julian as of yet. He is still uncolored. My order of Genesis paints just came in. Yes I was without paints the whole time... Cody dropped my jar of red acrylic (my main color) and the hobby store was out of Mameri! The only thing they had was the French stuff that turns orange on the clay a few days after you color it!! Grrrr!
So I decided to get some Genesis... I painted Lucy as a test run with them, she turned out great... I hope to paint Julian tomorrow... or when I get a breather anyway :)

Stay tuned for pics!!
T.

Baby Lucy

I had a great time creating Baby Lucy. Lately I have been feeling very burned out and frustrated with my cracking clay problems. It seems the only thing I could sculpt reliably with the "old" clay were mini babies.
But I feel much better after receiving my new order of clay on Friday. I finally got the new and improved clay that does not crack while being baked so I can now finish a few larger babies orders I had on hold. Thankfully the expectant mothers were very patient :)

So I made baby Lucy; a multi jointed, pose able little girl. She is the first of her kind for me, I mean with this kind of jointing system but I am very happy about her :)
She is a little older than most of my babies at 3 months old but cute as a button.








Click here for Lucy's Auction (and more pics!!)

Have a great day everyone!
Tina